Shadows of Fire (The Shadow Realms, Book 1) by Brenda Davies (free e books to read .TXT) 📕

two steps into the room and strolled acrossthe white, marble floor.

This was so wrong and might get her into aton of trouble, but she felt like Sleeping Beauty being lured tothe spindle as she crept further into the room.

It did not go well for SleepingBeauty, she reminded herself. However, she didn’t stop.

She couldn’t decide what to look at first,the spectacular flowers or the bright, full moons. Stopping in themiddle of the room, she tipped her head back as she stood beneathone of the moons. Her skin prickled from the energy theyexuded.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the sweetaroma filling the room.

CHAPTER 9

Cole stood cloaked in the shadows of the moon roomas he watched Elexiandra descend the stairs. The awe on her facecaptivated him as her mouth parted. His father would be irate if hefound her here; this room was built for his mother and remained ashrine to her.

It was once a place for her to retreat towhen she needed to think and rejuvenate. His father spent weekshaving it constructed and made sure the room's design made it so apiece of a moon could always be seen from somewhere, no matter whattime of day or night it was.

At noon, that piece of moon was found in thefar-right corner if he stood with his toes against the glass, butit was there.

This room was his mother’s retreat and hersmall piece of the lycan realm in the land of the dark fae. She’dbrought the luna flowers in when they were no more than seeds andgrown them until her death.

Cole barely recalled a time when the vineswere no more than a foot tall. She died before she ever got to seethem grow into something more, but he imagined this was what she’denvisioned for the room.

When he was a child and she was still alive,he’d sit on the bench in the far corner of the room and watch asshe cupped each small vine in her hands. While she talked to them,they weaved around her, and some stroked her cheek.

Sometimes, he swore they laughed with her.And on the day she died, they wept with him when he retreated here.He’d come here in the hopes they’d all been wrong and a roguewarlock hadn’t killed her.

He’d come here believing he would find hersmiling amidst her flowers. He would run to her, and she wouldenvelop him in her arms and dry his tears while she laughed overthe silliness of the mistake.

She hadn’t been here, it hadn’t been amistake, and he’d lain in this room for days while he grieved her.The servants tried to lure him away, but he remained where hismother’s essence still thrived in the plants that hugged him whilehe cried.

Three days later, his father came for him.Cole recalled watching his father’s strong hand slip past the vinesthat had closed protectively over him while he slept and wept. Herecalled being drawn from the vines to discover his father’s black,bloodshot eyes staring at him.

Cole hadn’t seen the man since he deliveredthe news of his mother’s death. Afterward, he’d retreated to hisprivate solar. Broken and crying, Cole locked himself away too.

He remembered being astonished to see hisfather. He hadn’t expected him to come for him, but as his dadlifted him from the ground, Cole wrapped his arms around his neckand cleaved to him as he started crying again.

His father carried him from the room, put himin a bath, and dressed him. He’d never forget the broken slump ofhis father’s shoulders as he cared for him. Stubble lined hisfather’s normally clean-shaven face, and his tears had swelled hiseyes.

Cole was only seven when his mother died, buta part of him died with her. A larger part of his father followedher into the grave.

Afterward, his father spent years torturingthe warlock before Cole’s uncle, Maverick, convinced him to killthe monster. When Cole was fifteen, he overheard Maverick tellinghis father he shouldn’t keep the warlock alive and in the samehouse as Cole.

Maverick was still livid over his sister’smurder, but he believed Tove was only extending Cole’s suffering bykeeping her killer alive. His father must have agreed as thewarlock was dead a few days later.

However, his vengeance did nothing to easeTove’s sorrow. And no matter how many women followed his first andonly wife, Cole knew his father never loved any of them like he hadhis mother.

And now, another beautiful woman stood in hismother’s room. And to Cole’s amazement, the flowers turned theirheads away from the moons and toward her.

He was the only one the flowersreacted to, partly because of his mother and partly because of hislycan blood. Over the years, the peace he received from the flowersand his love for the moon were the most lycan things about him;they were probably the only lycan things about him… until heencountered her.

And now, he could feel the beast stirringwithin him while he watched her.

Was she also part lycan? Was that why theflowers responded to her too?

No, Del had said her mother was a human, andDel was very much a vampire. Or maybe he remembered it wrong? Maybehe only thought Del said his daughter was part human, and he’d saidlycan.

Cole believed he would have remembered if shewas part lycan, but they’d been fighting a war and there was oftena lot of drink involved when Del opened up about his daughter, soCole could be wrong.

Elexiandra sighed and lowered her head. Theserenity on her face and the moonlight streaming over her causedhis breath to catch. The flowers reacted to her because it wasimpossible not to; she was magnificent.

They didn’t respond to her in the same waythey did to him, but they weren’t indifferent to her like they wereto everyone else who entered this room… except him. The flowers’interest in her intrigued him almost as much as she did.

Cole released the shadows cloaking him, andthey slid back into their places along the wall. He stepped forwardand waited for Elexiandra to realize he was here.

When she opened her eyes, she spotted him andgasped. Her hand flew to her throat, and a panicked look crossedher face. Smiling, he stepped further away from the shadowscaressing