Page 63 of Shadows of Light
No one wasanywhere,as far as he could tell. He’d yet to run across another soul in his search, which should have proved impossible by now. Someone should have to eat, or want a drink, or be standing in the hall.
“Where is everyone?” he muttered.
His heart raced, and his feet moved faster as he swept through the palace. Had something happened to them? Had he somehow missed a battle or a spell that did something to all of them?
They finally knew where Cole was, and he couldn’t find the one woman who might be able to save him oranyoneelse. Outside, a dragon cast a shadow across the hall as it soared past the window. If they were still around, so was Lexi, but the palace remained eerily hushed.
He descended to the first floor and stood in the main entryway as he looked back and forth and tried to decide where they all could have gone. Another dragon soared across the windows, heading toward the center of the palace.
He followed it; if anyone or anything knew where to find Lexi, it was the dragons. He lost sight of the dragon almost immediately but followed its trajectory.
Winding his way through the palace, Orin realized he was heading toward the gardens Lexi had stalwartly avoided since taking over here.
This can’t be right.
But he’d checked everywhere else; he might as well check the place Lexi was least likely to be. Turning a corner, he stopped when he spotted the wall of immortals standing outside the garden, peering in.
They stood, crammed into every opening, sometimes two or three deep. Their shoulders pressed against each other as they spoke in low whispers, or not at all. The wall of their backs prevented him from entering the garden.
“Excuse me,” he said.
No one moved or acknowledged him as they focused on whatever lay beyond. He’d tried being polite, something he rarely was, and now he was over it.
Lowering his shoulder, Orin drove it into their backs and sides as he shoved his way through them. They grunted and shot him nasty looks that he ignored as he pushed his way to the front.
Once there, he started to straighten his tunic but froze as his attention was captured by the scene before him. The gardens that were once so brown and dead now teemed with green and life. None of the plants had flowers, but he suspected that as the plants grew and flourished, flowers would follow.
“Shit,” he breathed. “What happened here?”
No one bothered to answer him. He didn’t know if it was because they had no idea, if they were too flabbergasted to respond, or because it was him. Either way, though he couldn’t see her, he knew Lexi was responsible for this, and she was somewhere in the garden.
Orin stepped away from the crowd. When he did, he realized why none of them had moved further into the garden. The dragon had been so still, he hadn’t noticed it sitting there until its head turned toward him and its wings rippled.
Orin held up his hand placatingly as he edged away from the creature and deeper into the overflowing green of a garden he’d believed dead. He’d seen a lot of things over the years, but this verdant jungle was in the top ten most astonishing things of all.
He had no idea how Lexi had done any of this, but it feltrightthat she could. The dragon’s eyes followed his every move, so he kept his hands up until he was certain the beast wouldn’t eat him.
He lowered his hands again when he was out of view of the dragon. No one else tried to follow him, probably because they weren’t crazy.
He spotted Sahira first amid the trees, now teeming with life. He had no idea what some of the trees were, but their mixture of green, red, orange, purple, and yellow reflected the sun streaming through them.
This breathtaking burst of color was so beautiful it caused his step to slow as he drank it in. Then, he reminded himself that he was here for a reason.
CHAPTERFIFTY-ONE
When his footcrunched a rock on the path, Sahira’s head turned toward him. A radiant smile lit her face and amber eyes as the sun sparkled in them; that smile vanished when she spotted him.
He grinned as he stopped beside her. “Good morning, little witchy witch. It’s a pleasure to see you too.”
She rolled her eyes before shifting her attention away from him.
“Our queen has been busy,” Orin said, “or at least I’m assuming this was her.”
Sahira crossed her arms over her chest as her jaw tensed. “This was her.”
The way she said it made it sound like talking to him was the equivalent of having her teeth pulled. It made him smile more.
“How interesting,” Orin murmured. “Who knew she could bring things back to life.”
