She gave him a stern glare. “Actually, it’s not. I saw his argument with you when you tried to get him to fight you to become King of Kings.”
“Liar.”
Darcy fisted her hands in the robe. “You told him that the other dragons needed definitive proof who was King of Kings. Ulrik said he didn’t want to fight you, but you kept pushing. He refused.”
“Satisfied?” Warrick asked Con from the doorway.
Darcy smiled when she saw him. She started to get up and go to him, but he motioned for her to remain.
“No’ nearly,” Con told him. “I want to know what else Ulrik told her.”
Darcy rolled her eyes and once more took her seat. “He didn’t tell me much. He gave me details of the Dragon Kings because I pushed to know.”
Con’s condemning look was fierce. “You sided with him.”
“There are two sides to every story. Warrick told me his. Ulrik shouldn’t have attacked the humans, but what did you expect him to do? He was angry at them, and at his friends. He didn’t want to hurt any of you, so he did the only thing he could.
“And,” she said over Con when he tried to speak. “If he was so wrong, why did so many Kings side with him? Humans were killing dragons, and dragons were killing humans. It had to stop. You did what you had to do. I’m not saying it was right. You could’ve handled Ulrik better. He was your best friend. He considered you his brother.”
Con’s nostrils flared as he drew in a deep breath. “He wouldna listen to anyone, especially me.”
“He was hurt. You had your pride wounded because Ulrik did his own thing and other Kings followed. You didn’t have to bind his magic and banish him. That was you responding to anger with anger.”
Warrick braced his hand on the door frame. “You make it sound simple, Darcy, but it wasna. It was total chaos. We sent the dragons away, our family and friends away.”
“Because humans were killing them. Did my ancestors kill dragons before or after Ulrik attacked?”
“Before,” Thorn answered. “Then again, dragons killed their fair share of humans as well.”
Darcy looked at Con then. “How can you place the blame squarely on Ulrik’s shoulders? What about the Kings who sided with Ulrik and you persuaded back to you? Did you punish them?”
“Nay,” Con answered tightly.
Darcy shoved her damp curls out of her face. “But they killed mortals?”
“Aye.” Con’s voice was low, hard.
“Both you and Ulrik are in the wrong. Neither of you would admit it, so the hate grew between the both of you bringing us to where we are now.”
Con gave a shake of his head. “Ulrik wants to kill me.”
“And you want to kill him.”
Thorn said, “He cursed Rhys.”
“And killed Iona’s father,” Con added. “He has aligned himself with the Dark and a faction within MI5 to hunt down any human who has a connection with us. Not to mention he wants to expose us to the mortals. This is the man you’re helping, and with every bit of magic he has returned, he gets stronger and does more damage.”
Darcy looked at Warrick, but he wasn’t going to offer her any help. Not that she’d expected he would. She knew how he felt about Ulrik.
“I’ve told you my reasoning, and what I know about Ulrik. What else do you want?” she asked Con.
Con’s face was emotionless. “I doubt you’ve told us everything. What I want to know now is how many times have you helped Ulrik against us?”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FIVE
Warrick knew Constantine wasn’t going to stop until he was sure Darcy had told them everything. The problem was, Darcy was just as stubborn as Con.
“Excuse me?” Darcy asked Con. “Are you accusing me of being involved in Ulrik’s schemes?”
Con stared at her with hard, black eyes. “I am. It’s obvious you’ve helped him.”
Darcy made a sound at the back of her throat. “Yeah. I told you. I unbound his magic. That’s as far as it went. I didn’t know his plans, and not once did I help him in any murder or anything else you think he did,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I repeat—in case you’re hard of hearing—I didn’t help him with anything more than unbinding his magic.”
“She’s no’ lying,” Warrick told Con.
Con slid his gaze to Warrick. “How would you know that? Because she told you? And you believe her?”
“I do.”
“You accept her word for it that easily?” Con asked, a look of utter contempt on his face.
Darcy stood, anger shooting from her fern green eyes. “It was three years ago when Ulrik first came to see me. It took me over six months before I was able to unbind some of his magic. Once I did, I didn’t see him again until three days ago when he came to warn me that someone might be coming after me.”
Con stared at her for long moments. “I have Ryder looking into your whereabouts for the last two and a half years. We’ll see if you happened to be in the same places as the incidents we know Ulrik put in motion.”