But maybe becoming a dragon would be for thebest. Then she could sweep into the palace and eat the Lord.
She cringed at the idea of eating anyone, butafter what he’d done to the pixies, she couldn’t wait to see himdead.
Kaylia’s hand went to her mouth as shecontinued to gaze at Lexi. From the portal behind her, Orin, Brokk,Varo, and Sahira emerged into the realm. Unable to be in the sunwithout burning and turning to ash, her father grudgingly remainedbehind.
“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Orin murmured.
Kaylia’s hand lowered from her mouth. “I’venever seen anything like it.”
Lexi struggled to keep her disappointmenthidden; she’d hoped Kaylia would know what this was. “You never sawthis from the arach you knew?”
“No, and I’ve never heard of anyone elseseeing anything like it, and this is something that would havegotten around. You certainly can’t miss it.”
Lexi ran her fingers over the silver markingson her arm. They looked like dragon scales, but it felt nodifferent than normal when she touched her skin. Beneath the raysof the reddish sun, she looked like something entirely different,but she was still herself.
It was all so confusing.
“I’ve seen silver markings on an arachbefore,” Kaylia said. “Butneverto this extent. There wereonly a few of them, and they quickly faded away. And I never saw orever heard of an arach being covered in them orglowing.”
“We’ve heard of the silver markings, too,”Cole said.
Earlier, he’d returned to the Gloaming to getclothes and check in on things. While there, he’d donned a blackfae tunic, formfitting brown pants, and sable boots. He’d alsostrapped on his father’s sword; the hilt of it glinted in the sunstreaming over him.
“Do you know what caused the markings to comeout on the arach you saw?” Lexi asked.
“No,” Kaylia whispered as she continued togawk at Lexi. “This is amazing.”
“That’s because it’s notyou. I can’tstop it once the sun or moonlight touches me. I have no controlover this, and I can’t go outside until I gain some. There has tobe a way to conceal this. I can’t be the only arach who did this,can I?”
“I… I…” Kaylia stared at her as she tried toform a response. “No, you can’t be. Since both your parents werearach, thishasto be something they could do too. Whichmeans it is controllable. We just have to figure out how to dothat.”
When Cole returned to the Gloaming earlier,she took a shower, dressed, and went downstairs to wait for him toreturn. While there, she and her father told Kaylia about herheritage and how he saved her as a baby.
Kaylia couldn’t hide her doubt over the factthat her dad, avampire, and Sahira, a half-vampire,had willingly put themselves in danger for her. She may have beenskeptical and didn’t like having to rethink her stance on vampires,but she couldn’t deny Lexi was alive, happy, and had grown upsurrounded by love.
“What is the point of this?” Lexi asked asshe waved a hand over her glowing body. “Why am I glowing likethis?”
“I have no idea,” Kaylia murmured.
Orin snorted and rolled his eyes. “We’re offto a great start with you.”
Kaylia scowled at him while Brokk chuckled.The crone turned her angry look on Brokk before focusing on Lexiagain.
“If I want to control something, like aglamour, I have to go inside myself and picture it happening. If Iwant”—she held her palm up before her— “a phoenix in my hand, thenI picture a phoenix.”
Kaylia stopped talking as she stared at herpalm. A few seconds later, a small phoenix materialized there. Thetiny, beautiful creature ruffled its feathers before bursting intoflames and turning to ash in her hand.
When Kaylia blew the ash away, a multitude ofcolors swirled through it before it vanished.
“Parlor tricks,” Brokk muttered.
It was impossible to ignore the increasinghostility between them. It surprised Lexi to see Brokk hostiletoward anyone as he was usually more easygoing, but Kaylia’sattitude about vampires had rubbed Brokk the wrong way.
Kaylia ignored him as, with three longstrides, she closed the distance between her and Lexi. ClaspingLexi’s wrist, she lifted her hand into the air and held it betweenthem.
“You don’t want to glow, so try to picture itgoing way,” Kaylia instructed.
She made it sound so easy, and Lexilongedfor it to be that easy. It would be wonderful if shestopped glowing and didn’t have to worry about exposing herself andeveryone else simply by stepping into natural light.
