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"Surely she did not escape on her own"
"Yes, she did" His jaw clenched
"So you did not let her go?" Brand persisted, obviously styed to outwit you?"
"How many ould you have me say it? I locked her up, but she found a way out" Because she slipped the medallion from my neck when I was distracted by the feel of her body under rinned "That is a to bet that woround to a halt when he noticed Darius&039;s thunderous glower He cleared his throat "Why did you have her locked away?"
"She is a traveler"
His grin faded, and his eyes lost all sparks of merriment "She must die Even a wohed
Brand&039;s tone became stark "What do you need one"
"But I am not truly a Guardian The coldness of the cave eaken aze to the doreat city churned as fiercely as his need to see Grace The teuilty Just as she? Waves crashed turbulently against the crystal, swishing and swirling, driving away all sea life Just as quickly as one wave appeared, another took its place, leaving a splattering of foam on each individual pris days? Days of storh "What say you, Brand? Will you reh the portal, be they man or woman, adult or child?"
With only a brief hesitation, Brand nodded "I will guard the one You have my word of honor"
"Thank you" He trusted Brand completely with this task Only a man who had lost loved ones to a traveler truly understood the ih
Brand inclined his head in acknowledg at all That is up to you"
"Very well I will leave you now so that you may prepare for your journey"
Darius nodded and wondered if there was any way to actually prepare hier he sent to Javar&039;s holding returned as the sounds of the day began to fade Darius was sub out at the breathtaking view of ocean beyond thehe&039;d bared only an hour ago Its viewing had beco hion to share his news
Standing at the edge of the pool and shifting nervously from foot to foot, Grayley said, "I&039;e Does that," he gulped, "make you want to yell at me?"
Darius&039;s eyes narrowed, and his hand stilled over the warainst aotten "I swear The guards refused uards who told uards who said I was not wanted there"
"And Javar?"
"Refused to speak with uards informed me of his refusal"
Darius frowned This er entrance? That was their usual way of communication, and neither of theon refuse another dragon?
"There is souards they holly huewater over the rim of the pool, then stalked naked to his desk and withdrew a sheet of paper and writing ink He gave both to Grayley "Draw the weapon for er than what Grace had carried, yet was roughly the san Darius absorbed that information, mulled it over,hall After that, I wish you to find the unit on patrol in the Outer City Vorik is acting as leader Tell hi Javar&039;s palace, unseen, detaining any who enter or leave"
"As you coon bowed and rushed to do as he was bid
Darius dried hi on a pair of pants What a ht Javar alive, and had hoped his tutor had merely lost his medallion Now that see inside his tutor&039;s palace? Humans Plural More than one Perhaps an arh his hair Grace&039;s arrival was no coincidence The answer lay with her and her brother He was sure of it Finding her, he realized, was no longer a luxury Finding her was a necessity
His warriors awaited hi hall They sat at the table, silent, unsure of his intentions He positioned hiin their ga it to you I want you to prepare for war"
"War?" they all gasped, though there was an undercurrent of excite us declare war upon the vampires?" Madox asked
"No Hue weapons I do not yet know if they have killed the dragons inside, nor do I knohat they are planning But I have sent Grayley to the Outer City where he is to inform Vorik&039;s unit to surround the palace Tomorrow&039;s eve, you will join them"
"Tomorrow?" Madox pounded a fist into the table "We should act today Now This instant If there is a chance the dragons are alive, we must do e can to save theood are you to them if you are dead? We do not knohat kind of weapons these humans wield We do not kno to protect ourselves fro forward "Weto the surface," Darius said "I will learn what I can"
"The surface?" Zaeven gasped
"You cannot," Madox growled
"Lucky bastard," Brittan said with a wry smile
"Go now," Darius told them "Sharpen your weapons and prepare your in immediately"
His friend opened his ed his
Chairs skidded as they rushed to obey; then the shuffle of their footsteps sounded
Darius shut hi the mist, he closed his eyes and pictured Javar&039;s palace Within seconds, he stood inside the very walls he iined Except, these walls were barren, devoid of any type of jewel or decoration He frowned
A billowing , and as he floated into the next room, he noticed what looked to be ice crystals scattered across the floor Those crystals produced a thick mist He bent down and s he could hold them in his hand and feel their coolness Why weren&039;t they htened Unlike the emptiness of the first room, human men abounded in this one No one saw him, for he was like the mist There, but not there Able to observe, but unable to touch
So weapons just as Grayley described Attached to their backs were strange, round containers with a single tube that stretched fro weapons were holding spikes crafted by Hephaestus himself They jammed those spikes into the wall and pried at the jewels Where had these huods?
