He had no fear of Brokk turning on him, but he did fear what might happen to his brother if the Lord got anywhere near him.
Cole didn’t respond. The Lord didn't want one from him anyway; he was making his point, playing his games, and in the future, he would make another move against someone Cole loved.
When that time came, Cole would be prepared for him. The Lord would not get another loved one of his.
For now, the Lord was enjoying playing with him, but that would end. Cole was his number one target on the list of immortals he wanted dead, but it would be his loved ones that the Lord tried to destroy first.
It would be a fun game for him—a way to destroy Cole before he actually went for the killing blow.
It was a game Cole would win.
The Lord seized Orin’s hair and lifted the head from the ground. Its mouth hung slightly ajar to reveal the teeth within. The work they’d done on it still looked good. Bringing the head closer to his face, the Lord studied it before scenting the air.
"I sense no magic here," he muttered.
Outwardly, Cole remained unmoving. Inwardly, his shoulders sagged and he wiped the imaginary sweat from his brow. This wasn't over, but so far, so good.
"Where did Brokk find them?" the Lord inquired.
"The human realm," Cole replied.
“Interesting." He poked Orin’s nose, and the head swayed in his grasp. "Was he anywhere near your little girlfriend?"
"No. They were near the city, hiding amid the remains of the buildings and the humans."
“Oh, they were living with the rats. How suiting. It’s strange though; I have men searching the city."
“You've had men searching for them since the war ended, and none found them."
The Lord stopped poking Orin’s nose and looked up at Cole over the swinging head. "Are you calling my men inadequate?"
"I'm not calling them anything; I’m simply stating a fact."
He may be pushing the Lord too far, but he wasn’t going to stand here and take everything this madman dished out.
"How is it your brother found them so quickly when he couldn't find them before?" the Lord inquired.
"I don’t know. I'm assuming they had only recently entered the human realm when Brokk was alerted to them. We’ve had spies searching for them for months," Cole replied. "Where they were hiding before they arrived in the human realm, I have no idea. But our allies in the human realm alerted us as soon as Orin and Varo were spotted. And now, they’re dead."
"Yes, they are."
The Lord released Orin’s head. A wet thud sounded when it hit the ground and rolled a few feet away.
“I hear you took a fae sword to the heart and lived,” the Lord said.
Cole was not surprised that the Lord had this knowledge. He already knew someone in the Gloaming was feeding him information. With the number of people who witnessed what should have been his demise, Cole hadn’t expected it not to make its way back to the Lord.
It didn’t even have to be the traitor who was feeding him information. Any dark fae could have come here to trade, or anyone from Dragonia could have gone into another realm and heard the tale. For all he knew, the troubadours were already singing about it.
He despised the fact they sang about him, but he was good fodder for the musicians, and they loved it.
“I did, milord,” he said.
The Lord eyed him from head to toe. “How very interesting, but then, fae metal does not kill a lycan.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Perhaps the fae should weld a fae sword made of silver and fae metal. Maybe that would do the job.”
Cole smiled at him. “Maybe.”
The Lord smiled back at him. "How is your girlfriend, Colburn? I heard she went onto the battlefield after you.”
“She did.”
“How brave of her.”
“Yes,” Cole agreed.
"Did she enjoy her visit to Dragonia?"
"She thought it was a beautiful realm."
"I'm sure she enjoyed seeing Malakai again. He’s quite taken with her and a very loyal subject to me."
Cole kept his mouth shut. The Lord was trying to bait him; he refused to rise to that bait. A dragon bellowed, and a shadow fell over them as it swooped low. Cole kept his gaze focused on the man across from him as hatred churned in his stomach.
The shadows inside him stirred as they crept through his veins. When a small shifting occurred in the garden, he became extremely aware of the shadows beneath the dead plants as the Lord stared at him.
And then the madman broke into a wide grin as he slapped Cole on the shoulder. “But you are also a very loyal subject!” he declared. “Malakai has reported many an enemy hidden amongst my allies, but you killed your brothers for me. We must celebrate!”
So that was what Malakai had done to earn a sun medallion from the Lord. The amulet allowed him to walk in the daylight and was achieved by spilling the blood of countless others.
Cole wondered how many of the immortals Malakai reported were truly enemies and how many had just been standing in Malakai’s way.
During the war, Cole hadn’t been in his way; he was too far up the ranks to be a hindrance as Malakai clawed his way up the ladder. But had the bastard tried to turn him in for something when he realized Cole was competition for Lexi?
Cole was pretty certain he had.
“Come,” the Lord said and kicked Orin’s head out of the way as he turned Cole toward the palace. “Let’s go celebrate the deaths of those who would have done us harm!”
Real or not, the last thing Cole wanted to do was celebrate the deaths of his brothers, but he couldn’t say no to the Lord, and they both knew it.
Chapter Sixty-Three
For a while, Lexi paced the library before retreating upstairs. Once there, she tried to occupy herself by taking a shower and putting on some of her comfortable, familiar clothes.
None of it took as long as she would have liked. Less than an hour later, she found herself pacing the library again. Orin and Varo retreated to the tunnels; Brokk muttered something about “annoying” before taking his newest Harry Potter book and retreating to the guest room he’d occupied before.
Sahira and her father checked in on her but left her alone when she refused to sit. After a while, exhaustion started seeping in. Still, she refused to sleep as she went from the bookshelves to the curtains and back again.
Sometimes, she would circle the room to change her pattern, and then she started walking in a grid-like sequence, but none of it kept her mind occupied. She tried reading, but sitting still made things worse.
When the grandfather clock in the other room chimed ten, she turned to look at the covered windows. She studied the thick drapes with a growing feeling of dread, but throwing her shoulders back, she stalked toward the curtains.
She was anxious about Cole, but this had also been weighing heavily on her mind. Stopping beside the curtain, she grasped a small piece of it and pulled it back. She couldn’t see much outside, but the reflection of the half moon shimmered across the lake’s glass-like surface.
Though it wasn’t full, the moon was bright enough its glow illuminated the other side of the curtain. She peered outside the best she could but didn’t see anyone there.