Chapter Seventy
“Did you set up the stone to kill innocents?” Cole hissed in that strange, inhuman voice.
“Of course not,” Kaylia retorted. “A witch would never do that. If they did, they would suffer the consequences of it, and we never hurt innocents. If she sought to use the stone’s power when it wasn’t given to her—”
“She didn’t seek anything of the sort.”
Brokk had known Cole his whole life; they’d fought together, played together, killed for each other, and been the best of companions, but his brother’s voice wasn’t just almost unrecognizable anymore… he didn’t recognize it at all.
For the first time, Brokk wasn’t just unnerved by the power emanating from his brother; he was also scared he was losing his best friend.
“Cole,” he said.
He sucked in a breath when his brother’s gaze swung toward him, but Kaylia drew his attention away again when she spoke.
“If you’ve come here to threaten us, then all you’ll succeed in doing is unleashing hell upon yourself. You may be the king of the dark fae, but there are many of us here, and we will fight you.”
When Cole stepped toward Kaylia, her chin rose and her head tipped back. Brokk moved forward to intervene if Cole tried to kill her, but he wasn’t so sure his brother wouldn’t kill him. That was a thought he never believed he’d have with Cole.
If Cole believed Brokk was standing in the way of saving Lexi’s life, he would smack him down.
“She did not seek out the stone; it sought her out,” Cole replied.
This time, it sounded as if dozens of different voices issued from Cole. Confusion swam in Kaylia’s eyes. Finally giving way to common sense over pride, she edged away from Cole. Brokk suspected she’d realized she was dealing with something more than the king of the dark fae.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“The stone. Sought her. Out,” Cole said through his teeth.
With every clearly enunciated word, shadows slid across the earth toward them. The ones beneath the phoenixes slipped away to leave the ground bare and exposed.
Moving like snakes escaping a fire, they twisted their way toward Cole. Brokk sidestepped some of them as they slid beneath his feet. He knew they were just shadows and couldn’t harm him, but something about all of this felt completely wrong.
When he exchanged a glance with Sahira, he was certain the horror on her face more than mirrored his. He wanted to reach out to his brother, connect with him, and bring him out of whatever held him.
He didn’t move.
Though they’d fought countless battles together, nearly been killed more times than he could recall, and killed more than he ever wanted to remember, he didn’t know the man before him.
It wasn’t just that Cole was losing it; something far more sinister was unfolding here, and he had no idea what it was or how it could be possible. He wasn’t as connected to the earth as the witches, but even he felt a shift in the world around them.
Then one of the shadows surrounding Cole twisted around and rose over the top of his brother as Cole hissed out. “If you take one more step, I’ll take that pouch you’re holding and choke you with it.”
The hair on Brokk’s nape rose. Slowly, he turned his head to see that one of the crones had approached and had her hand in a pouch.
Brokk’s mouth went dry as he tried to understand what was happening. He hadn’t seen the woman coming, and there was no way Cole could have seen her.
Brokk turned his attention back to his brother. Cole’s back remained to the woman, but the shadow remained raised over him like a scorpion’s tail about to deliver its killing blow.
Cole never could have seen the woman or the pouch, but the shadow could. But how did a shadow report anything to anyone? How could a shadow see anything?
The more he tried to make sense of what was happening, the more lost he felt. His head spun as he looked from the crone to Cole and finally to Kaylia, whose mouth had parted.
Then his hand dropped to the blade at his side. No matter what was happening here, it was still his duty to protect his brother.
He was about to pull his sword free, but the crone removed her hand from the pouch and backed away. The shadow behind Cole didn’t turn away; instead, it remained twisted to survey the crowd.
Sahira’s hand went to her mouth as the crones started whispering as more shadows slid toward Cole….
No, that wasn’t right. The fucking things were slithering into him.
He’d never seen anything like what was happening, and he hoped never to see it again, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. The shadows filling Cole oozed back out of him in a way that made him look as if he were ten feet tall.
They also seemed to be protecting him as more of them rose to survey the crowd. Some of the formations even looked like wings.
And maybe they were protecting him, but what else are they doing?
Destroying him.
And once Brokk had that thought, he couldn’t rid himself of it. Whatever was happening here, whatever Cole had undergone during the trials, it was destroying him.
Brokk didn’t know if it was because Cole was only half fae and therefore unable to handle the power granted him after the trials or not. And it didn’t matter.
What caused this was not the issue. All that mattered was making sure his brother didn’t completely lose himself in trying to save Lexi.
Then the whispers of the crones pierced through his confused and jumbled ruminations.
“My gods and goddesses,” some of them whispered.
“Hecate save us,” others murmured.
But amid all the whispers, a stronger one was growing and spreading. More and more crones were uttering four words over and over again…
“It’s the Shadow Reaver.”
Chapter Seventy-One
“You will come with us,” Cole told the crone, Kaylia, he recalled her name was. “And you will save her, or I will level this realm. I swear it.”
The woman searched his face as she stared at him with a look of dawning horror. Throughout their entire exchange, she’d kept her uneasiness of him well hidden; he’d sensed it, but she refused to let it show.
It was there now as her heartbeat increased, and she took a small step away from him. He’d never wanted others to fear him before, to respect him, yes, but not to tremble at his approach like they did the Lord.
He no longer cared about that. He hoped her fear got her to cave to his will, because if it didn’t, he’d meant what he said. And if these witches refused to help him reverse the curse they created, he wouldn’t feel one ounce of remorse over doing it. He’d make them suffer for what they did to her.
This entire realm would be nothing but ashes by the time he finished with it, and then he would move on to the Lord. Because if Lexi wasn’t alive, then there was nothing holding him back from unleashing his wrath upon that bastard too, even if it killed him.
He was on the verge of losing it, but whereas for most of his life, he prided himself on his levelheadedness, he didn’t now. Lexi had rattled that rational side of him when his lycan half recognized her as its mate and sought to claim her.
Cole lost some of his control then, but this was different and worse than anything he’d endured after meeting her.