“Would you like to dance with me again?” he asked.
A radiant smile lit her face. “Always and forever.”
He grinned as he took her hand. Neither bothered to dress before leaving the room and returning to the grand room.
As he spun her around the dance floor, he teased and stroked her to the height of passion before claiming her once more.
CHAPTERSIXTY-FOUR
Lexi stoodin the prison with Cole, her dad, Maverick, Brokk, Orin, Varo, Sahira, Kaylia, and Skog. Niall had gone to gather the group who would enter Dragonia with them. That group would flood into Dragonia through a portal Lexi would open near the other entrances to the realm.
When Niall returned with nearly a hundred soldiers, Lexi took a deep breath and prepared to open a portal into the realm once ruled by her ancestors. A realm where her mother was a princess. A realm so many hoped she could lead.
The only problem was, she’d never ruled anything before, andeveryoneknew it. She wasn’t raised a leader; she’d never learned the intricacies of a royal court and had no desire to do so.
The idea of leading anything other than a horse disturbed her, but she didn’t have a choice. Oh, she could walk away and spend the rest of her life hiding. It would be a brutal, miserable life, though.
And so many others would die if the Lord continued to rule. Even if someone did eventually succeed in taking him down, if she didn’t assume the throne, whoever sat on it next would go mad too.
She could walk away, but she’d hate herself forever.
But she’d rather pull all her nails out with pliers and then all her teeth before becoming the leader of any realm, never mind Dragonia, the realm that ruled them all. She couldn’t fail as a leader. All the realms had lost and sacrificed too much for that to happen. She was also unsure how she could succeed when she had no experience.
You’ll have Cole to help you.
And that was one of the few things helping to keep her from completely losing her shit and running away. But she’d never been more petrified in her life.
She wasn’t scared of her own possible impending death, but she was afraid of losing anyone she loved and what would follow if they lost. But she could only handle one thing at a time, and right now, she had to focus on getting them into Dragonia and distracting the dragons.
If she stayed focused on one thing, her heart didn’t race as much, her palms didn’t sweat, and her throat didn’t feel as if it was trying to strangle her. She just felt like she would vomit, so it was an improvement.
She played with Cole’s engagement ring on her finger, twisting it around as she gathered her courage and buried her doubts the best she could. But they refused to be completely suppressed.
That’s fine as long as they don’t get in the way.
And she wouldnotlet them do that.
Lexi took another deep breath and opened the portal into Dragonia. She kept her shoulders back and tried to exude an aura of confidence she hoped the others bought. Cole walked at her side as they strode through the portal.
She’d only been to Dragonia a couple of times before, but she’d noticed the mountains towering over the land. She could picture their high peaks and rocky crevices perfectly.
When they emerged from the portal, the mountains were as she’d pictured. The land was not.
“What?” she whispered.
She gazed around in confusion and tried to understand why it was so dark when it was supposed to be broad daylight.
Unlike the prison realm, where darkness ruled, Dragonia ran on the same day and night schedule as earth. It should be early afternoon here. The sun should be at its highest and brightest point in the sky. Instead, shadows ruled the land.
“What… what’s going on?” she breathed.
At first, no one answered her. After a few moments, Kaylia said. “It’s an eclipse.”
And that was when Lexi saw the black circle engulfing most of the sun. Only a small fragment of the sun’s rays peaked out around the sides of the darkness covering it.
“It’s to protect againstyou,” Sahira said.
CHAPTERSIXTY-FIVE
