“I’m wonderful, Malakai,” she replied.
Malakai didn’t appreciate either her breezytone or her words, as his smile vanished and his lips clampedtogether. Blocking his view of Lexi, Cole turned to fill thedoorway again.
“Now that you’ve seen her, you can tell uswhat the second thing is the Lord wants?” Cole asked.
Cole knew something bad was coming whenMalakai’s smile returned.
CHAPTER 11
Beside him, Sahira stiffened, and her handclenched on his arm. Cole’s body tensed as he prepared for what wasabout to come.
“Cole,” Lexi whispered.
“The Lord wanted me to tell you that sinceyou like pixies so much, he felt you should have more of them,”Malakai said.
A knot of dread formed in Cole’s stomach. Heknew Malakai was talking aboutthepixie. He never shouldhave touched that pitiful, tortured creature in the Lord’sroom.
He should have walked away and left her thereto suffer; he’d known he was taking a chance by putting her out ofher misery, but he’d still done it. He’d been so sure he was alonein the room, so sure no one would know as she’d already been on theverge of death.
Cole originally planned to save her, but shewas too far gone. Instead, her blood, like the blood ofsomany others, stained his hands. It would always haunt him, but hecould live with that.
Or, at least he’d believed he could. But he’dfucked up, and the Lord knew it, and now Malakai was staring at himwith the smug smile on his face. Cole glowered at him as woodcrunched beneath his hand.
“Cole!” Lexi said more forcefully. “Cole,please.”
Her “please” pierced through the growing hazeof red clouding his vision. It reminded him he still had thousandsof lives resting on his shoulders.
He’d screwed up with the pixie; he wouldnotmess up again now.
Still smiling, he stepped aside, and theguards around him followed suit until Cole had a clear view of thebrilliant colors strewn across the green lawn.Have the leavesfallen?
But that madenosense. It was stillsummertime. Fall was fast approaching, but it would still be sometime before the leaves changed color and fell.
Then what the hell…?
His question trailed off as he took in thebeautiful mixture of colors. The colors were so entwined, he couldbarely discern the blues from the greens, reds, oranges, yellows,peaches, purples, and all the shades in between.
And then, he finally realized the colors didnot come from leaves or a sudden bloom of wildflowers. The truehorror of what lay before him sank in.
It was a slaughter.
“The Lord hopes you enjoy your gift,” Malakaisaid as he turned to descend the stairs.
He stopped at the bottom and turned to faceCole again. The man mistakenly thought the distance might save hislife, but he didn’t realize the shadows beneath his feet were alsothe enemy.
“And he wanted you to know he’s more thanhappy to provide you with more… if these aren’t enough for you,”Malakai said.
When Cole felt himself unraveling, he glancedover his shoulder at Lexi. She remained hovering in the shadows,her hands twisting before her as she stared at him. Her face was sopale that there were ghosts with more color.
Stay calm for her.Stay calm forher.
And he could do that, because there wasn’tanything he wouldn’t do for her. Turning back to Malakai, Colesmiled. It was more a baring of his fangs that made Malakai blanch,but Cole didn’t attack him.
“Tell The Lord his gift is greatlyappreciated,” Cole forced out through his teeth.
“Oh, I will.”
Malakai’s laughter followed him as he strodetoward his horse. Gathering his reins, he swung himself onto thesaddle and turned his horse toward his manor.
