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

She bit her tongue as she lifted her head togaze into the crow’s black eyes. When it tilted its head, the suncreated a rainbow hue of colors throughout its feathers. The crowwas the dark fae’s messenger, and it was waiting for herresponse.

She didn’t know what to say. The idea ofgoing to the Gloaming was tempting, she’d love to see how the darkfae lived, but she still didn’t understand why she washolding this invite.

She’d never met a member of the royal darkfae before. She knew Colburn—or Cole as he was more commonlyknown—and Brokk were the only sons the king had left on his side.Out of his nine sons, five died in the war, and the other twosurvivors fought for the rebels.

Like everyone who chose the losing side, theywere stripped of their titles, land, and money. They were beinghunted throughout the realms.

Many of the rebels ended up in the mortalrealm where there was less magic and they were harder to track.Many others hopped through the Shadow Realms to avoid capture anddeath.

“We need gowns,” Sahira continued, and Lexiclosed her eyes. “We’ll have to go to the marketplace to purchasethem. It will be fun.”

The two of them had drastically differentideas of fun, but at four hundred and fifty-three years old, Sahirawas four hundred and twenty-nine years older than her. Her aunt hadgrown up and lived through far different times.

Sahira once attended balls held by kings andczars in the human realm while Lexi grew up in jeans and T-shirts.Sahira would sometimes talk about the old days with wistful sadnesswhile Lexi’s old days were bowls of cereal in front of her favoritecartoons.

She often missed those days. They were muchsimpler, and her father was still alive.

This invitation was making Sahira’s year andruining Lexi’s day. She dreaded everything about it, but she knewwhat she had to do.

Opening her eyes, Lexi used her finger tocheck the yes box for her and Sahira. Created by fae magic, a goldmark materialized on the invite. She lifted the invite into theair, and the crow swooped down to take it from her.

It clasped the invite in its talons, releaseda loud caw, and soared back toward the clear blue sky beforevanishing.

With a sigh, Lexi looked beyond the manor tothe smoke in the distance. She couldn’t see the ruined remains ofthe city a hundred miles away, but every day she saw the smokerising from it.

A week ago, she dared to travel close enoughto investigate the devastation the dragons unleashed on the city,but she was still a few miles away when the roar of a dragon causedher to retreat.

She preferred to stay as far from thosebeasts as possible.

The humans who survived the massacrecontinued to filter out of the city every day. She’d heard fromsome that others were choosing to stay behind to rebuild.

Every day, she watched as broken, ragtaggroups of survivors fled the city in search of something more, butthere wasn’t much left out there. Each morning, she walked out tothe road to give those survivors food. Some stopped to talk, butmost would simply look at her with haunted eyes before taking theirbread and walking away.

The dragons unleashed a fair amount ofdestruction on the world, but most of their larger fires had beenextinguished. However, some smaller ones still popped up. Lexi hadno idea what started them, and she wasn’t going into the city tofind out, but their smoke filled the sky, and sometimes they burnedfor days.

The war ended a month ago. It was too soon toaccomplish much rebuilding and far too soon to celebrate thedestruction unleashed on so many.

Hell, she didn’t think what happened to Earthshould ever be celebrated, but she was sure many otherimmortals would disagree… including the king of the dark fae.

Time was moving on, and the war was over. Theimmortals of the Shadow Realms wanted to continue with their lives.It didn’t matter that many in the mortal realm still suffered.

The winning side had gotten their way;immortals didn’t have to hide from humans anymore. The mortals wereaware of their existence now, and that knowledge had ruined theirlives.

Despite all that, a small tingle ofexcitement sparked in her belly. She would soon enter a ShadowRealm for the first time; vampires usually weren’t welcome there,not even half vamps.

And while there was a chance she and Sahiramight get killed if they tried to cross into the Gloaming, she wasexcited to see what lay beyond the human realm.

CHAPTER 2

Twilight was settling across the land as Lexi andSahira stood before the growing shadows spreading throughout theforest across from them. It had taken them an hour to reach thedesignated entrance to the Gloaming, and Lexi clutched theinvitation that would grant them passage like it was a lifepreserver in a storm-tossed sea.

Around her, half a dozen other immortalstalked excitedly about what was to come, but Lexi couldn’t join intheir enthusiasm. She was too nervous.

It had been a week since the invitationarrived. In that time, Sahira had managed to barter enough of herpotions in the marketplace near their home to purchase two gownsfor them.

Her aunt then spent the next couple of daysgetting those dresses to fit properly and adding special touches tothem. They were some of the most beautiful creations Lexi had everseen, but the exquisite gown only made Lexi feel more out of place.She’d never worn anything like it before.

The other immortals and her aunt were all atease in their fancy clothes while she felt like an imposter. Theywere also all excited about traveling to the Gloaming, and shecouldn’t help wondering if she would be allowed to make thejourney.

Maybe the invite was sent to them byaccident. Her dad did fight for the Lord, but she and Sahira wereboth half vampire, and vampires weren’t exactly welcome in theShadow Realms. Neither were humans.

When the time came, would they try to enterthe Gloaming only to be bounced back or, worse, destroyed?

She tugged at the collar of her dress as thepossibility caused a sheen of sweat to dampen her skin.

Trying to distract herself from the risk ofimpending death, Lexi studied the two dark fae standing at