Fire Rising

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Rhi could feel her essence fading away. Light Fae were creatures of happiness and pleasure. Just as the Dark could survive in the light, the Light could survive in the dark.

Except this wasn’t just any dark. The place was weighted with evil, subjected to pain and grief until the walls fairly bled with it.

In any other event, she could withstand the way the fortress affected her. This time was different. This time Balladyn had put the Chains of Mordare on her.

They were supposed to have been lost during the Fae Wars.

Just as Balladyn was supposed to have died.

How many other things was she told that were untrue? Not that she would get the chance to speak her mind about being lied to. She was going to suffer right where she was until she died, turned Dark, or until the end of time.

Rhi thought over what Balladyn had told her. He blamed her for his being Dark. Maybe she should have gone into Taraeth’s stronghold and searched for him, but it never entered her mind that Taraeth would actively seek out Balladyn.

The former mentor and friend was no longer the same. Balladyn’s mind had been twisted into something she no longer recognized. His face might look the same, but inside, he was a different Fae.

He was Dark, which meant he was lost to her.

He wasn’t the first to be taken. There was her father, her brother, her mother … and the most painful of them all … her lover.

Maybe Balladyn was right and she was to blame. She was the common denominator to all of them. She was the one to be left standing, so to speak.

The thought of turning Dark scared her. She would rather die, to cease to exist than have her world ripped apart and become something evil, something monstrous.

A loud squeak shouted into the silence, announcing Balladyn’s approach. Rhi kept her head turned away from the door. She couldn’t stand to look at him anymore.

“You look diminished,” he said coolly. “And filthy. You were always so put together, pet, so perfectly made up. How pitiful you look now.”

The weight of the Chains of Mordare held her arms down, making it difficult to move. The ones shackling her ankles were even worse.

“Get on with whatever you want to do to me, and just shut up,” she told him.

Instead of angering him and forcing him to begin the torture as she expected, Balladyn squatted in front of her. “You forget how well I know you, Rhi. Have you ever seen what happens to a Light when we torture them?”

She hadn’t, and he knew it.

His cocky smile grew larger. “I can smell your fear. The great Rhi, captured by me. I’ll become a legend when I turn you to the Dark.”

“I thought you wanted to punish me for leaving you. Making me a Dark Fae won’t accomplish that.”

“I didn’t say I was going to turn you Dark now. In time, remember. There’s no need to rush. There is plenty of … time.”

She looked at the ground and the puddle of water he stood in. For centuries she had mourned him and the Fae he had been, the friend.

“You were a hero to the Light. Once.” She smiled when she saw him stiffen. “I told Usaeil you were a Dark One the last time I saw her. Your name was stricken from the Hall of Heroes.”

There was a beat of silence. “As if I care.”

“I think you still do.” She lifted her gaze to his. “I remember how revered you were, how the females begged for your attention in the hopes of catching your eye and being your mate. I recall how you were chosen to lead the squadron. The queen shouted your accolades to all the Light.”

“Nice try, pet. You should’ve remained at your family estate and married a handsome Fae and had many children.”

“I wasn’t going to be left alone anymore. I refused to be the Fae who waited for news of loved ones and friends from the war. I would be the one to decide my life.”

He tapped the chains with one finger. “And look where that got you. First you do the unthinkable and mix with the Dragon Kings. Did you really think taking him as your lover would work? Did you really think he would stay? With you?”

His words were like weapons, slicing open her wounded heart. He of all people knew how she had mourned for her lover, how she had tried in vain to get him back.

“You see?” Balladyn asked. “All these centuries later you still mourn him. Does he even know? Have you told him yet that you still love him? Perhaps I should be the one to tell him, and then bring him here so he can watch you turn Dark. I bet he wouldn’t even help you.”

“You need someone to blame for what you’ve become. I’m an easy scapegoat. If I hadn’t been there, you would’ve found someone else to blame.”

Balladyn leaned close until they were nose to nose. “No one else exchanged a promise with me never to leave each other behind.”

“Look at that,” she said as she lifted her hand up with great effort, her arm shaking from the weight of the chains. “My polish is chipped. What a bummer. I’ll have to get that fixed.”

With a growl, Balladyn rose and spun away. He stalked away before he walked back to her, once more in control of his emotions.

“You want torture, pet? I’ve got it for you.”

Rhi watched as he spread his arms wide and a black cloud, yawning and dense, which sucked up the meager light in the darkness billowed from his hands and barreled right at her. She bit the inside of her mouth, tasting blood, in her effort to hold back her screams.

The cloud was suffocating, stifling. It beat against her in a disgusting, gloomy mass. Again and again it hit her without hands, slapping against her body until she was thrown against one wall and then another.

Every time she tried to call to her magic, the Chains of Mordare would send an electrical current straight into her brain.

Phelan, along with Charon, crept slowly through the tunnels. Part of the tunnel was so low they had to crawl on all fours to get through it, while other parts were tall enough Phelan was certain any of the Kings could stand upright in dragon form.

Charon thumped him on the arm to get his attention. Phelan looked to the narrow opening in the wall. That’s when he spotted Constantine walking through the tunnels confidently, casually, as if he had been there many times before.

