Shadows of Discovery by Brenda K. Davies

Chapter Ten

When Lexi woke,Cole stood by her window while Sahira sat in a chair next to her bed. Cole crumpled a piece of paper in his hand as a crow flew away. The last crow that arrived here took him from her, and judging by the look on his face, this one hadn’t brought good news.

“You’re awake,” Sahira said as she leaned over and rested her hand on Lexi’s.

Lexi couldn’t look at her aunt as her attention remained riveted on Cole. “What did the note say?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about that.” Sahira rose and lifted a teacup from the table; she handed it to Lexi. “You just focus on getting well.”

Lexi held out her hand to stop her aunt when Sahira offered her the cup. “I’m okay.”

“You’re still healing.”

“I’m fine.”

With a sigh, Sahira pulled the cup away.

“What did it say?” Lexi asked Cole again.

“The dark fae council has learned of my father’s death; they have descended on the palace. I have to return,” he said.

Lexi’s heart sank. She’d just gotten him back, and he was already leaving.

To start the trials that few survived.

Shit.

She bit her lip against begging him to stay and shot a panicked look at Sahira, who watched her with worry.

“Come with me,” Cole said to her.

“I can’t,” Lexi said a little too fast.

She pushed herself up on the bed and propped her back against the headboard.

“We’ve had this discussion before,” she continued. “I have too much to take care of here. I can’t leave.”

“I’m not leaving you here after what Malakai did,” Cole said. “He could come back.”

“I can’t go.”

“Yes, you can,” Sahira said, and Lexi shot her an irritated look.

“You hate the stables. Who will take care of the horses if I leave?”

“I’ll have George come to help with the horses. But he’s right, you can’t be here when Malakai returns, and he will return.”

Lexi’s teeth ground together. The two of them were like oil and water, but they were ganging up on her. Malakai would have won the fight between them, but she’d gotten in her fair share of hits against him too.

“I can defend myself, and next time, I’ll be more prepared. I never expected him to teleport into the barn,” she said.

“And he can do that again,” Sahira said. “It’s not safe for you here.”

“Cole was gone for almost two weeks last time. I can’t stay away that long.”

“No, but if it means keeping you safe, then you have to go.”

“And you’re going to stay here? You think Malakai won’t do something to you or George if he returns? I can’t leave you here alone and unprotected.”

“I am not unprotected; I’ll set his ass on fire or put a curse on him if he tries anything.”

“And if he attacks you? You’re not a fighter.”

“I’ll make up a couple of potions that will burn off his skin if he tries anything. Believe me, Lexi, I’ll be fine.”

“You could give me some of those potions.”

“When you come back and when you’re stronger. You’re far too easy to take down right now, and you know it.”

Sahira was right, and she also didn’t like the idea of sending Cole back to the Gloaming alone, not when he wanted her there with him. But Orin was in her tunnels with a bunch of refugees.

She couldn’t leave them alone down there. Orin supplied most of what they required, but she was part of their food chain and had taken on the responsibility of protecting them.

And what would happen if the Lord’s men somehow discovered them while she wasn’t here? They would blame Sahira, and she could not let that happen. But how much could she protest without drawing suspicion or hurting Cole?

“I’ll have you back by tonight or tomorrow at the latest,” Cole said. “Even if I have to send you back with Brokk. However, I’m not leaving you here while you’re injured, but I have to speak with the council and make it clear that I will be their new king and they will follow me.”

Lexi gulped as his eyes burned with silver fire.

“You should go,” Sahira said.

There was no way she could tell her aunt she couldn’t leave because she would be putting her at risk.

“You can’t be here if Malakai comes back,” Sahira continued.

“Neither can you.”

“He’s not going to mess with a witch.”

“Half witch,” Lexi reminded her.

Sahira wiggled her fingers as she grinned. “But full-on bitch.”

Cole snorted with laughter, and Lexi rolled her eyes. “Bitchiness isn’t going to stop him,” she said.

“You can come with us,” Cole offered.

“No,” Sahira said as Lexi said, “Yes!”

“We can’t leave George here completely unprotected if Malakai does return. But you can go,” Sahira said when Lexi started to protest. She clasped Lexi’s good hand in hers and squeezed. “Go, Lexi. I’ll be fine, but most importantly, you’ll be safe.”

