Page 19 of I Destroyed the Elf Prince's Harem

The forest finally stopped twirling like a top, and I stared up at Nylian’s pale face, his eyes wide and his red lips parted on a gasp. My fingers dug into hard muscles through his tunic, and for a moment, I swore I could hear his racing heart.

Oh wait, that was my heart.

The world seemed to slow down to a stop as I stood there in Nylian’s near embrace. His bright eyes sparkled, but I couldn’t even guess where the light was coming from. His long blond hair whooshed behind him in a golden curtain. He just felt like he’d become so much more in the span of a heartbeat, and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. Had I really created him? That had to be wrong. How could I have created something so large and perfect? I was lucky to make a mug of coffee most mornings.

“Are you okay?” Nylian inquired. His voice dipped so low and soft that I briefly forgot what we were running from.

“What? Oh! Right!” I shook my head hard, trying to clear away the cobwebs. My poor brain had been battered one too many times today. It probably had suffered some serious damage. I forced my hands to release Nylian and took a step away. “I’m good. We—” The rest of the sentence left me as I stared toward the ogres’ camp and saw the area bathed in a bright white light.

“That can’t be good,” Nylian muttered.

“No, undoubtedly not. Should we go back for them?”

Nylian grabbed my upper arm and turned me away from the camp, propelling me through the forest. “Absolutely not. You’re all the trouble I can handle right now. If they want to get paid, they will find us.”

That was a fantastic point.

Besides, we’d had zero luck beating the ogres the first time. I had serious doubts we’d have much better luck a second time. If a wizard and that sneaky woman couldn’t manage it on their own, they shouldn’t have jumped into that mess.

Maybe I felt a little guilty about leaving them behind, but keeping Nylian alive to find his brother’s killer was my priority here. Not some weird side quest.

They’d find us later, right?

Chapter 7

They Found Us

They found us.

Not that I was all that surprised. Nylian had made a smart point. If they wanted to get paid for their rescue efforts, they had to find us.

While I didn’t feel great about abandoning them to the ogres, I wasn’t up for rescuing our rescuers following our disastrous first encounter with those smelly giants.

With Nylian leading the way through the woods, we ran until my legs would no longer carry me. And then the asshole made me run some more. I didn’t know or care where we finally ended up. The sky was shifting from midnight black to slate gray when Nylian called a halt to our escape. He wouldn’t even let us build another fire to keep warm.

My mind shut down as Nylian cuddled against me, his longer body spooning mine while we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks. It was cold out, but I wasn’t in danger of freezing to death. I opened my mouth to tell him to give me some space, yet the words never left my tongue. I passed out, which wasn’t the best idea, since I likely had a concussion from all the trees I’d rammed with my head that day.

All too soon, there were voices arguing around me. The only good thing was that they were familiar voices. The ogres hadn’t returned to harass us some more. My thoughts were foggy, my body ached, and my head throbbed. Not the best way to return to consciousness.

And the worst of it was, I was still in the forest with an elf. I was not in my bed or even on my couch, where I’d pass out after writing well into the night.

“Coffee…” I groaned and tried to roll over, pulling my cloak up over my face. It was too early to greet the day, particularly when I was already outside where the sun could get at me. I wanted my tiny apartment loaded with books, pillows, and coffee. God, I missed my coffeemaker!

“Who’s coffee?” Nylian’s voice sneaked past my weak defenses to slip into my ear.

I shot up and pointed a finger at him, my voice trembling. “That isn’t funny!”

There was no way I would ever create a world that didn’t include coffee. Nope. Never. I don’t care how medieval or fantastically different it was supposed to be. It was that thing that bound all the worlds together. Not love, sex, or even death. Coffee was eternal, and I was ready to curse Nylian in the worst way for even insinuating that coffee didn’t exist.

“Wow, he isn’t a morning person, is he?” I knew that voice, too. My hand fell to my hip, and I glanced over to find the crazy woman and the wizard sitting on the other side of a low fire that was now between us. The woman grinned at me, not looking as if she had suffered any damage from the ogres.

Part of me wanted to know what the hell had happened with the ogres and that bright light, but the bigger part of me wanted to return to sleep. I wasn’t ready to face this world or the elf or any other craziness that might wait for me. Sleeping also meant that I wasn’t in danger of running into any more trees. My head couldn’t take the punishment.

So that was what I did. I lay back on the ground and pulled my cloak over my head, intending to pretend these people weren’t here until I fell asleep. Maybe this was all a long, painful nightmare. When I woke up next time, I’d be in my bed and that whole thing with the coin and falling off the bridge would never have happened.

“He simply needs to eat something.” Nylian’s hand squeezed my shoulder and gave it a shake.

“Go away,” I grumbled.

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