Cole shut his eyes as he tried to block out the memory of his father’s demise. He could still feel the hot wash of blood spraying him as the dragon consumed Tove. As fresh sorrow swelled in him, his jaw clenched until his teeth ached from it.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed aside the memory and opened his eyes to focus on Lexi. The sight of her helped keep the memories at bay, but they wouldn’t remain buried. The dead had a way of returning; he’d learned that after the war… when they started haunting his dreams.
Concern radiated from Lexi as she rested her hand on his. “What happened?”
“My father is dead,” he said.
Her mouth dropped, and the fingers of her good hand clamped around his. Sahira entered the room with a tray of tea and another bottle of healing potion. She froze when she saw Lexi’s expression.
“What is it?” Sahira asked. “What happened?” Then her eyes narrowed on him. “What didyoudo?”
Cole turned his hand beneath Lexi’s and tenderly squeezed it. “My father is dead,” he said to Sahira.
Sahira lowered the tray but didn’t set it down. “That’s not possible.”
“But it is.”
“King Tove is dead?”
“Yes.”
“I never thought I’d see the day,” she murmured.
“Neither did I.”
“Sahira, I need to talk to Cole alone,” Lexi said.
Her aunt walked over to set the tray on the nightstand beside her bed. “There’s another bottle of healing potion, and I added a soothing mix to your tea, so make sure you drink it.”
“I will,” Lexi promised.
This time, when Sahira left, she closed the door behind her.
Chapter Nine
“Tell me everything,”Lexi said.
So, he did. And as he did, she watched the emotions playing across his face. Fury tinged his voice as he told of his imprisonment in the tower with his father. She heard his uncertainty when he stood in the Lord’s hall and finally his distress as he spoke of his father’s murder.
Her heart broke for him. Then her concern for him grew as he revealed what he did to the dragon and the helot who once worked in his palace. A chill crept down her spine when he told her what the Lord commanded him to do.
The Lord expected Cole to be the next king of the dark fae. That meant Cole would have to survive the trials. She had no idea what those trials were, but before she could ask, he rubbed his face and lifted his beautiful blue eyes to her.
“I couldn’t get my father’s blood or the smell of it out of my beard,” he said. “That’s why I shaved it.”
Those words and his sorrow-filled voice broke something inside her. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she leaned across the distance separating them and wrapped her arms around him.
With tender care, he pulled her onto his lap and cradled her against him with such desperation it made her tears come faster. This big, powerful, magnificent man was looking to her to help ease his suffering, and she would not let him down.
They cleaved to each other while she tried to ease his grief. She knew what he was going through, knew what it was like to lose a father who was loved and cherished. She could never take that loss away, but she would do her best to help get him through this.
As she nestled the back of his head in the hollow of her shoulder, she recalled the time he told her that his father would tease him because he always got lost in the palace. At the time, she was stunned to learn the dark fae king teased anyone, but he’d loved his children. And Cole loved him.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Her anger with him was gone. He hadn’t abandoned her for other women or decided to return for a booty call. He’d been imprisoned with his father before watching him die.
And she’d been here, mad at him and trying to bury her heartbreak. Because of that, she’d taken in his fugitive brother and a bunch of refugees, who now resided in the tunnels beneathhermanor.
