Page 23 of Shadows of Light
Besides, he had to warn her about the threats to her life. Lexi had to know that until he eradicated all of them, she could only be with those she trusted completely.
Slowly, he unraveled the shadows to reveal himself to her.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Lexi’s handflew to her mouth as the shadowed corner of her room unfolded like some alien plant opening to reveal what lay within. One minute there was nothing, and the next, Cole stood there.
Except, it was a Cole she didn’t recognize. The dark beard he’d always kept neatly trimmed was scruffier. The tips of his pointed ears poked through hair that had grown longer and shaggier.
His nudity revealed all the ciphers he allowed to remain visible to the public eye. The black markings ran from his fingertips, up his arms, and across his shoulders. The ends of a few of the flame-like markings also touched his chin.
Though she couldn’t see them, she knew from tracing them countless times more ciphers ran across his shoulder blades, down his back, and stopped at his waist. The ciphers covered him from head to toe when he wasn’t keeping some of them cloaked.
He was thinner than when she last saw him. Not too much more, but on his broad, powerful frame, the weight loss was noticeable.
He’s not feeding,she realized.
Perhaps he was still eating, but the dark fae part of him hadn’t fed since they were last together. The possibility he might go to another woman to ease the hunger of the dark fae had never occurred to her.
It simply wouldn’t happen.
No matter how hungry he became and how much he lost himself to the shadows, a part ofherCole would always remain. That part would never stray from her, but it was taking a toll on him, as evidenced by his thinner cheeks and silver eyes.
The shadows may hold the most control over him, but the dark fae and lycan struggled to the forefront. The full moon wouldn’t help him control his wolf.
There was so much she had to know and tell him, but the words froze in her throat. A million thoughts and desires raced through her mind as she stared at him.
Like the last time she saw him, shadows slithered across his skin. The ones blackening the whites of his eyes made the silver of them impossibly vivid.
The shadows creeping like tendrils of fog across his skin terrified her. They vanished only to be replaced by more. They were trying to take him over, but they hadn’t succeeded… at least not yet.
And she couldn’t let them win. This was Cole, the man she loved. He was suffering, and he was doing so because he’d sacrificed himself for all of them.
“Cole,” she breathed.
When she stepped toward him, the shadows rose like the dragons when they were defending her. Like the dragons, these things were his protectors and hers, but whereas she had some command over the dragons who guarded this realm, Cole ceded most of his control to the shadows when he welcomed them into him.
And once again, she felt as distant from her arach ancestors as she did from the sun. Those horrible predecessors did this to him when they created the Shadow Reaver magic.
But he hadn’t lost complete control; some ofhimremained, or he wouldn’t be here. Which meant she still had a chance to save him.
“They’re plotting against you,” he said.
She barely recognized his voice. It had come out in that horrible, guttural way it did when they stood on the cliff overlooking Dragonia.
“I know, but we always knew there would be those who would. The throne might never be completely secure, but it’s mine and will remain that way while I live.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know, but you should come back. We work better together; we always have.”
“We can’t come back.”
Lexi winced when he said “we.” The shadows, those hideous things,refusedto let him go, and now they were making sure she knew it.
There had to be some way to break through and loosen their hold on him. The lycan and dark fae were warring for control, but they’d always warred against each other.
She suspected those two pieces of him despised the shadows. The dark fae thrived on emotion, control, and power, the lycans were never submissive, but the shadows sought to control them.
