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

hour staring at the fireplace while knowingwhat lay beyond it.

CHAPTER 21

“How about we sit outside today?” she suggested.“It’s so nice out.”

Sahira turned back to her and smiled. “Thatsounds perfect.”

The teacup warmed her hands when she took hercup from Sahira, and the scent of lavender and peppermint wafted toher. Sahira switched the flavor every day, and Lexi was glad she’dchosen these two today as a sense of peace descended over her.

They left the library behind and made theirway down the hall before crossing through the sitting room with itsdelicate antique furniture and a striking grandfather clock in thecorner. The pendulum of the clock swayed as it ticked away theseconds.

With its gray stone walls, the room housedfurniture mostly done in shades of blue, and sheer blue curtainsframed the double doors leading to the patio. They settled into thepatio chairs with their thick blue cushions.

Lexi started to rest her cup on the whitetable when she recalled why they’d stopped coming out here.

“Oh,” she murmured as she stared across thevast, once green lawn that had been bordered by a ten-foot-highprivet hedge.

Now, only charred pieces of that onceperfectly manicured hedge stood up from the ground. Half the lawnwas nothing more than blackened earth.

Beyond the charcoaled remains, humans trudgeddown what remained of the road. They skirted broken chunks ofasphalt as they walked with their shoulders hunched forward andtheir heads bent against the sun. Dirt streaked their faces andclothes, and many of them looked like they’d crawled out of a coalmine.

These people looked like this because theydidn’t have much clothing left and because the dragons destroyedmost of their homes. Lexi often felt like she’d lost everything,but she realized how lucky she was.

Despite her losses, she still had much morethan so many. She did her best to give what they could, but theydidn’t have much to spare. Normally, she didn’t come to this sideof the house, but she couldn’t hide from her reality anymore.

It was outside her home, and now, it was alsobeneath it.

“I saw Malakai,” she said as she sipped hertea.

“Oh,” Sahira said.

Lexi detected the dislike in her voice;Sahira had never been good at hiding it when it came toMalakai.

“He was out in the daytime,” she said.

“That’s not unusual if it’s overcast.”

“It was today.”

Sahira turned toward the clear blue sky andthe sun streaming down on them. Like her, Sahira could tolerate thesun because she was only half vampire.

“Ooooh,” Sahira said more slowly.

“He was wearing an amulet.”

Sahira set her cup down with a clatter andspun toward her. She looked like Lexi had told her he was dressedas a scarecrow and reciting the Wizard of Oz.

“Really?” Sahira asked.

“Yes. It was…”

“Red,” they said at the same time.

“You know what it is?” Lexi asked.

“It’s a sun medallion. At one time, therewere a lot of them in the vampire realm. They used to mine for thembeneath the mountains there. When the witches destroyed their realmand drove the vampires out, most of the medallions were destroyedor lost. The few remaining ones are all held by the Lord of theShadow Realms.”

“So the Lord gave it to him?”

“Yes.”

“Which means no one would dare try to take itfrom him.”

“Not unless they want to have the wrath ofthe Lord unleashed on them.”

Lexi shuddered at the idea of that wrathcoming down on her. “Why would the Lord give Malakai anamulet?”

“Malakai must have done something to earnit.”

“I don’t want to know what that was.”

“Neither do I.”

Feeling unsettled by this development, Lexilifted her cup and sipped her tea as she watched the people on theroad.

CHAPTER 22

Cole caught the scent of Orin not far from where heleft Lexi. He didn’t say a word to the others, but the other lycantracked it to a forest where even Cole lost Orin’s trail. Fromthere, they prowled through the woods until they came across a fewhouses.

They interviewed the occupants of thosehomes, but no one had seen Orin. From there, they traveled backinto the woods until they came to the edge of a lake. The sunreflected off the water’s pristine surface and illuminated thelarge, gray stone manor across the way.

Malakai stared at the manor while the lycansprowled the water’s edge, and Brokk studied the ground like he wasbored with the whole thing. However, the set of Brokk’s jaw and theway his fingers twiddled behind his back indicated Brokk was payingattention to everything.

Cole studied the amulet at Malakai’s throat.The vampire hadn’t possessed the powerful sun medallion while theywere fighting together, but there was only one place he could havegotten it.

The vampire’s possession of the medallionmade Cole distrust him more. He was acutely aware Malakai wouldtell the Lord every detail of their time together today.

He glanced at Brokk, but his brother waswandering idly by as he examined the shoreline as if searching forsomething. Whatever Malakai did to earn that amulet, it had madethe Lord extremely happy.

“I’ll be back,” Malakai said.

“Where are you going?” the largest of thelycans demanded.

“I have something to do.”

Malakai walked away, and Cole watched as hestrolled around the lake. As his step's pace increased, Colerealized Malakai was nowhere near as nonchalant as he was trying toact. Something about the manor had Malakai excited.

“I’ve had enough of that asshole,” thesmallest lycan grumbled.

“Then let’s get out of here. We’re not goingto find the dark fae,” another lycan said.

“He’ll report us to the Lord.”

“Report what? That we lost the trail. There’snot much to report there.”

The largest lycan looked at Cole and Brokk,who stared back at them. “I don’t care what you do,” Cole said.

The lycans didn’t say anything before theyturned and loped away into the woods.

“Now what?” Brokk asked.

Malakai was almost jogging as he closed in onthe manor. “What has him so excited?” he muttered.

“No idea,” Brokk said. “We should try to findOrin.”

“We will, but let’s see what has that assholein such a rush first.”

Brokk frowned as he gazed after Malakai.“Yes, let’s.”

They started around the lake together.

“What do we do if we find Orin?” Brokk askedas Malakai climbed the steps to the front doors of the manor.

“We’ll get his ass somewhere safe if wecan.”

“Can you smell him?” Brokk asked.

“No, I lost his scent soon after they did,but I