“Was it coincidence he took the tunnel on the right?” Charon asked.

Phelan watched until Con was out of sight. “He might be looking for Rhi.”

“You told me yourself they hate each other.”

It was true. Was Con really there to rescue Rhi? Or make sure she was never found?

Phelan clenched his jaw tightly. “Damn.”

“As soon as we locate Sammi, we’ll start the search for Rhi.”

“We should’ve brought Broc,” he mumbled as he continued onward.

It didn’t matter if Con hated Rhi or not, she wouldn’t get left behind if Phelan had anything to say about it. No matter how much Con might hate her, Rhi would get saved.

Tristan wasn’t surprised when he turned the corner and found Balladyn leaning against the wall, twirling a long blade of grass between his teeth.

As soon as Balladyn saw him, he smiled. “I knew you’d come. Of course, you took your time finding us once you entered the tunnels.”

“I’m here now.”

“So you are.”

“Show me Sammi.”

Balladyn chuckled and straightened. “In time. I have to admit, I’m surprised that you’re willing to give yourself to us in exchange for a human.”

“That is if Sammi is really here.”

He held his hand over his heart mockingly. “You wound me, Dragon King.”

“And you’re trying my patience, Dark One.”

“I think you and I both know it will be pointless to release the pretty Samantha back into your world. She’s tasted us. She’ll never be the same.”

Tristan knew it was going to be hard to keep his feelings for Sammi locked away, but he didn’t expect to be tested so soon. The raging frenzy to attack Balladyn was heavy in his chest, and it took every ounce of control to remain calm. “You couldna keep your hands off her, could you?”

“She does have the most tasty lips,” Balladyn said with a knowing smile. “Tell me, Dragon, why are you really here?”

“She’s my responsibility. I failed to keep her out of your grasp.”

Balladyn tsked. “She’s just a mortal. You’re willing to be locked away with us because of one human? Did Kellan not adequately explain what we’re after?”

Tristan knew, all right. Kellan had information that the Dark wanted. Only the Dark thought all Kings knew whatever secret it was that Kellan held. They would soon learn the truth.

“I see he did,” Balladyn said and tossed aside the grass. “Are you prepared to give up that information?”

“Are you prepared to die?”

“Such confidence. Bandying words with you will be better than with Sammi.”

“And Rhi.”

Balladyn’s smile was sly and secretive. He turned away without answering. “Come, Dragon. It’s time for you to see Sammi.”

Tristan didn’t have to look behind him to know that Ian was there. In fact, he could pinpoint Ian’s exact location—hanging by his hands and feet flat against the ceiling of the tunnel.

No one ever looked up.

Tristan sent a quick message to Con letting him know he was with Balladyn and being led to Sammi. There was no reply back from Con, but he didn’t take that to mean anything. There was no telling what Con was involved with at that moment.

He followed Balladyn through a door and then a maze of corridors and a dozen more doors. Finally Balladyn stopped in front of what looked like a wall, but as Tristan drew closer he could see it was actually a mirror.

“She doesn’t know it’s a mirror,” the Dark Fae explained. “To her, it’s simply a wall.”

Tristan knew he was about to be put to the ultimate test. The Dark wanted to know if he truly cared for Sammi, and if he let one shred of reaction show, one slip of indignation, he and Sammi were both doomed.

He kept his gaze on Balladyn as the Fae watched him with a shrewd grin. “Have a look,” he bade.

With a tight control on his emotions, Tristan slowly turned to the mirror. At first he saw nothing but a handful of Dark Fae standing around.

Then he saw a bare foot. That’s when he realized there was a woman lying on the floor with the Dark Ones around her. Two of the Fae shifted, giving Tristan a glimpse of a Fae atop her, pleasuring her.

Sammi.

It was Sammi. He’d know those sandy waves of her hair anywhere. Tristan couldn’t see her face, but then he didn’t need to. Balladyn wouldn’t bring him to anyone but Sammi.

She moaned, her legs lifting to wrap around the Dark Fae as he filled her. The others began to quickly undress as they waited their turn.

“Unlike Denae, Sammi wanted us. She begged. Repeatedly. We hunger for the pleasures of the flesh as well as the hope within mortals. Odd. Sammi had very little hope, which Taraeth fed off of, but her body was willing.”

Tristan couldn’t stand to watch another minute, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away either. The anguish and desolation ran deep within him.

He had been too late. He had taken too much time. He had failed her as he had promised not to do.

Sammi had held out for as long as she could. Tristan didn’t blame her. He blamed himself.

“Does it pain you to see her this way after you’ve had her in your bed?”

Tristan inhaled deeply. The icy calm that took him centered all his hatred and despondency on one person—Balladyn. Tristan began to plan how he was going to kill the Dark One.

“It pains me to see any human in your clutches. You bleed their souls dry so they can never return to their families.”

Balladyn shrugged. “None of them complain.”

Tristan was about to turn away when he spotted a small heart tattoo on the outer ankle of the woman. He had seen every inch of Sammi’s body. She didn’t have any such markings.

He swiveled his head to Balladyn. “That isna Sammi. Where is she?”