“Neither of you are cowards,” Lexi whispered.
And they both looked to her, but Orin cut into the touching moment.
“Are you going to continue taking the potion?” Orin asked Lexi.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sahira’s hand stilled on the cat as everyone in the room focused on Lexi. Cole chose not to acknowledge him.
“You stopped taking it?” Sahira asked.
“Not on purpose. I forgot with everything going on in the Gloaming. Cole was injured, and….” She shrugged.
“Are you okay?” Brokk demanded when Lexi’s voice trailed off.
“I’m fine,” Cole assured him. “Just a couple of stab wounds.”
“You took a fae sword to the heart,” Lexi said irritably. “And another to the ribs.”
“How the fuck are you still alive?” Orin blurted.
“It seems that not being a purebred dark fae has its advantages,” Brokk said with a smile. “But it hurts like a bitch.”
“That it does,” Cole agreed. “But Sahira’s potions took care of that.”
“Holy shit,” Orin muttered as he ran a hand through his hair and glanced between him and Lexi. “We have to be able to bring the Lord down.”
“We shall see, and we will take our time in getting to that point. We’re not rushing into this,” Cole said.
“Of course not, but we can take him. I know we can.”
Cole hoped Orin was right, because something had to stop that monster before he destroyed them all.
“The sooner we get the duplicates of my brothers to the Lord, the sooner he’ll stop breathing down my neck. After that, we can start really planning.” He shifted his attention to Del. “Before you disappeared, you told me you were working on something that might change things and get us to the Lord; was it Lexi?”
“No,” Del said. “I never wanted her involved in any of this. Even if we took him out, I wouldn’t have revealed her true identity. Someone else wouldn’t have cared about the consequences of what that throne brings with it and would have tried to seize it for themselves. They would have tried to take her out to get it. I was afraid I wouldn’t be enough to protect her from that.”
“Now, she’ll have an army behind her,” Orin said.
“No one else, other than Varo, is to know what she is until we have her abilities under control and are capable of protecting her,” Cole told him.
“What about the coalition?” Del asked.
Cole thought about the group formed between some of the most powerful immortals from each realm to secretly plot against the Lord. They hadn’t done much good to stop the Lord so far, but they were his allies.
“Not yet,” he finally said. “Maybe Maverick when we know more about Lexi’s abilities, but, for now, this is to remain between us.”
He could trust his uncle with this; he just didn’t want to draw Maverick into something this dangerous until they had a better idea of what was going on.
He focused on Del. “What was your plan back then?”
“It was a battle strategy to get some of us into Dragonia. Even though he believed we were on his side, the Lord never trusted us enough to allow too many of us into that realm. I was working on a way around that. It wouldn’t work now. We don’t have enough men—”
“We will get them,” Orin interjected.
Del ignored him as he continued. “And it wasn’t complete. I still have many details to hammer out.”
“You work on that,” Cole said, and Del nodded.
“How long do you think the Lord will back off after you give him your brothers?” Lexi asked.
“Not long.”
“And then what?” Brokk asked.
“By then, Lexi should be experiencing her powers. We’ll have to figure out how to get her around a dragon,” Orin said.
“What?” Lexi blurted.
“We have to see how they’ll react to you once you have your powers,” Orin said.
“That’s not going to happen,” Cole said.
Orin lowered his arm from the mantle. “It has to happen. Without them, the Lord only has the power of the throne, and that’s not enough for him to keep control of the realm.”
“That throne is what helps him control the dragons.”
“Is it? Or do they follow him because he sits on it and they haven’t encountered an arach in a thousand years? How will the dragons react when they feel an arach in their presence? Will they still follow him, or will they follow her? We have to figure out how to catch one, and then we’ll send her in to introduce herself.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Cole demanded. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Why not? Once her powers are active, she’ll be immune to their fire.”
“They could still eat her,” Del said.
“What are the odds of that happening?” Orin inquired.
“One. Ate. Your. Father,” Sahira said slowly.
“Eh, Tomato, Tomahto.”
“You’re an asshole,” Brokk said.
“You know you’re curious about what would happen too,” Orin retorted.
“So am I,” Lexi said. “He’s right. It’s something I have to know; we all do.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Lexi couldn’t believe she’d said that. Was she really talking about putting herself in the path of a dragon?
Though the dragons had always fascinated her, they also petrified her when she saw them in Dragonia. They were amazing, but so was life, and she was not in the mood to be some dragon’s meal.
However, there was no other choice. When the potion wore off, if she possessed powers that would help them defeat the Lord, she had to figure them out.
And if it took throwing herself into the path of a dragon to do so, then so be it.
“I don’t like this,” Cole said.
“Relax, brother, it won’t be until she’s more powerful,” Orin said.
“You are about one sentence away from losing your tongue! Do not test me!” Cole roared.
Lexi flinched at the rage in his tone. The surge of his power against her skin sent an electric current racing up and down her arm and caused her hair to stand on end as the air between them crackled.
When Cole looked down at her, she knew he felt it too. He slid his fingers into hers, and she held him as his eyes burned a beautiful silver that touched her soul. This handsome, powerful man was hers, and while he would die to keep her safe, he wouldn’t stand in her way when it came to any of this.
Instead, he would walk by her side. And together, they would find a way to right all the wrongs the Lord had created… if they didn’t die first.
When she looked to the others again, Orin was staring at them with his mouth firmly closed. She could practically see the wheels in his mind churning as his gaze fell to their joined hands. Her father watched them with a mixture of awe and sadness while Sahira stared at them with raised eyebrows, and Brokk studied the wall behind their heads.
“There is a lot of power between the two of you,” Sahira murmured.