“Liar.”
It was said without heat, but a hardness came into Ulrik’s golden eyes. Taraeth tried another approach. “He gave me a promise, and then didn’t fulfill it.”
Ulrik turned on his heel and started walking away.
Taraeth frowned. “Ulrik?”
But the Dragon King didn’t stop. Taraeth wasn’t sure if Ulrik was going to alert his uncle or not. Either way the female needed to be warned.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Darcy jumped at the sound that came from the conservatory. She got to her feet, her heart pumping wildly. Then a tall form came into sight.
“Warrick,” she whispered.
Her smiled died before it got going when she let her gaze run over him. Blood splattered his shirt, or what was left of it. It was torn and ripped so that it barely hung on his shoulders.
His gaze was direct, unblinking as he stared at her as if he hadn’t just been in a battle with the Dark Fae.
Without thinking, she ran to him looking for wounds. She gently moved aside his still wet shirt in case there was a wound beneath, but all she saw was skin and the black and red ink of the tat.
Then she recalled what he was and his immortality.
Darcy dropped her arms and met his cobalt gaze as she remembered the fear that had consumed her not that long ago. “They surrounded you, and then I couldn’t see you.”
“The fight wouldna have lasted that long had I been in dragon form,” he said matter-of-factly.
“I was scared out of my mind, and you make a joke?”
“It isna a jest. In my real form, I could do much more damage.”
She shuddered, recalling Ulrik’s memories and the sheer size of some of the dragons. She turned away, embarrassed for letting her emotions get the better of her. “Of course. I forgot.”
“Were you worried for me, lass?”
She halted and looked over her shoulder at his softly spoken words. He actually sounded surprised. “Yes.”
After everything she had said to him, he’d returned to the shop, to her. There was no anger in his visage or his voice, as if her harsh words never happened. He add risked his own life for her. Though he was immortal, there was no doubt the Dark could do damage to the Kings.
“I’ll get you out of Edinburgh if that’s what you want,” Warrick said. “Damn Con and what he has planned for you.”
Darcy was so taken aback that, for a moment, she couldn’t find any words. “I thought Con wanted information.”
“If you give it, then Con will have it. But I willna keep you here with this many Dark just so Con can have some tidbit on Ulrik.”
“Even if that tidbit might be the difference in Con winning over Ulrik?”
Warrick rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and sighed.
Just as Darcy had thought. “Ulrik is gaining in this war, isn’t he? You need information to win.”
“There’s a chance that even if I get you to Skye, the Dark will attack you there.”
She snorted. “They could try.”
“You’ve never faced the Fae, Darcy. You doona know what it means to fight them. As powerful as Skye magic is, it isna enough to keep the Dark out.”
Could Darcy bring such repulsive terrors to Skye? To her family? Just to save her own ass? No, she couldn’t. Regardless of how scared she was, this fiasco couldn’t reach Skye.
“Can the Dark hurt you?”
Warrick made a face, confusion marring his features. “They can no’ kill us.”
“But they can hurt you?”
“Aye.”
It felt like someone kicked her in the stomach. “You were injured out there, weren’t you?”
“I’m fine.”
But he wasn’t before. All she had to do was look at his clothes to see how vicious the battle had been. He’d stood alone against the Dark while being bombarded with their magic.
How many wounds had he sustained that healed before he came to see her? She inwardly cringed just thinking about it. And she was the one who sent him out because of her anger.
“So their magic can harm you?” she asked.
“It can weaken us, and they can also make it to where we can no’ shift into dragon form for a while.”
“What else?” She didn’t know how she knew there was more, but she did.
Warrick blew out a harsh breath. “During the Fae Wars, they captured two Kings. Both lost their minds. We had to kill them.”
Darcy’s legs grew weak. She grabbed hold of the edge of her desk to keep standing. The thought of Warrick being captured and tortured by the Dark made her sick to her stomach. That couldn’t happen to such a proud, powerful man. “I don’t want that to happen to you.”
“It willna.”
She stared at him, aghast. “I’m sure the two Kings they captured thought the same thing.”
Warrick shrugged, as if it happened every day. “It’s part of being who we are.”
“You and Thorn should leave before neither of you can.”