Orin’s feet kicked at the floor as he pushed himself further up the wall. He didn’t get a chance to rise before Cole loomed over him. When one of the shadows snapped at his face, Orin recoiled.
“Holy shit, Cole!” he exclaimed when the shadow left a red welt across his cheek.
How is it possible for a shadow to hurt someone?She didn’t have an answer for that, but these ones were out for blood and could inflict damage.
“You don’teverfuckingtouchher!” Cole roared.
He grasped Orin by the shirt and, as if Orin weighed no more than a discarded leaf, plucked him off the ground. When he slammed his brother into the wall, the manor shook from the impact.
“Youevertouch her again, and I’ll rip off your head and personally hand it to the Lord. Do you understand me?” Cole snarled.
The last four words were bit out in a mutated voice Lexi barely recognized. She’d never considered it possible for Cole to lose control so completely yet somehow manage to retain it.
“Do you understand me?” Cole gave Orin a sharp shake with each word he spoke.
“Yes!” Orin shouted.
His hands fisted, but he didn’t swing at Cole. If he did, Lexi was sure a bloody, brutal battle would ensue. One they both knew Orin would lose.
“You better hope they find the harrow stone because I willnotlet her be raped and brutalized by the Lord and his minions. I will not let her become a pawn in our games and mistakes. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes.”
“We deserve whatever the Lord unleashes on us. She. Does. Not.”
Cole shoved Orin away from him and turned toward her. Unprepared for the sudden motion, Lexi couldn’t stop herself from retreating from him.
When he saw her reaction, he hesitated, but she quickly recovered and walked toward him as Orin slid to the ground. Cole met her halfway and tenderly clasped her wrist.
The second he touched her, some of his tension ebbed, and the shadows retracted a little. He guided her over to the sink, turned on the cold water, and gently held her hand beneath the cool flow.
The water trickling over the blister forming on her hand helped ease some of the sting. As he brushed the hair back from her forehead, the shadows fully retreated into him.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Ye-Yes,” she stammered. “Are you?”
“Yes.”
She might set him off again, but she had to say what they both already knew. “Someone from the Gloaming told the Lord about me.”
“I know.”
“Do you think it was Becca?”
“Yes.”
“That means a member of your council is working against you.”
“It’s to be expected. Even my father had resistance when he claimed the throne. The dark fae will test their boundaries, and I will be there to make sure those boundaries hold firm. No matter what it takes.”
He sounded so confident in his ability to do so, but she couldn’t stop the feeling of foreboding creeping down her spine. They already had so much going against them; they didn’t need this too.
Chapter Sixty-Eight
“That shadow thing;I’ve never seen it happen before,” she said.
“Neither have I,” he murmured.
