Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Aidan? She recalled the way his eyes would crinkle when he grinned, could hear his laughter as if it were yesterday.
Remember when I vowed I would love you. …
    “These mortals plan to exterminate us all,” Natalya said. “And they actually seem to be making strides. Still, the fey will live on. But how many of you Valkyrie are left?”
    Not enough.
    Regin thought of Lucia, out there about to face her worse nightmare alone.
I’ve got to get to her
.
    By hastening the death of a male I’ve mourned for centuries?
    Behind them, the kid spoke for the first time, muttering, “You … glow.”

TWELVE

    L othaire the Enemy of Old woke strapped to a table in a blindingly white room, the bright artificial light paining his sensitive eyes.
    He strained against his bindings, thoughts roiling.
Get to my ring. To get to her.
His master—the Endgame—commanded him. But Lothaire couldn’t break free.
    For millennia, no enemy had held him. Now a mortal had somehow captured him, had been faster than any human he’d ever encountered.
    When Chase strode into the room, Lothaire’s fangs went sharp with aggression. Then his eyes narrowed. Something was amiss with this male. Seething anger rolled off him in waves.
    “I have questions for you, vampire,” he said in a low, raspy voice. “Answer them and you will be spared any unnecessary pain—”
    “Who is your commander?” Lothaire interrupted.
    “What does that matter?” The man’s face was ashen and scarred.
    Despise scars.
“I am a king. I don’t negotiate with mortals at your pay grade.”
    “A king, is it? That’s not what my intel says. In any case, I run this facility. Everything goes through me.”
    “Then you can bring me my ring. I want to see it.”
    “We’ll get to that. But first, you’ll tell me what you know about the Valkyrie.”
    I know it feels like
rapture
to snap a Valkyrie’s neck.
He twisted against his bonds with remembered pleasure, sighing, “The Archer. The Archer in the Green Hell.” He’d broken her neck like a twig.
I know that Valkyrie are abhorrent.
“Sanctimonious, nosy, prideful.”
    Chase peered at Lothaire as if he’d spoken nonsense.
    “My ring, mortal!”
    “This one?” the magister pulled the band from a case in his pocket.
    Lothaire’s eyes widened. At the sight of his ring, he punctured his bottom lip with a fang for a shot of blood, sucking with need.
    “What does it do, vampire?”
    Damn it, he wore gloves? “Take off a glove and touch it.”
Be the last one to touch it.
“You’ll better understand its power.”
    Chase gave him a shrewd look. “No, I don’t believe I will.”
    “If you keep it here, you will bring evil down upon this place.”
She
was coming for him. But he had to get back to
her
. He still had crumbs of her mummy flesh in his pocket. Still had gold flakes from her body.
    “What kind of evil?”
    “Hers!”
Once the waters receded, she and her foul guards would come.
    “As no evil can get
out
of this facility,” Chase said, “I’m confident the reverse is true as well.”
    She could reach Lothaire across time if she needed to. A mere mortal jail couldn’t keep her out.
    “You play with a god’s power. She wants the ring.”
    “What does it do? Why do
you
want it so badly?”
    Lothaire just stared at the ceiling, counting down each second to the time when the Gilded One arrived.
    “Tell me what it does. Now!” Chase launched his fist against Lothaire’s face, the blow like an anvil hit.
    Lothaire shook his head hard, then grinned up with bloody fangs. “
Blyad’!
You’re no normal mortal.”
    Another hit, this time with more rage.
No wonder this male was able to take me!
Though Lothaire sensed Chase wasn’t an immortal per se, he was somehow enhanced.
    Probably taking some chemical to increase his strength. The male’s pupils were enlarged, and a sweet scent emanated from his skin. “I wonder what you’d taste like.”
    “You filthy leech, answer me.”
    Lothaire sighed.
“Chto ty nesësh’?”
    “Why am I bothering you with this? Is that what you said?”
    “You speak my tongue?” Lothaire asked.
    “Enough of it. Now, answer me!”
    “Or what? What can you do to me that hasn’t already been done?” With a laugh, he related, “I’ve been hung from a tree with the length of my intestines. I’ve been unmanned with a whip made of razor wire. Naturally, that took
many
lashes. I’ve watched a Lykae lord eat my eyes after scooping them out of my skull with a