“He didn’t want to fight Con.”
“Nay, he didna.” Warrick turned his head to her. “Ulrik was liked by all. He had that kind of personality. I think that’s why we all reacted the way we did when we discovered the betrayal.”
“How did you find out about his lover’s betrayal?”
“Con. He didna exactly trust mortals, and he worried that there might be war one day. He kept a close eye on any human who got close to a King. I’m glad he did, because he was able to stop her.”
Darcy switched legs beneath her as she tracked Warrick with her eyes. “What was the woman’s name?”
“Ulrik didna tell you?”
He hadn’t. In fact, even her name was removed from his memories. Her face was still there, but that was all. “No.”
A small frown wrinkled Warrick’s brow. Most of his face was hidden in the shadows, and Darcy wished now that she had turned up the lights.
“He’s erased her,” Warrick said, more to himself than to Darcy. “She was beautiful, and Ulrik was completely in love with her.”
Darcy tried to imagine the Ulrik she knew in love, and she just couldn’t do it. He was hardened now, a wall erected around himself so that no one could get close—friends or lovers.
Ulrik had been hit not just with his woman’s betrayal, but by his friends’ as well. She felt the rage that was still within him. That kind of hate turned a person dark in ways she couldn’t begin to fathom.
“Did Ulrik tell you how close he and Con were?”
Darcy jumped, not realizing Warrick stood behind her. She knew from Ulrik’s memories how close he and Con had been. “In a way.”
“I think Con expected Ulrik to challenge him for the role of King of Kings. It’s no’ something either of them have ever spoken about. But that’s my guess. Whether a King agrees with Con or no’, none of us can argue that he has our best interests at heart. He keeps watch over us at all times.”
“Is that why he sent Ulrik away?” She craned her neck back to get a glimpse of Warrick.
He had a faraway look on his face. Then he blinked and looked down at her. “He wanted to save Ulrik from having to kill her.”
Darcy turned so she could see Warrick better. “Did it never occur to Con that Ulrik needed to be there? That he needed to talk to her, to know why she did what she did?”
“You’d have to ask Con that.” Warrick walked around her chair and made his way to the glass door. He looked out, his back expanding as he took a breath. “We all thought we were doing him a favor by killing her.”
“Then he returned.”
“Then he returned.” Warrick paused, the seconds turning into minutes.
Darcy didn’t want to push him since he seemed lost in his thoughts. She had the insane urge to walk up behind him and wrap her arms around him. Not that Warrick would ever want or need her touch.
It must be the melancholy mood that took her, talking about such awful happenings.
“Ulrik was always slow to anger. Until that moment. I’ve never seen such fury before.” Warrick’s words were spoken softly, the timbre of his voice pitched low. “He was outraged at her death and stunned at her attempted betrayal. But he was devastated by what we had done.”
“You don’t realize just how much that moment changed him.”
Warrick turned to face her. “He told you?”
She shook her head. “I saw it in his memories. I felt all of his emotions. That moment tore him in two.”
“You saw his memories?” he asked in shock.
Darcy realized her mistake too late. She saw the tightening of Warrick’s jaw, the flattening of his lips. “I didn’t mean to. I’ve never had that happen before.”
“Does Ulrik know?”
“No, and I don’t want him to.”
Warrick walked to the chair he had vacated and leaned his hands on the back. “Did he tell you anything of his past?”
“Some. He condensed what happened to what made him attack humans. Ulrik didn’t share anything without a reason. He wanted me to know why he had his magic bound.”
“So you know that he began to attack the humans after that night?”
Darcy nodded woodenly. “He told me he thought them responsible.”
“But you saw more in his memories,” Warrick guessed.
Was she that easy to read? Darcy rose and put some distance between her and Warrick. Only then did she face him. “Yes, I saw more. I wished I hadn’t. I wished all I knew was the story he shared, but I don’t. I know that he recognized his friends were trying to help him, even though he hated each of you for it. It’s why he didn’t attack any of you.”
“He and his Silvers slaughtered thousands.”
“Yes.”
“We tried to stop him,” Warrick said as his head dropped to his chest. “There were some Kings who sided with him for a while, but Con talked them back to his side. That didna deter Ulrik.”