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

certainly explains all the dragon myths around the world. In every friggin’ culture, I might add.”
    He grinned. “That’s right. We remained hidden while Ulrik had to walk the earth as a mortal. Slowly we reemerged and began to live again. We began distilling whisky to support Dreagan and our lifestyles. All the while we hid our true selves. We only shifted at night or during thunderstorms. More years elapsed and then the leap in technology made even that more difficult, but we always managed to take to the skies as often as we could.”
    “Except for now.” She felt sorry for him and the others. The kind of sorrow that hurt her all the way to her bones, because there was nothing that could be done about it. It was past decisions and actions that led all of them—dragons, Fae, and humans—to where they were now.
    “Except for now,” he repeated. “During all this time we kept a close eye on Ulrik. He was often seen in the company of Druids.”
    Kinsey was going to stop him and ask him to explain, but then she realized that it was no surprise Druids were real. The history books mentioned them often enough.
    “Dragon magic is the strongest in the realm,” Ryder said. “Every Druid who tried to help Ulrik was killed. Then he met Darcy. Her magic was so powerful that she was able to touch our magic binding his. In the process, she saw into his mind and his memories. She also unbound his magic.”
    Kinsey was leaning forward in her seat now. “That can’t be good.”
    “In the process, Darcy lost her magic. Ulrik has been relentless in trying to take his revenge against us. He’s teamed up with the Dark to help him in that quest.”
    She drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know that I blame him.”
    “He tried to kill Darcy.”
    “Well, shit.”
    Ryder looked down at his hands for a second. “But he saved Lily.”
    “I think there might be more going on than any of you realize,” Kinsey told him.

Chapter Five
    Ryder agreed with her. Even with his vast skills, there was less out there about Ulrik than there was about Con, which was nearly nothing. So finding something that could connect Ulrik to an individual or company was proving harder than Ryder wanted to admit.
    He hadn’t been able to discern more than a handful of aliases Ulrik used, and they didn’t garner anything useful. Ulrik had been very careful about hiding anything about himself.
    Ryder placed his fingers over the virtual keyboard and began to search through the top brass that worked for Kyvor to see if there were any connections to Ulrik.
    “The problem,” he explained, “is that Ulrik is extremely careful and very cunning. He’s planned this out to the last detail, making it all but impossible for me to find anything.”
    “You can’t find information? That’s hard to believe.”
    Her astonishment was evident in her tone, and it made him puff out his chest. “Ulrik is that good.”
    “What are you looking for?” Kinsey asked.
    Ryder glanced at her. “Someone has to be connected to Ulrik. I’m going to find them.”
    “You do that. I’m going to see who placed the work order. They might have used my employee number, but the form didn’t originate on my computer. If I can find out what computer was used, I’ll know who set me up.”
    Ryder reached for a jelly donut and smiled. He had no doubt Kinsey would find what she was looking for. Because she was that good.
    It’s not like he’d gone looking for someone with the same skill sets as him, but it made being with Kinsey that much better because they had that in common.
    They spent several minutes in silence, each searching their respective items and watching the information pop up on the monitors. Ryder also kept an eye on the MI5 agents. More and more came each day.
    How much longer would it be before they demanded to enter the manor? But the Kings were prepared for that. They would turn to their magic and use it to hide the entrance to the mountain.
    There was no use