Page 107 of Shadows of Light
Still, she knew that leaving the realm unprotected, other than the dragons and her growing army, was the wrong move to make for any length of time. However, she hated waiting for her friends and family to return when they put their lives on the line forher.
But far more lives, inallthe realms, depended on her. So instead of going into Doomed Valley, she asked some dragons to go, and three did.
There’d been no sign of them since, though Alina didn’t believe they were dead and neither did Lexi. She thought she’d feel a severing in the connection that developed when she took the throne.
She suspected it was only a matter of time before Cole went after his brothers, but for now, he focused on helping her maintain control of the realms and rebuilding the Gloaming. Like her, he felt trapped by the weight of responsibility and all the lives resting on his shoulders.
She went with him in the morning, and in the afternoon, while she went through a new series of dress fittings in Dragonia, Cole remained to help the dark fae rebuild the Gloaming. They were making great progress because, while Cole was away trying to find the crudue vine and recovering, Elvin continued the building.
Many of the dark fae had returned to the Gloaming, they’d cleared more ruined land for the spring crops, and their attention had shifted to building outside the palace walls. The Gloaming was coming back to life.
Yesterday when Lexi journeyed back to the Gloaming with Cole, they returned to the palace again. Every time she entered the large, mysterious palace, it felt like the building was enfolding her in a warm embrace.
Even with the palace’s amazing hospitality, much to her disappointment, the locked rooms remained that way. She pondered if the palace would one day reveal them to her, but she doubted it. The palace loved being an enigma; it was part of its personality.
Standing inside the palace’s grand ballroom, with the rest of the dark fae surrounding them, Lexi had watched Cole ascend the dais to his throne. Once settled on his seat, Elvin placed the king’s crown on his head.
Cole’s hands gripped the ends of the arms as he stared at the cheering dark fae surrounding him. They’d already crowned him king, but this was a renewal of his position in this realm.
When he beckoned her forward, Lexi smiled before climbing the stairs and settling onto the throne beside his. He smiled at her and claimed her hand.
Once they were married, she would officially become his queen, and he would become her king of the Shadow Realms. But the crowd loved this show of their unity. They clapped and cheered so loudly it reverberated off the walls and echoed all around them.
Lexi’s hand tightened around Cole’s as she realized they were doing it. They were bringing all the realms together and bringing peace to the lands. It was more than she’d ever dared to hope for when this journey started.
When she first arrived in the Gloaming, she never expected the dark fae to welcome her here, but they embraced her now… and many of them had done so before they knew of her arach heritage.
Today, Lexi smiled over the memory but was drawn back to the present as the lycans standing outside the doors in the hall opened them before she and Sahira arrived. Lexi thanked them before descending the steps into the expansive throne room.
Some dragons, Cole, Maverick, Varo, and her dad, already waited for her and Sahira near the dais. They were meeting with the merfolk soon; she and Cole owed them, the king intended to collect, and they would repay the debt if they could.
Before then, they’d agreed to gather to talk about their next steps in finding Orin, Brokk, and Kaylia. She was beginning to fear they were out of ideas.
CHAPTEREIGHTY-THREE
When they madeit to the others, she stopped beside Cole, and he slid his arm around her waist before kissing her temple. They finally had everything they’d fought for, but it wasn’t complete. While his brothers remained missing, he couldn’t settle into his new life.
For the first time in his life, he was finally content with who he was. The lycan and dark fae parts of himself no longer clashed against each other but worked in unison as they strove to keep the realms and Lexi safe.
And the shadows, as long as he didn’t take too many into himself, didn’t try to overwhelm him. While in the lake, the three pieces of himself worked together to keep him alive and connected in a way they never had before.
That connection remained, but he couldn’t know peace without his brothers. He wanted to open a portal and dive into Doomed Valley, but he’d just gotten Lexi back, and he didn’t dare leave her without a lot of shadows to watch over her.
For that to happen, he would have to draw more of them into himself again, which could push him to the brink of madness once more. He couldn’t take that risk while in the Valley and away from Lexi.
He also couldn’t start jumping through all the outer realms. He could travel through some of them daily but couldn’t spend weeks or months searching through them. There were far too many of them for that to do any good.
Their best bet was to raise the reward for info on Orin and have more immortals hunt for him. That was more likely to turn up answers than his realm hopping would.
So, while he wanted to rush out in search of his brothers, he couldn’t. The not knowing was tearing him apart inside, and his inability to do anything about it was maddening. Hehatedit.
He’d finally found peace with himself, but there was no peace in his heart, and there wouldn’t be until he had answers.
“There’s still no word, and the shadows haven’t found anything,” he reported.
Lexi’s head bowed. “What do we do now?”
“Keep the shadows and dragons searching Doomed Valley.” With a sigh, Sahira added, “And I’ll find Orin. I still have the tracking spell on him.”
