Shadows of Discovery by Brenda K. Davies
Chapter Forty-Six
As Cole promised,he sent up breakfast and four women to make her a dress. The women were kind to her and talked while they worked, but she suspected there was a lot they weren’t saying.
Their curious glances at her and the covert looks they exchanged with each other spoke volumes, but they didn’t ask her anything. For now, they were content to silently speculate about her relationship with Cole as they all worked on sewing her dress. They told her their names but revealed nothing else to her.
Lexi tried to help them, but they shooed her away. Feeling helpless and out of place, she stood awkwardly by as she watched their hands and needles fly over the shiny, black material spread out before them. She didn’t know if it was fae magic or years of practice that made them so adept, but they had a dress taking shape in no time.
When they finished, Lexi tried to slip into the other room to put the dress on, but Amaris stopped her with a hand on Lexi’s arm. “You’ll need our help getting it on and with the buttons.”
“Oh, ah, yes, okay,” Lexi said.
She tried not to let her semi-nudity bother her as she shed her clothes and stood before them in her simple black bra and underwear. These women were dark fae, and nudity and sex were a part of life for them.
As the women gathered around her, they got some of the answers to their unspoken questions when they spotted Cole’s bite on her shoulder. All four of them froze while they gazed at the mark. One stretched out a hand as if she were going to touch it before snatching it back.
Finally, Amaris cleared her throat, and they all went to work again. They pulled the dress over her head and settled it into place. The sleek black dress, with its flowing skirt, demure bodice, and long sleeves, fit like a second skin.
One of the women worked on the buttons in the back while the others hemmed and hawed while making last-minute adjustments. When they finished, they all stood back and nodded their approval.
“We’ll work on the dress for the coronation today,” Amaris said. She seemed to be the one in charge of the women. “It will be ready for you by tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Lexi said.
The door opened, and they all turned as Cole entered the main sitting room. He stopped walking when he spotted them, and his gaze landed on Lexi. The women waited as he stared at her.
“You’re beautiful,” he finally said.
“They did an amazing job on the dress,” Lexi said.
Cole didn’t acknowledge any of the women as his attention remained on her. The women exchanged more looks but didn’t speak as they edged away from her.
When Cole held his arm out to her, Lexi slipped her feet into the black slippers the women had made her. She walked over and hooked her arm through his.
“Thank you,” she said over her shoulder to the women, who all grinned at her.
“Anytime, miss,” Amaris replied.
Cole led her from the room and down the hall to where they descended the spiral staircase.
“How are you doing?” Lexi asked when they reached the bottom.
“Fine.”
His clipped tone said he was the opposite of fine, but she didn’t push him on it. In just this past month, he’d been locked away by the Lord, watched his father die, killed a dragon, and survived the trials. Now he faced his father’s memorial and his own coronation.
He was probably the opposite of fine, but he was doing better than most would in his situation.
When they were almost to the main hall, Brokk slipped from the shadows to join them. Cole led her into the main hall that was as black as it was yesterday.
A glass coffin sat on a golden stand before the stairs of the dais. On top of the coffin was the crown Tove wore the first time she saw him. Inside the coffin sat a set of black clothes and a pair of black boots.
Beside the coffin was a portrait of Tove. He looked stoic and handsome with his chin raised high, his crown on, and a sword in hand. The tip of the blade rested on the ground.
Though they both remained impassive, her eyes burned for Cole and Brokk’s loss. Her hand tightened on his arm as she sought to offer him comfort.
She ascended the stairs with Cole and almost balked when she saw the small, delicate throne set to the right of the throne he was sitting in the first time she saw him. His father’s throne remained in the center of his and Brokk’s thrones, but that smaller throne was a new addition, and it was meant for her.
Cole stopped in front of the throne and gestured for her to sit, but she didn’t move. “You want me to sit on a throne?”
“One day, you’ll be my queen, Lexi. Now that the trials are over, it’s best to establish your presence at my side.”
