Shadows of Fire (The Shadow Realms, Book 1)

by Brenda K. Davies

  Some of the salve remained on his palm. Beneath it, she saw the healing edges of the deep gash in his hand. “What caused it?”

  “I grabbed the blade.”

  Her eyebrows rose at this statement. She couldn’t imagine doing such a thing, let alone the agony accompanying it, but it didn’t seem to affect him.

  “Until later,” he murmured as he clasped her chin and kissed her once more.

  Before she could melt into his kiss again, he broke it off, opened the door, and left the room. She gazed after his back as she pondered his parting words.

  What exactly did they mean? Would they continue what they’d started later, or was it just a parting comment?

  An uneasy feeling grew in the pit of her stomach as she lifted her trembling fingers to her swollen lips.

  Now that the confusion and chaos of the night was settling down, she recalled his brother—a traitor that Brokk and Cole were hunting earlier—was hidden beneath her manor.

  The heat Cole’s kiss evoked vanished as her blood ran cold.

  CHAPTER 31

  Lexi nudged the cracked door further open. She poked her head inside the room where she last saw Brokk and Cole to discover Brokk sleeping soundly on the bed and Cole asleep in the chair beside him.

  A twinge tugged at her heart as she gazed at Cole’s large frame in that chair. He’d stretched his long legs before him, and his head had fallen back. He must have been extremely uncomfortable, but that chair was where she last saw him, and she assumed he stayed in it all night.

  She eased the door closed and retreated before rushing down the stairs. She strode down the hall and through the kitchen to the mudroom, where she kept her stable clothes. Removing her sneakers from beneath the row of coats hanging on the wall, she tugged them on.

  The sun was beginning to break the horizon as she stepped outside. A low mist covered the open field and danced across the ground as she strode toward the barn. The dew-covered grass dampened her sneakers and the bottom of her jeans as she walked.

  Beneath the smoky scent always lingering in the air was the sweet aroma of spring and flowers as the robins sang. She stopped outside the barn door and slid it open.

  At one time, she came to the stables to help because it was something she loved doing. Now, with most of their staff having fled, she came because she had to care for the animals.

  She smiled when the nicker of the horses greeted her and they kneed their doors impatiently. As she made her way down the shedrow, she hung their food tubs over the four horses' doors before going to let out the goats and chickens.

  Normally, this was her favorite time of day, and she loved this private time as she listened to the sounds of the animals eating. Today, she didn’t find any solace in the work as her mind spun over the predicament she found herself in.

  She wished she could get Orin out of her tunnels, but she didn’t know how to do it without causing a scene that would get her thrown in jail before her beheading. Maybe, if she could talk to him and tell him what happened with his brothers, he would agree to leave, but she couldn’t risk going to see him again while Brokk and Cole were here.

  Sahira’s spell kept the tunnels enshrouded in safety, but she couldn’t risk coming back smelling like Orin or getting caught emerging from the tunnels. She had no way to explain either of those things away.

  The sun had risen higher in the sky by the time she finished turning out the horses, cleaning their stalls, and setting their feed up for tonight and tomorrow. She left the barn and trudged back across the lawn to the manor.

  As the day progressed, the road was filling with humans and immortals starting their day. Most of them walked with their shoulders hunched up and their heads bowed, but some strode purposely forward with the confident swagger of the oppressors savoring their destruction.

  Anger and sadness coiled inside her as she watched the downtrodden pass. This was not the way it was supposed to be. This was not what her father had in mind when he fought in the war, or at least that’s what she told herself.

  No matter what side he chose, she couldn’t believe this was the outcome her father sought. He had his faults, she would never deny that, but he was a good man at heart. He’d believed he was doing the right thing when he joined the Lord’s side.

  There was no way he could have foreseen this outcome, and there was no way he would have approved of it.

  Her gaze traveled back to the manor. How did Cole feel about all of this?

  He’d fought on the Lord’s side and was hunting his brother, yet he didn’t relish the battering the human race had taken like Malakai did.

  But maybe he did. She had no idea what he did and didn’t enjoy. She knew so little about him, after all.

  Her fingers involuntarily rose to her lips as she recalled their kiss. Still completely wired from it, she barely slept last night, but there was a good possibility it meant nothing to him.

  He was far older than her and part dark fae. They fed on sexual energy as well as food, which meant he’d experienced countless kisses before.

  He’d probably forgotten about kissing her by the time he returned to Brokk’s side, but she couldn’t help speculating if it might have meant something more to him.

  She dropped her hand and shook her head to clear it of the memories of that kiss. She had enough to contend with without daydreaming about things that could never be.

  She trudged back to the manor, entered, and closed the door behind her. She kicked off her sneakers before returning to her room. Some of the tension eased from her as she took in the familiar comfort of her surroundings.

  This had been her room since she was a baby. Her nursery's pink walls were replaced by her childhood's purple walls, which became the color-splashed walls of her teens, and were now the dove-gray walls of her twenties.

  Photos of her, Sahira, and her father hung around the room. In one, she was sitting on her dad’s lap next to the lake. They were both smiling as their heads leaned against each other. Looks of love and serenity lit their faces.

