Larger than the moons on Earth, they cast alot of light upon the realm. And they were beautiful. One was full,while the other was a crescent sliver.
“Yes,” he said, and she felt his eyes onher.
Lexi gulped; she shouldn’t do it, but herhead turned toward him, and their eyes met. They were so close, shecould tell that no other colors marred the perfect Persian blue ofhis eyes.
She didn’t mean for it to happen, but hergaze fell to his lips. Sheltered her whole life, she hadn’t spentmuch time around boys or men.
She was aware her father protected her,probably too much, but she’d never argued with him about it. Healways said she would have plenty of time for those things when shewas older, but she would never be a child again. He was determinedshe enjoy her childhood for as long as possible.
She’d probably stayed sequestered for toomany years, but though the war only lasted a couple of years, thetensions building up to it started years before then. When shemight have normally spread her wings, she remained at home to runthings while her father became more entrenched in the eventsunfolding.
And now she was standing with one of the mostpowerful and deadly creatures ever to walk the realms, and shelonged to kiss him. When his gaze fell to her mouth, her breathcaught.
Washegoing to kissher?
She should run as fast as she could fromhere. Getting entangled with the prince of the dark fae was theworst idea ever, and Lexi didn’t want to end up shadow kissed, butshe couldn’t move away from him.
One kiss couldn’t hurt. It took far more thanone tiny, curiosity-easing kiss to turn someone into a mindless sexslave. She didn’t know how much more, but since she planned to keepher clothes on, she wouldn’t have to worry about it.
He was leaning toward her, so close hisbreath warmed her lips, when a piercing scream shattered theirsolitude. The prince jerked away as more screams and shoutspreceded a loud bang.
“Stay here!” he commanded and ran from theroom.
Sahira!Lexi hesitated only a secondbefore running after him.
CHAPTER 12
Cole raced down the hallways as the shouts andscreaming continued. Another bang shook the floor and rebounded offthe walls a second before he burst into the ballroom. He scannedthe room as he tried to ascertain what was happening.
And then he spotted a group of lycans,vampires, and dark fae fighting on the other side of the room. Themusicians had stopped playing, and Brokk, along with some dark faeguards, were carving their way through the fighters and tossingthem away.
When one of them punched his brother in theback of the head, Cole snarled as he sped across the room to helphim. They hadn’t survived the war to be taken down by a bunch ofassholes in theirownhome. He’d already lost too many ofhis brothers; he wouldnotlose anymore.
Brokk turned toward his attacker as Coleseized the vamp by the shoulder and threw him away. Guestsscattered out of the way as the vamp skidded across the floorbefore crashing into the wall.
Dark fae guards surrounded the vamp andhauled him to his feet. Brokk nodded his thanks to Cole, but hedidn’t have a chance to speak before the growing brawl drew hisattention.
Power thrummed through Cole as he drew on theair surrounding him and pulled it toward him. When a couple ofvamps and a lycan lurched toward each other, he held his hands out,turned them over, and pushed them apart with his palms facingoutward.
The air around him shuddered as he pushed itoutward. The impact of the air shoved the fighters back. They hitseparate walls with loud thuds. The air rippled as he held out hispalms to keep the fighters pinned against the wall.
Brokk punched a warlock in the face beforegripping the back of his head and slamming it onto his knee. Brokkkicked the fighter away and lunged over a witch to snatch a candlefrom the wall.
Lifting the flame to his mouth, Brokk blew onit. Instead of the fire going out, it surged into a rolling infernothat torched those closest to him.
Immortals screamed as they raced away fromhim or fell to the ground and rolled as they attempted to smotherthe flames consuming them. The scent of burnt clothes and fleshpermeated the air. The fire wouldn’t kill them, but they’dhurt.
When a vampire lunged toward him, Colereleased his hold on the prisoners and spun to face his attacker.Red eyes met his a second before Cole drove the heel of his palm upand into the vamp’s nose.
Blood erupted from the vamp’s shattered nose,and it howled as its hands flew to its face and it staggered back.Lifting his foot, Cole planted it in the vamp’s belly and shoved itaway from him.
“What is going on here?” his father’s voiceboomed throughout the vast hall. “Who dares to fight inmyhome?”
Footsteps echoed across the floor andrebounded off the ceiling as his father stalked toward them.Immortals scrambled to get out of the way, and more of the innocentguests fell back. Tove’s fury vibrated the air around him.
“Guards, seizeeverysingle one of thefighters,” Tove commanded. “They will all reside in my dungeonuntil I decide it’s time for them to go.”
“You can’t do that!” a vampire protested.
