Page 89 of Bound By Love
A week ago, she dared to travel close enough to investigate the devastation the dragons unleashed on the city, but she was still a few miles away when the roar of a dragon caused her to retreat.
She preferred to stay as far from those beasts as possible.
The humans who survived the massacre continued to filter out of the city every day. She’d heard from some that others were choosing to stay behind to rebuild.
Every day, she watched as broken, ragtag groups of survivors fled the city in search of something more, but there wasn’t much left out there. Each morning, she walked out to the road to give those survivors food. Some stopped to talk, but most would simply look at her with haunted eyes before taking their bread and walking away.
The dragons unleashed a fair amount of destruction on the world, but most of their larger fires had been extinguished. Some smaller ones still popped up. Lexi had no idea what started them, and she wasn’t going into the city to find out, but their smoke filled the sky, and sometimes they burned for days.
The war ended a month ago. It was too soon to accomplish much rebuilding and far too soon to celebrate the destruction unleashed on so many.
Hell, she didn’t think what happened to Earth shouldeverbe celebrated, but she was sure many other immortals would disagree… including the king of the dark fae.
Time was moving on, and the war was over. The immortals of the Shadow Realms wanted to continue with their lives. It didn’t matter that many in the mortal realm still suffered.
The winning side had gotten their way; immortals didn’t have to hide from humans anymore. The mortals were aware of their existence now, and that knowledge had ruined their lives.
Despite all that, a small tingle of excitement sparked in her belly. She would soon enter a Shadow Realm for the first time; vampires usually weren’t welcome there, not even half vamps.
And while there was a chance she and Sahira might get killed if they tried to cross into the Gloaming, she was excited to see what lay beyond the human realm.
* * *
Twilight was settlingacross the land as Lexi and Sahira stood before the growing shadows spreading throughout the forest across from them. It had taken them an hour to reach the designated entrance to the Gloaming, and Lexi clutched the invitation that would grant them passage like it was a life preserver in a storm-tossed sea.
Around her, half a dozen other immortals talked excitedly about what was to come, but Lexi couldn’t join in their enthusiasm. She was too nervous.
It had been a week since the invitation arrived. In that time, Sahira had managed to barter enough of her potions in the marketplace near their home to purchase two gowns for them.
Her aunt then spent the next couple of days getting those dresses to fit properly and adding special touches to them. They were some of the most beautiful creations Lexi had ever seen, but the exquisite gown only made Lexi feel more out of place. She’d never worn anything like it before.
The other immortals and her aunt were all at ease in their fancy clothes while she felt like an imposter. They were also all excited about traveling to the Gloaming, and she couldn’t help wondering if she would be allowed to make the journey.
Maybe the invite was sent to them by accident. Her dad did fight for the Lord, but she and Sahira were both half vampire, and vampires weren’t exactly welcome in the Shadow Realms. Neither were humans.
When the time came, would they try to enter the Gloaming only to be bounced back or, worse, destroyed?
She tugged at the collar of her dress as the possibility caused a sheen of sweat to dampen her skin.
Trying to distract herself from the risk of impending death, Lexi studied the two dark fae standing at the edge of the woods. They wore only loose-fitting brown pants; their chests and feet were bare. Like all purebred dark fae, they had black hair, black eyes, pointed ears, and lithe builds.
The shadows swallowed them until they flickered in and out of the spreading darkness created by the setting sun. However, the dark fae were known to be a part of the shadows.
From her distance of ten feet, she sensed their power, yet their ciphers didn’t go past the middle of their biceps. She’d only encountered a couple of dark fae before, but she knew those black markings indicated the amount of power they possessed.
They said the dark fae king and his sons possessed ciphers that extended to their wrists. The oldest supposedly had ciphers to the tips of his fingers, like the king.
Unable to stop herself, Lexi tugged at the collar of her gown again as the sun vanished. There was a moment when the entire world held its breath as the last of the sun’s rays stretched across the sky. Then the shimmering, deep purple entrance to the Gloaming came into view.
Sahira clasped Lexi’s arm and practically jumped up and down in excitement. Lexi tried not to gawk as the doorway shifted from deep purple to black and back again. The dark fae standing beside it stepped away from the trees and waved their arms toward the portal.
Lexi gulped and grasped Sahira’s hand on her arm. Her aunt was stunning in her maroon gown. Twisted into an elaborate coil, her mahogany hair hung against her nape, and black eyeliner emphasized the striking color of her amber eyes.
Most days, Sahira wore jeans and T-shirts like her. She kept her hair in a bun and eschewed makeup until she looked more like a librarian than the half witch, half vampire she was. Now, she’d embraced the roll of ball attendee.
“It’s okay,” Sahira whispered.
“What if the portal doesn’t let us enter? Vampires were banished to the mortal realm centuries ago.”
