Page 21 of Shadows of Light
When they passed the gardens, Lexi stopped to look at the dead world beyond the arched doorways. Cole had told her about the hideous fountain in the garden’s center.
She couldn’t see it from here, but at least, with no new blood to fuel it, the fountain had stopped running. It would never run again.
Even if blood never flowed through its pipes again, she would always know what it once held and represented. One day, when she had more time and fewer death threats, she would help return the garden to its former glory. She would also have that fountain ripped out.
Lexi turned away from the garden and continued toward her room. She missed her manor, cozy room, and the warmth of her home.
This place was all cold stone. No portraits or decorations broke the barren space. Only the sparsely placed golden statues remained in any of the halls.
The Lord had commanded the removal of the things that had probably made this space more inviting. He’d kept the things worth money, which only made the place feel colder to her.
With its vast size, Lexi doubted this place could ever feel cozy. But it didn’t matter because it washerhome now, and she would make it feel like one... when she had the time, if there was ever time again.
No matter what, she would turn it into a home where she could relax and feel comfortable. She would make it a place where her children—
Lexi abruptly cut off those musings. Without Cole, there would be no children, and she wasn’t sure Cole would ever be at her side again.
She hoped that one day he would regain control of the shadows and come back to her, but after everything he’d experienced, he wouldn’t return the same. But she wasn’t the same either, and she never would be.
Lexi reached the stairs leading to her room. It wasn’t the royal suite; she’d never sleep anywhere the Lord once rested his head. Besides, she craved something smaller that she could one day make her own.
When they arrived at the second floor, she left the stairwell and strode down the hall with its gray stone floor and white, barren walls. This section of the palace had all the warmth of a tomb, but she was so exhausted her first night here that she couldn’t bring herself to climb more than one flight of stairs.
Now, she didn’t have the energy to locate another room she might like better. She didn’t care as long as she had a place to sleep that didn’t remind her of the Lord.
When she arrived at the first door, she kissed her dad on the cheek. “I love you. Good night.”
“I love you too,” he said gruffly. “Sleep well.”
They both knew that wouldn’t happen, but she turned to Brokk and squeezed his arm. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
Lexi entered the room and closed the door behind her. The lights in the sconces on the walls danced like flames, but some other energy fueled the light source.
She didn’t know what that energy was, probably some form of arach magic. Lexi had no idea how to create that magic or bring it forth, but she felt it running throughout Dragonia. She’d tapped into it when she ascended the throne and sealed her connection to the dragons.
Her room was small, but unlike most of this palace, it felt cozy. A yellow blanket covered the bed, the walls were a pale shade of rose, and the windows across the way looked upon Dragonia’s valleys and mountains.
Bones from the dragons’ feeding once littered those mountaintops, but the war with the Lord had knocked many of them free. Craggy, rocky peaks stretched high into the sky, lit by stars and moon. Some mountains still had bones on them, but Lexi couldn’t see them from here.
A small bathroom decorated in sage green was to her right. As the dragons called to each other and a piece of her soul, Lexi padded into the bathroom. All she wanted was a shower and bed.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Standingin the corner of her room, Cole watched Lexi while she slept. He shouldn’t have come here; it was the last thing he’d planned on doing tonight, but he hungered for her so badly it had become a physical pain.
Over the past two weeks, he’d driven himself mad as he resisted seeing her. And tonight, the thin thread of control he’d maintained over his restraint broke.
She was safe; the shadows reported that to him all the time, but it had stopped being enough to keep him away. Hehadto see her; not even the shadows, or the knowledge of how bad this idea was, could stop him.
Two weeks had passed since he left her behind. Every day, the dark fae and lycan part of him became increasingly louder as they clamored for her. The lycan sought its mate, the dark fae was ravenous, and the man’s heart ached to hold the one he loved.
The shadows were the only part of him against coming here. They ranted against it, but as the days passed, their protests were buried further beneath the needs of the fae and lycan.
He kept himself cloaked in shadows as he drank in her magnificent auburn hair sprawled across her pillow. The deep red strands stood out vividly in the moonlight streaming through her open windows.
He wanted to run the silken strands of her hair through his fingers and inhale her strawberry aroma. Over the past two weeks, he spent hours recalling every detail of her, what she felt like against him, beneath him, and on top of him.
