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

uneasy feeling grew in the pit of herstomach as she lifted her trembling fingers to her swollenlips.

Now that the confusion and chaos of the nightwas settling down, she recalled his brother—a traitor that Brokkand Cole were hunting earlier—was hidden beneath her manor.

The heat Cole’s kiss evoked vanished as herblood ran cold.

CHAPTER 31

Lexi nudged the cracked door further open. She pokedher head inside the room where she last saw Brokk and Cole todiscover Brokk sleeping soundly on the bed and Cole asleep in thechair beside him.

A twinge tugged at her heart as she gazed atCole’s large frame in that chair. He’d stretched his long legsbefore him, and his head had fallen back. He must have beenextremely uncomfortable, but that chair was where she last saw him,and she assumed he stayed in it all night.

She eased the door closed and retreatedbefore rushing down the stairs. She strode down the hall andthrough the kitchen to the mudroom, where she kept her stableclothes. Removing her sneakers from beneath the row of coatshanging on the wall, she tugged them on.

The sun was beginning to break the horizon asshe stepped outside. A low mist covered the open field and dancedacross the ground as she strode toward the barn. The dew-coveredgrass dampened her sneakers and the bottom of her jeans as shewalked.

Beneath the smoky scent always lingering inthe air was the sweet aroma of spring and flowers as the robinssang. She stopped outside the barn door and slid it open.

At one time, she came to the stables to helpbecause it was something she loved doing. Now, with most of theirstaff having fled, she came because she had to care for theanimals.

She smiled when the nicker of the horsesgreeted her and they kneed their doors impatiently. As she made herway down the shedrow, she hung their food tubs over the fourhorses' doors before going to let out the goats and chickens.

Normally, this was her favorite time of day,and she loved this private time as she listened to the sounds ofthe animals eating. Today, she didn’t find any solace in the workas her mind spun over the predicament she found herself in.

She wished she could get Orin out of hertunnels, but she didn’t know how to do it without causing a scenethat would get her thrown in jail before her beheading. Maybe, ifshe could talk to him and tell him what happened with his brothers,he would agree to leave, but she couldn’t risk going to see himagain while Brokk and Cole were here.

Sahira’s spell kept the tunnels enshrouded insafety, but she couldn’t risk coming back smelling like Orin orgetting caught emerging from the tunnels. She had no way to explaineither of those things away.

The sun had risen higher in the sky by thetime she finished turning out the horses, cleaning their stalls,and setting their feed up for tonight and tomorrow. She left thebarn and trudged back across the lawn to the manor.

As the day progressed, the road was fillingwith humans and immortals starting their day. Most of them walkedwith their shoulders hunched up and their heads bowed, but somestrode purposely forward with the confident swagger of theoppressors savoring their destruction.

Anger and sadness coiled inside her as shewatched the downtrodden pass. This was not the way it was supposedto be. This was not what her father had in mind when he fought inthe war, or at least that’s what she told herself.

No matter what side he chose, she couldn’tbelieve this was the outcome her father sought. He had his faults,she would never deny that, but he was a good man at heart. He’dbelieved he was doing the right thing when he joined the Lord’sside.

There was no way he could have foreseen thisoutcome, and there was no way he would have approved of it.

Her gaze traveled back to the manor. How didCole feel about all of this?

He’d fought on the Lord’s side and washunting his brother, yet he didn’t relish the battering the humanrace had taken like Malakai did.

But maybe he did. She had no idea what he didand didn’t enjoy. She knew so little about him, after all.

Her fingers involuntarily rose to her lips asshe recalled their kiss. Still completely wired from it, she barelyslept last night, but there was a good possibility it meant nothingto him.

He was far older than her and part dark fae.They fed on sexual energy as well as food, which meant he’dexperienced countless kisses before.

He’d probably forgotten about kissingher by the time he returned to Brokk’s side, but shecouldn’t help speculating if it might have meant something more tohim.

She dropped her hand and shook her head toclear it of the memories of that kiss. She had enough to contendwith without daydreaming about things that could never be.

She trudged back to the manor, entered, andclosed the door behind her. She kicked off her sneakers beforereturning to her room. Some of the tension eased from her as shetook in the familiar comfort of her surroundings.

This had been her room since she was a baby.Her nursery's pink walls were replaced by her childhood's purplewalls, which became the color-splashed walls of her teens, and werenow the dove-gray walls of her twenties.

Photos of her, Sahira, and her father hungaround the room. In one, she was sitting on her dad’s lap next tothe lake. They were both smiling as their heads leaned against eachother. Looks of love and serenity lit their faces.

She recalled the night the photo was taken.Only six at the time, she’d walked to the lake while holding herdad’s hand. They spent some time looking at the stars while hepointed out the constellations. Later, she learned he made most ofthem up, but she’d marveled over them as the crickets and treefrogs sang their songs.

When they arrived at the lake, the moon washigh in the sky. He pulled out a loaf of bread, and she sat in hislap. He regaled her with stories as the ducks, woken from slumberby the prospect of food, swam over to them.

Sahira snapped the photo after all the breadwas gone, and Lexi’s head was resting