Page 16 of Shadows of Light
There weren’t as many here as she would have liked, but they’d retrieved a few dozen survivors from the battlefield. Some had already healed enough to leave, but most remained as crones, witches, and light fae cared for them.
Some witches and light fae were already placing healing compresses over Maverick. She barely recognized Cole’s uncle; every part of him was burnt, blistered, and blackened.
Beneath his badly burned eyelids, the whites of his chestnut-colored eyes were all she could see. Then his eyes rolled down, and agony radiated from them before they were gone again.
“Maverick,” she breathed.
She went to rest a hand on his arm but was scared she’d hurt him more if she did as a rough, moaning gurgle issued from his throat. The sound was one of death and suffering.
“Oh, Maverick.”
Behind her, his pack shifted uneasily, and one of them growled. They were worse than caged wolves as they sought to protect their alpha.
“Watch it,” Orin warned. “None of us did this to him. We’re all trying to help, but she isthequeen, and if you lose control in here, we’ll kill you.”
“Do you think you could, dark fae?” one sneered.
“IknowI could.”
“That’s enough!” Lexi snapped. “I won’t tolerate any fighting here. This is the infirmary; there aremanyinjured here, and nothing will hurt them again. If you’re going to fight, then leave.”
“We’re not leaving our alpha unprotected,” another lycan said.
“No one here is trying to hurt him; we’re all helping.”
The lycan shifted his eyes to Orin. “The dark faeneverhelp.”
“Weallworked together to reclaim this realm, and we will continue to do so,” Lexi said. “After what we’ve all been through, I won’t tolerateanyfighting between us. Now, it’s time for all of you to leave. He has to rest, and we’ll help him heal.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” another lycan said.
Lexi rose to stare up at the mountain of a man. “I am the queen of the Shadow Realms; I have given you an order, and youwillobey it. Get out of this room. You can stay in the hall, but I won’t have volatile lycans in this room. Get. Out.”
With those last two words, flames rose from Lexi’s fingertips to her wrists. Outside, the dragons bellowed; a shadow fell across the room when one landed against the side of the palace. Its head poked through the large window.
Besides letting in a lot of light, Lexi now understood why the palace’s windows were so big. The dragon’s talons bit into the palace’s walls as his golden eyes narrowed on the lycans.
Another shadow fell across the room before a blue dragon landed on another windowsill. A green dragon soon occupied the third window. It was small enough to get most of its upper body through the window.
The green dragon leaned its head in so far, his nose nearly touched a lycan. A puff of smoke twisted from its nostrils as it bared its mouthful of flesh-rendering teeth.
Lexi had no doubt the dragons would tear the windows apart and be in this room if a lycan moved toward her. And they were strong enough and fast enough to do it in seconds.
Ever since claiming the arach throne, Lexi had felt a connection to all the dragons; apparently, they felt one to her too. They must have sensed a shift in her mood, and they’d come to her.
Lexi smiled as she rested her hand on the green dragon’s neck, but she didn’t tell it to back down. Orin smirked as the lycans paled.
No one else in the room dared to move or breathe while they waited to see what the shapeshifters would do.
One of the lycans finally took a step back. “We’ll beright outside,in the hall. If anything goes wrong, we’ll return.”
“We’ll keep you updated on his condition and doeverythingwe can to save him,” Lexi vowed.
When the lycans retreated, she looked to Orin, Brokk, and her dad. “It’s probably best if you leave too. Having healers in here alone with Maverick is bad enough for them. Having you here is making it worse. The three of you can’t help with this.”
She didn’t include Varo as he was half light fae and could help here. Plus, she believed he needed something to do, some way to help. She hoped it would help him heal.
Her dad kissed her forehead. “We’ll be right outside.”
