Fire Rising

CHAPTER TWENTY

Sammi opened the iPad and hit the music icon. Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” began a slow, sexy beat. Sammi began to sing along as she leaned back in the chair.

The song reminded her too much of her time with Tristan. The words got locked in her throat, clogging it until the emotion began to overwhelm her.

She quickly hit the forward button and Kings of Leon blared through the speakers. It helped to chase away the feelings she didn’t want to face.

Sammi got to her feet and walked around the sparse room. She guessed it was a room. It looked more like a small cave, and since they were inside a mountain, she assumed that’s exactly what it was.

“Sammi!”

She whirled around as Jane came running into the room, her arms wrapping around her tightly. Sammi closed her eyes and held onto her sister.

“Are you all right?” Jane asked.

Sammi nodded and tightened her grip. “I guess you know all of it?”

Jane laughed and pulled back. “We’ve known since before you left. You told Tristan and Banan everything.”

“No, I didn’t.” She was sure she hadn’t. She had gone out of her way to give them just enough to leave her alone.

It was the way Jane suddenly wouldn’t meet her gaze that told Sammi something had happened, something she wasn’t going to like.

“Jane, I didn’t tell them.”

Her sister dropped her arms and stepped back. “Laith told us that you know who Banan and Tristan are.”

“Yes, but that’s not the point.”

“It is,” Jane insisted. “If you know they’re Dragon Kings, then you must also know that each has a certain … gift, you could say.”

“Gift?” Sammi repeated, dread seeping into her pores. “What type of gift?”

Jane shrugged nonchalantly. “Each is different.”

“What is Tristan’s?”

Jane visibly cringed. “Don’t be angry with him. He was doing exactly what Banan and I asked.”

“Jane,” Sammi urged.

“He can make you tell the things you wouldn’t otherwise.”

Sammi rubbed her forehead and desperately tried to contain the rage that bubbled within her. “So the night I felt calmer and more at ease…”

“Was the night you told them everything, yes,” Jane said grudgingly. “He gave you some peace at least.”

“And you all allowed me to sneak off?”

Jane bit her lip. “Sammi—”

“While they followed me?”

Of course. It all fit into place now. No wonder Tristan had found her so easily. She had believed she’d gotten away from the Mob, but in reality Tristan had been protecting her.

So much for her having the courage to face the time alone out in the wild. She hadn’t been alone. She had never been in any danger.

That wasn’t what riled her so. It was how easily Tristan had controlled her mind into spilling the secrets she had been protecting. If he did it once, he could do it again.

“Tristan tried to get me to come back here from the very beginning,” she said as she glared at Jane.

Jane’s smile was weak. “I begged him to return you any way he could.”

Sammi began to laugh. What a fool she had been. While she had been trying to protect her heart from disaster, Tristan had been manipulating her into getting exactly what he wanted. And who knew if what she felt for him was real? After all, he could erase all her fears with a simple touch.

“There is no Dark attack coming, is there?”

Jane’s forehead furrowed. “It’s surprising all of us that the Dark would dare to come onto Dreagan, but it appears as if they are.”

“Why? I’m no one. I wasn’t involved with anyone at Dreagan except for you, and we might talk on the phone, but I had never been here before. Why would they use me? Why not someone else to get to the guys?”

“I don’t know,” Jane said in a low voice.

Sammi shut off the music. “The entire time I’ve been here and around Tristan I’ve felt as if I’m given just enough of the truth to keep me quiet. I’m tired of it all. I’m tired of running for my life, I’m tired of my body hurting, and I’m tired of being used.”

“Used? Sammi—”

“Used,” she said over Jane. “I was used by Daniel to launder money in my pub. If all of you are right, then I’ve been used by the Mob—who are actually the Kings’ enemy—to get to you, thereby to Banan. I was used by Banan to get information. I was used by all of you to flush out the people after me. And I was used by Tris…”

She couldn’t even finish saying his name.

Her chest ached as she struggled to calm her breathing, but her chest was heaving and her heart pounded with dismay. She had given her body to Tristan, and she thought he’d felt something, anything for her by the way he touched her so passionately and loved her so thoroughly.

The truth was a cold bedfellow, and part of Sammi wished she was still trying to piece it all together.

“We did it to protect you.”

Jane’s heartfelt words did little to ease Sammi. Once more she had given a piece of her heart to someone—her sister. She hadn’t wanted to, but Jane had been persistent, and Sammi had been so lonely.

All it proved was that Sammi really couldn’t trust anyone. Not an ex-lover turned business partner, not her half-sister, and certainly not a mysterious, gorgeous man who could make her float with just a kiss.

“I’d like to be alone,” she said and turned her back to Jane.

“Sammi, please,” Jane begged.

But she refused to look at her sister.

