She appeared next to Rhys veiled. Rhi saw the two men and Lily walk into the cottage as Lily looked back at Rhys, tears coursing down her face.
Rhi knelt beside Rhys, but remained veiled since she knew Con and the other Kings would be watching. “Rhys. I’m here.”
“Lily,” he managed to say.
She looked at the wound in his head and felt the dragon magic around it. This couldn’t happen. Not to Rhys. It had been so long since a King had died that Rhi had almost begun to think they never would again.
“Li … Lily,” he murmured again.
Rhi looked at the cottage. “I’ll get her, Rhys.”
She rose and walked to the cottage, only to run into an invisible wall. Rhi tried to teleport in, but each time she was thrown out. It wasn’t until she approached the door and looked at its frame that she saw a small design etched into the wood.
Rhi stepped back, numb. There were few who knew that symbol. The Kings didn’t even know it. She looked up and saw the dragons flying through the clouds instead of above them. Whatever was going on had been set up by the Kings, but it had gone horribly wrong.
Rhi returned to Rhys to see his skin turning gray. “Rhys?”
His hand twitched, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Lily?”
“I’m sorry.” She ducked her head, hating to fail in any way, but especially to a friend. “They’ve blocked me from the cottage. I can’t get in.”
Rhys struggled to open his eye. His breathing was labored as he fought to stay alive. He wasn’t going to give up so easily. His mate was in trouble.
“Where’s Con?” Rhi asked as she looked around. “Call to him, Rhys. Get him here to save you.”
Rhys dug his fingers in the grass. It took too many words for him to tell Rhi that Con was protecting the weapon. “Nay.”
“Then I’ll get him.”
Rhys said Rhi’s name again, but she didn’t answer. He bellowed in frustration, but the sound didn’t make it past his lips. He couldn’t die, not when Lily was still in danger.
The Kings allowed themselves to become too confident that the humans couldn’t hurt them. Rhys wouldn’t die from this wound, but the injury—with just enough dragon magic in it to cause problems—was preventing him from healing properly.
Hatred grew within Rhys. Ulrik was responsible yet again. He’d targeted Rhys for a reason, and Rhys was going to ensure that he repaid Ulrik in kind.
But first there was Lily.
The fact Rhi couldn’t get into the cottage was surprising. What had the humans used to keep her out? As far as he knew, nothing short of magic could prevent a Fae from going wherever they wanted.
Rhys rose up on an elbow even as his body spit out the bullet. The damage was already done since the magic was around the slug itself. His magic was battling against another’s inside him.
He looked at the cottage and smiled as he heard Kyle’s yells as they searched the place. It infuriated him that the Dragon Kings had fallen neatly into the trap Dennis and Kyle had laid for them. Had they taken a little more time and investigated Kyle, they might have learned he wasn’t the innocent Lily thought him to be.
Lily. Rhys’s chest ached for what she was going through. He would never forget the sight of her face crumpling with disbelief and shock when she learned her brother was in league with Dennis. After the initial blow, Lily turned to her anger. Rhys loved the way her dark eyes sparkled when she was furious.
He managed to get to his hands and knees. It was time Kyle and Dennis learned what they had walked into.
A whoosh of air went by him. Rhys looked up in time to see amber scales. “No’ yet, Tristan. Lily is still in there.”
The door to the cottage was flung open. Kyle filled the entrance. A flicker of unease passed across his face when he saw Rhys. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
“We’re hard to kill.”
“Where is it? Where’s the weapon?” he demanded.
Rhys smiled. “What? You can no’ find it?”
“Don’t fuck with me!” Kyle yelled and pointed the gun at Rhys again.
Rhys sat back on his haunches, his hands resting on his thighs. “Shoot me again.”
“Oh, I won’t shoot you.” Kyle’s hand reached out and yanked Lily to him. “I don’t like being played the fool.”
The cold edge of fear sliced through Rhys. He was reminded—yet again—of humans’ fragility. If he and Lily were mated, she couldn’t be killed. But they weren’t, which meant she could die. By the look of malice and evil in Kyle’s eyes, he had no problem committing murder, even on his own sister.
Dread filled Rhys, along with anxiety and worry. All for Lily. “Doona do anything you’ll regret.”
“You mean like this?” Kyle asked and aimed the gun at Lily’s stomach a second before he pulled the trigger.