His father stepped so close to the vampiretheir noses almost touched. “Are you going to stop me? I helpedfund the Lord’s war. I gave him my best fighters, including mysons, and if you open your mouth one more time, I will giveyouto his dragons.”
The vamp blanched but wisely shut hismouth.
“Take them away,” Tove commanded.
The guards captured the twenty-five or sofighters. The remaining guests didn’t speak as they led theprisoners away. Some of their gazes flicked from the blood on thefloor to the king of the dark fae.
Cole didn’t have to look at his father toknow he was infuriated; it continued to vibrate the air in theroom. More of the guests edged away from the king. He was the mostpowerful being in this room, and everyone knew it.
“This party is over; everyone go home,” hisfather commanded. “Everyone is to be out of here in twentyminutes.”
With that, his father turned and stalkedaway. Cole glanced at Brokk, who stared after their father’sretreating back.
“That was a quick celebration,” Brokksaid.
“There wasn’t much to celebrate,” Colemuttered.
And then he recalled Lexi. Turning, he pushedhis way through the crowd as it funneled toward the exit. Breakingfree of them, he jogged down the hall to the moon room, but shewasn’t there.
“Shit,” he hissed.
He ran back to the main hall, but half therevelers had already left, and more were on their way out. Still,he searched for her amongst those who remained, but she was alreadygone.
•••
“I cannot believe they dared to fight inmyhall,” his father growled as he paced his solar.
The airy room allowed plenty of room for hisangry movements as he stalked to one end, turned on his heel, andstormed past the large table in the center of the room. He reachedthe window on the other side of the room and paused to look down onthe courtyard a few hundred feet below.
Silver sconces hung on the walls, and thetorches situated inside them cast shadows across the walls andfloor. Tapestries decorated the walls. Most of them were landscapesof different areas of the Gloaming, but one was of his mother, andthe others were of all the king’s sons.
Despite the fact half of his sons foughtagainst their father in the war, he would never remove theirtapestries from his solar. They’d stood against him, but he stillloved them; he always would.
If push came to shove, the king would laydown his life for those sons. They were now hunted as traitors, buthe would do what he could to make sure they survived. Brokk andCole were under strict orders to save them if they could, but theydidn’t require any such orders; neither wanted Orin or Varo todie.
Situated in the North Tower, the solarprovided a spectacular view of the Gloaming. Cole didn’t have tolook out the window to picture the fields full of crops rollinginto hills. Though the dark fae mostly survived on the energyproduced from sex, they also ate enough regular food to make cropsnecessary in the Gloaming.
During the summer, those crops would fill thefields, but now they were only half grown. Like Earth, the ShadowRealms had seasons, and the seasons in the Gloaming were similar toEarth’s.
It was June in the human realm and spring inthe Gloaming, but they didn’t have winter here. They had a longerspring, summer, and fall. The leaves changed colors and fell in theGloaming, but new ones sprang forth within weeks of the old onesfalling.
Cole’s uncle, Maverick, watched Tove as hepaced from his seat at the table. A golden goblet full of wine satbefore him, but Maverick removed the silver flask from inside hisjacket, unscrewed the cap, and took a gulp. His uncle was more of awhiskey than a wine guy.
Taller than Cole by about two inches,Maverick had difficulty getting his six-foot-nine frame to fitunder the table and kept his legs sprawled out to the side. Hisdark brown hair waved around his broad face, and his chestnut eyesshone with amusement as he watched the king.
Maverick was the alpha of his pack, but hecouldn’t stop some of his members from leaving to fight against theLord during the war. But then, the lycans always enjoyed afight.
His pack was not the only pack in the LunarRealm. Others resided there, and before the war, they often arguedwith each other. They would battle over land, losing bits andpieces to enemy packs only to reclaim it again the next day orweek.
Cole leaned against the wall as he sippedwine from his golden goblet and watched his father. It had beenyears since he’d seen Tove so enraged. Brokk glanced at Cole andraised an eyebrow. Cole shrugged and drank some more wine.
“What started the fight?” Brokk inquired.
“A vampire grabbed the ass of a lycan’s mate.Her mate punched the vamp in the face; someone hit a witch in theensuing battle. It was a free-for-all after that,” Tovereplied.
“You can’t blame a lycan for defending hismate,” Maverick said.
“Maybe not, but they’re all going to spend aweek in my dungeons.”
