The sun, the bright flowers, the beautiful water, they were all things a Light Fae needed. He didn’t need them anymore, but yet there he was.
Balladyn dove under the water trying to imagine what Rhi saw as she swam with the brightly colored fish and coral. He could imagine her smiling as the fish darted around her.
It wasn’t until he walked out of the water an hour later that Balladyn realized how long he’d remained at the island. He halted at the shore, his chest tightening.
He enjoyed it. All of it. The sand, the water, the fish. The sun.
His gaze landed on the hammock, and for just a moment, he contemplated remaining. Then he remembered his plans. He had a throne to claim and a king to kill.
Balladyn scrunched his toes, the wet sand sinking between them, clinging to his skin as the water rolled in and out. The wind glided across his damp skin and caused the palm trees to sway, their fronds rubbing against each other.
It was so peaceful. No wonder Rhi had chosen it. It was secluded as well, which suited her. More and more she was pulling away from everyone.
It seemed both of them were in the midst of change. Though Balladyn now knew that Rhi would fight the darkness inside her with everything that she was.
She didn’t even know that yet. It made him smile, because it proved how strong she was. Not just her magic, but her character, her spirit.
Her essence.
She feared the darkness was taking over when in fact her light was drowning the darkness. The darkness clung to her, trying to sway Rhi and tempt her. A few times it even came close.
But each time her light killed it.
How could he have ever imagined that he could turn her Dark? Even in the thrall of rage and revenge, he should’ve seen the sheer might of her.
Instead, he’d been blinded by the darkness within him. The one person in all the realms he’d never wanted to hurt, he had done just that. And she forgave him.
She was the very best of the Fae. How did no one else see that?
Balladyn snapped his fingers as he walked out of the water. His clothes and shoes were back on, and all traces of his time in the water were gone.
He teleported to Cork and an Doras. As soon as he walked into the pub, a hush fell over the crowd of Fae. It was a Dark Fae holding, but the occasional Light would make an appearance.
Balladyn walked to an empty stool and sat at the bar. The barkeep walked up with a glass of whisky in hand. As soon as he set the glass down, Balladyn’s hand wrapped around his wrist.
Wide red eyes looked at Balladyn. “I’ve paid my rent and taxes.”
“I don’t take care of such things.” The male began to tremble in Balladyn’s hold. “I want information.”
“Wh-what kind?” the Dark stuttered.
“Tell me all you’ve heard of the Reapers recently.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ryder was attuned to every sound, every movement that Kinsey made. He found it nearly impossible to focus on anything except her.
With his mind constantly bombarded with questions from the other Dragon Kings, he found himself ignoring their verbal calls on occasion.
The hours crawled by until lunch. Kinsey didn’t so much as look his way again as she went about her work. Ryder attempted to come up with reasons to ask her questions, but it didn’t take long for her to realize what he was doing.
As soon as Dmitri walked into the computer room, Ryder jumped up from his chair. “I’ll be back,” he told Dmitri.
Ryder ignored his name being called as he lengthened his strides. He hurried down the three flights of stairs and bumped into Arian as he made his way to the hidden doorway from the manor that connected to the mountain.
Once Ryder was in the mountain, he kept walking. He didn’t know where he was going. Only that he had to put some distance between him and Kinsey so he could get himself under control.
Ryder soon found himself standing in the large cavern staring at the black bars of the massive cage that held the four sleeping Silver dragons.
The cavern had only a few torches scattered around the perimeter. A ball of magic swirled above the cage, casting a faint white light over the dragons.
Ryder walked to the cage and placed his hand upon the dragon nearest him. These weren’t his dragons, but they were dragons. Right now he needed to remember who he was.
Because every moment he couldn’t have Kinsey was tearing him apart.
He hadn’t realized how much he hungered, craved her until she was within arm’s reach. She was closer than she had been in years, but yet she was further away than ever before.
Ryder rested his forehead on the bars and focused on the dragons’ breathing. These were the last four dragons on the realm. Every time he came to see them, it made Ryder sad. They should be flying, their wings outstretched and the sun upon their scales.