Either way, the kind, laughing King of Silvers changed. Ulrik became hard, grim, and relentless in his destruction of humans.
He had killed without thought, without conscience. His Silvers, some of the largest dragons, were right by his side.
Since the Kings were supposed to protect the mortals, Con had no choice but to stop Ulrik. Except the humans began to kill dragons.
Warrick still dreamed of those days. The angry roars of the dragons, the bellows of fury from the humans. Then there were the dying cries of the dragons, and the screams of pain from the mortals.
But that wasn’t the worst.
The worst was when the Kings had to open the dragon bridge and send their dragons to another realm. Warrick had never felt so empty as he watched his Jades flying away.
The Dragon Kings then disappeared, hiding in the mountains on Dreagan to sleep away a few centuries. The area pulsed with their dragon magic, preventing any human from settling on their land or accidentally finding them.
After that, the Dragon Kings hid in plain sight among mortals, only taking to the skies in their true form at night or during a thunderstorm when no one could see them.
Unlike the other Dragon Kings, Warrick had a different view of the beings that shared their realm. He didn’t hate the humans for what happened. However, he wished he didn’t sympathize with them or understand that they feared the power and magic of the Kings.
Warrick wanted to hate the mortals, but he found them interesting, fascinating. Their lives were so short that they lived each day to the fullest. Their bodies so frail, but still they did daring, dangerous things. Nothing held them back. Some were astonishingly intelligent, while others captivated him with their works of art—be it painting, music, dance, or singing.
Humans were inferior to Kings in their magic, mortality, and senses, and yet Warrick was enchanted by them.
Oh, there were a few mortals who had magic, like the Druids. But Druid magic couldn’t come close to matching dragon magic.
Warrick went to another Web site that had entertainment news about Hollywood’s actors. His addiction to the site was one he kept closely guarded. He loved learning who was dating who, which actor got what role, and anything else he could find. Especially anything about Usaeil, the queen of the Light Fae who had been masquerading as an actress for several years now.
He was deep into a write-up on a new couple alert when there was a quick knock. His door opened and Ryder poked his head inside. Warrick easily clicked on another tab to hide what he had been reading.
Ryder’s blond hair was messy from his fingers running through it. That was an indication that he had been diligently monitoring the roomful of computers and found something interesting.
“Busy?” Ryder asked.
Warrick closed the laptop and motioned him inside. “You look wired.”
“I am.” Ryder’s smile was large, his hazel eyes wide as he walked into the room and shut the door behind him. “I thought Darius would recruit you to wake up everyone with him.”
Warrick still couldn’t believe Con wanted every Dragon King woken, but then again, they needed all Kings to fight Ulrik and the Dark Fae. “I’m no’ exactly the one sent when things need to be achieved with a gentle hand.”
“You’re mellow, Warrick. You just prefer to be on your own.”
“Exactly.” Not to mention he had a hard time talking to others—even Kings. “I gather Darius is waking the others by himself then?”
Ryder shrugged. “I caught a glimpse of dark blue scales in the clouds. Banan may be helping out.”
“You didna come in here for small talk,” Warrick stated. He was now curious as to why Ryder would seek him out. “What is it?”
Ryder leaned back against the door. “You were on patrol duty when Con called the last meeting, so you doona know that Kellan, Rhys, Dimitri, and Laith are following Ulrik.”
Warrick set aside the laptop on the floor and dropped his feet to the ground as he sat forward. The calm around Dreagan had been great for the females mated to the Kings, but it was anything but for the rest of them. The Kings were restless and edgy, waiting on the next attack as they tried to get ahead of Ulrik, the Dark Fae, and MI5.
“Con has had Ulrik watched for centuries,” Warrick said. “He’s no’ going to kill Ulrik now, or he’d be the one following him.”
“Aye, but Con is tired of waiting. We all know there’s going to be a battle between Con and Ulrik. It’s coming sooner rather than later.”
Warrick cocked his head to the side. “You doona want them to fight.”
“Nay.” Ryder sighed and shook his head. “I may have reacted just as Ulrik did, had our positions been reversed. Who’s to say that any of us wouldna have attacked the humans when we discovered the woman we loved was set to betray us?”