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

Was he going to kiss her?

She should run as fast as she could fromhere. Getting entangled with the prince of the dark fae was theworst idea ever, and Lexi didn’t want to end up shadow kissed, butshe couldn’t move away from him.

One kiss couldn’t hurt. It took far more thanone tiny, curiosity-easing kiss to turn someone into a mindless sexslave. She didn’t know how much more, but since she planned to keepher clothes on, she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

He was leaning toward her, so close hisbreath warmed her lips, when a piercing scream shattered theirsolitude. The prince jerked away as more screams and shoutspreceded a loud bang.

“Stay here!” he commanded and ran from theroom.

Sahira! Lexi hesitated only a secondbefore running after him.

CHAPTER 12

Cole raced down the hallways as the shouts andscreaming continued. Another bang shook the floor and rebounded offthe walls a second before he burst into the ballroom. He scannedthe room as he tried to ascertain what was happening.

And then he spotted a group of lycans,vampires, and dark fae fighting on the other side of the room. Themusicians had stopped playing, and Brokk, along with some dark faeguards, were carving their way through the fighters and tossingthem away.

When one of them punched his brother in theback of the head, Cole snarled as he sped across the room to helphim. They hadn’t survived the war to be taken down by a bunch ofassholes in their own home. He’d already lost too many ofhis brothers; he would not lose anymore.

Brokk turned toward his attacker as Coleseized the vamp by the shoulder and threw him away. Guestsscattered out of the way as the vamp skidded across the floorbefore crashing into the wall.

Dark fae guards surrounded the vamp andhauled him to his feet. Brokk nodded his thanks to Cole, but hedidn’t have a chance to speak before the growing brawl drew hisattention.

Power thrummed through Cole as he drew on theair surrounding him and pulled it toward him. When a couple ofvamps and a lycan lurched toward each other, he held his hands out,turned them over, and pushed them apart with his palms facingoutward.

The air around him shuddered as he pushed itoutward. The impact of the air shoved the fighters back. They hitseparate walls with loud thuds. The air rippled as he held out hispalms to keep the fighters pinned against the wall.

Brokk punched a warlock in the face beforegripping the back of his head and slamming it onto his knee. Brokkkicked the fighter away and lunged over a witch to snatch a candlefrom the wall.

Lifting the flame to his mouth, Brokk blew onit. Instead of the fire going out, it surged into a rolling infernothat torched those closest to him.

Immortals screamed as they raced away fromhim or fell to the ground and rolled as they attempted to smotherthe flames consuming them. The scent of burnt clothes and fleshpermeated the air. The fire wouldn’t kill them, but they’dhurt.

When a vampire lunged toward him, Colereleased his hold on the prisoners and spun to face his attacker.Red eyes met his a second before Cole drove the heel of his palm upand into the vamp’s nose.

Blood erupted from the vamp’s shattered nose,and it howled as its hands flew to its face and it staggered back.Lifting his foot, Cole planted it in the vamp’s belly and shoved itaway from him.

“What is going on here?” his father’s voiceboomed throughout the vast hall. “Who dares to fight in myhome?”

Footsteps echoed across the floor andrebounded off the ceiling as his father stalked toward them.Immortals scrambled to get out of the way, and more of the innocentguests fell back. Tove’s fury vibrated the air around him.

“Guards, seize every single one of thefighters,” Tove commanded. “They will all reside in my dungeonuntil I decide it’s time for them to go.”

“You can’t do that!” a vampire protested.

His father stepped so close to the vampiretheir noses almost touched. “Are you going to stop me? I helpedfund the Lord’s war. I gave him my best fighters, including mysons, and if you open your mouth one more time, I will giveyou to his dragons.”

The vamp blanched but wisely shut hismouth.

“Take them away,” Tove commanded.

The guards captured the twenty-five or sofighters. The remaining guests didn’t speak as they led theprisoners away. Some of their gazes flicked from the blood on thefloor to the king of the dark fae.

Cole didn’t have to look at his father toknow he was infuriated; it continued to vibrate the air in theroom. More of the guests edged away from the king. He was the mostpowerful being in this room, and everyone knew it.

“This party is over; everyone go home,” hisfather commanded. “Everyone is to be out of here in twentyminutes.”

With that, his father turned and stalkedaway. Cole glanced at Brokk, who stared after their father’sretreating back.

“That was a quick celebration,” Brokksaid.

“There wasn’t much to celebrate,” Colemuttered.

And then he recalled Lexi. Turning, he pushedhis way through the crowd as it funneled toward the exit. Breakingfree of them, he jogged down the hall to the moon room, but shewasn’t there.

“Shit,” he hissed.

He ran back to the main hall, but half therevelers had already left, and more were on their way out. Still,he searched for her amongst those who remained, but she was alreadygone.

• • •

“I cannot believe they dared to fight in myhall,” his father growled as he paced his solar.

The airy room allowed plenty of room for hisangry movements as he stalked to one end, turned on his heel, andstormed past the large table in the center of the room. He reachedthe window on the other side of the room and paused to look down onthe courtyard a few hundred feet below.

Silver sconces hung on the walls, and thetorches situated inside them cast shadows across the walls andfloor. Tapestries decorated the walls. Most of them were landscapesof different areas of the Gloaming, but one was of his mother, andthe others were of all the king’s sons.

Despite the fact half of his sons foughtagainst their father in the