Page 46 of The Elven Healer's Apprentice

“I am not an elf,” I protested.

“A fact I am very aware of.” The amusement in his eyes had warmed into another emotion all together. One I was avoiding.

“Then, I will fetch Lippin.”

I reached the door before Merlon joined me, catching my free hand. With the ease of practice, he interlaced our fingers. The heady sensations of connection and belonging followed, but I diligently ignored them. We had a task to do. The elf king had summoned him, and he needed to be prepared for anything.

“Have you chosen your clothing? Perhaps Lippin can pack them for you.”

“Adela.” He tugged gently on my hand, drawing me up short in the middle of the path beneath the heavy branches of a great oak tree.

The leaves in the compound were already transitioning toward their fall colors. The tree above us was no exception. Over half its leaves were still green, though.

“You will need to take into consideration that the king’s estate is in a warmer part of Eldarlan.” Not that I had traveled there. But I had noticed that seasons shifted strangely in the compound. Frequently, the autumn colors appeared sooner and lasted longer. This came with cooler nights in the late summer when everywhere else, the temperatures remained high. Merlon attributed it to the many wards.

“Lippin and I already packed my clothing.”

“Then food,” I suggested. “Has Sina packed your favorite travel snacks?”

When I tried to turn away toward the kitchen, Merlon didn’t budge. I extended our arms to the extent of his reach. Then, with a gentle tug, he reeled me in, catching me in the circle of his arm. “What are you running from, Adela?”

“I am not.” Despite the awkwardness of staring at his chin, I refused to lift my gaze above his nose. “You need to make sure you are prepared.”

“Because you aren’t there?” he queried, playing with a loose strand of hair that had escaped my braid. “You could always come with me.”

“No.” My tone came out far angrier than I intended. “It’s just…” I couldn’t put it into words. In the past few weeks and months, he had grown more precious than anyone had ever been since Henri. “Someone has to stay behind and attend to patients.”

“I will come back, Adela.”

My face lifted of its own accord. His azure gaze captured my complete attention. I couldn’t escape his spell despite the strange mixture of fear and hope. Plus, there was something I couldn’t quite name roiling in my chest making my breath catch. Pressure behind my eyes threatened tears. But why?

His thumb caressed my bottom lip. “I promise. Not even a curse will keep me from coming back as quickly as possible once I have fulfilled my duty to my king.”

“I—”

He stopped my mouth with another brush of his thumb. “Will you be here?” Something in the intensity of his gaze seemed to suggest greater import to his question than face value.

Confused, I studied his features. “I have nowhere else to be.” True though the answer was, it barely hinted at the realization that was growing within me. I wasn’t sure I desired to be anywhere else other than in the company of a certain prickly healer.

∞∞∞

Merlon

Four days later, I headed home from the royal estate.

The king, Emrys, and his queen were both well on the way to healing from their confrontation with the magus who threatened them. The king’s sister had required just as much of my attention. Years of abuse and neglect at the hands of a villain scarred in ways I couldn’t cure, no matter how I tried. Only time, love, and patience had a chance at healing the princess’ severest wounds. I had only tended her physical ones.

However, through the entire trip, I had thought nonstop about Adela. How many hidden wounds did she harbor after her childhood under the oppressive hand of her father?

Also, her answer to my last question her haunted me. Her response echoed the words she had said when we first discussed her staying in the compound months ago. Did she feel the same now as she did then? Were all the signs of her affection merely delusions of my brain, daydreams of a love-addled head looking for connection? Just because I was attached to her did not mean she felt the same for me.

That thought wrought a slightly panicky sensation in my chest every time I dwelt on it. What would I do if she didn’t wish to stay? I didn’t want to compel her or trap her. I wanted her to have choices. Somewhere deep inside, I wished for her to choose me above any alternative. I desperately wanted to ask her to stay with me, as my wife, for as long as we both lived. But to do so risked her rejection.

My heart ached just at the thought. Then I laughed, startling the shadow elf at my side.

There, that alone should be marked enough to show how deeply I had entangled with her. I had consented to traveling through the shadow lands when it wasn’t an emergency just so I could be with Adela two days sooner.

However, when my escort and I emerged from the shadows beneath the tree in the center of my compound, I knew instantly that Adela wasn’t there.

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