Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Pain sizzled through Derek . Sweat covered him, and his vision went in and out of focus. He longed for unconsciousness, for any relief from the unrelenting throbbing of his wounds. Villette had healed his throat. He didn't know why. But she hadn't touched any of his other injuries.

He lay on a table in a gaping cavern. He wasn't bound but soon learned why when he attempted to rise. He could barely lift his head. The rest of his body wouldn't obey him. Worse , he still couldn't command his magic. He didn't know what was coming but knew it would be painful.

There was no sign of Kora . Had she found Villette ? Had they fought? Derek refused to believe she was dead. He would feel it if she were.

" The poison worked to perfection," Villette said.

Her voice was close, but he couldn't make her out. Derek blinked several times to get his eyes to focus, but nothing helped. He should've known Villette was responsible for the poison. He closed his hands into fists, imagining they were around her neck, squeezing.

Villette's fingers trailed down his arm. He tried to jerk away but only managed to cause himself more pain. Even breathing was pure agony. Regret threatened to choke him. If only he had helped Kora when she went after Villette . If only he had been honest with her from the beginning. If only…

" Bryok actually believed he would win against you," Villette continued. " He claimed he didn't need the poison to best you. I , of course, insisted. He never went against me. Not in all the eons we had together." She paused, her voice turning cold. " Unlike you. Why do you keep opposing me?"

" Because no matter what you do to me, I always see you for who you really are," Derek answered.

She snorted. " So did Bryok . Much sooner than you. That's what confuses me. He never cared about my true motives. All he wanted was to serve me."

" He couldn't think for himself."

" And you can?"

" Aye ," Derek bit out.

Villette laughed softly as her fingers trailed down his bare leg to his ankle and then onto the next leg as she walked around the table. " You've not asked me why I keep you around. You've not asked why I sacrificed Bryok for you."

" I don't care." It wasn't true. He was desperate to know, but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of asking.

" You're more powerful, but you've never known it. Not until today. I didn't give you the ability of ice. That came from within you. I had to enhance Bryok . But not you."

Derek stared upward at a ceiling he couldn't see because of his fuzzy eyesight. He had other senses, though. He strained to hear something that would tell him where he was but couldn't hear anything past Villette . It seemed his hearing was as affected as his eyesight. He tried to smell and failed in that, too. Fear coiled within him.

Villette reached his arm and stopped next to his shoulder. She leaned down so her lips were near his ear. " You are my weapon. In the past, I was careful when erasing your memories for fear of going too deep. I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this again, but the time has come for me to use you as I've always intended."

He went still as unease slithered through him. " Haven't I killed enough humans for you?"

" Oh , sweet Dederick ," she said with a laugh as she straightened. " Your time harassing mortals is over. I'm going to send you across the border to the dragons. As you've always deduced, I've lied about them being held against their will. The Star People once enslaved the dragons and forced them to serve us. Until my meddling brother, Redis , decided they should be free."

All the breath left Derek . Merrill had spoken true. The dragons had been free all along. He'd known it, but he had been afraid to accept it. Because that would make him take a hard look at what he had done for Villette .

" Redis told no one what he planned. He created a new world just for the dragons. Somehow , he even managed to keep its location secret from the rest of us. So , we had no idea where to look when he facilitated their escape. Keeping Earth secret required all the magic Redis had. He readily gave his life to free the dragons and give them a home. They were slaves." She blew out a harsh breath. " In the end, I found Earth . It took me a very long time, but I located it. And I intended to punish every dragon for leaving." She paused and barked a laugh. " I could have killed every one of them right there. With a snap of my fingers, I could've disintegrated the realm. But that would have been too easy. They needed to suffer."

A jolt of surprise went through Derek . There was another realm of dragons. Hunted by Villette , who he had killed for.

Her hands slammed down on the table near the top of Derek's head as she leaned over him. " It required patience. I planned down to the tiniest detail and wove such an intricate plot that no one could figure it out. Not even the great Constantine ."

Derek flattened his lips at the name. It was no coincidence that Merrill had given him that name. If only he had reached out to Con as Merrill urged. Maybe he wouldn't be in this fiasco. His regrets kept coming.

Villette shrugged. " I could regale you with the details of my plot, but suffice it to say, I made sure the dragons and every King would be wiped from existence."

He waited for her to continue as she straightened and slowly walked around the table again. Then it came to him. " But your plan didn't work."

" I had contingencies if something went wrong."

" Which it did," Derek said with a smile. He couldn't wait to meet Con .

Villette pressed on his chest wounds. Derek bit his tongue, holding back the shout of pain. It felt as if his bones were disintegrating, and the very flesh was being eaten away.

" Don't be an ass," she told him. " I caused a great war on Earth . The Dragon Kings chose to send their own away rather than slaughter humans. All because they vowed not to harm them. The dragons came here, to Zora . Something led them here, but I have yet to figure out what that was. I followed and very quickly brought the first human to repeat what had happened on Earth . Except , this time, the Kings weren't here to lead the dragons." Her face was near his again. " Now , you're going to Con . Once he trusts you, you'll kill every dragon."

