Mate Of A Dragon Villain (Skeleton Key) (16 page)

When Hargreave leaned in, Amanda didn’t expect him to grab for Udolf’s hand. Udolf frowned and tried to pull back, but Hargreave was still too strong.

“Ten fingers,” Hargreave said. His voice had never sounded so rough and menacing. “I wonder how many I could break without the guards hearing you scream.”

There was a bulging blue vein at the side of Udolf’s temple, and it pulsed heavily, disgusting her as a bead of sweat slid down his skin.

“You are the monster here.”

Hargreave grabbed one of his fingers. He looked to Amanda. “You should look away from this.”

Amanda really wanted to, but at the same time, she didn’t. This was a monster in front of her. Udolf was a complete monster, taking pleasure in what had been done to Hargreave. Those weren’t the actions of an innocent man. She shook her head. “No. I’ll hold his mouth shut if you need me to.”

She went to stand behind Udolf.

He looked back at her, then at Hargreave. There seemed to finally be some fear in his eyes. “You—”

“Tell me why Edward attacked my father’s lands. I know he did it first. Tell me why.”

Amanda meant what she’d said. She would hold her hands over Udolf’s mouth if she had to, but she really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Hargreave grabbed one of Udolf’s fingers, bending it backwards hard, but not enough to break.

Still enough to scare the hell out of Udolf. “The cattle!” he said quickly, stopping Hargreave. Udolf panted for breath, his adrenaline clearly high. “Your cattle weren’t plagued by the diseases running rampant through the lands. We reached out to your father. He refused to help.”

Hargreave frowned. Then shook his head. “No, I remember he sent a herd out. It was for your people. He did help.”

“Not enough. Our people were starving,” Udolf said.

“So my father was to starve his own people for yours?” Hargreave shot back. He shook his head. “Edward started a war for cattle?”

“No, boy,
your
father started the war,” Udolf said, getting some of his bravery back.

Though, it also could’ve been sheer stupidity rushing in through his fear and adrenaline.

“You were taken by accident. Our men brought you to us thinking you a farm boy. How were we to know the prince would have been so far from his home? When your father burned down three villages in retaliation, Edward wanted war. I did not try to stop him. He was justified.”

Amanda wasn’t buying it. “If Hargreave was taken when he was wandering around someone’s farmland, it could’ve only been because Edward was stealing crops and animals. You can’t blame this on Hargreave’s parents.”

She looked to Hargreave, noted how his eyes were dilated, and the way his chest rose and fell. He was in serious distress. He was going to do something violent and Amanda wasn’t going to stop him.

“It was either that or starve,” Udolf said, glaring over his shoulder at her. “Ludolvic would not give, so we took. When he burned our villages, we took our anger out on his son. When he threw his men at us, we threw ours back at him. We were starving, but there were still more of us.”

Hargreave trembled. “Edward nailed my parents to crosses and left them to rot. He nailed my mother to a cross. Eldric left me in that hole even after the death of his father.”

Udolf shook his head. “No. Eldric knew nothing of your fate.”

Amanda frowned. “What?”

Hargreave shook his head, still holding Udolf by his middle finger, trembling with rage. Amanda had never seen anyone so angry they shook with it before.

“Bullshit.”

Udolf shrugged. “Do what you will to me, but Eldric thought you had died in there.”

“He came to see me in that prison.”

“And was told you had died. Fallen ill of some disease and passed. He did not know you lived until you returned to follow in your father’s footsteps and take your revenge.”

“And my parents? What reason does good Eldric have to justify their torture and deaths?”

“The only reason there is to justify it. That they were the monsters, the ones who wanted death and disease. Eldric is a good king, better than his father, despite his weaknesses,” Udolf said. “He does not need to know what the love of his people was built on.”

Amanda shook her head. “I knew it. I fucking
knew
it.” She stepped away from Udolf, doing a little pacing of her own. “You’ve been twisting everything around so Elric thinks Hargreave and his family are the monsters. You could’ve ended this whole thing whenever you wanted.”

