The shadows swallowed them until theyflickered in and out of the spreading darkness created by thesetting sun. However, the dark fae were known to be a part of theshadows.
From her distance of ten feet, she sensedtheir power, yet their ciphers didn’t go past the middle of theirbiceps. She’d only encountered a couple of dark fae before, but sheknew those black markings indicated the amount of power theypossessed.
They said the dark fae king and his sonspossessed ciphers that extended to their wrists. The oldestsupposedly had ciphers to the tips of his fingers, like theking.
Unable to stop herself, Lexi tugged at thecollar of her gown again as the sun vanished. There was a momentwhen the entire world held its breath as the last of the sun’s raysstretched across the sky. Then the shimmering, deep purple entranceto the Gloaming came into view.
Sahira clasped Lexi’s arm and practicallyjumped up and down in excitement. Lexi tried not to gawk as thedoorway shifted from deep purple to black and back again. The darkfae standing beside it stepped away from the trees and waved theirarms toward the portal.
Lexi gulped and grasped Sahira’s hand on herarm. Her aunt was stunning in her maroon gown. Twisted into anelaborate coil, her mahogany hair hung against her nape, and blackeyeliner emphasized the striking color of her amber eyes.
Most days, Sahira wore jeans and T-shirtslike her. She kept her hair in a bun and eschewed makeup until shelooked more like a librarian than the half witch, half vampire shewas. Now, she’d embraced the roll of ball attendee.
“It’s okay,” Sahira whispered.
“What if the portal doesn’t let us enter?Vampires were banished to the mortal realm centuries ago.”
“It will let us enter, and if it doesn’t,then I’ll be stuck here with you, but we’re invited.”
“That might have been a mistake.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Vampires aren’t welcome in the ShadowRealms.”
“We have an invite, and vampires aren’twelcome to stay. They can travel through with permission,which we have. Come on, everything is going to be fine.”
Lexi wanted to believe her, but her feetremained planted firmly in place.
Sahira tugged at her arm. “Lexi, move!”
Lexi gulped and shuffled forward until shestood at the edge of the portal. Gathering her courage, she closedher eyes and stepped forward. She fully expected to be knocked backon her ass or cut in two, but her feet continued onward.
Her eyes flew open, and she discoveredherself surrounded by the dark walls of the portal as she movedtoward the Gloaming.
CHAPTER 3
The growing crowd of immortals made Cole’s upper lipcurl as he watched them group before the dais in their finestclothing. There was such an array of ball gowns, fine attire, andthe tunics of the dark fae that his eye twitched.
The din of voices nearly drown out themusic's melodic strains from the minstrels his father hired.Laughter floated on the air, and glasses clinked as the immortalscongratulated each other on a well-won war.
A war that most of these self-congratulatoryfuckers hadn’t fought.
Cole didn’t want to think about the amount ofcarisle his father spent on this affair. He knew his role here, buthe hadn’t helped in planning it. However, there were numerouswhispers about the dark fae king having bottomless coffers, so themoney probably hadn’t mattered to his father.
And after the war, those coffers probablytripled as the winners stripped all the losers' lands and money.Thinking about it made his head hurt.
He’d never expected to long for the humanworld, but as the noise of the party increased, he would have givenanything to be anywhere else.
After two years of waging countless bloodybattles in a war he hadn’t agreed with, being around so manyimmortals made his skin itch. He kept expecting a witch or warlockto lob a ball of magic into the crowd or a pack of lycan to turn onthe others. Instead, they laughed and drank as if all the death anddestruction never occurred.
How short their memories are.
But then, they were immortals, so a coupleyears of bloody war was less than a blink of an eye in theirlifespans. And most of those gathered here hadn’t stepped foot onany of the battlefields.
They stayed in their realms, in their towers,or by the Lord of the Shadow Realms and plotted the destruction ofothers. They did not actually fight, so to them, this was all goodfun.
To Cole, it was a powder keg waiting toblow.
However, before the war, he spent most of hissix hundred and seventy-two years in the lap of luxury too. Becauseof fights and disputes, he’d killed his fair share of immortalsduring that time, but those deaths were nothing compared to thehundreds he handed out in the war.
Sometimes at night, he would find himselfstanding on those battlefields again. He was once more using hisfae sword to carve his way through countless enemies as blooddripped from his clothes and hair.
The amount of blood coating him added a goodten pounds to his frame, but it didn’t hinder him. As he worked todestroy, the screams of the dying reverberated in his head as theinjured pleaded for mercy.
Sometimes he would bolt awake, but othertimes it felt like he was clawing through quicksand as he struggledto pull himself free of the cloying horror of his memories. Heoften woke in a cold sweat and unsure of where he was, and itsometimes took a few minutes to recall the war was over.
While fighting the war, the death anddestruction hadn’t bothered him. Since its end, it haunted him.
But the war was over; their side had won.That was all that mattered to the rest of the Shadow Realms. Or atleast it was all that mattered to those who hadn’t fought in thewar.
It’s over. Yet a part of him remainedon the battlefields, and he suspected it always would.
“We’ve packed our palace with immortals whowould gladly tear out each other’s throats,” Brokk muttered as hearrived to stand beside him.
“But these are our allies and friends, littlebrother,” Cole replied.
“The dark fae have no friends.”
Cole couldn’t have said it any betterhimself.
“Father says it’s time
