“They’re in the mountain behind the manor in a cage bound with magic.”
That didn’t make her feel any better. How could a cage hold dragons? And large ones at that? She decided to move past that for now. “What happened to Ulrik?”
“We united our magic to bind his. He would be unable to communicate with his Silvers. We also made sure he could never shift.”
“So he’s in dragon form?”
Ryder looked at the floor. “He’s in human form.”
“Damn,” she murmured. “That was cruel.”
“We also banished him from Dreagan.”
She shook her head at Ryder when he looked up at her. “Why? Didn’t any of you realize he was hurt? Why take such drastic measures?”
“He started a war, Kinsey. Because of that we lost thousands of dragons and hundreds of Kings. And let’s no’ forget we had to send our dragons away.”
Kinsey crossed her arms over her chest. “No, you didn’t. You could’ve stopped all of that from happening by doing several things. First, Ulrik should’ve been told what his woman was doing. He should’ve been allowed to do what he wanted with her. Second, vow or no’, you could’ve stopped all the dragon killings by using your magic on humans. Whether to kill them or stop them, something could’ve been done.”
“We were no’ thinking that way.”
“You reacted almost as harshly as Ulrik. I applaud your race for wanting to look after humans, but in the end, you sacrificed your own kind for us. Look where you are now.”
“Doona remind me,” he murmured. “Would you rather we had killed mortals and wiped their existence?”
“I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that Ulrik was punished for a quick reaction, and yet Con and the rest of you reacted just as quickly, but in another way. Both of you are to blame.”
Ryder stared at her a long while before he said, “You’re the second human to tell us that.”
“It’s because I’m awesome that way.” Then she got curious. “Who was the other?”
“Darcy. She’s mated to Warrick.”
Kinsey grinned. “Then she’s a smart woman. How did she come to my conclusion?”
“She saw Ulrik’s memories.”
“What?” Kinsey nearly fell out of her chair she was so surprised. “I think you might’ve skipped some parts.”
Ryder leaned up and typed in something on the virtual keyboard before he turned to her. “With Ulrik and his Silvers contained, the rest of the Kings retreated to Dreagan. We bound our border with magic to keep all humans out, and we took to our mountains to sleep. Hundreds of years passed as we waited for mortals to forget and the stories to turn into legends and myth.”
“That certainly explains all the dragon myths around the world. In every friggin’ culture, I might add.”
He grinned. “That’s right. We remained hidden while Ulrik had to walk the earth as a mortal. Slowly we reemerged and began to live again. We began distilling whisky to support Dreagan and our lifestyles. All the while we hid our true selves. We only shifted at night or during thunderstorms. More years elapsed and then the leap in technology made even that more difficult, but we always managed to take to the skies as often as we could.”
“Except for now.” She felt sorry for him and the others. The kind of sorrow that hurt her all the way to her bones, because there was nothing that could be done about it. It was past decisions and actions that led all of them—dragons, Fae, and humans—to where they were now.
“Except for now,” he repeated. “During all this time we kept a close eye on Ulrik. He was often seen in the company of Druids.”
Kinsey was going to stop him and ask him to explain, but then she realized that it was no surprise Druids were real. The history books mentioned them often enough.
“Dragon magic is the strongest in the realm,” Ryder said. “Every Druid who tried to help Ulrik was killed. Then he met Darcy. Her magic was so powerful that she was able to touch our magic binding his. In the process, she saw into his mind and his memories. She also unbound his magic.”
Kinsey was leaning forward in her seat now. “That can’t be good.”
“In the process, Darcy lost her magic. Ulrik has been relentless in trying to take his revenge against us. He’s teamed up with the Dark to help him in that quest.”
She drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know that I blame him.”
“He tried to kill Darcy.”
“Well, shit.”
Ryder looked down at his hands for a second. “But he saved Lily.”
“I think there might be more going on than any of you realize,” Kinsey told him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ryder agreed with her. Even with his vast skills, there was less out there about Ulrik than there was about Con, which was nearly nothing. So finding something that could connect Ulrik to an individual or company was proving harder than Ryder wanted to admit.