She waited until Jane’s footsteps faded to nothing before she peeked out of the doorway to see if anyone was keeping watch. Luckily, everyone thought she would stay put during the so-called threat.

How wrong they were. She hurried from the room, looking over her shoulder frequently.

Oh, she knew someone was after her, and she knew there was real danger out there in the form of Dark Fae. It wasn’t that she had a death wish or wanted to push the limits, it was simply a matter of her taking control of her life.

Sammi got turned around so many times in the mountain that she lost count. Several times she had to hide behind boulders or duck into caves when she heard someone near.

It was only by sheer luck that as she was walking past an opening, she glanced inside to see the silver dragons. They were caged as they slept almost peacefully. She wanted to go to them, but there was a man with them. He had wavy blond hair, and was dressed in slacks and a shirt rolled up to his elbows.

She wisely skipped getting a closer look at the dragons and instead managed to find her way out of the mountain. Only to stop dead in her tracks as she saw how the manor was built into the mountain.

Sammi kept to the hedges and trees as she quickly made her way to the parking lot of the distillery. There had to be someone who would give her a ride out.

She rounded a corner and collided with someone. Sammi was knocked backward, but managed to fall into a hedge instead of onto the ground.

“Ow,” came a muffled American accent.

Sammi looked over to find none other than Lily. She started laughing as she straightened and helped Lily to her feet. “Thank God it was you.”

Lily dusted off her oversized shirt and skirt. “Sammi? Are you all right? You look better than when I saw you last week.”

Had it really been that long? “Sorry I ran into you. You got the job, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Lily beamed, her black eyes shining with excitement. “I’m really enjoying it too.”

“That’s lovely. Listen, Lily, can you give me a ride out of here?”

Lily nodded. “Of course. Is Jane busy?”

“Very much so. Do you mind if we leave now?” Sammi asked as she grabbed Lily’s purse and ushered her toward the old BMW.

Lily’s eyes grew troubled. “Where do you need to go? I need to be home at a certain time.” She stopped and then gave a little shake of her head. “Sorry. I’m past that now.”

Sammi was about to ask why a grown woman had a curfew, but she had more important matters at hand. “How far can you take me?”

“Wherever you need.”

“Then take me as far as you can,” Sammi said as she got into the passenger seat.

She listened to Lily talk of all the customers she had met while they drove from Dreagan. Still, Sammi didn’t relax. She had thought she’d gotten away from Dreagan once before. For all she knew, she was being followed again.

Her hand tightened on the strap of the seat belt as she belatedly realized she had put Lily in danger. The Mob or the Dark Fae was probably watching her.

“Are there any cars behind you?” Sammi asked.

Lily chuckled. “No.” Then she glanced at her and the smile vanished. “Are you in trouble?”

“More than you could possibly believe. I sorry, Lily. I shouldn’t have involved you.”

Lily just shrugged and looked in the rearview mirror again. “I gather since you’re running from Dreagan that you’d prefer me not to tell Jane that I helped.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“I thought I’d see you around the distillery these past days, but Cassie told me your wound needed tending and you were resting. The dark circles are no longer visible, by the way. I think the rest suited you.”

Sammi looked out her window. It wasn’t rest she had wanted. It was Tristan. How quickly time passed when she wanted to savor it. If only she hadn’t fallen asleep she might have been awake when he left.

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

“What?” Lily asked.

“Something my mother used to say. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I always found that saying so trite, but it’s so damn true.”

“Yes. It is.”

Sammi jerked her gaze to Lily. Gone was the shy smile. The cautious, petite woman looked haggard, afraid, and disillusioned. An inner voice nudged Sammi to ask, “You have a curfew?”

“No,” Lily said with a smile.

But that smile was forced. Sammi was conscious that hers wasn’t the only life that had gone to hell and back, but was Lily’s one of them?

“Still no cars behind us.”

Sammi nodded absently. “Cars. Right.” She mentally shook herself. She wanted to help Lily, but first she had to help herself.

She leaned forward and looked up at the sky before gazing out of the side window.

“Are you looking for a plane now?” Lily asked.

Sammi shot her a smile. “Something like that. There are few clouds. A nice, clear day.”

“That’s good, I suppose.”

“Very good,” she said as she sat back.

The rest of the ride went by all too quickly. Sammi found she and Lily had a lot in common, and the only thing that made warning bells go off was how Lily easily diverted talk away from her past.

When Lily pulled the car over in a small village, Sammi spotted the bus stop just up the road. “Thank you. Get home safely.”

“You stay safe as well,” Lily called with a wave.

Sammi got out of the car and shut the door, waving as Lily did a U-turn and turned back the way they had come. She took a few moments to check her surroundings and look for anyone suspicious, letting out a sigh when the coast was clear.

Then she walked to the bus.