“It’s beautiful,” she whispered as Cole opened the basket and started removing food.
“It is.”
“I’ve never seen the gardens before.”
“They encompass a few acres within this section of the palace. No one can view them from outside the palace, but as you can see”—he waved a hand at the other rooms facing the gardens—“you can view them from many different rooms within the palace.”
“How lovely. And sad.”
He stopped removing the food to look at her. “Sad?”
“Everyone in the Gloaming should be able to see this beauty.”
The sunlight emphasized the chiseled angles of his face while he studied the garden. “I never considered that. They were always ours.” He shrugged and resumed removing the food. “Perhaps, when this is over and the dark fae can return home, I will figure out a way for the fae to see them too.”
“I’m sure they would like that.”
He gave her a sexy smile. “Maybe, but it’s the dark fae; there are few things they truly appreciate.”
The lascivious look he gave her made it clear what one of those things was. Lexi resisted tugging at the collar of her fae tunic as he unpacked a bottle of champagne.
Shifting her attention back to the other rooms with their one glass wall, she discovered she could see into some of them. But she couldn’t tell what kind of rooms they were, and nothing moved within.
But they would have a problem if something did move. After the Lord unleashed his dragons and army on the Gloaming, the palace was abandoned. No one had known it would withstand the wrath of the dragons, but it stood as a testament to the strength of its magic.
“I love this place,” she said. “And not just the gardens, butallof it. It’s all so… magical.”
Cole handed her a plate of food and a glass of champagne. “The palace is pleased to hear it.”
She chuckled as she sipped her champagne. “I forgot you have a connection to it since becoming king.”
“I could never forget.”
“You’ve missed it here.”
“Very much.”
“We’ll come back and rebuild the Gloaming better than ever before.”
He clinked his glass against hers before drinking it. “That we will.”
As they ate, small blue and yellow birds flitted between the bushes while butterflies the size of footballs fluttered from plant to plant. The butterflies’ colors were more vibrant than any Lexi had seen on Earth.
When she finished her bread, fruit, and chicken, she set the plate down and reached for the champagne bottle. Cole grasped it before she could and poured her another glass.
“This is the best way to spend this night,” she said.
“I can think of something that will improve it,” Cole said as bubbly liquid filled her glass.
His low, gravelly tone sent a shiver down her spine. She smiled as she sipped her champagne. “I can’t think of anything that would make it any better.”
“No?” he asked.
The sexy way his eyes perused her sent a flash of warmth through her. She sipped her champagne to keep from jumping on him as one of his fingers traced the back of her hand.
“Not off the top of my head,” she teased.
“I can think of a couple. Including”—he took the glass from her and set it on the table— “a far more entertaining way to drink that.”
