Page 55 of Shadows of Light
Denied sustenance for too long, the dark fae was ravenous, but it recoiled from the idea of fucking this woman again. There was only one who could ease his hunger.
“I believe your fiancée is a poor match for you, but I wouldneverbetray you,” Becca said. “I never told the Lord anything about you or her.”
“You didn’t fight against him either.”
“I’m not a fighter, Cole. We both know that.”
It was true; she wasn’t a fighter. She most likely would have perished as soon as she stepped foot on the battlefield.
“No, you’re not.”
And he didn’t have time to stand here and deal with her. If she had been the one who kept running back to the Lord, he would learn the truth, and she would die. Until then, others would soon meet their end.
He stepped to the side and started toward the bar, but her next words stopped him. “If your fiancée isn’t worried about you because she thinks you’ll take her throne, then what about because of the prophecy?”
While Cole didn’t care what she had to say, her words piqued the shadows’ curiosity. They swiveled toward her.
CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR
“If she’s not concernedabout herself, what about everyone else in the realms?” Becca taunted. “She comes across as a boring, always-do-good type; if she thinks you’ll kill others, or there’s a chance the Reaverwilldestroy the realms, what will she do to protect them?”
The shadows whispered to each other and him as they moved through the line for a report on Lexi. Cole knew what she uncovered in that palace room and what they discussed. The shadows didn’t like it when his possible demise was a topic, but it would never come to that.
He couldn’t fully control what he was now, but he wouldneverdestroy the realms. He’d kill himself before he ever allowed that to happen.
She’s with the giant queen, the shadows whispered in his mind.The giants could become allies in destroying us.
Cole gritted his teeth against the shadows as they whispered louder. They were wrong; Lexi would never plot against him.
The whispers became louder and more incessant until they were shouting. When one of the dwarves ran for the door, the shadows raced after her.
They ensnared the woman’s legs, ripped her off her feet, and lifted her into the air. The woman screamed as she flailed about, but her punches didn’t connect with anything.
“No one leaves,” the shadows hissed.
For the first time, the smug expression on Becca’s face faded. She paled a little before glancing anxiously around.
“What have you done?” someone whispered.
“Someone here is plotting against Lexi,” Cole said in a voice more his own, but one still corrupted by the shadows. “Where is the back room?”
“Back room?” Becca asked in a slightly tremulous voice.
“There are traitors here, and I want them.Where.Are.They?”
Everyone shifted their attention to the bartender with his hands on the bar and a deathly pale face. “We have a storage room.”
Done with Becca, Cole stalked across the floor toward him. He didn’t go after the man but followed the shadows toward the swinging door leading into the storage room. He shoved it open and stepped inside.
He didn’t bother to look around the room full of liquor bottles, boxes, and other assorted supplies. Instead, he followed the shadows out the back door.
As he walked, he pulled the shadows away from the bar and freed the immortals inside. The retreating shadows watched the immortals scramble to get away.
Some of those who fled might report his whereabouts to his brother or Lexi, but he didn’t care. He’d be away from here and their enemies dead by the time anyone arrived.
The only one who didn’t run was Becca; she trailed him out the door. Halfway across the yard, he stopped before a door set into the earth.
Made of concrete, it had to weigh at least three hundred pounds. Not many shadows remained in the darkness, but there were enough to slip beneath the door to explore below.
