“I’ll go with you,” Lexi offered.
“It’s a meeting for the dark fae,” Brokk said.
“Then I’ll wait outside the hall.”
“The meeting could take a while. I’d prefer to see you settled first,” Cole said.
She shifted her hold on the small bag of supplies she brought with her and rested her hand on his arm. “Don’t leave them waiting. I’ll be fine. Go on,” she urged.
Cole took a deep breath before releasing it. “I won’t have you standing in the hall. I’ll take you somewhere quiet.”
Brokk followed as Cole led Lexi past the main entryway to the great hall and through another doorway. They slipped into another corridor and climbed the stairs running up the side of the dais in the great hall. They stopped to stand in the shadows on the side of the stage.
It felt like years, but it wasn’t long ago that he’d stood in these shadows with Brokk, staring out at the crowd and dreading every second of the party to come. At the time, he hadn’t known Lexi, but that night changed everything for him.
He turned her toward him and cupped her cheek. She leaned into his touch and smiled up at him. The swelling was gone from her face, and the bruises were fading fast, but not fast enough for his liking.
“You can stay here,” he said.
She would hear their conversation, but he didn’t care. There was nothing the council had to say that she couldn’t hear. She would be safe here, but he hesitated to leave her.
“Go,” she said and placed her hand over his on her cheek. “Go on; I’ll be fine.”
He turned his hand over in hers, squeezed it, and released her. “Let’s go,” he said to Brokk.
He didn’t look back as he strode out and onto the dais. His and Brokk’s boots thudded against the floor as his brother walked beside him.
Cole ignored the three thrones set out on the dais as he descended the steps to the large table the helots placed in the center of the room. He didn’t care that while every council member was dressed impeccably in elaborately brocaded tunics and soft pants, he was still wearing Del’s too small, human clothes. What these assholes thought of him didn’t matter.
The six members of the council studied him as he approached. They were all the eldest and most powerful members of their extremely old and wealthy families. They were all purebloods, and they held power in the Gloaming; he should play nice with them, but he was not in the mood to do so.
If he decided not to go through the trials, he would have a seat on the council. The fact his father was king did not give him a right to the throne, but his father’s line, and therefore his, was also one of the oldest in the Gloaming, and that gave him a right to a seat at this table.
Without a king, the council ruled the realm, but Cole needed more than a seat at this table to destroy the Lord. He required the power that came with being king too. His father was stronger than the other dark fae because he survived the trials.
“Where have you been?” Aelfdane demanded.
Cole didn’t respond as he stopped behind the large chair situated at the head of the table. It was the chair his father always occupied during these meetings while he sat beside him. Brokk and, at one time, the rest of his brothers had always stood behind him.
He didn’t know if it was out of respect for his dead father’s memory, fear of him, or preferring not to fight amongst each other, but none of the council had seated themselves on the chair. He was aware that some, if notallof them, planned to stake a claim on it.
Cole pulled out the chair and settled himself onto it. It felt completely wrong to do so, but he was making it clear he had no intention of leaving this palace. Though he despised sitting in the chair, he settled casually back and stretched his legs out before him.
When Aelfdane started to pull out the chair beside him, Cole caught one of the legs with his foot and yanked it back. Aelfdane’s eyebrows shot into his black hairline.
“That chair is for my brother,” Cole said.
A thunderous expression crossed Aelfdane’s face. “Who do you think you are?”
“Your future king, and I’m telling you to resume your normal seat at this table. I will have my father’s chair, and my brother will assume the positionIonce held at this table.”
The air around Aelfdane started to crackle as he drew on his powers.
“Unless you want your head on a stake beside that dragon, I’d rein your power in,” Cole growled.
“Are you… threatening…me?” Aelfdane sputtered.
“Is that what you took it as?”
