“Don’t you dare try to leave,” he told her.
She didn’t reply, but Orin and Del stepped closer to keep her penned in.
“You’re okay,” Cole said again to Lexi when she shuddered. “I’ve got you. I’m here for you. I love you.”
Her only response was to hold him closer. Cole forgot about everyone else in the hall as he buried his face in her hair and inhaled her sweet, strawberry scent.
Chapter Seventy-Three
Brokk couldn’t tear his attention away from Cole and Lexi as they held each other. Their evident love for each other warmed his heart and gave him hope for a better future, but it also scared him.
He’d never expected to see Cole like this. He’d known his brother loved Lexi, there was no denying that, but he never thought Cole would go from threatening to destroy a realm—and probably attempting to do so if Kaylia hadn’t agreed to leave—to hugging someone so close while whispering words of love.
And as much as this tender moment touched a heart he’d considered mostly deadened since the war, he was aware something was really wrong here. He kept hearing the whispered words of the crones when Cole started to lose control.
What the fuck is a Shadow Reaver?
He glanced at Kaylia and edged closer to her as the rest of them all fell back toward the library to give Lexi and Cole privacy. He maneuvered his way through the others until he stood beside her.
He’d bet she was thrilled by his presence near her, given his monstrous half-vamp status. Del and Orin moved away from her once he took over the responsibility of watching her. They stood near the fireplace but didn’t approach as their attention remained on Lexi and Cole.
“I’ll get us something to drink,” Sahira said.
“Make it something strong,” Orin said.
“I’ll help you,” Varo offered, and the two of them left the room.
“What is the Shadow Reaver?” Brokk whispered to Kaylia when he was sure no one else was close enough to hear him.
Kaylia’s striking eyes were troubled when they met his. At first, he didn’t think she would answer him—probably because he was part vamp—but then, she spoke.
“It’s a witches’ legend about a dark, lethal entity who would one day rise to power. They whispered the scary tale around cauldron fires. It was told to misbehaving children to get them to fall in line. It was a ghost story meant to scare and always believed to be nothing more.”
“What is the legend exactly?”
“That one day the Shadow Reaver will rise and use the shadows he controls to bring darkness to the world before destroying it. I grew up listening to the story and always believed it was a cautionary tale, a little bit of harmless, scary fun. It was never anything we ever gave much attention, until….”
“Until now,” Brokk finished when her voice trailed off. He pondered her words before replying. “Just because the shadows responded to Cole doesn’t mean he’s this Shadow Reaver thing. All dark fae have some control over the shadows. It’s how we cloak ourselves with them.”
She gave a small snort of derision. “No dark fae has that much control over shadows, and we both know it. Those shadows didn’t just respond and cloak him; they obeyed his command. They were his eyes. They let him know things he never could have known. Have the shadows ever done that for you?”
Brokk wanted to say yes, but he couldn’t. They’d never done that for him. They’d never done that for anyone he knew… not even his father.
“No,” he admitted.
She glanced around to make sure no one else was listening. When she shifted her attention back to him, he saw the dislike in her gaze. But even though she considered him about as likable as dog shit on her shoe, she stepped closer.
“There’s more,” she whispered.
“I’m all ears.”
Her gaze remained riveted on Lexi and Cole while she spoke. “There’s a prophecy about the Shadow Reaver too.”
“Prophecies are garbage. None of them ever come true.”
“Normally, I would agree, but some have come true. Very few, but some.”
“Usually the smaller, inconsequential ones. Like the one about a pixie who would have no voice. The pixie who couldn’t sing would become king,” he quoted.
“And it happened.”
“Because he was born a pixie prince who couldn’t speak. That’s how he became king of the pixies.”
A small smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. “Yes, that one was rather silly, but someone saw it coming.” She nodded her chin at Lexi and Cole. “And someone saw them coming too. Except, this time, I don’t think it’s going to be as inconsequential.”
“Saw them coming?”
“Yes, and I can tell you half of this prophecy has already come true.”
Brokk watched as Cole settled Lexi in his lap and sat on the floor with her. His head fell into her hair as he nuzzled her cheek.
A look of such pure love and joy lit his face that it awed and frightened Brokk. When he looked at Kaylia, he saw the same emotions playing across her face.
“How is it possible she’s an arach?” she whispered.
“That’s a long story. Tell me what the prophecy says.”
She shot him an irritated look, and when her jaw locked and her nostrils flared, Brokk was certain she wasn’t going to speak again, but she did. “I’ll tell you, but I want her story too.”
“Are you sure? It involves a vampire doing something good.”
When fury darkened her face, he realized he probably shouldn’t have taken that jab at her, but he couldn’t help it. He resented that she’d stuck him into this tiny box without getting to know him, simply because of his bloodline.
“I’m sure,” she grated through her teeth.
“Okay then, I’ll tell you when we have time, but tell me the prophecy first.”
He wasn’t sure Cole was going to let her live anyway, so he didn’t see the harm in telling her. Hell, he might not get the chance to do so.
“The prophecy states that when the last light shines, the Shadow Reaver shall rise. But when the last light falls, the Shadow Reaver will destroy us all,” Kaylia said.
A chill ran down Brokk’s spine. If the prophecy was true, then Lexi was definitely the last light. He’d seen the way she reacted to light, and she was the last of her kind. He’d also seen the way the shadows responded to Cole.
“Okay,” he said. “So, if by some one-in-a-million chance this prophecy is real, then all we have to do is stop the light from falling.”
Which meant they couldn’t let Lexi die, and since he had no intention of ever letting that happen, he would make sure it didn’t.
“That’s far easier said than done, especially given what she is,” Kaylia said. “The second the Lord learns of her existence, he’ll come after her with everything he has and tear the realms apart to find her.”
“Then we will keep him from learning what she is until we’re ready. He knows she exists and that she’s Cole’s mate, but he doesn’t know what she is.”
“How is that possible?”
“She didn’t have any powers before and only recently started coming into them.”