  She recalled the night the photo was taken. Only six at the time, she’d walked to the lake while holding her dad’s hand. They spent some time looking at the stars while he pointed out the constellations. Later, she learned he made most of them up, but she’d marveled over them as the crickets and tree frogs sang their songs.

  When they arrived at the lake, the moon was high in the sky. He pulled out a loaf of bread, and she sat in his lap. He regaled her with stories as the ducks, woken from slumber by the prospect of food, swam over to them.

  Sahira snapped the photo after all the bread was gone, and Lexi’s head was resting against his chest. She recalled his heartbeat beneath her ear as he held her. She’d drifted off, secure in the knowledge he would always protect her.

  He’d seemed indestructible to her, but she’d been wrong. Her hero had fallen on a battlefield, and she had only memories and photos left of him.

  With tears clogging her eyes, she turned away from the photo. She tugged off her barn clothes and tossed them into the hamper tucked inside her walk-in closet. One side of the closet contained some of the fancier clothes she wore to the few “special” events she attended in her life, but it was mostly full of jeans, sweaters, and hoodies.

  She did have a collection of shoes she loved. Unfortunately, she didn’t wear them often as sneakers and boots were her main source of footwear for work around the manor. But occasionally, she would take them out, put them on, and admire them before slipping them away again.

  Gathering some new clothes, she left the closet behind and set the clothes on the pale, yellow comforter covering her queen-size bed. She flicked on the bathroom light switch, but nothing came on.

  Lexi lifted the flashlight from where she left it on the counter and turned it on. Hopefully, there was still enough hot water in the tank to get her through a shower, but it wouldn’t be her first cold shower if there wasn’t.

  Remodeled when she was fifteen, the bathroom held
the claw-foot tub she insisted on having. There was also a stand-in shower with a glass door.

  The beige walls were simple and unadorned, but the shelves lining them held various bottles of some of Sahira’s concoctions. Lexi pulled down a lavender mix she loved before stepping into the shower.

  She’d been looking forward to a hot shower, but the lukewarm water didn’t last long enough for that to happen. In the hopes of calming her nerves, she rubbed the lavender over her skin and washed it away before fleeing the cooling water.

  Wrapping a towel around herself, she left the bathroom and dressed in a pair of jeans, a loose-fitting T-shirt, and her socks. She stood in front of her bureau’s mirror, brushed her hair, and slid an elastic onto her wrist to use later.

  When she finished, she left her room and walked down the hall to where Brokk was resting.

  CHAPTER 32

  She contemplated knocking on the door to see if they needed anything, but she didn’t want to wake Brokk. He’d been on the verge of death last night and required his rest, so did Cole.

  She descended the stairs and strode down the hall toward the kitchen. She stepped into the large, airy room with its gray stone back wall. The rest of the walls had been drywalled over and painted a cranberry color.

  To her left was a large window overlooking the barn and paddock. Beneath the window was a basin sink. Sahira stood at the stove at the far end of the large island in the room's center. Thankfully, the gas continued to work when the power was out.

  Her aunt was chopping herbs on a cutting block she’d set out on top of the black marble countertops. Whatever she was cooking made Lexi’s stomach rumble. However, judging by the vials surrounding Sahira, she wasn’t making breakfast. She was replenishing her potions.

  Shade, Sahira’s black cat and familiar, sat beside the cutting board and watched as Sahira’s fingers worked their magic. Shade’s tail swung back and forth as he meticulously cleaned his paw. He paused in the middle of his grooming to study Lexi with his golden eyes before resuming his cleaning.

  Sahira absently rested her hand on Shade’s head, and their eyes met before they resumed their activities. Lexi lifted a piece of bread from the counter before pouring some blood into a mug.

  “How’s the patient?” Lexi asked.

  “When I looked in on him an hour ago, he was doing much better,” Sahira replied. “He’s still sleeping, but he’s healing.”

  “That’s good. Was Cole awake?”

  Sahira set her spoon down with a loud clatter. “No.”

  “Good.”

  “He’s dark fae.”

  “I know.”

  She also knew what that meant. Everyone knew the dark fae were lethal and cold. They also only had one use for someone of the opposite sex… to feed on the energy they emitted during sex.

  But Cole wasn’t entirely dark fae. When she first met him, all she’d seen of him was fae, but last night she glimpsed far more lycan in him. And the lycan were known for their undying loyalty to their mate. They also played the field a lot until they found their mate.

  And while Lexi didn’t think she was his mate—that was not what she wanted in her life at all—she didn’t think he was like the other dark fae. Not entirely, at least.

  Would he break her heart if she wasn’t careful? Absolutely.

  But she didn’t plan on letting him get close enough for that to happen. However, she wouldn’t mind if he got as close as he did last night again.

  You don’t want to become shadow kissed.

  She shuddered at the possibility of becoming one of those mindless, sex-starved things the dark fae sometimes left behind. No, she did not want to become one of them, but for that to happen, she was pretty sure a lot more than what passed between them last night would have to occur, and she had no plans for that.

  She felt Sahira’s gaze as she slathered butter on her bread, but Lexi didn’t look at her aunt as she tried to act completely nonchalant.