Her head spun as she stared at the throne. This was all happening so fast. She’d barely had time to process being his mate, and now she had to figure out how to be the queen of a realm she’d only ever entered three times in her life.
He expected her to help lead a land that was not her own and she knew little about. And the dark fae were known for their cruelty and indifference. How well would they take to an outsider marrying their new king?
She wasn’t ready for this, but then, Cole hadn’t been prepared to become king, and neither he nor Brokk were ready to lose their father. This had never been a part of her plans, but she could do it.
Lifting her skirt, she settled onto the throne that was more comfortable than it appeared. Lexi adjusted her skirts the best she could while trying to act like she belonged here. Inwardly, she rebelled against it.
She was a simple girl who led a simple life until the war. Now, she was sitting in the dark fae palace, staring at the elaborate and awing dark fae hall, while the most powerful fae in existence and one of the most powerful beings in all the realms sat beside her.
And that being had claimed her as his mate and intended to make her his queen. Which meant he planned to marry her. They hadn’t discussed such a thing, but she should have known it would be the next logical step once he claimed her as his mate.
Of course, he would have to ask, and she would have to accept, but she couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful than being married to Cole. Not even her uneasiness over this place and her role in it could dim her happiness, but it was going to be an incredibly difficult road ahead of them.
She hoped she was strong enough to endure it.
From somewhere in the palace, a clock struck twelve, and Cole rested his hand over hers. As soon as the chimes stopped ringing, a line of dark fae materialized in the doorway. The line snaked around the room and poured into the hall as an endless sea of dark fae came to say goodbye to their king.
And while they bowed their heads over his coffin, many of them cast surreptitious glances at her and Cole. The others were not so covert in their curiosity, and a few openly gawked at them.
Some were clearly not pleased. She suspected more than some of them weren’t pleased; they were just a lot better at hiding it.
Cole didn’t release her hand as the dark fae continued to arrive throughout the day. Even after the sun set and moonlight streamed through the windows set high up in the wall, they came.
When the clock struck midnight, her stomach rumbled, but she didn’t complain as the mourners continued. She had no idea what time it was before the last of them finally left, but as soon as the doors closed, her shoulders slumped in exhaustion, and it took all she had not to slide out of the chair like a limp noodle.
Her ass had fallen asleep; her bladder had stopped screaming hours ago and now ached, as did her cramped, empty stomach. She wasn’t sure her feet would support her, but when Cole stood and lifted her hand to help her from the throne, she rose.
The rising did not help the bladder situation, and it took everything she had not to cross her legs and start dancing like a five-year-old who drank a gallon of lemonade.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” Cole said.
Lexi nodded, but she was too tired to speak, and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to eat anything. She hadn’t asked for food or to use the bathroom because Cole and Brokk didn’t ask for either thing.
She didn’t know if not eating was part of the dark fae mourning process, and she wasn’t about to question it. The not peeing thing was probably because they were freaks of nature.
“And a bathroom,” she said.
“Why didn’t you go?”
“I didn’t know if it was allowed.”
“Of course it’s allowed. Whenever you need anything here, ask for it, and you will have it.”
“Okay, great. I know that for next time, but I’d really like to go now.”
Brokk chuckled as he descended the steps of the dais. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
“Good night,” they both replied.
Cole led her across the dais and into the back area where she stood the first time she watched him with the council. She glanced back into the hall to discover Brokk already gone, and helots were slipping inside to take away the crown and coffin.
“Will they bury the coffin?” she asked.
“Yes, but first Brokk and I will add some private mementos from him and all of his children. I’ve ordered it placed in the same mausoleum as my mother. He’d want to be by her side.”
A lump formed in Lexi’s throat, and she blinked away her tears. “That would be lovely. How are you doing?”
“Fine.”
It was a lie; they both knew it, but he would grieve in his own way, and she understood that. She would be here for him when he needed her.
Cole stopped outside a closed door and waved a hand at it. “A bathroom, my love.”
“Oh, thank God,” Lexi breathed and rushed inside.