Orin’s jaw dropped. “That’s not… I… this shouldn’t happen!”
Brokk planted a hand on Orin’s chest when he stepped toward Cole. “Don’t.”
The muscles in Orin’s biceps bulged as he glowered at Brokk, but he didn’t take a swing. Closing his eyes, Cole turned back to the realm below and lifted his hand to the sun.
The shadows inside him instantly leapt and surged forth as the shadows around him shifted. They vibrated and swayed before slithering toward him.
“I love you,” Lexi whispered. “Always and forever.”
He glanced back at her and smiled as he continued pulling the shadows cloaking the realm toward him.
CHAPTERSIXTY-EIGHT
Something inside Lexishattered when the shadows encompassed Cole before slithering into him. As they infested him, their color seeped across his skin and spread throughout his flesh until they were all the same color.
His muscles bulged and flexed as the veins stood out against his skin, and his shirt tore away from him. His pants tore at his thighs but remained in place.
The power emanating from him stirred the loose strands of hair around her face. His ciphers swelled, but most remained hidden.
Lexi’s hand covered her mouth as she stifled a sob and restrained herself from running to him. This wasn’t like that night on the balcony; the shadows wouldn’t part for her now. They were too hell-bent on their mission to claim Cole and too determined to let their fury loose on this realm and the Lord.
The more he drew the shadows toward him, the brighter the realm became as he pulled them away from the sun. Like an eclipse, they gradually retreated from the brilliant orb in the sky, revealing small increments at a time until a sliver, the size of a crescent moon, was visible.
The growing warmth filtering down did nothing to warm the ice encasing her soul. Her worst nightmare was coming true.
If Cole somehow retained some part of himself after this, he would never be the same. But as the shadows thickened around him, her certainty he wouldn’t be able to retain any part of himself grew.
It felt as if someone was taking a vise to her chest, but while she wanted to curl into a ball and sob out her misery, she remained standing in the growing rays of the sun. He’d done this forallof them, and she wouldnotfail him.
“The Lord knows we’re here,” Niall said. “There’s no hiding it now.”
“Call the dragons, Lexi,” her dad said.
“Not yet,” a shadow growled. “Don’t let your shield down yet.”
She couldn’t tell if it was Cole speaking through the shadow or if it had somehow developed a voice of its own by sucking it fromhim.
Lexi reinforced her shield as the light crept further across the land. It illuminated the white bones littering the mountain peaks, glinted off the golden towers of the palace, and shone on the immortals below as they all lifted their faces to the sun shining behind the palace.
Most basked in the rays they’d been denied, but some turned to follow the flow of shadows creeping across the land. It wouldn’t be long before the Lord’s men learned their location.
Lexi shielded her eyes against the growing light. The realm was far more brilliant than it normally would be as Cole stole the shadows from every nook and cranny.
The shadow beneath her feet slithered away, leaving her with nothing. He stole the shadows from the others as the last of the darkness shading the sun vanished.
A hush descended over the land; it wouldn’t last, but nothing dared to breathe while the sun beat down on them. It was the calm before the storm, the last bit of quiet before the horror was unleashed.
Then, Cole’s head swiveled toward her. She sucked in a breath when his eyes met hers and she saw that what she’d dreaded had come to pass. There was no hint of Cole in the ice of those inhuman eyes.
The black filling the whites of his eyes caused the silver to burn hotly from them. Inside the silver, shadows jumped like flames before floating like ghosts rising across his irises.
He’d become such a part of the shadows it was almost impossible to differentiate him from them. If it wasn’t for the silver of his eyes, she wouldn’t know where he stood amongst them.
Lexi gave a small sob before biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. There was plenty of time to cry later; they had to fight now. She wouldnotlet his sacrifice be in vain.
“Now.” The shadow’s distorted voice held no hint of Cole’s normal tone.
Lexi lowered her shield as the sun warmed her skin. Without her protection in place, the golden glow raced across her skin. The silver markings that resembled a dragon’s scales emerged too.