Udolf stayed silent. Amanda expected him to speak, but she supposed it shouldn’t have been a shock when he didn’t.

It was annoying as all hell, though. It felt like there was more to this. Why wasn’t he bragging about it? Doing more of the villain monologue?

Maybe because of the way Hargreave still had his finger in hand.

“Who was it that told Eldric I had died?”

Amanda paused, looking at both men. Udolf pressed his lips together, grunting when Hargreave yanked his finger back a little more.

His eyes weren’t fire red. They were blood red. “Who was it?”

Udolf swallowed. “I did. To ease his pain.”

There wasn’t anything to ease Udolf’s pain when Hargreave broke his finger.

T
he only thing
that spared the old dragon’s life was Amanda. Hargreave wanted to kill him. He
ached
to sink his claws into the damned man’s throat.

Amanda’s vision of how this would all unfold had been correct. Udolf was the true villain of this tale.

Edward had needed someone to be the villain, to give himself, his people, and his son, a proper excuse to murder Hargreave’s parents and destroy his home. Under Udolf’s advice, Edward blamed Hargreave’s mother and father for the war, and when he’d been taken, it had given the man permission to be cruel.

He wanted Udolf to suffer more, but he still wanted to kill him. He’d broken the man’s finger before Amanda could save him, and it was ultimately a good thing.

Udolf screamed so loudly that it drew the attention of the guards in Eldric’s castle.

They swarmed outside the door, pounding on it, shouting on the other side while Udolf, the worm, clutched his hand in what was likely the worst pain he had ever suffered in his life.

This was a man of tricks and fine clothes. Even if he had been a commoner, he would not have known war and suffering to the same extent Hargreave did.

He felt no pity for him as he kicked the man in the foot, ignoring his yelp and flinch.

“On your feet.”

Udolf glared at him. “You do not command me.”

He did now. Hargreave reached out, snatching the older man by the collar. He made a boyish sounding cry of panic when Hargreave pulled him to his feet.

Hargreave ignored it.

The worry in his mate’s eyes was something that he could not ignore, however. “What are we going to do to him?”

“Take him to Eldric. With any luck, the fool will be on his way here, knowing his oldest friend is in danger.”

He looked Amanda in the eyes, a sliver of fear spiking into him. “Stay behind me. Don’t look any of the men in the eyes. I don’t want them provoked.”

If they attacked Amanda, Hargreave would fall back into that animalistic state of anger and rage, but there would be terror within him this time, as well. He wished for an easier way to protect her, but for now, the best protection seemed to be keeping his claws on Udolf’s throat.

Amanda nodded. She stood at his side, almost too close in a way that could hinder his ability to protect her, but the smart girl she was, she found a small dagger on the desk by the light of the window and gripped it tightly.

“Just in case,” she said when he looked at her.

If only she knew how beautiful she was holding that blade.

Hargreave yanked open the door. Shouts from the guards nearly overpowered everything else, but for the screams of Udolf.

He sounded small, womanly almost. It was a good thing, because his shrieking was what caused the guards in their blue armor to lower their swords and spears. Anyone who had been forming their scales or readying fire stopped that, too.

“Back, you bastards, or I’ll gut him like a pig!”

Hargreave almost wished they wouldn’t back down.

Amanda touched Hargreave’s shoulder, gripping it, and like every time before when she had touched him, it had a calming, soothing effect that made him almost sigh.

It was a relief to have that anger leave him, like black smoke from an unhealthy fire. It didn’t entirely go away, but it was manageable with her touch.

Amanda looked at him, then at the guards. “Hey, guys, we need to talk with Eldric. Not to hurt him or anything, but just to talk.”

“There will be no talking.”

Hargreave frowned as some of the men stepped out of the way, and others were pushed. A stocky woman in armor revealed herself. She had only hateful eyes for Amanda, which Hargreave did not appreciate.

“You will come before Eldric, but you will not make demands, whore. You betrayed the king that sheltered and fed you.”

“I know, sorry about that.”

“Good men died that day!”

“Only the ones who deserved it,” Hargreave said.