  “I’ll be in the library reading,” she said as she lifted her mug and her plate.

  “Hmm,” Sahira grunted.

  Lexi strolled over to kiss her cheek. “You worry too much.”

  “I always worry about you.”

  Lexi squeezed her shoulder before releasing her and strolling toward the door. “I love you too.”

  CHAPTER 33

  Following the scent of whatever was cooking, Cole descended a set of backstairs and entered a large, airy kitchen. With her back to him, Sahira stood at the island in the center. Her fingers flew as she chopped something with easy precision.

  Though she remained focused on whatever she diced, the slight stiffening of her shoulders told him she was aware he’d arrived. His feet didn’t make a sound as he strode across the kitchen toward her.

  She didn’t turn to look at him as he approached. “Can I get you something to eat, Colburn?”

  He stopped at the countertop and, sniffing the air, caught the faint hint of Lexi. She’d been here recently.

  “No,” he said. “And call me Cole. You helped save my brother’s life.”

  Sahira didn’t look up at him while she worked, but her jaw clenched a little.

  “Where is Lexi?” he asked.

  Her fingers stopped, and the thud of the knife ceased against the wooden board. Her head remained bowed for a second before she lifted it and met his gaze. Strands of her mahogany hair had slipped loose of her bun to frame her face. Her amber eyes narrowed on him.

  “Stay away from her,” Sahira said.

  Cole almost chuckled in amusement, but there wasn’t anything funny about this. Sahira played a large role in Lexi’s life, and she didn’t like him. Because of that, she would do everything she could to drive him away.

  However, after the taste he got of Lexi last night, he wasn’t going anywhere. He rested his hand near the stainless steel cooktop with its black, iron burners.

  “And why would I do that?” he asked.

  “Because she deserves better.”

  “Better than me?”

  “Better than being messed with by a dark fae.”

  Perhaps that was true, but he didn’t care. “You don’t like the dark fae.”

  Sahira tossed a handful of herbs into the large pot on the stove. “No one likes the dark fae, Colburn.”

  He lifted an eyebrow at her pointed use of his full name. She was a brazen little witch. So that’s where we stand.

  “I could say the same about witches and vampires, Sahira.”

  She scowled at him while she stirred the pot.

  “I could say the same about lycan and humans,” he continued.

  “She deserves better than to be messed with by a man who is only looking for one thing. She’s better than that. She’s better than you.”

  Again, maybe that was true, but it wasn’t going to stop him. He wanted Lexi, and he would have her. The only one who could prevent it from happening was Lexi. After last night, he didn’t see that happening.

  He leaned closer to her. “And how do you know what I’m looking for?”

  “Because it’s what all dark fae are looking for. You have to feed, and you need victims to quell your hunger.”

  “I can assure you, Sahira, there are no victims in my past. They were all willing.”

  “Did they all know what you are?”

  He held her fiery gaze as she stopped stirring the pot. His hand flexed on the countertop as his claws lengthened before retracting again. She wasn’t a threat to his safety, but she was a threat if she tried to stand between him and Lexi.

  “You know that’s not the way immortals work,” he said. “Or at least it’s not the way we worked before the war. Humans were never supposed to know about our existence, but since you’re so curious about my sex life, I can assure you that since they learned of us, they’ve always known whose bed they’ve climbed into. For some, their curiosity has only increased their desire for immortals and especially the dark fae.”

  “Good for you,” she mutt
ered sarcastically.

  A vein in Cole’s temple throbbed. “And has everyone in your past always known what you are?”

  “There’s a big difference between us; I don’t feed on others.”

  “We all do what is necessary to survive. You are part vampire; you require blood.”

  “I use blood bags.”

  “Good for you.”

  “And is it necessary for you to leave the broken, twisted souls of the shadow kissed in your wake?”

  “Anything I’ve ever done to anyone, they’ve asked for. No,” he said as he leaned closer, “they begged me for it.”

  Waves of dislike emanated from her. He smiled in return.

  “Where is Lexi?” he asked.

  “She’s young, and she just lost her father. She deserves better than to have someone like you playing with her.”

  “You have no idea what I’m like,” he said.

  “Everyone knows what the dark fae are like.”

  “And what are the witches like? Or the vampires? You’re condemning the dark fae when all immortals have questionable traits. A witch’s temper is legendary.”

  Sahira pulled the wooden spoon from the pot and slammed it on the counter. The flames beneath the pot rose as her temper flared. Lifting his hand, Cole moved it toward the fire and closed his fingers. The fire went out.

  “You’re not the only one who can control the elements,” he reminded her though the dark fae were stronger and better at controlling the elements than the witches.

  The fire surged back to life and wrapped around the corners of the pot. “I am the only one who can cast a hex.”

  “Are you threatening me?” Cole growled.

  He didn’t want to upset Lexi by hurting this woman, but he wouldn’t tolerate threats from anyone. She had no idea what she was playing with right now. He didn’t know what she was playing with right now. He barely recognized himself since Lexi entered his life.

  “I’m telling you,” Sahira hissed. “Leave her alone. She is one of the kindest souls I’ve ever known, and she deserves the best.”