Inferno, page 12
And that told Usaeil that as powerful as they may be, they couldn’t come close to touching her might. Whatever fear she held for the Reapers and Death had dissipated in an instant.
Her head turned to the side so she could look at Xaneth once more. He was the only one who could claim the throne she had vacated when Rhi had attempted to kill her. Not that Xaneth would ever break free of the spell she had him under. He wasn’t strong enough to figure it out—or counter her spell.
Usaeil hadn’t checked on the Light or Dark Fae since she’d taken Moreann. She wanted them to flounder for a while before she stepped in as the Queen of the Fae, not just the Light. It was her destiny, and it was nearly within her grasp. Once she had that, Con would have to give her the respect she deserved. No one else on this realm could equal his power but her, and he would see it.
She didn’t want to love him. In fact, she thought of it as a weakness because it could be used against her. However, she also realized how much power Con had. Nobody could harm Earth if they stood together.
Con cared about the humans despite what they had done to the dragons. He thought of his Kings before anything else, which meant that Usaeil would use both of those instances to reach him. He would then come to see that she had some good in her, and eventually, he would love her.
The sound of screaming reached Usaeil from down the hall. Moreann wasn’t taking too kindly to being held, but Rhi didn’t care. The Druid would remain there for as long as Usaeil saw fit.
She spun from the window and left her nephew’s room to descend the stairs. When she reached the main floor, she spotted one of her Trackers giving something to another. Usaeil strode to the door and held out her hand.
“Where did you come from?” she demanded of the Tracker.
“Castle,” he replied.
She unrolled the paper as she eyed the Tracker. She had them all around the world, veiled as they followed her enemies or spied on places like the Dark Palace and the Light Castle. She wanted to place some near Dreagan, but the Kings would no doubt discover them before the Trackers could give her any information.
Usaeil looked down at the message that read:
Rhiannon has taken the throne and declared herself queen.
Usaeil ground her teeth together as she reread the line a second time. “That bitch. Of course, she would. I always knew she coveted my position. Well, I hope she enjoys it because she won’t be there long.”
Then she realized there was more to the message.
Constantine has come twice. The second time, Rhi announced that she and Con would be mated.
Anger like Usaeil had never known before erupted within her. She threw back her head and screamed her rage as she lowered her arms and spread her fingers with her palms facing out. She released magic, uncaring who or what was struck.
This couldn’t be happening. Con was hers. She’d made sure of it long ago when she broke up his and Rhi’s relationship. For thousands of years, the two of them hadn’t rekindled their affair. They were supposed to be finished.
Usaeil lifted her head and stared at the Tracker that had brought her the news. She sneered at him as she lifted a hand and swiped it through the air, taking his head with her magic.
Rhi had her throne.
Rhi had her power.
Rhi had the love of the people.
And … Rhi had Con.
Usaeil couldn’t allow this to continue. All of that was hers. Rhi was a usurper, who needed to be reminded of her place—which was beneath Usaeil’s boot heel.
When she closed her hands into fists, there was nothing left but bits and pieces of the Trackers who had been near her. Even the house was destroyed. She snapped her fingers and fixed the building. She then stepped over the remains of the dead Trackers. It was time she took back her throne.
Suddenly, she stopped. She needed a plan, one that would give her a dramatic entrance, but also one that would cause all Fae to tremble with fear at her approach.
“Maybe the Light shouldn’t be my first stop,” she said aloud.
Usaeil dressed in her sexiest red outfit that hugged all her curves and showed ample cleavage before she teleported to the Dark Palace and walked up the wide steps to the huge doors. Once inside, she simply stood and looked around. For several minutes, no one paid her any heed. Not that she expected any different. The Dark had other … appetites, as was evident by the cages filled with humans, who would happily have sex with a Dark, all while unknowingly having their souls drained in the process.
And to think that, at one time, Usaeil had thought that disgusting. She quite liked it, actually. It was the very way she’d come to be pregnant with many of her offspring, including Thea. It was too bad she hadn’t been able to bring Con’s seed to life. If she’d been able to fill her womb with his bairn, she knew he’d have never left her.
Finally, one of the Dark pushed away from the wall and walked to her. He eyed her with his red eyes, his black and silver hair short and slicked back from his face. She remained still as he looked her up and down.
“Slumming it, aren’t you?” he asked.
Usaeil propped a hand on her hip. “You should be on your knees when you speak to your queen.”
He laughed, his gaze narrowing on her. “Oh, you’ll do great here, love.”
“I’m not joking. Get on your knees, and you’ll refer to me as Queen Usaeil.”
His handsome face went slack. “Usaeil? The Light Queen?”
“Do I look Light to you? In fact, I haven’t been Light in thousands upon thousands of years. I had my family killed to ensure that no one could take my throne. And now, I’m going to rule both the Light and the Dark.”
“But,”—he hesitated—“we heard the Light have a new queen.”
Usaeil smiled then. “Not for long.”
The Dark’s smile was slow as he lowered himself to one knee. And he wasn’t the only one. Others had been listening to the conversation. They, too, bent a knee.