" Never ," he stated.

She sighed wearily. " Do you have any idea how long it took to create you?"

Create ? Had she just said create ? Derek's mind went numb. He didn't have a family. He hadn't been born. He had been crafted by Villette's twisted mind and magic.

" Golds and Silvers are the largest of all dragons," she continued. " They are the only ones who can be the King of Dragon Kings . It's why I gave silver to you and gold to Bryok . Both of you needed that added potency to carry out the plan."

It took two tries before he found his voice. " And the eggs I've been guarding? You created those, too, didn't you?"

" That's right," she said, a smile in her voice. " There were six in all. It took so much power to get three of the eggs to hatch. One came out deformed. It had to be destroyed."

Derek's mind buzzed with denial and rage.

" The next steps in the plan were bypassed, thanks to Lotti ."

He stored that name in his mind to find out who the woman was—if he remembered when Villette was finished with him this time. Would he remember his name? Who he was? What about Kora ? Surely , he wouldn't forget her and his feelings for her. But what if he did? How long would it take for him to remember who he was?

Then another thought made him forget all the rest. What if Villette sent him to kill Kora ?

" Lotti pushed up the timeline, so I didn't have a chance to get the other eggs hatched. But you'll be enough. And I have Merrill now." She laughed, then sighed longingly. " I never thought I would crave a Dragon King so. He wears the cuff now. That makes him mine. Now and forever."

Derek wanted to shift and roar, burn the entire city. Rip Villette limb from limb and crush what was left of her into dust.

" You want to kill me." She traced a finger across his cheek. " I can see it blazing in your eyes. I hope you enjoyed your freedom because it's all you will ever know. The dragons once belonged to the Star People , and the few I allow to live will serve us again."

" Kora will kill you."

" Oh , I've been waiting for you to mention her," Villette said excitedly. " Star People , dragons, and hellhounds. We three are bound for eternity. We all can kill our own, but only hellhounds can kill my kind, and Star People are the only ones who can slay Dragon Kings . And ," she said with a smile in her voice, "dragons are the only ones who can exterminate hellhounds. Guess who I'm sending to take Kora's life."

He shook his head. It was just as he feared. " I won't do it."

" Oh , you'll do it, and you'll smile when you do. There will be nothing of Kora left in your head by the time I'm finished."

" Do you ever shut up?" Merrill asked irritably.

Derek rolled his head in the direction he thought Merrill was. He made out a silhouette against the wall.

" Bloody hell, woman, you do love the sound of your own fucking voice," Merrill said. " It's grating and annoying. You just drone on and on."

Derek smiled. Almost immediately, Villette's fingers were in his wounds again. This time, Derek couldn't hold back his bellow of agony. His body stiffened in pain. The edges of his vision began to blacken. He went limp when Villette removed her hand.

" You bitch," Merrill said. " If you're pissed at me, come take it out on me."

Her boot heels clicked as they moved toward Merrill . " Oh , I intend to, lover."

" You sure?" he taunted. " You're using a lot of magic to hide those burns I know still haven't healed."

Derek struggled to get his pain under control when Merrill groaned in anguish. A few moments later, Villette gasped and stumbled back a few steps.

" I'll get this fucking cuff off, and when I do, I'm going to make you pay for this," Merrill vowed, his breath coming in gasps

Villette's voice held a note of pain when she said, " It'll never come off. I'll make sure of it."

" We'll see about that."

Derek licked his dry lips. Villette was still weak—probably weaker than they realized. Derek might not be getting up from the table, but he could help Merrill —if there was time before Villette wiped his memories.

" Merrill ?"

" Aye . I'm here."

" She's weak. We need to keep her that way so she can't take my memories."

Merrill's laughter filled his head. " Got it." Aloud , he said, " Where are your brothers and sisters? Why are none of them trying to enslave the dragons again?"

" Who says they aren't?" Villette replied.

" Well , Miena , for one."

Derek might not be able to see Villette , but he felt her fury.

" You dared to speak to her," she stated.

There was a grin in Merrill's voice when he said, " We had a nice, long conversation about you."

Villette's shout of anger bounced off the walls. Derek heard Merrill's grunts, and then Villette went silent.

" She's gone," Merrill said. " She can't control her anger. When she lashed out at me, it took the magic she was using to heal and hide the burns."

Derek heard the pain in his voice. " We need to keep using that."

" Aye ."

" You okay?"

Merrill chuckled softly. " I'm a damn sight better than you. At least I'm healing."

" Can you get to me? I can remove the cuff."

" She has me chained to the wall."

Derek tried to roll over. The movement sent a surge of pain through him and had him gasping for breath. He heard Merrill call his name as he slipped into oblivion.