Jane glared at him. “And you! What have you done with Olga? The servant girl. She vanished.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure she’s all right,” Amanda said. “She’s at Hargreave’s place.”

That didn’t seem to please Jane. Hargreave cut her off before she could spew anymore anger and hatred at his mate.

“Just take us to Eldric, wench. This old man is going to piss himself.”

“I’m already here.”

The guards parted again, this time offering more room when Eldric made his appearance. Alger was at his side, walking with a slight limp.

Hargreave glared at the man. “You’re looking well.”

Alger didn’t glare back at him, or come back at him with an insult like Hargreave would have hoped for. He pressed his lips together at the sight of Hargreave holding Udolf by the throat, however.

It was Eldric who sneered at him. “Speak not to him. You will address me only.”

Hargreave spat on the floor. “Does that suffice?”

“All right, all right,” Amanda said, and Hargreave’s heart jumped when she actually stepped away from him. She still had the small dagger in hand, but it would do nothing if one of Eldric’s guards, or that woman, attempted to grab her.

None of them did.

“You both need a mediator or something. You hate each other too much and we’re not going to get anywhere if you’re both fighting like this.”

The tension in Hargreave’s spine and muscles didn’t lessen. He and Eldric looked at each other, both silent for once.

Eldric’s face turned a bright red, as if he too was struggling to contain his anger and rage.

It was Alger who put his hand on Eldric’s shoulder, a gesture Hargreave understood all too well.

“Let’s listen to what they have to say.” Alger leaned in close, whispering into Eldric’s ear, but Hargreave still caught the words. “This does not have to end with violence.”

Hargreave looked to his woman, hardly able to believe this had worked.

Udolf moaned, and the scent of urine was suddenly in the air.

* * *

A
manda didn’t know
what to expect after the confrontation in the hallway. She’d basically been playing things by ear.

Eldric brought them to his library to talk around a table. Hargreave, paranoid that his enemy would spring a trap, refused to release his prisoner.

Amanda thought that showed just how dedicated Hargreave was to keeping Amanda safe, considering Udolf smelled like piss.

Amanda had absolutely no experience in being anyone’s therapist. The one time she tried moderating her Facebook fan page turned out to be a disaster.

She wasn’t dealing with people on the Internet. She was dealing with two men who had a long history of hating each other, and fighting with each other. Hargreave blamed Eldric for some pretty heavy stuff, and Eldric had been raised to think Hargreave was a monster of a person who came from monstrous people.

When Hargreave started laying his charges against Udolf, the look on Eldric’s face was enough to suggest he didn’t believe a word of it.

Or he didn’t want to believe any of it.

Amanda could hardly keep both men in their seats. She wouldn’t have been able to, had Alger not been there, calming Eldric down.

Amanda was stupid to think she could control the situation. The only person in the room she had any remote influence on was Hargreave. She was grateful when Alger insisted on keeping Eldric calm as well.

“We should listen to what they have to say.”

“They are liars.” Eldric turned his glare to Amanda. “I thought better of you. I don’t know what punishment will be fitting for you since you did save Alger’s life, but there
will
be a punishment for this.”

Hargreave gripped Udolf’s throat enough to make the older man gasp for breath. His voice was almost animal in its cruelty. “Tell them. Tell them right now everything you confessed to me before.”

His fingers dug so deeply into Udolf’s skin that bits of blood started to show in Hargreave’s fingernails.

Udolf trembled, and nodded. Amanda almost felt sorry for him. “It’s true. All of it.”

Amanda wished Hargreave wouldn’t stare at Eldric with that victorious expression on his face. At the same time, she couldn’t blame him for it either. It almost felt like a relief to hear Udolf confirm the charges, that it was Edward to start the war, Edward who had killed and ravaged Hargreave’s land and family.

Eldric shook his head, however, and the smile melted off Hargreave’s face.

“No. Of course he would say that. You have your claws in his throat. That proves nothing.”

Udolf shook his head. “It is true. This is what happened. We kept it from you to protect you. Your image and the people.”

