Balladyn glanced down at her sword. She was quick enough that she could get the blade up and in the neck of an unsuspecting Dark. But Balladyn had helped train her. He knew her tricks. Or most of them.

“I called you because I have the information you seek on the Reapers.”

Rhi’s head whipped to the side as she stared at a sand dune.

Balladyn followed her gaze but saw nothing. “Rhi?”

“Tell me,” she demanded without looking at him.

“It took some digging, as well as piecing things together to find the original story, but I learned the truth.”

“How do you know it’s original?” she asked, still staring at the dune.

Balladyn rubbed his jaw. “There was a hidden number sequence in the texts. If someone didn’t know what they were looking for, they could easily think there was a mistake in the book.”

“Go on.”

“I found all but one of the pieces. I’ve exhausted all of my books. The final piece must be hidden somewhere.”

She swiveled her head back to him with a frown. “I know the library you had at the queen’s court.”

“What I have now is three times that size. I have a copy of every book there is. I’ve looked through each of them twice. Someone has hidden the last piece of this puzzle.”

Rhi lifted her chin. “Tell me what you do know.”

“The Reapers are real. They are a group of Fae with immense power.”

“How much power?”

“More than Usaeil and Taraeth combined. More than even you, I think.”

A small pucker formed in her forehead. “What is their purpose?”

“They are judge, jury, and executioner.”

“Why can’t we see them?”

Balladyn shrugged. “It didn’t say. There was a warning that they are not to be messed with. If they come after a Fae, it’s over.”

“Why haven’t they come for Taraeth? Or you?” she asked with a smirk.

Balladyn would never let her know just how much her words hurt him. She had held his heart for so long, and she hadn’t even known it. Nor did she realize he would do anything for her.

“You’ll have to ask them,” Balladyn said.

Her sneer faded. “Why do they come for us?”

“Something about the law and balance. It was in the old language, Rhi, and some of the lines were so faded I couldn’t make them out. If people are whispering about Reapers, it’s because they’re back.”

“Back? Where have they been?”

“I don’t know or care.”

She shifted feet and glanced at the sand dune. “Do they follow us? Can they remain veiled indefinitely?”

Balladyn looked at the sand dune and then back at Rhi. “It didn’t say. You think someone is following you?”

“Yes. They have been for some time. I thought it was you.”

“I can’t stay veiled that long. When did it begin?”

She looked away from his gaze. “A few weeks. Whoever it is can track me anywhere.”

“Are they here now?”

She looked up into his face, a frown of worry lining her face. “Yes.”

“Have you spoken to them?”

“I tried.” Rhi swallowed and gave a little shake of her head. “They won’t show themselves or tell me what they want. My every action is being watched.”

Worry, heavy and copious, swarmed him. “Has anything drastic happened lately?”

She gave him a dark look. “You mean like a trusted friend who I thought was dead but was actually turned Dark who kidnapped and tortured me while making me wear the Chains of Mordare? Is that the kind of drastic you were referring to?”

“Yes. You also left out how you shattered the chains and escaped, leveling my compound. Your power has increased, pet.”

“And I have you to thank for that?”

Balladyn snorted in laughter. “Me? It was always within you. You held it back. I just helped you free it.”

She took a step away from him, as if she thought he might try to take her again. Balladyn wanted her, but it wouldn’t be by force. She would come willingly to his bed. No matter how long it took, he would woo her.

“Anything else?” he asked. He always held out hope that she would sever ties with the Dragon Kings, but it was a long shot.

When she quickly looked away, his smile died. Something had happened. “What is it? What happened?”

“I quit the Queen’s Guard.”

Balladyn was too shocked to speak. From the day both he and her brother, Rolmir, were chosen for the Queen’s Guard, Rhi had worked to achieve the same status.

“Why?” was all he could get out.

Rhi threw up her hands, the point of her sword landing in the sand when her arms fell back by her sides. “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling that Usaeil is failing the Light. She’s more concerned with her career in the human world instead of seeing what is happening with what you’re doing to the Kings.”

Balladyn knew Rhi considered him her enemy. But he had never hungered to taste the enemy’s kisses before now. Nor had he ever cared for one so much.

In his mind, Rhi was as far from his enemy as possible. She couldn’t see that yet, but the fact she was talking to him as they once did before he was Dark was a start.

“There’s something else,” he guessed after seeing her loathing every time she spoke of the queen.

Rhi hesitated. She looked hurt and vulnerable in that moment, and Balladyn wanted to kill whoever had put her in such a position.

He closed the distance between them and gently put his hands on her arms. Balladyn was surprised she let him near. She had been so skittish since her arrival.

“Rhi,” he said softly.

Her silver eyes lifted to his. “I believe the queen is having an affair with a King.”

No other words were needed. Now Balladyn knew why Rhi left the queen. After the turmoil Usaeil had put Rhi through for her affair, it was completely wrong for Usaeil to go down that same road.

And it made Balladyn want to kill the queen for it.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-NINE

Lexi opened her eyes, her brain foggy. She blinked several times and looked around the room again, noticing more. It was large, spacious, and too lavish for her tastes.

Whoever lived here had money. And they wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

It was still dark outside. She brought her hand to her head. It ached terribly. What she wouldn’t give for an aspirin.

“Finally awake, I see,” said a male voice laced with humor in a refined British accent.

Lexi stiffened and tightened her hands on the blanket. She sat up, the leather couch creaking as she made sure she was covered. Flames danced in the fireplace as a man in a dark suit sat in the leather chair opposite her. He had a glass of liquor in one hand that rested on the arm of the chair. She looked into his face that appeared red and gold from the firelight to find him watching her.

She swallowed, remembering how someone had held her as they poured much of it down her throat. There had to have been something else in it because she had passed out.

Whatever they did, it stopped what Taraeth had been doing to her. Lexi almost thanked them. But this man couldn’t be a friend of the Kings if he knew Taraeth well enough to have been brought a “present.”

“I hear you have spirit. Did you use it all on Taraeth and his men?” the man asked with a chuckle.

Lexi sat back on the couch. “Will you let me go?”

“Heavens, no,” he said. “Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m no one’s property.”

He leaned forward and smiled like a wolf about to devour a lamb. His gold eyes crinkled in the corners, as if he had been waiting for her to say just those words. “Oh, but you are now. Taraeth took you. The Dark don’t easily hand such a prize over. Especially not with a mate of a Dragon King.”

“As I told Taraeth, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Dragon King.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “There’s no such thing as dragons. Now, Fae? Obviously that’s a different kettle of fish altogether.”

He cocked his head to the side. “How do you know of the Fae?”