Orin showed no reaction to her words. The man was as emotional as the shadows surrounding him, but she sensed a wealth of sorrow and confusion inside him—or maybe she was just hoping it was there.
No one should be this cold after learning about their father’s death. She’d agreed to help him, and their lives depended on each other, but she trusted Orin about as much as a pissed-off rattlesnake.
Still, she preferred to believe the man whose life had become so entwined with hers wasn’t this callous when he learned about the death of his father. He had to be this emotionless because he was a dark fae and good at keeping his emotions locked away.
She had no doubt he would save his ass before anyone else here, but she’d seen signs of kindness in him too. He wouldn’t be rescuing refugees and bringing them here if he didn’t possess some compassion. He claimed saving those refugees benefited him, but she believed there was more to it than that.
Or maybe she was trying to see something that wasn’t there. They depended on each other after all, and she preferred to think she hadn’t thrown herself in with a man-eating shark.
“If something comes up or if Cole returns, I’ll try to drop a note to you through the stable or library entrance.” She had planned to stay away from that entrance after Malakai, but they would be the easiest two entrances for her to access. “George has also been around the manor and the stables more often. Look for notes there, butdon’tcome out through there.”
Orin gave her a barely discernible nod.
“I have to go,” Lexi said.
She started to turn away, but his words stopped her. “Cole’s not pure dark fae.”
“I know.”
“The dark fae won’t accept him as their king.”
“They won’t have a choice once he survives the trials,” she said.
Orin snorted with laughter. “Do you think someone whoisn’ta pure dark fae can survive?”
She hated that his words caused doubts to creep in. She was afraid, if she doubted it for a second, that somehow it would cause him to die. It was stupid to think that way, but she couldn’t help it.
“Cole can andwillsurvive.”
“You have a lot of faith in my older brother.”
“I do.”
“And if he does survive, what then?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a fool if you’ve allowed yourself to fall in love with him.”
“Then I’m a fool.”
Orin’s lips compressed into a thin line, and a muscle twitched in his cheek. “He won’t survive.”
“I’m not going to argue with you about this. I only came to tell you about your father, that Brokk was at the manor, and to be careful. I won’t be able to come back as often.”
“Understood.”
“Okay. I have to go.”
She strode past him and deeper into the passageways. She was about to turn left when she stopped to look back at him. He remained where she left him with his head slightly bowed. He struggled to keep it hidden, but she sensed the anguish emanating from him as his shoulders hunched up.
“Orin.” It took a few seconds, but eventually, his head turned toward her. “I’m truly sorry about your father. He was a good man.”
She started to walk away again but stopped when he said, “Andi.”
Andi was the name she gave to the refugees when Orin first came to her with them; it was what they knew her as down here.
“You’ll let me know if Cole survives,” he said.