“Hail Usaeil, Queen of the Dark!”
She smiled as the cheer rose, causing many more in the palace to take notice. She glanced down at the Dark who had first approached her and motioned for him to rise. “Come with me,” she said as she made her way to the stairs to take over the chambers that had been Balladyn’s. “What’s your name?”
“Coslar,” he replied.
“Well, Coslar, you’re going to remain with me until I’m bored with you.”
“That won’t happen, my queen.”
She snorted loudly and pushed open the doors to her new chambers. “Oh, it will. I can promise you that. Now, see to it that the guards take up their positions immediately throughout the palace and on the grounds. Then, you’ll return and tell me who all has been vying for the Dark throne.”
Coslar hurried to carry out her orders. While he was gone, Usaeil got rid of all the masculine furniture and decorations in the suite. She wanted everything having to do with Balladyn gone for good. With that thought, she also removed the colors he’d chosen. They might be favored by the Dark, but she didn’t care.
She was a queen, something the Dark had never had. It was time they realized that she did things differently. She would be their queen, but she would unite the Fae eventually. Sooner rather than later, if she had anything to say about it.
Usaeil magically installed black wood floors and a large Persian-style rug in deep burgundy and gray. Two overstuffed armchairs in deep gray sat opposite a black leather Chesterfield sofa. Between them stood a wooden coffee table, its top made from a slice of oak. She stood back to look at her work.
“The guards are in place,” Coslar said when he returned.
Usaeil sat in one of the chairs and tested its comfort. Satisfied, she motioned to the sofa. “Take a seat. I’m sure you have a lot to tell me.”
He sat and spread one arm along the back of the couch. “Why me? Others probably know more than I do.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to discover anything I need you to.”
“I can,” he assured her. “But you still haven’t told me why you chose me.”
Usaeil crossed one leg over the other and placed her hands in her lap. “I’ve been a queen for a very long time. I learned the ins and outs of court when I was just a child. With one look, I can tell who people respect and who they don’t. When we were speaking, I wasn’t the one who first got their attention. It was you. And not because you got down on one knee. You’re the kind of man who gets attention wherever you go.”
“All Fae do.”
“Perhaps,” she replied. “From humans. But if you can do that to the Fae, then you hold power. I’m guessing you already knew that, though, didn’t you?”
His smile was slow as it spread over his face. “That I did.”
“You’ve used that to your benefit, as well.”
“I certainly have.”
It was her turn to smile. “Just what I wanted to hear. Now, give me the details of those who want the throne.”
PART TWO
“It begins and ends with the Dragon Kings.”
—UNKNOWN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
There were few things Rhi gave up on. Sleep that night was one of them. Con was too close. Knowing that he was across the vastness of the queen’s chambers still meant that he was closer than he had been in millennia.
And it disrupted her sleep.
She knew that no matter what she did, as long as he was in the castle, she wouldn’t rest. She returned to the library instead. Well, she did after she destroyed Usaeil’s spell, preventing any Fae from teleporting in or out of the castle.
They were Fae. Fae used magic. Preventing them from doing what they did every day of their lives was idiotic. Usaeil might have done it to ensure that no enemies could surround her, and while it sounded like a good plan, Rhi didn’t agree. A Fae could be surrounded by their enemies at any time. Usaeil just liked to control others, and preventing Fae from jumping in or out of the castle was just another way to do that.
Once Rhi had broken Usaeil’s spell, she was able to teleport to the back room of the library without anyone knowing. Until she knew what the book was, she’d rather no one knew about her whereabouts or what she was reading.
She looked up, taking note of the room itself. The ceiling was so high that it disappeared into the darkness. Some kind of magic allowed a soft light to spotlight the pedestal and the book upon it. When it sensed someone in the room, the light brightened to appear like sunlight.
The walls were a simple white, and the floor matched the white marble of the rest of the library. No other adornments or decorations were within the room. Rhi’s gaze returned to the tome. Because it was the only thing a person was supposed to see upon entering.
She walked to the book and lifted it in her hands. It was heavy, as if the words and knowledge within were weighty—and she suspected that was exactly the case.
Rhi called a small settee that would fit in the room. It was comfortable, allowing her to recline as she read through the many pages instead of standing or sitting on the floor. Though there was little room for anything or anyone else in the chamber.
Before she opened the book, she gazed at the cover. Some bindings within the library were so ornate, it had likely taken months for a Fae to craft them, even using magic. Some had gold as decoration, some silver. Some even had gemstones adhered to the covers to bring attention to them.
But not this book. It was as simple as the chamber. It was covered in leather. Someone had gone to a great deal of effort to craft such a fine piece of hide, but it was leather just the same. And, oddly, there was no title on either the front or the spine. The more she looked at the tome, the more intrigued she became.
She took in a deep breath, letting the leather scent fill her nostrils. The binding of the cover creaked as Rhi opened it. This time, she took more notice of the pages. She rubbed her fingers against them. They were thin and light. Not heavy, like linen, at all. Several pages were left blank at the beginning. Instead of picking up where she had left off, she decided to start from the beginning.
