Page 63 of Two Thousand Shadows

Ellora grunted, and Rei gritted his teeth at her in a silent snarl.

Yichen rested his hand on his mate’s shoulder and squeezed. He turned his attention to the white-haired elf and asked, “What’s your stake in this?”

Ellora’s dark eyes shifted to Rei before she spoke, her gaze moving to Yichen. “You’re the vampire that was held prisoner for a century. I heard rumors you survived and escaped. Impressive.”

“Rei saved my life. He’s the reason I survived my imprisonment.”

The white-haired elf seemed to consider this. She nodded. “Trin’s plan will not only destroy the humans, but all fae and our realm.”

“He’s gone mad, like my parents,” Rei grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Is it madness or a family trait at this point?” Huli inquired, and Junjie had to bite his bottom lip to stop his grin. The fox spirit wasn’t wrong. Both of Rei’s parents had been obsessed with power and taking over the human realm. Now their son was following in their footsteps. This was feeling more like an “absolute power corrupts absolutely” thing.

“Huli, hush,” Xiao Dan chastised, but Rei was waving him off.

“He’s right. Blood has stained nearly every change of power for our people. We are drowning in twisted plots and schemes. It’s been thousands of years since our struggles have spilledacross the human realm. We’ve been content to keep the humans out of our mess.”

“Until now,” Ellora cut in. She shoved to her feet and descended the last couple of stairs to step into the room. “To keep the door endlessly open and conduct the ritual spells to wipe out the humans, King Ash and Queen Belladonna have been draining the magic from the fae realm. Our home is dying. That’s where I was, watching the magic get sucked away. There was no point in coming to the human realm if it was going to make me a target for Queen Belladonna.”

“But she’s dead now. Trin killed her,” Junjie murmured.

“Yeah, and I celebrated her death for about two seconds. Then I heard Trin was planning to carry on their plans of destroying the humans. He doesn’t care that he’s killing off our world and our people.”

“So, we need to close the door between the worlds,” Rei stated.

Ellora closed her eyes and shook her head. “The royal family continues to be filled with racist assholes.”

“Hey!” Rei shouted, and Junjie and his companions echoed it.

“Don’t deny it!” she shouted at him. “You’re all the same. If the fae isn’t an elf, they aren’t worth considering. They have no use outside of being servants or cannon fodder in your wars.”

“I-I-I,” Rei stammered, his gaze darting around at the other members of the fae who were watching him with large, questioning eyes.

“In His Majesty’s defense, his manner and words were always more courteous than those of his parents,” Olag interjected.

“No.” Rei released a heavy breath and hung his head. “I wasn’t much better than my parents. I respected you and others because of your perceived age and knowledge, but I’ll admit thatI don’t give the other races much thought.” His head snapped up, and he glared hard at Ellora. “But I have never considered any of them cannon fodder!”

Ellora huffed and met his glare. “Well, Trin isn’t any better than Ash and Belladonna. He’s overlooked the other members of the fae, using them as scouts and grunt troops to be killed in his war against the humans and vampires. He’s commanded all the elves he can get his hands on to remain on this side of the door so they can fuel his spells and fight his battles.”

Yichen shrugged one shoulder. “Tell all the gnomes, brownies, pixies, and others to head to the fae realm and close the damn door. Leave us to kill off the elves. Less problems for them.”

Ellora pointed a finger at Yichen and opened her mouth, but she closed it again and turned her attention to Rei. “Your mate is adorably bloodthirsty, even for a vampire. I can see why you chose him.” She turned her attention back to Yichen. “The problem is that the fae realm needs the elves, regardless of whether the other races want them there. Without the elves, the fae realm will die.”

“I’m confused,” Xiao Dan murmured, and Junjie nodded. It felt as though he were missing some key part of fae lore to follow this conversation.

“Allow me to explain.” Olag waddled across the room and hefted himself into a large chair. He wiggled his butt to get settled. His hands resting on his round stomach, he directed his piercing gaze at Xiao Dan and Junjie. “The fae realm is a place of magic and nature. The magic feeds into nature, and in return, nature adds to the magic in the air. However, none of that is possible without elves.”

“But I thought all the fae were magical,” Junjie cut in.

“We are, but the elves have more depth and breadth to their magic. We gnomes are linked to the mountains and the rocks.Our magic is about endurance and strength. We know nothing of the beauty and fragility of flowers. That’s the realm of the pixies.” As he spoke, he motioned up toward the top of a nearby bookshelf where some pixies were watching the conversation. “But the elves and their magic, they can split the rocks and tell the trees to grow. They can control water and the air. There’s no element beyond their reach.”

“It’s for that reason that our people have become so snobbish,” Ellora said.

Rei nodded. “And how the elves have held control of the fae realm for so long.”

“So, we need to take out Trin and possibly some of his crazy followers, then convince most of the elves to go through the door,” Yichen stated.

“Basically.” Ellora shifted from her left foot to her right while both of her eyebrows lifted as she stared at Rei.

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