He despised the fact they sang about him, but he was good fodder for the musicians, and they loved it.
“I did, milord,” he said.
The Lord eyed him from head to toe. “How very interesting, but then, fae metal does not kill a lycan.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Perhaps the fae should weld a fae sword made of silver and fae metal. Maybe that would do the job.”
Cole smiled at him. “Maybe.”
The Lord smiled back at him. "How is your girlfriend, Colburn? I heard she went onto the battlefield after you.”
“She did.”
“How brave of her.”
“Yes,” Cole agreed.
"Did she enjoy her visit to Dragonia?"
"She thought it was a beautiful realm."
"I'm sure she enjoyed seeing Malakai again. He’s quite taken with her and a very loyal subject to me."
Cole kept his mouth shut. The Lord was trying to bait him; he refused to rise to that bait. A dragon bellowed, and a shadow fell over them as it swooped low. Cole kept his gaze focused on the man across from him as hatred churned in his stomach.
The shadows inside him stirred as they crept through his veins. When a small shifting occurred in the garden, he became extremely aware of the shadows beneath the dead plants as the Lord stared at him.
And then the madman broke into a wide grin as he slapped Cole on the shoulder. “But you are also a very loyal subject!” he declared. “Malakai has reported many an enemy hidden amongst my allies, butyoukilled your brothers for me. We must celebrate!”
Sothatwas what Malakai had done to earn a sun medallion from the Lord. The amulet allowed him to walk in the daylight and was achieved by spilling the blood of countless others.
Cole wondered how many of the immortals Malakai reported were truly enemies and how many had just been standing in Malakai’s way.
During the war, Cole hadn’t been in his way; he was too far up the ranks to be a hindrance as Malakai clawed his way up the ladder. But had the bastard tried to turn him in for something when he realized Cole was competition for Lexi?
Cole was pretty certain he had.
“Come,” the Lord said and kicked Orin’s head out of the way as he turned Cole toward the palace. “Let’s go celebrate the deaths of those who would have done us harm!”
Real or not, the last thing Cole wanted to do was celebrate the deaths of his brothers, but he couldn’t say no to the Lord, and they both knew it.
Chapter Sixty-Three
For a while,Lexi paced the library before retreating upstairs. Once there, she tried to occupy herself by taking a shower and putting on some of her comfortable, familiar clothes.
None of it took as long as she would have liked. Less than an hour later, she found herself pacing the library again. Orin and Varo retreated to the tunnels; Brokk muttered something about “annoying” before taking his newest Harry Potter book and retreating to the guest room he’d occupied before.
Sahira and her father checked in on her but left her alone when she refused to sit. After a while, exhaustion started seeping in. Still, she refused to sleep as she went from the bookshelves to the curtains and back again.
Sometimes, she would circle the room to change her pattern, and then she started walking in a grid-like sequence, but none of it kept her mind occupied. She tried reading, but sitting still made things worse.
When the grandfather clock in the other room chimed ten, she turned to look at the covered windows. She studied the thick drapes with a growing feeling of dread, but throwing her shoulders back, she stalked toward the curtains.
She was anxious about Cole, butthishad also been weighing heavily on her mind. Stopping beside the curtain, she grasped a small piece of it and pulled it back. She couldn’t see much outside, but the reflection of the half moon shimmered across the lake’s glass-like surface.
Though it wasn’t full, the moon was bright enough its glow illuminated the other side of the curtain. She peered outside the best she could but didn’t see anyone there.
