Page 94 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

“This place is a safe haven for all Varai in the city,” Nero said. “Vaara may hide here as long as he wants. You may stay as his guest, as long as you don’t displease him.”

She chanced a wry smile. “I don’t know how long that will last. Most of his time is spent being displeased.”

“Do your best.”

Chapter 26

Except for brief breaks to attend to bodily functions, Vaara didn’t move from the bed for the entire day. Nor the next day. He hadn’t specifically intended this, it was just that nothing else seemed worth doing, and no one forced him to move.

The room was dark and secluded due to the lack of windows. In the evening he could hear the noise from the main room below, but it sounded muffled and far away.

It was comfortable enough just staying there in bed. There was safety there, away from people. He didn’t have to worry about anyone touching him. He didn’t have to answer any stupid questions or endure pitying looks.

It reminded him of his cell at the prison. In a perverse way, he found that comforting. His cell had not been a peaceful place, but it had been his. He’d had solitude there. Ever since he’d left, he was constantly surrounded by other people. There was never a moment alone.

He recalled that there had been a time when that hadn’t bothered him. Now, he was having a hard time getting used to it again.

Crow wordlessly climbed into bed with him each night, holding onto his hand and laying a blanket of peace over his mind without him having to ask.

That peace felt like a gift from the Goddess. He lived for those moments of painlessness Crow gave him. She was in his head, but he didn’t care. Her empathy was a kind, welcome presence gently brushing against his thoughts like a lover’s hand.

He let himself take it in. Her presence. Her serenity. She was the only source of comfort, the only solace, that he’d had in a year of torment and loneliness.

She could probably hear him thinking about that, which should have bothered him. But he didn’t have the willpower for pride. What kind of pride could a creature like himself have?

When three days had passed in this manner, the door behind him opened and closed, letting light in and then shutting it out again. He heard Crow’s soft footsteps crossing the floor.

“You should get up,” she said.

Vaara didn’t move. It wasn’t technically an order. “Are we moving on?”

She paused. “You should get up either way. It’s not healthy sitting in here alone in the dark forever.”

“I like the dark.”

“What about being alone?”

“I like that, too.”

He heard her steps rasping over the floorboards until she stood beside the bed behind him. The mattress sagged as she sat down on the edge of it.

“You like it when I’m here, though,” she said.

Vaara stared at the wall. She thought she knew his thoughts just because she’d seen inside his head. But she didn’t understand as much as she thought she did. She didn’t understand that it wasn’t her that he liked—just what she could give him.

“What do you want?” he said.

“I want you to look at me.”

Did that count as a command? The binding didn’t know. It writhed somewhere deep in his chest, uncertain.

He turned to look at her.There was a twinge in his heart and his groin when his gaze fell upon her, and he was glad she wasn’t touching him to feel it happen. She was so beautiful that it hurt to look at her sometimes. It felt like something you shouldn’t do, like something that would harm you if you looked too long, like staring at the sun.

Were all Ashara this painfully beautiful? Or was it just her?

She laid a hand on his knee—in that way that she always touched him, absentmindedly, like it was a nervous habit. At least this time there was his pant leg forming a barrier between their skin. “I’m starting to get bored with this place,” she said.

“That must be difficult for you.”

---