Page 94 of I Destroyed the Elf Prince's Harem

I attempted to march to the bedroom, but Nylian caught me and wrapped me tightly in his arms, his head resting against mine. “Nope. You’re staying with me. After Orian is saved and life returns to normal, we’ll leave West Vale.”

“You want to leave?” I pulled free so I could look into his eyes. “You don’t want to stay in your home?”

He shook his head, his smile so bright it almost blinded me. “No, I want to travel with you. Being on the road with you, seeing places like Riverhold, and even Misty Pass felt new and exciting because you made each place interesting. I want to show you so much more of Wolfrest. Or we can explore Edros. Or travel south to Kodra. I’ve never seen the deserts. The world is too big to spend it sitting on a throne. Before, travel sounded intriguing. Now that I have you at my side, I want to see it all with you.”

I wanted to match his grin with one of my own, but I couldn’t quite manage it. My heart longed to do all these things with him. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to him or myself another second longer. I wouldn’t give him promises I wasn’t sure that I could keep.

“What? You…you don’t want to travel?” Nylian asked, his grin wilting under the weight of fresh worries. “We can stay in West Vale, if that’s what you want. Or?—”

“No! I want to travel with you,” I quickly countered. “Everything you listed earlier, I want that. So much.” My voice broke on those two words, and I swallowed to keep back even more emotions trying to break free.

“What? Whatever it is, we can figure it out.”

It wouldn’t be that easy.

I glanced around the garden, but there wasn’t a bench or a ledge nearby to sit on. Just a stretch of soft green grass. That would have to do. I led Nylian over and plopped down. “This is going to be another one of those ‘I’m not sure you’re going to believe me’ moments,” I said, gazing up at him.

My wonderful Nylian beamed at me and stretched out on the grass. “You know I love your crazy stories. I believed the one where you told me that you were from another world.”

Yeah, let’s see how much he believes this insanity.

“Okay, so I told you I found this magic coin, and it zapped me from my world to this one,” I started and Nylian nodded, looking at me like I was telling him a goddamn fairy tale. “But this isn’t some random world. I…created…this world.”

“Huh?”

I sucked in a deep breath and dove in. “I’m a writer. An author. I write fantasy novels about elves and dragons and fantastical worlds with magic and all these adventures. Right before I found the coin, I was working on this book called Betrayal of the Elf Prince, and I was having lots of problems figuring out the plot. I’d only written as far as you getting kicked out of Wolfrest and going to Gushan to investigate Prince Victor. Where I left off in my notes, you would leave Gushan and go to Riverhold to look into the royals of Galinaes.” I glared hard at him. “You and your harem.”

“My harem?”

“Yes, Betrayal of the Elf Prince was an epic fantasy adventure, plus you were supposed to have this ultra sexy harem of women who loved you, fought at your side, and took care of you during your travels.”

Nylian flopped onto the grass next to me and laughed until there were tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. “That…that…” he gasped, trying to speak between chuckles. “That explains why you kept trying to fix me up with so many women along the way.”

“Yes!” I hissed, shaking my fists at the black sky above us.

When his laughter died away, Nylian rolled onto his side to face me and propped himself up on one elbow. “Are you disappointed that I don’t have a harem? That all my attention is devoted to you alone?”

“No,” I replied petulantly. “I dare you to create a harem now. There’s no fucking sharing.”

Snickering softly, Nylian leaned closed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “No sharing.”

“Does this mean you believe me?”

To his credit, he only shrugged a shoulder. “It’s an interesting story. It would explain why there are some things you seem to know when you shouldn’t. Does this mean you know who put the poison on my sword?”

“No.” I pouted even harder. “I had all these complicated notes and theories. It was down to three people: Prince Victor Montcroix, Queen Sumina of Galinaes, or one of your siblings, but I never figured out which of your siblings. I was having trouble deciding whether Victor actually plotted it or if he was just an asshole. That’s why I was meeting my friends for lunch. Georgie is a brilliant writer, and she was going to help me brainstorm.”

“But you found the coin first,” Nylian filled in.

“Yes.”

“Okay, but I don’t understand your earlier distress.”

I pushed up, so I was sitting, glaring at the grass in front of me because I couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. “Because the book is almost over. Once you save your brother and unmask the killer, there’s really nothing left to the story. What if that’s why I was brought here? To finish the story. If I finish it, doesn’t that mean…I’ll get sent home?”

A whisper of cloth was my only warning before powerful arms closed around me, but that made the lump in my throat grow bigger. How was I supposed to live without these arms holding me?

“We’ll have the royal wizards look at that coin. They will find a way to keep you here. Nothing could make me let go of you. I will always fight to keep you with me.”

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