Page 17 of I Destroyed the Elf Prince's Harem

Nope. Still in this fictional world with fictional creatures trying to kill me.

“What happened?” I half whispered and half moaned.

“You knocked yourself out again,” Nylian muttered, though I believed there was a slight note of relief in his voice too. Of course, I could have been lying to myself as well.

“I did not!” I hissed.

“You did. I saw it. You got ash in your eyes, blindly dodged two ogres grabbing for you, tripped over a rock, and hit a tree with your forehead.”

Which would explain why the middle of my head hurt so fucking bad.

“After that, I threw up my hands and surrendered,” Nylian said.

I opened my mouth to point out that he could have escaped on his own, but for reasons I couldn’t understand, he’d stuck with me.

I squeezed my eyes shut as guilt swamped me. “Sorry.”

It wasn’t just my life I was constantly fucking up but Nylian’s as well. The elf had enough on his plate. He didn’t need my help to find more danger.

A long, weary sigh slipped out of Nylian. There was a soft shifting in the dirt, as if he were changing his position. “Don’t. We were fucked from the start. I should have heard them coming far earlier than I did. I’m surprised we lasted as long as we did.”

“Mn,” I grunted. “Singing and playing the piano wouldn’t have worked for a distraction, either.”

The elf snorted what could have been a laugh. “Probably not. Ogres aren’t known for their taste in entertainment.”

I tried sitting up so I could better see Nylian, but I quickly discovered that our captors had tied my legs together and bound my wrists behind my back. Using the toes of my boots, I rolled a bit onto my side to find that we weren’t in our camp any longer but possibly near the mouth of a cave. Gone was the soft grass. Now we were lying on dirt and rocks while the scent of rotting carcasses wafted on the breeze.

“Where are we?”

“Not entirely sure. They knocked me out as well. My guess is that they’ve taken us deeper into the forest. Ogres aren’t fond of daylight, so the cave is likely their home.”

I twisted as best I could to check out my surroundings while ignoring the way small rocks dug into various parts of my body. Nylian was sitting up next to me, also bound, as he leaned on a large boulder. His golden hair was still perfect, and there was a tiny smudge of dirt across one pale cheek.

Meanwhile, I was pretty sure my hair was a twisted rat’s nest and the rest of me was a ball of dirt and sweat. Nylian’s general perfection was either an elf thing or a Nylian thing. I was still figuring out which it was. Either way, I kind of hated him.

Maybe it was that “hero halo” that I’d heard about in some books, where the hero was untouchable and when things went wrong for him, it resulted in things going even more right for him later.

Get wounded and dirty in a fight? Hot maiden swoons and takes care of him.

Betrayed by family member? Returns to win the hearts of the people and ascend to the throne.

Beaten by the villain? Roars back ten times stronger and destroys the villain.

Yeah, Nylian was possibly benefitting from the hero halo.

“Where are the ogres?”

Nylian jerked his chin toward the back of the cave where a series of growls, grunts, and snarls had become background noise to our conversation. “They’ve been arguing since I woke about what they should do with us.”

“Do I want to know how the argument is going?”

“Probably not.” Nylian shrugged a shoulder. “I’m not fluent in ogre, but it sounds like they’re fighting over whether to eat us or sell us. At least a couple of them have gotten the impression that one of us is valuable.” Nylian paused and rolled his eyes toward me. Yeah, yeah. It was clear which of the two of us was the more valuable. Even if he hadn’t admitted to me that he was a prince, it was obvious he was the one who came from a prestigious and rich family.

“If anyone wants my vote, I say sell us.” I tried once again to sit up, only to fall with a heavy thud.

“I doubt they would care about what we want. Plus, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. They’ve killed one of their companions, and I believe he was one of the strongest voices for selling us. Now I think they’re down to eat one and sell one or eat both of us.”

“Of course. Naturally,” I muttered while trying very hard not to give in to the panic that was bubbling up in my veins. We needed to think of a way to escape while they weren’t looking. “Your sword! Knives! Did they?—”

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