“Con gave Ulrik the chance to stop killing the humans.”
Ryder’s gaze lowered to the floor. “When we have that much anger, that much need for retribution flowing through our veins, could any of us have set it all aside and forgotten what was done? Nay, I doona believe even Con could have.”
“Con likes to have everyone think he has a cool head at all times, but I’ve seen the anger in his black eyes before.”
“My point is that I doona think the answer was to banish Ulrik. We killed his woman. It was his right to confront her. Then we went against him when he wanted to wipe the realm of humans. How did we repay him after that? We stripped him of his magic, prevented him from shifting into dragon form, and locked away four of his Silvers in our mountain. And we’re surprised when he sets his sights on taking Con down?”
Warrick got to his feet. “At any time Ulrik could’ve stopped what he was doing. At any time he could’ve realized aligning with the Dark was the worst thing to do. But he didna just come after us, he targeted certain humans. The worst was when he mixed Dark magic with his and cursed Rhys. That’s unforgiveable.”
“Aye.” Ryder ran a hand through his hair. “We’re all to blame, Warrick. It’s no’ just Ulrik’s fault he’s like he is. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken him so long to come after Con. I think I’d have done it much sooner.”
Warrick frowned as Ryder opened the door to leave. “Did you need me for something?”
“I did actually,” Ryder said as he halted and looked over his shoulder. “Con knows you like to work alone so he wants you to go to Edinburgh. We have reason to believe Ulrik is visiting someone.”
“Why do we care who Ulrik sees if it’s no’ the Dark?”
Ryder blew out a breath. “There’s a verra good chance it’s the Druid who was able to unbind his magic.”
That would be a huge achievement for the Kings if they could find the Druid and possibly prevent her from unbinding the rest of Ulrik’s magic. “I’ll be ready then.”
Ryder left without another word, the door closing softly behind him. There was a growing divide among the Kings, one that hadn’t been there since before Ulrik was banished.
When Ulrik was at war with the humans, there were many Kings who had sided with him. It was only through Con’s constant working to unite all the Dragon Kings that he eventually won everyone over except Ulrik.
The battle between the two former best friends—Con and Ulrik—had been building for millennia. If Ulrik killed Con, then Ulrik would take over as King of Kings.
Ulrik had been the only one who could’ve challenged Con all those ages ago, but Ulrik hadn’t been interested. Especially since it was a fight to the death, and neither relished the idea of killing the other.
Banishment, along with walking around only in human form for thousands of millennia, tended to change a person.
Through the years, Warrick saw Ulrik from afar on occasions, but last month was the first time he had an up close encounter with the King of Silvers since before Ulrik’s banishment. Not only had Ulrik appeared cruel and hard, there was a darkness about him that hinted at a barely leashed beast within that he was waiting to let loose.
Worse was that Warrick saw firsthand that Ulrik had somehow managed to get his magic back. He wasn’t at full strength yet. When that happened—all hell would break loose.
CHAPTER
TWO
Edinburgh, Scotland
Darcy sat straight up in bed, her chest heaving from her gasping breaths. She clawed at the hair that clung to her face with her sweat and blinked several times to make sure the dragon who had been bearing down on her with its mouth open wasn’t real.
She hunched over and buried her face in her hands, her entire body shaking. It was the same dream from two days earlier. For the past month, the dream kept recurring every few days. There was no rhyme or reason to when the dreams came or when they didn’t. All Darcy knew was that the dragon was after her.
She lifted her face to peek out her window. Dawn had arrived. She took several deep breaths before she threw off the covers and rose to walk to the bathroom. After a quick shower, she pinned up her hair and pulled on a sweater, jeans, and boots before she walked to the kitchen of her flat. A quick inhale of the smell of coffee brought some semblance of a smile to her face.
Darcy poured the dark liquid into a tall thermal container and screwed on the top. She put on her coat and pulled her purse over her head, settling it across her body. As she made her way to the door, she grabbed an apple from the basket.
She walked the few blocks to work slowly. She wasn’t in a mad dash like others in the city heading to their corporate jobs.