Had he been a man who allowed eon fors of fury simmered to life just beneath his skin He watched a felide casually inside the rooaze caressed the humans A trickle of blood fell fro She stopped to speak with a human
"Tell your leader we&039;ve done all that was required of us," she said in the huer over his now pale cheek "We are ready for our reward"
The man shifted nervously, but nodded "We&039;re al We ht decide to turn our appetites to you" With one last lick of her lips, which sent thebackward in fear, she left as casually as she&039;d entered Her white gown flowed behind her in sensuous waves
Darius watched in shock Va one another? Inconceivable Perplexed, he aze over the rest of the chamber Sections of the walls and floor were blackened froon Veran, one of Javar&039;s fiercest soldiers A white film covered him from head to toe He bore several injuries, yet there was no blood around hi creature? Va, yes Huh to capture an entire dragon palace His fury increased Darius found hi his fingers around the bastard&039;s vulnerable neck, but his hands drifted through the man like mist
Now more than before he knew he could not send his own army here until he learned just how to combat these men and their weapons
Darius searched the rest of the palace He did not find a sign of Javar or any more of his men Had the rest met the same fate as Veran? Or had they merely abandoned this place? Left unsure, he whisked himself back inside his own chamber Answers He wanted answers Answers he suspected lay with Grace If he hoped to gain what he wanted fro
Heartless
He only wished he did not feel so alive each tiht of her So vital
Well, he would relorious hair tu down her shoulders Eyes more vibrant than the sea He would even remove the sound of her voice fro hi her frothen her hold
He easily saw hi the clothes frohs, luxuriating in the softness of her skin, then sliding deeply inside her He could see her head thrashing from side to side Could almost hear her moans of rapture
Desire became a heady essence in his veins, his cock strained to an unbearable thickness He growled from the pain of it Jaw clenched, he removed the medallion from his neck and held it in his pallowed incandescent with energy Pohirled inside the, and when it became too much for the a circle of light Inside the light, air crackled and thickened
Grace&039;s ie formed in the center
In that instant, his senses calance at her could undo centuries of safeguards She lay in a small bed, and he studied her Her eyes were closed; her cheeks were pale, ed nose and forehead appear darker Her carmine curls ound atop her head, all but a few loose tendrils fra her temples
She wore the same dirty shirt, and some sort of small, clear tube protruded fro her from the chest doo male humans approached her bed
Darius scowled as his possessiveness resurfaced
"Looks like the ," the man with dark hair said, his voice a save her three different sedatives She&039;ll be out for hours"
"What are we going to do with her?"
"Whatever she wants us to do" He chuckled "We&039;re to play the gracious host"
"We should just kill her and be done with it"
"We don&039;t need the attention her disappearance would bring-not when her brother is alreadyfor Alex That much is obvious"
"She can search all she wants She&039;ll never find hiers over Grace&039;s cheek She didn&039;t awaken, but ible under her breath "She&039;s pretty," he said
A low,snarl rose in Darius&039;s throat
"She&039;s too fat," the other said
"Not fat, just not anorexic She&039;s soft in all the right places"
"Well, keep your hands to yourself Women knohen their bodies have been used, and we don&039;t need her bitching about it The boss wouldn&039;t like it" With a disgusted shake of his head, he added, "Coot work to do"
The two hue began to fade Withthe chain back around his neck
Soon Soon he would be with her again