She couldn’t believe her aunt was arguing for her to go with Cole. Apparently, her concern for Lexi’s safety outweighed her dislike and distrust of the dark fae. It figured such a thing would happen now.

“I can’t be gone long,” she said to Cole.

“You won’t be,” Cole promised.

* * *

When they steppedthrough the portal Cole created, Lexi stopped dead in her tracks as she gazed at the fence spikes. The first time she came here, it was night and the moons hanging over the palace cast a silver radiance over the land.

Now, the night sky was overcast and none of those moons were visible. The peaks and turrets of the palace stretched so high it was almost impossible to discern where they ended and the sky began.

Wings stretched out to the side of the building, and the structure went so far back the end of it vanished into the night. The golden light shining out of the towering palace’s numerous windows spilled across the grounds to illuminate the fence.

They also illuminated the remains stuck to the spikes on that fence. Remains Cole created.

He’d told her about the dragon, but hearing it and seeing it were two completely different things. The head was monstrous and enormous. It had to be at least eight feet long, and the thick sinew hanging from its severed neck revealed how heavily muscled the beast was.

It was a gruesome spectacle, and this thing had killed Cole’s father, but she couldn’t help feeling a little bad for it. It had only followed orders and died because of it.

Had it wanted to follow those orders?

Everyone saw dragons as merciless monsters now. But though they were known as dangerous and protective of those who ruled them, they’d never destroyed lands until the Lord commanded them to.

A part of her really hoped they were cruel creatures who enjoyed killing and not beasts enslaved by a vindictive master who made them do things they wouldn’t normally do.

That possibility caused her chest to tighten. No matter what they wanted to do, this dragon was huge and lethal, and Cole had destroyed it.

“How?” she whispered.

He didn’t pretend not to know what she was talking about. “It killed my father.”

That didn’t entirely explain the how, but she understood. Grief and wrath could compel someone to feats they never dreamed possible.

Beside the dragon head were the remains of the helot Cole killed. She hadn’t known his name then, but she briefly met Sindri when he introduced her to the king and his sons at the party the king threw to celebrate the end of the war. And now he and the king were dead.

It was a turn of events she never could have seen coming then. It’s all so short and fast, she realized as she gazed at the remains.

She’d always known that, but standing there, with a small breeze tickling her hair and the song of the night creatures filling her ears, it had never been more precarious or precious.

“Cole….”

He turned to look at her, but she had no idea what to say to him. Instead, she held out her hand to him. It was the hand Malakai broke, but it was fully healed.

When Cole took it, his fingers fit perfectly as they entwined with hers. As she gazed at his hand, she wondered how many more times she would get the chance to hold it.

She shook off her melancholy musings as Cole opened the gate and stepped back to let her enter the palace’s outer courtyard. The stables to her left were quiet, but a single lantern burned in one of the windows. She suspected it was the room of the stable boy who most likely resided there.

A couple of greenhouses and some gardens were to the right of the stone pathway they trod toward the stairs leading to the looming palace doors. Beyond those gardens were more buildings. Plates of armor hung on fences and posts outside some of those buildings.

“What are those?” Lexi asked and pointed to the structures.

“The homes of the king’s soldiers,” Cole said.

“How many are there?”

“Homes or soldiers?”

“Both.”

“There’s a little over a hundred soldiers now. We lost many to the war.And there are a few hundred homes with an option to house more in homes behind the palace.”

Lexi studied the buildings as they ascended the steps. It helped to distract her from her nervousness, but not much.

Things had changed so much in such a short amount of time. The last time she was here, she didn’t know the man walking at her side, and now she knew him in the most intimate of ways.

She was also falling in love with him.

“Since the council is already here, I’ll have to see them immediately, but I’ll show you to my rooms first,” Cole said as they climbed the steps to the doors.

“Your rooms?”

“Unless you prefer to stay somewhere else.”

“No,” she blurted and then started to blush. “I, uh… I didn’t know what to, ah… what to expect.”

“From now on, Lexi, you can expect to be by my side in all things.”

Her heart melted a little as she inwardly groaned. Yes, she was definitely going to have to figure out what to do about Orin and Cole soon. She couldn’t keep this big of a secret from Cole when he was saying things like that.

But could she trust him? And how was he going to react when he learned she’d kept this from him?

He wouldn’t do anything to harm her. She was certain of that.

She was also certain he was going to be pissed.