Page 59 of Shadows of Light
Becca gulped, while behind him, the other’s feet crunched against the dirt when they shifted uneasily.
“We can give that to you,” someone said.
“I don’t need you for that.”
“You don’t need her either,” Becca said.
“And I need you?”
Becca’s chin lifted as she replied, “I have power in the realms, allies, and an army I can give you.”
“I don’t want your army, and I especially don’t wantyou.”
Sadness flickered through Becca’s eyes, and Cole gripped the bars harder. The muscles in his arms vibrated, and the cells inside him quivered as magic continued to pummel him.
“That’s too bad,” one of the women behind him said. “If you won’t work with us, then you’re against us, and we can’t have that. Kill him.”
Becca blanched a little. “No! He’ll see we’re right and thatshe’sthe enemy.”
Cole smiled, but it was more a baring of his teeth. “You’re all going to die.”
* * *
“Orin!”a voice shouted gruffly from behind him.
Orin jumped a little at the sudden intrusion of sound, and his feet dropped from the table where he’d been enjoying a drink after another pointless night of searching for Cole. The few other people in the palace’s lounge turned toward him.
As Skog stormed toward him, he set his glass down and rolled his eyes. With every step, the bottom of the dwarf’s battle-ax clinked against the rocky floor. The look on his face stopped Orin from cracking some wiseass retort.
“What is it?” Orin demanded.
Skog stopped in front of him and planted the end of his ax on the ground. “Cole has been spotted. I know where he is… or where hewas.”
Orin’s chair skittered back as he rose. “Take me to him.”
CHAPTERFORTY-SEVEN
Lexi admiredthe play of the moonlight filtering through the windows lining the hall. This was an outer hall; it didn’t lead to the inner rooms. It circled the palace and gave those who traveled it a view of the outside while they walked.
She loved being out here where the cool air against her skin gave her a sense of freedom. On her left side, she passed by the base of the palace’s towers, which blocked her view for about twenty steps before the stone wall opened up again.
The towers were spaced every fifty or so feet. On her right, it was mostly the palace’s outer wall, although she passed an occasional door to the inside.
She ignored those doors as she savored the sounds of the night. They were different than what she was used to on Earth; peepers or crickets didn’t sing, owls didn’t hoot, and the occasional murmur of passing humans didn’t pierce the quiet.
Here, the hush was broken by the occasional beat of a dragon’s wings as they patrolled the land. When she turned a corner, the rush of the river drifted up from below.
Lexi poked her head over the side to gaze at the water a hundred feet beneath her. It was beautiful as it reflected the moonlight, but after what she witnessed in that underground room, it made her shudder.
Her footsteps were soundless against the stone as her attention shifted away. When it did, she caught an odd sway to the shadows.
Lexi’s step faltered as she searched for something more from the shadows, but she didn’t see it again. Frowning, she continued forward, but her eyes constantly roved over the walls and ground.
She was about to turn another corner when a flicker went through the shadows. Stopping, she glowered at the shadows surrounding her.
There weren’t many of them, the night didn’t allow for that, but she could tell some were off. And she knew why.
“If Cole can’t be here himself, then you’re not welcome. Tell him you can’t be here without him.”
