Smoke and Fire: Part 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

responsibility.”
    Kinsey tucked a leg under her. “But something happened?”
    “Con didna believe Ulrik. I doona know everything that happened, but their once solid friendship was cracked. Ulrik never wavered in his faith in Con as King of Kings. He was always the first to follow Con in whatever he asked of us.”
    “Was that enough for Con?”
    “It seemed to be,” Ryder said with a shrug. “Things slowly returned to normal. The mortals appeared then. Before any of us could figure out where they came from, we were transformed into humans. We learned we could shift at will, which made it easier to converse with the mortals.”
    Kinsey wondered what the humans thought of all the dragons around. Had they been as frightened as she?
    Ryder continued his story. “Each King made a vow to protect the mortals since they had no magic. We set them up in territories and ordered the dragons to leave them alone. For a time, it actually worked.”
    “What changed?”
    “The humans. They populated at a rapid rate. We had to continue to move dragons out of lands they’d always inhabited to make room for the mortals. Every once in a while, a human would go missing, and everyone blamed the dragons. After one of those occurrences, a small dragon would be found dead with nothing but bones and wings left.”
    Kinsey winced at the brutality. “That’s … awful.”
    “We Kings managed to work around those difficult times to keep the peace. Some females had been taken by Kings as lovers by this time. Ulrik was one of those. He loved a mortal deeply, and didn’t just bring her, but her entire family into his home. He protected them, giving them anything they could want or need.”
    “But?” Kinsey asked when a muscle ticked in Ryder’s jaw.
    He glanced at the monitors, his face darkening when he spotted more MI5 agents. “Just days before Ulrik was to take the female as his mate, Con discovered she was going to betray Ulrik and attempt to kill him.”
    “Because you can only be killed by another Dragon King,” Kinsey said with a nod. “She would’ve failed. Why not let her fail then?”
    “Her intention was to start a war. Con wanted to prevent one,” Ryder explained. “In an effort to protect Ulrik, Con sent him away on some mission.”
    She scrunched up her face. “That was a very bad idea.”
    “Aye. As we found out. Every King chased her down and cornered her, and we killed her. We did it for Ulrik and to protect the unsteady peace between our two races. Ulrik, however, didna see it that way.”
    “I wouldn’t have either. I’d have been furious with you.”
    Sadness came over Ryder’s face then. “He was angry at us. He’d loved the female, and her betrayal cut acutely. His rage was so deep that it consumed him. Ulrik gathered his Silvers, and they began attacking any human they found, killing them.”
    “Oh, no,” Kinsey said with a frown.
    “Aye. Many Kings joined Ulrik in his effort to rid the realm of all mortals for good. The other Kings remained with Con, trying to stop Ulrik.”
    “Which side were you on?”
    “Con’s.”
    Somehow Kinsey wasn’t surprised by his answer. She nodded, telling him to continue his story.
    “It didna take the humans long to fight back. They began attacking the smallest of the dragons first, wiping entire factions out in a day.”
    Kinsey couldn’t imagine what that felt like to Ryder and the others. Especially after they’d made a promise to protect humans and then been betrayed. “Surely not all of my ancestors knew of the betrayal to Ulrik.”
    “Of course no’,” Ryder assured her. “By the time Ulrik swept across the country killing humans, it no longer mattered. It was war. Us versus them. So many dragons were killed. And a wedge came between us Kings. Those who sided with Ulrik fought those who sided with Con. We lost many Kings.”
    Kinsey felt sadness for the Dragon Kings when she didn’t want to. Especially not when Ulrik was killing humans, and yet