Warrior Rising. Pamela Palmer

trouble,” Jack said a moment later.

      “Hold on, Jack. Charlie!”

      As he returned to his seat beside Ilaria, she met his gaze, her eyes sharp and serious. “Take off my headphones. I would hear this.”

      After a moment’s indecision, he did as she asked, then sat beside her as Charlie and Tarrys joined them, both flushed with that insufferable glow. He jammed a button and held the phone on his knee.

      “You’re on speaker, Jack. Charlie and Tarrys are here, too.”

      “Glad to have you back, Charlie. Have you acquired a death mark?”

      “I have.”

      “Then you’re with us. Larsen and I were attacked by half a dozen Esri thugs a couple of hours ago. They had a singer.” A singer was the term they used for an Esri who could enchant surrounding humans with a song, turning them into his own personal weapons. “We nearly didn’t make it out of there. Kade’s joined us and we’re on the run. We’re trying to come up with a way to turn the tables on them.”

      “So they’re not going for the stones?”

      “Best we can tell, they’re neither organized nor heading in any particular direction. Except ours. But we don’t know where King Rith is. Kade hasn’t seen him since midnight, and the rest of us don’t know what he looks like.”

      Beside him, Ilaria tensed. “King Rith is here?”

      Harrison nodded. “He came through last night with a large number of guards and Marceils.”

      “Where are my stones?” she demanded.

      “Forgive me, Princess,” Jack said. “But that’s not information we can share at this point. I assume Charlie told you why he rescued you?”

      “You wish me to seal the gates again.”

      “Yes, we do. When the time comes, we’ll allow you access to the stones.”

      She scoffed. “Sealing the gates will do neither of us any good as long as Rith and his men remain on this side. You must give me the stones so that I can protect them.”

      “Can you seal the gates other than at the full moon?” Jack asked.

      “Unfortunately, no. The draggon stone, the source of my power, hasn’t the ability to open the gates early. But if Rith gets his hands on the other six, the stones of Orisis, he’ll be able to use their dark power to do so.”

      “If he gets the stones, won’t he just tear down the walls between the worlds?” Charlie asked.

      She shook her head. “Such powerful magic can only be called upon at the Temple of the Ancients deep in the Dark Mountains of Esria. He’ll open the gates and flee, which is why you must give me the stones, and quickly. I’ll not only protect them until the full moon, but I’ll forgive your death marks.”

      “You can do that?” Jack asked, clearly surprised. “Hold on.”

      Harrison could hear Jack talking to someone in the background. A moment later, he was back.

      “Kade confirms she should have that ability once she has the draggon stone in her possession.”

      “Who is Kade to know such things?” Ilaria asked, once more the imperious royal.

      If only her demands made her less attractive. They didn’t.

      “You know him as Kaderil the Dark,” Jack said.

      Harrison saw her eyes flare and watched her mouth open with disbelief. “He’s Esri.”

      “He’s half Esri and he’s one of us now.”

      Her shocked gaze met Harrison’s.

      Charlie leaned forward. “If King Rith has the ability to sense the stones, then the moment we bring the draggon stone out of hiding, he’ll be on it. We need to leave it hidden. Besides, I’m not sure what good removing the death marks will do when we’re still hunting Esri. We’ll just get them back again.”

      “I agree,” Jack said. “Our plan is to capture King Rith and the rest of his guards before the full moon.”

      Ilaria’s graceful hands fisted in her lap. “You must kill him, not capture him. He’s far too dangerous. No Caller can be allowed to live.”

      Jack’s voice was wry. “I was trying to spare your sensibilities, Princess, but we’d come to that conclusion, as well. King Rith has to die. We’ll capture whatever Esri we can, but before those gates are sealed, they’ll all be back in Esria. Or dead. Leaving any on this side with the stones will defeat the purpose of sealing the gates.”

      “Killing is not our way, human. But under the circumstances, I agree. You did not start this war. I do not blame you for doing what you must to protect yourselves.”

      Harrison watched her, trying to decide if she was telling the truth or simply telling them what they wanted to hear. His gut said the former. Then again, he wasn’t sure why he should be surprised. King Rith and his goons had killed her mother and imprisoned Ilaria for three hundred years. She deserved a little revenge.

      Jack continued. “Kade believes King Rith will go after Princess Ilaria if he realizes she’s here. He’ll try to eliminate the competition for the throne. Harrison, since you’re the only one without a bull’s-eye on your forehead, you’ll need to get her out of harm’s way until we catch him.”

      As he’d expected. He glanced at Ilaria as a knowing little light flickered to life in her eyes and a seductive shadow of a smile slowly lifted the corners of her mouth. Once more, the thought of her straddling him intimately roared through his head, sending his blood pressure soaring. Any hope of getting his libido back under control crashed to the ground.

      From the moment he’d met her, he’d anticipated a battle. What he hadn’t expected was for the battle to be sensual, or that his own body would become his worst enemy.

       Chapter 5

      “Would you cease with that?” Ilaria snapped, hating the quaver in her voice, but unable to control it. Beside her, as he ushered her and Tarrys through the busy Reagan National Airport, Harrison flicked the small lighter at his side on and off, on and off. A constant reminder—a threat—of what he’d do to her if she so much as breathed on the Marceil.

      “I said I’ll not touch her, and I won’t.” She tore her gaze from him and that awful lighter, trying to focus instead on her incredible surroundings. Above, the soaring, gilded ceiling of the airport curved sharply downward like a beautiful flower too heavy for its stem.

      At least Harrison had untied her, though she was well aware that he’d done it not as a concession to her, and certainly not because he trusted her, but to avoid the attention they’d otherwise draw in this very public place.

      Even such a tiny fire had raven wings fluttering in her chest as she struggled against full panic.

      The moment the plane had landed, Charlie had left, afraid his death mark would draw King Rith to them. The other two Sitheen who’d accompanied Harrison to Iceland remained, and now followed close behind.

      She was frustratingly tired of being treated as a prisoner. But until she got those stones, she wouldn’t escape. Even if she could.

      Trying to ignore Harrison and the flame that threatened to strip her composure one flicker at a time, she studied the humans passing by. Most glanced at her, then away, as if by noticing her they might offend. In the old days, before she’d sealed the gates, humans often gaped at her, their faces either filling with terror, or awe and wonder.

      She much preferred the latter, though it appeared that receiving homage from the humans was a thing of the past. Indeed, from what she’d been able to glean, the humans as a race did not remember the Esri.

      A situation that was certain to change