Lexi pacedthe confines of her room until she felt ready to scream. At 3:00 a.m., she wandered over to the window to gaze at the moon.
The bright, full orb lit the night sky as its rays cascaded across the land. Beneath its silvery glow, the world didn’t look as devastated as it did in the daytime. It seemed almost peaceful. She yearned for looks not to be deceiving, but there was no changing the past.
Gazing at the moon reminded her of the time she’d stood in the moon room with Cole. The memory was so vivid she felt his breath on her nape as he introduced her to the four moons of the Gloaming.
She hadn’t known what to make of him then, but he’d awakened something inside her that night, and it refused to be caged again. Then the memory of him vanished, and she was once again alone in her room. And she was colder than she’d ever been in her life.
What would she do if he didn’t return?
Dropping her head into her hands, she rubbed her temples before turning away from the moon. She would survive without him; she had no other choice, but she would make a stand against the Lord.
She may not be a powerful immortal, but she would be another enemy of that madman. And if Cole died, she would find a way to make him pay for his death.
Turning away from the window, she retrieved her thick, white robe from where it lay on the end of her bed and left the room. Lexi had no idea where she was going as she descended the stairs, but she couldn’t stay in her room.
Light filtered out of the library. She was usually the one awake and roaming around in the middle of the night, but when she stepped into the doorway, she spotted Brokk sitting in one of the chairs, staring at the fireplace. She stood uncertainly for a minute before padding toward him.
For a minute, she suspected he’d fallen asleep in the chair, but as she came around the side of it, she saw he was awake.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixsat on his lap.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked.
“No.” She settled onto the cushion of her overstuffed love seat and tucked her feet beneath her. “You couldn’t either?”
“No.”
“He’s been gone for over a week.”
“For all we know, the trials could take a year.”
“A year?” she squeaked.
“They won’t. I’m pretty sure we would have heard if it took my father that long to complete them, but it could still be a while.”
Though he spoke to her, he continued to stare straight ahead.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
A small smile curved his lips before he leaned back in the chair and relaxed a little. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Do you have to feed?”
“I hunted a deer after the lycans left earlier.”
“What about… what about… ah… you know the, ah… dark fae side of you?”
She fought the blush burning its way up her neck as she asked the question. She felt like an idiot for blushing over this conversation, but it wasn’t one she wanted to have with him.
“I mean,” she said, “I don’t know about the dark fae… well, Idoknow about the dark fae, but I don’t know about you since you’re only half, but it’s been a week… and… and….”
It took everything she had not to bolt from the room as Brokk grinned at her.
“And as a dark fae, I must be ready to go insane?” he asked.
Was her face onfire?It took all she had not to try to cover her burning cheeks.
“I’m fine,” he assured her.
“If you have to… if you have to go somewhere for a little bit, we’ll be fine here.”
