Con fisted his hands. He was backed into a corner, just as Kinsey had said. And the urge to lash out was strong—very strong.
Even if he turned on the mortals and killed them, he would have to face the mates. All but one was a mortal, and he suspected they wouldn’t be pleased with their entire race annihilated.
It didn’t matter which side Con chose, he was damned either way.
From the moment he was a young dragon and he understood what it meant to be King of Kings, he’d set his sights on obtaining the title.
And he had—though it hadn’t been pretty.
Was his time coming to an end? It didn’t matter how strong he was physically or magically, if his men sided with Ulrik, he would have no one to lead.
Con wondered—and not for the first time—if his decisions that altered their course and sent the dragons away had been the right ones.
The more he saw what the humans were doing to the planet, the more he believed he’d made the wrong decisions.
As soon as he saw the lights of the airport, his hand was on the door handle. The car had barely come to a stop before he had the door open and stood on the tarmac.
He strode to the helicopter. The blades were already spinning and it was waiting on him. Con paused when he caught sight of Lily in the pilot’s seat. He then quickly got into the chopper and put on the headset.
“Ready?” Lily asked.
Con nodded and they took off. He watched the lights of the city grow smaller as they lifted off. “What are you doing here, Lily?”
“Flying you.”
“Without Rhys beside you?”
She chuckled, but her white knuckles gripping the stick told another story. “I’m immortal.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s happening at Dreagan?”
Lily glanced at him with her dark eyes. “It’s Esther and Kinsey. It’s like someone took control of them and they fought each other.”
Con didn’t know how much more bad news he could take. “Who was injured?”
“No one. Ryder got control quickly. The women are unconscious for the moment.”
His fingers reached for the dragon-head cuff link and turned it. “Get us home quickly.”
With every mile eaten up, dread filled Con. Because he suspected what he’d long-feared had come to pass—another mortal had betrayed a King.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Ryder stared down at Kinsey who lay unmoving upon the slab of granite in the small cave. Esther was in another cave next to them.
“Con is on his way back,” Thorn said as he walked up.
Ryder expected as much. “Who called him back?”
“No one. Lily was in Paris picking up a gift for Rhys when she learned what happened here. She went to the airfield and took over as pilot.”
Ryder didn’t blame Lily for telling Con. No, the blame for everything rested squarely on his shoulders. Because love had blinded him to the truth.
How had he missed it? There had to have been clues. Was he so intent on winning Kinsey back that he’d missed something important? How did he tell anyone that? Everyone at Dreagan had counted on him, and he’d failed them.
“What’s your plan?” Thorn asked.
Plan? Ryder wanted to laugh. He couldn’t process anything past the point of Kinsey betraying him. There was an emptiness in his chest where his heart had once been.
He didn’t know what the next step was or even what to say. How could he plan anything?
Dmitri came to stand on the other side of Kinsey, but his gaze was on Ryder. Ryder didn’t want to listen to anything they said. He just wanted to be alone with his grief so he could try and sort out when everything had gone wrong.
If he could just find that out, then he would have his answer. He’d be able to know how Kinsey betrayed him and exactly when. Closure. That’s what it was called.
Not that it would help dull any of the pain.
What had they once told Ulrik? That time would help to heal him? That was the biggest load of shite. They had eternity. Something like this never healed.
It sat in their minds and hearts, festering like a wound until everything around it was rotted and black. Dead.
Ryder could hear people talking around him, but none of it penetrated the haze of fury and treachery that surrounded him. He stopped hearing them.
All he saw was Kinsey, the woman he’d loved with his entire soul. Now he was going to have to kill her for her deceit.
Yet when he looked at her, he tried to mesh the woman who’d fought Esther with that of the one in his arms just a few hours earlier. The woman who’d laughed and joked with everyone at dinner. The woman who had looked at the painting of Con with such wonder.
Con had been right. Kinsey was a very good actress to have fooled all of them. All but Con, that is. He’d suspected her from the beginning. And Ryder had only seen a chance to gain Kinsey’s love again.
“Are you going to kill her?”
The words came from behind him as well as in his head. Con. Ryder wanted to ignore him. Instead he looked to the ceiling. “I’ll no’ have you and the others do it.”