“For what?” Lexi gasped.
“For disobeying the queen. What the queen didn’t see coming was her daughter pleading for his life, fighting for his life, and ultimately saving him from the dungeons. Nor did she expect an uprising amongst the peasants to be a direct result of her actions.
“The commoners weren’t as powerful as the royalty of Dragonia, but there were a lot more of them, and they were tired of being treated as lesser. Combine that with an increasing movement amid the nobility to take more control of the Shadow Realms and to exert the arach dominance further over the other immortals, and that spark lit the powder keg.
“Some of those dissatisfied nobility saw the rising rebellion among the peasants as their opportunity to fuel the fires so they could seize control from the queen who didnotwant to exert further dominance over the realms. But they whispered that if she couldn’t control her daughter, she wasn’t strong enough to rule the land.
“I don’t think your mother or father saw what happened coming and never meant to become the catalyst. I believe they simply wanted to be left alone so they could love each other.”
Lexi’s heart ached, and she blinked away the tears burning her eyes as she rested her hand over Cole’s. What she wouldn’t give to be left alone to love him, in peace. She feared it would never happen, but she would fight with every fiber of her being to make it so.
“What happened afterward?” she asked.
CHAPTERSEVEN
“It spiraledout of control until a full-blown war raged,” Alina said. “And that war wiped out all the arach. Or, not quite all, asyourparents escaped for at least some time. Maybe for quite alongtime, as you feel quite young to me, child.”
Lexi really didn’t appreciate being called a child, but considering this dragon was probably hundreds, if notthousands, of years older than her, she could suck it up for now. Besides, they required more answers.
“I’m twenty-four,” Lexi said.
“A mere babe,” Alina whispered.
“I’m stronger than my age would make you think,” Lexi replied with more anger than she’d anticipated. They couldnotlet Alina stop talking to them.
Alina nodded and rose over them again. She gazed down through the shadows surrounding them.
“What do you know about the Shadow Reaver?” Lexi inquired. While she was fascinated by her parents’ history and the adversity and sadness they endured, they had more important things to focus on now. “Why won’t you kill Cole? It’s obvious the two of you don’t like each other.”
“I would gladly kill him… if I could. He murdered Tanis, one of my brethren.”
“That fuckingmonsterate my father,” Cole retorted.
If dragons could look indifferent, then this was the expression they’d be wearing.
“She was commanded to do so,” Alina replied blandly.
“Didn’t mean she had to do it,” Cole snarled.
Lexi squeezed his hand as the shadows shifted. Her touch didn’t calm him as it usually did, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Orin and Brokk creeping closer. The last thing she needed was their rage over their father’s death to fuel Cole’s.
Varo moved to intercept his brothers. He nudged them back toward the cave, but neither retreated. Thankfully, they didn’t come any closer either.
“Yes, she did,” Alina replied. “We must obey whoever sits on the throne. We are bound to do so.”
“What about Lexi?” Orin demanded. “Will you obey her too?”
“If she manages to reclaim the throne that is her birthright, I shall obey her too, but not before then.”
“What about the other dragons?” Brokk inquired.
“We all are bound by the laws of the arach and the dragons. Those laws require us to obey the ruler of Dragonia. Those same laws expressly forbid us fromeverhurting any arach, which is the dragon’s supreme law. The Lord can command us to turn on Lexi, but we will not do so.”
“I guess that’s something,” Brokk muttered.
“The Lord can command us to kill whoever stands by her side, except the Reaver,” Alina continued. “We are also forbidden from killing the Reaver.”
“How is that possible when Colejustbecame the Shadow Reaver?” Lexi demanded. “Those laws have to be thousands of years old.”
