Page 49 of Shadows of Light
“No.”
Lexi tried not to let despair get the best of her. “All right then. We’ll finish going through this stuff. Maybe the answers are still here, or maybe they aren’t, but we’ve come this far and we can’t stop now. If there’s something here that can help us, we have to know.”
CHAPTERFORTY
They uncoveredas many answers in the following pages as they did in the first ones. It took two more days to piece together the rest of the pages and read through them. Most of what remained was more history of her ancestors.
Whoever wrote about the Reaver and the magic that created it before hiding it within these historical tomes hadn’t written anything more. The missing piece of the parchment never turned up.
Lexi didn’t know if the Lord realized what he held when he destroyed it, or if it was just one more thing amongst the thousands he ruined. Despite knowing it was mostly history documents, Lexi read through it all.
She’d hoped to learn more about her ancestors, but most of it was accounts of the dragons, crops, architectural design, buildings, population, and detailed agricultural notes. There was some on the civil war, but not much.
They didn’t discover any other prophecies, but then, prophecies weren’t common, and Cole considered them garbage. But unfortunately, she’d come to believe not all of them were.
When they finished, hundreds of pieces of shredded documents remained, but none of them went together, and even though they’d read what was on them, there weren’t any answers.
She didn’t know if there was ever more than this here and the Lord ruined it or if it was always just these minute details. However, they’d finished, and she could leave this room for something more than a shower and sleep for the first time in weeks.
Rising, Lexi stretched her cramped legs and hobbled over to the window. Resting her hands on the sill, she leaned out to take in the scenery. She greedily inhaled the fresh air as the dragons swooped through the sky. As her growing army trained, the clash and scrape of steel sounded from the bailey.
Over the past couple of weeks, once they finished with the documents, they filed them back into the cabinets. Behind her, one of them clicked shut with an air of finality.
Despite not learning anything and being left with more questions when it came to Cole, some of her tension eased. She no longer had to worry there might be some answerssomewherein Dragonia that she was missing. There weren’t.
She would have to continue stumbling through learning more about her abilities, just like she had up until now. At least she had friends and family to help her get through this.
She wished she still had Cole. But there was a way to save him, and like she learned to wield some of her abilities, shewoulddiscover how to help him control the shadows. She would have to be careful not to accidentally destroy him when she did.
“After we all get some rest, there’s something else we have to discuss,” her dad said.
Lexi turned away from the window and sat on the sill. Leaning forward, she clasped her hands before her. “What?”
“The prisoners in the dungeon.”
The others in the room stopped what they were doing as Lexi bowed her head. It had only been a matter of time before she had to deal with them; as much as she hated it, that time had come.
“Okay,” Lexi said.
“But we can talk about it later.”
“No, let’s get it over with now.”
He sighed before continuing. “They’ve been down there for weeks; it could become cruel to keep them there.”
“Keep them there and let them suffer,” Orin said. “They would have gladly seen us dead; why should we care if it’s cruel?”
“Is that what you plan to do with the prisoners still in the prison realm?” Lexi asked. “You’re going to keep them there and let them rot?”
“No, I had them all executed soon after the Lord fell, but they stewed in their poor choices before I did.”
“Is that why you kept me there?” her dad asked. “So, I would stew in mypoorchoices?”
Orin shrugged. “I couldn’t turn you free, Del, and you know that as well as I do. You were vital to the Lord’s war and Cole. What was I going to do? Turn you loose and let you return to helping them?”
“You knew we were secretly plotting to take him down.”
“And you failed to do so.”