“It begins and ends with the Dragon Kings,” she read aloud. “They shepherd in death and give rise to life. To have them as an enemy is to ensure your demise. But to have them as an ally means untold destinies await.”
Rhi swallowed and let those words sink in. Was this book the reason Usaeil had eventually joined the Kings against the Dark in the Fae Wars? Had she read this and realized what could be given to the Light if they became friends with the Kings?
That didn’t sound like Usaeil at all. She had never been keen on books, and, in fact, used to get irritated at Balladyn for always being in the library.
If Rhi had to guess, Usaeil either hadn’t known about the book, or she hadn’t read it.
A frown furrowed Rhi’s brow when she thought about how the words had moved about the page when she first found it. Was that part of the book? Did it do that to ensure that not everyone could read what was within the pages?
“Why me?” she asked the tome.
There was no reply, of course. Then again, the answer was probably within the pages. She leaned her head to the side and looked at the thickness of the book. It was wider than her hand. Stood on end, the volume was easily half a meter tall. She had no idea who’d written it or why it had been hidden. Though she was glad she’d found it.
Rhi went back to reading and, in seconds, became absorbed in the pages as the narrator talked of the grandeur of the Dragon Kings, the beauty of dragons, and how their realm was one that offered those the Kings allowed to live there life, abundance, and magic.
But not all the pages were filled with niceties. The narrator went into great detail about how powerful the dragons were, how the earth would shake when they clashed on the ground.
Dragons might love the sky, but they will fight anywhere. Be it land, air, or even the seas. Yes, dragons love to swim. Some have even chosen that as their domain. They are terrifyingly violent. Their mere presence commands respect, as well as awe.
They are, in a word, formidable.
I’ve seen them clash in the air, their magic colliding so that storms formed. I’ve seen them clash upon the ground with such force that mountains crumbled, and vast swaths of land broke away. I’ve seen them fight in the waters so that great tsunamis rose from the seas and swallowed islands, decimating anything close to shore.
But for all their savagery, there is another side to them—one of giving and kindness. They’re all about clans and family. They look after one another in ways that all other species in the universe could learn from.
No clan turns their back on one of their own. Ever. There are tempers and battles, but the Kings of each clan are quick to rein them in before they can get too extreme.
Dragons aren’t like the rest of the species in the vast universe who do any number of horrible things to one another. However, I don’t want you to think that dragons are perfect. They’re far from it.
But they are ruled by an inner voice that none of us have ever heard—or can hear. I’ve tried, believe me, I’ve tried. I want to hear whatever it is that governs not just the dragons, but also the Dragon Kings—and most especially, the King of Dragon Kings.
The few dragons who are bad seeds—because you can’t have good without evil—are dealt with swiftly and justly. Stealing is not tolerated within a clan but done to another clan can see the dragon rewarded within his own. Lying is something that not even the dragons can get away from.
But if you want to know what honor is, you need only look to one individual—the King of Dragon Kings.
He is the one who will sacrifice everything—even his own life—to protect the dragons and the realm. A more selfless individual, I’ve never known. Years of study didn’t tell me how a dragon became King of his clan or how one becomes King of Kings. I finally had to ask.
The answer: the magic of the realm.
Coming from a species of individuals where the greatest power and command are the ones who rule, I was shocked by this. The idea, however, is an intriguing one. The rulers aren’t chosen by bloodline nor are they given the honor by force. Instead, the magic searches the heart of each and every dragon. It then looks into the deepest reaches of their minds to see what kind of dragon they are.
Only the purest of heart, the ones with honor, patience, and kindness are considered. Only then is their magic and power factored in. Because only the strongest of the strong can best the current King to take his place.
The first time I saw a dragon challenge a Dragon King, I stood in awe, watching the battle. It lasted for nearly an entire day, and in the end, the clan had a new King.
Not all new Kings must issue a challenge. Some are killed in battle, and the new one simply takes over. I was told that a dragon feels the magic within him, telling him it’s time to become King. In an odd twist, there are actually some who don’t want the position. Some because they like their current King, and others because it means challenging—and killing—either a friend or family member.
It’s all so barbaric for a species that I would consider ahead of its time.
Then there are those who so desperately want to be King that they believe they feel the magic, when in fact, they do not. They issue a challenge, and the King has no choice but to fight. Of course, the King keeps his position, but in order to do that, he has to kill the one who challenged him.
It didn’t matter what battle I watched, there wasn’t a single King who enjoyed killing. The ones who did, well, the magic didn’t choose them. Somehow, the magic of the realm knows who to pick in order to keep the balance on the realm and peace within the ranks.
No matter how much I admire the Dragon Kings, there is one who awes me—the King of Kings. He’s set apart from the others. One of them, but also not.
The Dragon Kings are a tight bunch. No one can truly know what it means to be a King unless you have the position. Which explains their close friendships. And that surprises me because there is a chance any time during their reign that it’ll all come to an end. That doesn’t matter to them. They form those bonds anyway, showing yet again their big hearts and their affinity for inclusion, not exclusion.
