Page 28 of Shadows of Light
Since the Lord destroyed Aerie, the realm of the sirens, before the final war, the sirens had remained in Dragonia. They resided in a little section of land high in the mountains.
Occasionally, she spotted them flying overhead, but Lexi hadn’t seen much of them since the war had ended. A few days ago, Yamala sent a messenger to request an audience with her in the palace.
Lexi would have preferred not to do it; they still had so much work to do in the palace, so many things to organize and learn. She had an endless list of things to complete, but they wouldn’t have defeated the Lord without the sirens’ help, and she’d given her word to treat them as equals.
She couldn’t say no, but she dreaded this encounter. What happened with Cole last night would only make it worse, as her nerves and emotions were so raw the air felt uncomfortable against her skin.
She didn’t mind Yamala, the leader of the sirens, but she wasn’t a fan of the other, more heartless women who had slaughtered countless mortals over the years. But it didn’t matter who she did or didn’t like; she’d entered the game of politics when she claimed the arach throne.
She would win the game.
“I did forget,” she admitted to Kaylia.
When she first met the sometimes abrasive, almost always serious, and powerful woman, she never would have believed it possible that Kaylia would become a good friend, but she had. Lexi now counted the crone as one of her most trusted allies.
Kaylia stopped before the window and gazed at the land before turning to face Lexi. The sunlight streaming over her emphasized her long, silvery blonde hair.
Kaylia had separated it into two French braids that started near her temples before twisting into a bun at her nape. With her hair pulled back, Kaylia’s oval face, slender nose, and pink lips were more visible. The hairstyle emphasized her beauty, the slight cleft in her chin, and the pewter of her translucent, gray eyes.
“That’s okay; we’ve still got an hour before they arrive,” Kaylia said.
“Which is plenty of time,” her aunt, Sahira, said as she breezed into the room.
Sahira didn’t look back as she kicked the door shut. Before it closed, Lexi glimpsed Brokk rolling his eyes before turning to one of the lycans.
The last thing Lexi wanted was to be surrounded by these three women. She truly wanted to sink into a hot bath, drop beneath the surface, and watch the world through a watery abyss.
She didn’t crave death; it was the last thing she sought. She just wanted a few minutes of peace.
She wouldn’t get them, and she certainly wouldn’t get them if these women saw the marks on her neck, which was why she lightly slapped her aunt’s hand away when she reached for the button on Lexi’s cloak.
“I’ll do it. Besides, I still have to shower. I’ll take the dress with me and put it on afterward.”
Amaris’s black eyes studied Lexi in confusion. Amaris usually helped her with the dresses, or at least one of them did, as Lexi often couldn’t get all the buttons on her own.
Thankfully, she’d chosen a far simpler outfit for this meeting. It was one Amaris showed to her soon after she approved her appointment with the sirens.
“Well, go on then,” Sahira urged. “Time is wasting.”
Her aunt’s amber eyes were questioning as Lexi took the dress from Amaris, but she didn’t ask any questions. It had been a rough couple of weeks, and they understood this.
They would never know how incredibly grateful she was for that. Feeling vulnerable and on the verge of tears again, Lexi hung the dress over her arm and walked over to her aunt.
Though it was in its customary bun, a few strands of Sahira’s mahogany hair had straggled free to frame her beautiful face. They tickled Lexi’s face when she kissed her aunt’s cheek.
“I won’t be long,” Lexi promised before leaving the room.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
Orin had seen many,manythings in his lengthy lifetime. Some were good, others were average, and many were horrific.
This was definitely in the upper realms of the horrific. Cole had been in an especially foul mood when he arrived here.
Orin didn’t know what to say or how to react to the carnage before him. A quaint, human home on the outskirts of a city devastated by the Lord was now the site of a massacre.
It was amazing the home had survived the Lord’s war, but no one would ever reside there again. And it wasn’t uninhabitable because dragons or war damaged the structure; it was because all the cheery, yellow walls were drenched in blood, bones, and brains as the grayish goop slid down the wall.
Orin’s eyes rebelled against everything here, but he couldn’t tear them away from the massacre.
