Lexi nudged the cracked door further open. She poked her head inside the room where she last saw Brokk and Cole to discover Brokk sleeping soundly on the bed and Cole asleep in the chair beside him.
A twinge tugged at her heart as she gazed at Cole’s large frame in that chair. He’d stretched his long legs before him, and his head had fallen back. He must have been extremely 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 retreated before rushing down the stairs. She strode down the hall and through the kitchen to the mudroom, where she kept her stable clothes. Removing her sneakers from beneath the row of coats hanging on the wall, she tugged them on.
The sun was beginning to break the horizon as she stepped outside. A low mist covered the open field and danced across the ground as she strode toward the barn. The dew-covered grass dampened her sneakers and the bottom of her jeans as she walked.
Beneath the smoky scent always lingering in the air was the sweet aroma of spring and flowers as the robins sang. She stopped outside the barn door and slid it open.
At one time, she came to the stables to help because it was something she loved doing. Now, with most of their staff having fled, she came because she had to care for the animals.
She smiled when the nicker of the horses greeted her and they kneed their doors impatiently. As she made her way down the shedrow, she hung their food tubs over the four horses' 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 of the animals eating. Today, she didn’t find any solace in the work as her mind spun over the predicament she found herself in.
She wished she could get Orin out of her tunnels, but she didn’t know how to do it without causing a scene that would get her thrown in jail before her beheading. Maybe, if she 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 him again while Brokk and Cole were here.
Sahira’s spell kept the tunnels enshrouded in safety, but she couldn’t risk coming back smelling like Orin or getting caught emerging from the tunnels. She had no way to explain either of those things away.
The sun had risen higher in the sky by the time she finished turning out the horses, cleaning their stalls, and setting their feed up for tonight and tomorrow. She left the barn and trudged back across the lawn to the manor.
As the day progressed, the road was filling with humans and immortals starting their day. Most of them walked with their shoulders hunched up and their heads bowed, but some strode purposely forward with the confident swagger of the oppressors savoring their destruction.
Anger and sadness coiled inside her as she watched the downtrodden pass. This was not the way it was supposed to be. This was not what her father had in mind when he fought in the war, or at least that’s what she told herself.
No matter what side he chose, she couldn’t believe 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’d believed he was doing the right thing when he joined the Lord’s side.
There was no way he could have foreseen this outcome, and there was no way he would have approved of it.
Her gaze traveled back to the manor. How did Cole feel about all of this?
He’d fought on the Lord’s side and was hunting his brother, yet he didn’t relish the battering the human race had taken like Malakai did.
But maybe he did. She had no idea what he did and didn’t enjoy. She knew so little about him, after all.
Her fingers involuntarily rose to her lips as she recalled their kiss. Still completely wired from it, she barely slept last night, but there was a good possibility it meant nothing to him.
He was far older than her and part dark fae. They fed on sexual energy as well as food, which meant he’d experienced countless kisses before.
He’d probably forgotten about kissing her by the time he returned to Brokk’s side, but she couldn’t help speculating if it might have meant something more to him.
She dropped her hand and shook her head to clear it of the memories of that kiss. She had enough to contend with without daydreaming about things that could never be.
She trudged back to the manor, entered, and closed the door behind her. She kicked off her sneakers before returning to her room. Some of the tension eased from her as she took 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 purple walls, which became the color-splashed walls of her teens, and were now the dove-gray walls of her twenties.
Photos of her, Sahira, and her father hung around the room. In one, she was sitting on her dad’s lap next to the lake. They were both smiling as their heads leaned against each other. 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 her dad’s hand. They spent some time looking at the stars while he pointed out the constellations. Later, she learned he made most of them up, but she’d marveled over them as the crickets and tree frogs sang their songs.
When they arrived at the lake, the moon was high in the sky. He pulled out a loaf of bread, and she sat in his lap. He regaled her with stories as the ducks, woken from slumber by the prospect of food, swam over to them.
Sahira snapped the photo after all the bread was gone, and Lexi’s head was resting against his chest. She recalled his heartbeat beneath her ear as he held her. She’d drifted off, secure in the knowledge he would always protect her.
He’d seemed indestructible to her, but she’d been wrong. Her hero had fallen on a battlefield, and she had only memories and photos left of him.
With tears clogging her eyes, she turned away from the photo. She tugged off her barn clothes and tossed them into the hamper tucked inside her walk-in closet. One side of the closet contained some of the fancier clothes she wore to the few “special” events she attended in her life, but it was mostly full of jeans, sweaters, and hoodies.
She did have a collection of shoes she loved. Unfortunately, she didn’t wear them often as sneakers and boots were her main source of footwear for work around the manor. But occasionally, she would take them out, put them on, and admire them before slipping them away again.
Gathering some new clothes, she left the closet behind and set the clothes on the pale, yellow comforter covering her queen-size bed. She flicked on the bathroom light switch, but nothing came on.
Lexi lifted the flashlight from where she left it on the counter and turned it on. Hopefully, there was still enough hot water in the tank to get her through a shower, but it wouldn’t be her first cold shower if there wasn’t.
Remodeled when she was fifteen, the bathroom held the claw-foot tub she insisted on having. There was also a stand-in shower with a glass door.
The beige walls were simple and unadorned, but the shelves lining them held various bottles of some of Sahira’s concoctions. Lexi pulled down a lavender mix she loved before stepping into the shower.
She’d been looking forward to a hot shower, but the lukewarm water didn’t last long enough for that to happen. In the hopes of calming her nerves, she rubbed the lavender over her skin and washed it away before fleeing the cooling water.
Wrapping a towel around herself, she left the bathroom and dressed in a pair of jeans, a loose-fitting T-shirt, and her socks. She stood in front of her bureau’s mirror, brushed her hair, and slid an elastic onto her wrist to use later.
When she finished, she left her room and walked down the hall to where Brokk was resting.