Lexi heldher breath as Cole charged toward the flames. Blood splattered him, and his torn clothes were little more than rags as their remnants clung to his broad frame. The growing fire pushed the men trapped with him closer together.
The dark fae could control the elements, but someone else already controlled this fire.Threesomeone else’s… or so that’s what it looked like from her viewpoint.
She didn’t know if Cole could wrest control away from them. She suspected he could, but it would take too much time or energy for him to do so.
As she watched him battle the enemy with unwavering strength and determination, she’d understood why the troubadours sang about his feats during the war. Why others whispered about his fighting skills and the legends of him were larger than life.
And he didn’t fear the flames; every part of her froze as he ran toward them. He was so incredibly powerful but still killable.
He was almost to the fire when he sheathed his sword. She couldn’t move; her hands ached from clutching them, and a scream lodged in her throat as, with his next steps, Cole transformed into a wolf. His powerful haunches bunched as he leapt into the air.
As the wolf flew above the conflagration, it twisted to avoid the inferno surging higher into the air. Soaring above the flames, fire licked at its fur but didn’t catch as the wolf spun in midair.
The beautiful creature was so powerful and mesmerizing that Lexi forgot to breathe as the sword slid from his back and toppled to the ground on the other side of the fire. While the wolf was falling on the other side of the flames, his massive jaws snapped down on a fae man. Cole twisted and, landing on four feet, smashed the fae into the ground.
The man didn’t move again.
“Miss?”
Lexi jumped when someone spoke from behind her. She spun away from the window to discover Amaris standing in the doorway of the empty room Lexi occupied. She’d searched the palace until she found a room she could enter that would give her a good view of the battle.
“Ye-yes?” Lexi whispered tremulously.
“Miss, why don’t you come away from the window?”
“Call me Lexi.”
“Lexi then, please come away from the window. You shouldn’t watch this.”
“No, I shouldn’t, but I’m going to.”
Lexi turned back to the window and rested her hands on the stone sill as she leaned out to watch. The growing flames and moonlight illuminated the bodies littering the field. Horses ran through and over those bodies while the injured tried to crawl away.
The blood soaking the ground had turned it from a vibrant green to a gruesome maroon. Horses were down amongst the fallen fae; their screams mingled with the cries of the wounded and dying.
She’d never heard such sounds before and hoped never to hear them again.
Her nails dug into the stone as one of the fae nearest Cole unleashed a dagger. It spun through the air before embedding in the wolf’s shoulder. It had to hurt, but it didn’t stop him from tearing the head off the fae he’d smashed into the ground.
* * *
Cole spitout Fiadh’s head and spun on Durin and Nissa.One down. Two more to go.
“No!” Nissa screamed.
She lunged forward, but her fighters fell between them to keep her separated from Cole. He’d lost his clothes when he transformed, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was destroying these fuckers.
“I’ll kill you!” she shrieked.
Cole transformed, and as he rose, he ripped the dagger from his shoulder. A hot rush of blood poured down his back, soaking his flesh. As he turned the blade before him, he wasn’t surprised to discover it was fae metal.
Hefting the weapon in his hand, he lifted his head and smiled at Nissa as the rebels charged at him. He didn’t throw the blade at them; it would find its home in Nissa. He’d entered this battle without fae metal, but if one of his enemies were stupid enough to use a fae metal weapon against him and lose it to him, then it was only fair they got it back through their heart.
The charging rebels were almost to him when he sank Nissa’s blade into the ground and knelt to rest his fingers on the earth. He drew forth the shadows surrounding him and smiled when they slid over his flesh; his attackers were nearly to him when he vanished, reclaimed the blade, cloaked it, and danced away before they arrived at where he’d been.
They gazed around in confusion as they skidded to a halt in the spot where he once stood. He didn’t set the shadows within himself free; there were too many here who would report what they saw to the Lord if he did.
He’d done what any other dark fae could, but he’d cloaked himself in shadows far faster and more thoroughly than any of them. Not only that, with the amount of power he possessed, none of these assholes could see him. A dark fae stronger than another could see through their cloaking, but he was more powerful than anyone else in this realm.