Eldric shot to his feet. “I will hear no more of this.”

Amanda got to her feet, too. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but Alger reached out and grabbed Eldric by the arm.

“Eldric, stop!”

“I will listen to no more of these lies!” Eldric tried to shove Alger off, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Udolf speaks the truth.”

Amanda was taken aback. She looked at Hargreave, noted his frown, and it was clear he was wondering what the hell was going on.

So was Eldric, apparently. The expression on his face was something Amanda didn’t have a word for. Whatever confused, annoyed, and worried all at the same time could be called, that was it.

“What?” Eldric shook his head. “No.”

“Yes,” Alger said. “And Udolf is not confessing to his sins. Not entirely. I…I am to blame for this as well.”

“
What
?”

Everyone in the room looked at Amanda when she couldn’t contain her outburst. She covered her mouth with both hands, but she couldn’t hold back her shock. Her eyes were probably bulging right out of her head, and when she looked to Udolf, the older man shut his eyes, as though hearing such a thing was a disappointment to him.

Eldric, a man as strong and noble as he was, looked as though the floor was falling out from beneath him. “What are you…how could you know this?”

Alger swallowed, glanced at Hargreave, then back to his lover. “It was shortly before we met. I discovered there was a prisoner below the castle. I never saw him, but I had heard Udolf speaking with your father.”

Alger turned to Hargreave this time. He briefly bit his lips together before meeting Hargreave’s eyes. “The man you hold was asking the king to release you. He spoke on your behalf. King Edward refused. He thought it…fitting, I suppose. To have the son of his enemy held captive.”

Hargreave stood, taking Udolf with him. Amanda watched her lover, her mate—the fire in his eyes was very real, and it concerned her a whole lot.

“Hargreave?”

“And when the old bastard died? What then? You both left me there.”

Alger raised his hands a little, as though he was trying to tame a wild, dangerous animal. Maybe he was. “If you want blood for your suffering, you may take mine. I will not fight you, but you should know, it was on my suggestion that you stayed in the dungeons.”

Eldric frowned, looking between Hargreave and the man he trusted more than anyone else in the world. Eldric loved Alger. If Amanda was shocked, this must be tearing Eldric to pieces. “What are you saying?”

Alger glanced at his lover, but looked away quickly, as though ashamed to hold Eldric’s gaze. “When your father died, I am ashamed to admit it was weeks before I recalled the prisoner in the dungeons. King Edward swore me to secrecy when he found me listening to his conversation that day, but with him dead, it should have ended. Once again, Udolf was ready to release you. I suggested that we not.”

Hargreave roared and threw Udolf to the floor. The old man grunted and crawled away from the danger in the room. The shirt Amanda had bought for Hargreave burst out the back as his black and red wings made their appearance. They fluttered, as though mirroring Hargreave’s barely concealed irritation. Amanda took a step away from him, just in case the wings accidentally hit her.

Every muscle Amanda could see was tight, bulging with tension and rage. “You kept me in there.”

“Why do that?” Amanda asked. She needed to know this, too. It seemed…out of character. Alger was just as honorable as Eldric.

Eldric moved to his lover’s side, staring at him, as though he’d never seen him before, but Alger refused to look him in the eye. He kept his gaze on Hargreave.

“Your parents had long since been slain, your lands ravaged. You were the prince and rightful king of your lands. Your release could only mean war for us…and heartbreak for Eldric. Staying in that pit meant eventual, slow death, but I was a coward then. I could not put you out of your misery. Your escape was almost a relief, but war did come when you found what had happened to your family, and your land.”

“You are still a coward.” Hargreave stomped forward.

Amanda expected Eldric to get in the way, to stop him from attacking, but he didn’t. Eldric flinched a little when Hargreave punched Alger hard enough in the mouth to send him flying off his feet.

Amanda shrieked a little when Alger hit the floor hard. A couple of guards rushed in, but Eldric motioned for them to stay back as Hargreave landed on him and threw his punches. Blood soon covered his knuckles, and the meaty sounds of each wet strike were going to make her puke.