Page 101 of Blood of Ancients

Big mistake, I’m sure. He’s been spying on us this whole adventure, and I’ll bet everything he’s learned here will go straight back to Gothi Sigmund, who I trust about as far as I can throw.

I was trying not to think about the negatives and the awful possibilities—thelikeliestpossibility. So I smirked at Kelvar, showing him I’d caught him feeling some sort of fondness for Magnus, for finding him.

The Whisperer’s smile vanished when he glanced over at me, just as quickly as it had come. He turned around with a grunt, not wanting to give me the satisfaction of seeing himhappyfor once.

That was when the Skogalfar stepped into the glade as a single unit—a dozen bare feet wading out of the trees and bushes into the high grass.

“What the fuck,” Magnus gasped, stepping toward the front of our pack and spreading his arms wide to start Shaping.

I put a hand on his shoulder, which was warm to the touch.Odd, since the draug is usually cold. Is it something about being in Alfheim?“It’s okay,” I whispered. My face screwed up. “I think.”

The wood elves didn’t look happy. They certainly weren’t smiling or cheering our little reunion. Jhaeros stepped forward from the group, and Corym stepped in front of ours. They spoke for a few minutes in Elvish.

Finally, Corym glanced over his shoulder at us. “We need to head back to the stone circle,lunis’ai. The portal. We’re not welcome here any longer.”

My shoulders sagged. I bowed my head glumly. I understood, since Corym had given them our word we’d leave once we’d found Magnus.

I still didn’t like it, because I feared I’d never return here. And in order to pacify Alfheim and Midgard and turn them into allies instead of enemies, I would need to make myself known to the elves—even the ones who hid in the shadows of the trees, rather than in the sunlight of the grand cities I was sure inhabited this realm.

The Skogalfar. Corym talks about them like they’re nuisances. His discrimination shows, sadly, and I’m sure he has some valid reasons to back up that general sense of unease and trepidation for the wood elves.

But they didn’t kill us. They didn’t attack us. They were cordial, even, and understanding.

Most of all, they’d led us to Magnus. We may have never found him without their help.

I was shocked if this was the end of our Alfheim journey. Such a quick trip here and back. It seemed . . . too easy. Maybe I was just used to things going badly, going wrong, back in Midgard.

“Okay,” I told Corym with a stern nod. Speaking as leader of the family. “We’ll go. We gave our word, and they’ve respected their end of the bargain.”

“Right,” Corym said, turning away.

Something about him seemed different. He was hesitant.

“Are you . . . joining us, Corym?” I asked, my voice shamefully hopeful and weak.

The gold-pale elf whisked a smile in my direction. “Of course,lunis’ai. My place is with you. My journey is not complete until yours is.”

I took in a deep, ragged lungful of air, breathing easier after hearing him say that. He had every right to want to part ways with us now that he was back in his homeland.

I had brought him here, as promised, yet I never planned far enough ahead to wonder what would happen once we were heretogether.

“My journey is not complete until yours is.”

I thought of his words fondly, grinning. “Then let’s get out of the wood elves’ hair, gentlemen.”

A round of “ayes” flew from my mates, and then we were off, bounding into the forest.

If everything seemed too easy now, well, that was only because it was. But I knew it wouldn’t be forever.

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