When not wearing a shirt, it was possible tosee the ciphers covering his shoulder blades as they traveled downhis back before stopping at his waist. However, he had even moreciphers that he kept completely hidden from view.
The dark fae kept many of their ciphershidden from others, but these visible ciphers were impossible forthem to hide. Some things refused to be caged, and their visibleciphers were some of them.
The ground beneath Cole’s feet quaked as theimmortal guests stomped their feet and clapped their hands. Hisfather rested a hand on Cole’s shoulder before turning toBrokk.
“My sons, the heroes!” his fatherdeclared.
Cole hadn’t considered it possible, but thecacophony in the great hall increased. Bracing himself, he turnedto face the immortal creatures.
They blurred together until he stared out atnothing more than a sea of faceless bodies scattered across ablood-strewn field.
Cole shoved the image aside and turned to siton the throne to the right of his father. His throne was noticeablysmaller than his father’s, and it lacked the black skulls perchedabove his father’s shoulders.
Feeling as if his bones might break, Colegripped the curved, black ends of his throne until his knucklesturned white. Brokk walked stiffly in front of him and settled ontothe chair to his father’s left.
At six hundred years old, Brokk was themiddle of the king’s sons. Because of that, he’d never sat so closeto his father’s side before, but now that they were the only twosons the king had left in the Gloaming, Brokk’s chair had beenmoved to sit next to their father’s.
Cole refused to think about what had becomeof his two remaining brothers. Like the rest of the losing rebels,they were stripped of everything and were now ruthlesslyhunted.
No matter how many realms they ran through,it was only a matter of time before they caught Orin and Alvaro.Cole dreaded that day.
At one time, he and his brothers were asthick as thieves, and he’d always known where they were. Now, heknew five were dead and two were on the run.
If they didn’t somehow figure out a way totake down the Lord, the next time he saw Varo and Orin, they wouldmost likely be dead or on their way to execution.
Despite having chosen different sides in thewar, Cole was glad they’d survived, especially Alvaro. As half-darkand half-light fae, Varo had always been more sensitive than therest of his brothers. He’d survived the war, but Cole knew Varowouldn’t handle the aftermath of it well.
Ifhewas having nightmares, then Varomust be a mess.
CHAPTER 4
Lexi absently clapped along with all the immortalsand tried to keep her mouth shut while she examined the exquisiteballroom and all the beautifully dressed immortals. She wasn’t usedto seeing immortals dressed like this. In the human realm, theyalways wore human clothes to blend in.
Even now that the humans knew about theirexistence, most immortals still wore the clothing of the mortal’s.She didn’t know if it was from habit or because the immortalspreferred to blend in.
She had noticed the dark fae stoppedconcealing the pointed tips of their ears in shadows, the pixiesstopped hiding, the lycan sometimes transformed, and the vampireswould transport in public, but for the most part, the immortalscontinued to blend in with the mortals while on Earth.
And they were about as far from Earth as itgot in this place. The end of the line was so far outside of theroom that she had to stand on tiptoe to see inside, but what shesaw awed her.
The roof and walls of the dome-shaped roomwere black. Sconces holding torches of wavering flames hung on thewalls. The shadows their glow cast swelled and danced as if theywere a living entity—and in the Gloaming, they very well couldbe.
This was the dark fae land—the land of theimmortals who were one with shadows. There could be dozens of darkfae standing in those shadows, and she wouldn’t see any ofthem.
She glanced uneasily around but didn’t seeanyone. Then the stars illuminating the ceiling moved, and sheforgot her unease as she went back to trying not to gawk.
Some of the stars were constellations fromEarth; there was the Little and the Big Dipper and Orion, butothers looked utterly unfamiliar. A rising purple moon was followedby a large, red planet that slid across the top of the dome.
As the familiar constellations shifted out ofview, new stars rose to replace them. These were three times biggerand the color of a flamingo as they floated overhead.
She had no idea what realm they were from,but their beauty stole her breath. She could stand here and watchthis ever-changing display for the rest of her life and probablystill not see everything it offered.
Around her, the applause increased beforeabruptly ceasing. She kept her attention focused on the dome whileshe tried to ignore the oppressive heat of the bodies surroundingher. The main hall was gigantic, but the fae king must have invitedevery immortal who had supported the war as at least a thousand ofthem filled the room and spilled out the doorways.
She tugged at the collar of her dress as abead of sweat slid down her neck. It was a beautiful gown, butshe’d never worn anything like it before, and she found the copiousamounts of material uncomfortable.
When the line started moving, she tore herattention away from the ceiling to follow the others. Beside her,Sahira practically danced as she shifted from foot to foot andtwisted her hands before her.
“This is so exciting,” she murmured.
