Page 98 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

Humans and magic didn’t go together. They should leave well enough alone.

“Vaara,” came a surprised voice.

He turned to find Aruna and the half-human, Nero, standing by the bar.

“You’re… ah… is everything… all right?”Aruna said.

Vaara jerked his chin toward the mage. “What is she doing?”

“Making sure the protective spells on the building are still in place,”Nero said. He was clearly a native Ardanian speaker. His Varai accent was terrible. Vaara couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

“You trust a human to do that?”Vaara asked.

“Yes,”Nero said. “And to do half the other things that need to be done to keep this place safe and running, as well. We wouldn’t be here without our human allies.”

Vaara had some other things to say about that, but opted not to argue, if only because he’d been lying in one of their beds and eating their food for the past three days.

He slumped into one of the stools by the bar. “Where’s Crow?”

“She went out,”Aruna said. “She said she would return later tonight.”

There was a worried twinge in Vaara’s stomach. He ignored it and turned to Nero. “Is there anything to eat?”

“I can get you something… if you don’t mind that a human may have touched it.”

“Whatever you have is fine,”Vaara growled. Nero smirked as he went back to the kitchen.

Aruna was watching Vaara with that vaguely disturbed look he’d been wearing since the other day.

A pale figure moved in the corner of his eye. It was Aruna’s human woman, on the other side of the room. She went up to the mage at the door and they started talking. She asked something about the runes, and the mage launched into an animated explanation.

“What are they saying?”Aruna asked. He was smiling a little as he watched her, as if the mere sight of her gave him joy.

Vaara’s lip curled. “You should learn to speak Ardanian,”he said.

“I’m working on it.”

“I hope so, if you’re going to be spending your life among humans.”

Aruna watched him impassively, undoubtedly not missing the judgement in his tone.

“That murderer is teaching you?”Vaara asked. “The one who killed Zaiur?”

“She didn’t—”

“I’m not stupid, Aruna.”

Vaara’s eye went to Zaiur’s sword on the woman’s hip. There was something grotesque about the sight of it there. She may as well have cut off a part of his body and hung it there like a trophy.

He wished he hadn’t told her she could keep it. He’d dismissed the issue in his shock at the news of Zaiur’s death, but the more he looked at the sword, the more he regretted it.

“I would have killed him if she didn’t,”Aruna said.

Vaara didn’t reply. He found it difficult to summon true anger. He was too tired for it.

“My human isn’t like yours,”Aruna went on. “Novikke has honor. You think the worst of humans because you haven’t met any like her.”

“Why did you come to get me?”Vaara asked.

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