Page 83 of Werewolves Don't Howl
“And love her,” he said, nodding soberly. “She healed me, kissed me, and killed me. I also love your gnome, sweet, diabolical, and true. Your beast is terrifyingly beautiful. I love her. I love every single bite, every single lick, every single hair. I love your family, your writing, your knitting, and your song. You touch me and I melt. You are the evening star, first and last in my sky, outshining every other light. You should close your eyes and rest. Probably shift into your wolf, so you heal more quickly. I almost killed the Alta with my bare hands that time he allowed his dogs to hurt you. I won’t stand by anymore. Never again. I can’t. You’re embedded in my skin. You should probably ask your father about that.”
I scowled and threw the last pillow at his head. He caught it and then put it back behind me, tucking the other pillows around me so I was in perfectly snug. He leaned over me, staring into my eyes while his kept with the glowing half moon over the iris.
“What’s with the moon?” I asked, touching his cheek, the silky skin that led down to his soft lips. He felt so good. I’d been so scared that I lost him.
I suddenly realized that I was touching his mouth. I blinked and pulled my fingers away like they’d been burned.
“What’s with the vines instead of clothes, hm?” He raised a brow. “Apparently, we both have unique ways of showing our individual style. Yours is much more intriguing.”
I snorted and poked his chest. “Seriously, what’s with the moons?”
He winced. “My father has that. I’m sorry it’s so creepy. I can use a glamour. It’s part of my heritage I thought I’d escaped. Unfortunately, not.”
I frowned at him. “You should call my dad and ask about these bindings. You can put him on speaker phone. I’m too tired to move my arms.”
He frowned and shook his head, not happy with my injuries. “You shouldn’t have gone after the beast without me. You can call him in a few days when you feel better.”
I rolled my eyes. “So you could get Henrick to drug me? Anyway, after that engagement announcement, in a few days, my whole family will be here. Except Bram. He probably has to work. Call now so dad can explain that there’s a perfectly simple solution to all of this.”
A few minutes later, I was scowling at Cross’s phone.
“That’s your solution?” My voice was a little screechy, but I’d stayed awake to hear him say that we were soul-bound in life and death, so we should make the best of being stuck together.
“You’re overreacting, Delphinia,” my father said in his soothing voice. “Centuries ago, the Night Lord scried and saw his son as well as the family line of his future bride, House Erasmus. He contacted me, and since I had a daughter, I agreed. She was already a well-trained soldier and would be a capable match for the unborn future Night Lord. Unfortunately, she didn’t survive the great war. My brother and wife also died, leaving me…” He sighed heavily. “The Night Lord personally escorted me out of elfland, my house broken, like me. If you don’t want to accept the bindings and make the most of your alliance, you can break them as long as you haven’t declared your heart to him. Have you?”
I hesitated. “Of course I haven’t.” Not out loud, anyway.
“Then it can be undone. Gnomes are very talented at breaking bindings. Your mother has a real gift for it.”
I looked at Cross in horror. He was looking at me like I was the most beautiful fudge chocolate swirl brownie in the entire world. He loved me because he couldn’t help it.
I cleared my throat. “You think that Mom would actually agree to break bindings to a handsome elf who might give her grandchildren? It’s like you don’t know her at all.”
Cross and I stared at each other while my dad sighed heavily. “It isn’t your burden, Delphinia. Bindings can be useful, sharing power and control, which is necessary when you have someone like the Night Lord, but you weren’t the one intended to be his morality, sanity, and strength. He could crush you. He will crush you unless you have the cold will required to keep him in check, the magic to bring him back to himself. Your elf magic shouldn’t be strong enough to match his binding.”
I cringed. “You elves are so good at making everything sound romantic. I never knew you had another daughter.” Or brother. Or wife for that matter. He didn’t talk about elfland. Ever. It’s like I didn’t know him.
“It was a different world, another time. There was no room for softness and warmth. So many elves became corrupted or mad after the war. I suppose it’s good that I was the one rather than the other. Your Cross wasn’t born until afterwards. He never met Aurora.”
“I can’t believe you guys bound someone who wasn’t even born. I’m hanging up now. I have healing to do.” I pushed the off button on Cross’s phone and frowned up at him. “So that’s what the love spell was, our parents meddling in binding magic without asking themselves if it was ethical.”
He bent over me and brushed my adorable nose with his straight, perfect one. “No. Bindings aren’t affection. I saw you and it was like coming home, only my home was never so warm, so beautiful, so right. I heard your song, and it filled something hollow inside of me that had been aching since my best friend betrayed me, and then almost killed my family after I showed her mercy and didn’t immediately kill her. The night lord has to be absolutely just. Mercy and weakness can’t influence him, or the innocent suffer. I was too weak to fill my father’s role.”
His eyes were so intent, soft, filled with agony. His voice was rough with emotion, feeling you didn’t get out of an elf very often. I’d really helped repair his broken heart with my little song?
I cleared my throat before I burst into tears. “So you went to become an assassin instead?” Yes, because he was so soft and weak. That’s why he was able to torture me for months, even though he was in love with me. Was he really? Just for me?
He shrugged. “I’m good at it, and the order takes in orphans, so they accepted me.”
“Not that you’re actually an orphan. I never saw any kids in the compound.”
He frowned. “I haven’t taken many in. It’s problematic to bring a child into a life that is so hard and soulless.”
I put my hands on his cheeks. How long could I resist kissing him when he was leaning over me like this? Not long. “You shouldn’t force anyone, but if someone wants to join, don’t you need to fill your ranks? Your house performs a very necessary duty in the world. Protecting the innocent. I can do that.” I nodded and kissed him.
He tasted like the wind and violets and happiness with an underlying buzz of electricity. He pulled away, eyes literally alight as he stared at me. “You can do that?” His voice was careful, uncertain yet hopeful. Poor thing. He’d been bound to my family before he was born. Who could we possibly blame for that? Our parents, obviously, but no one can help who their parents were and what they did. It would be best if we broke the bindings and started over this relationship from scratch. Well, not from scratch, just from a baseline that didn’t involve other meddling parties.
I nodded. “Yes. I can bring warmth to the House of Mercy. I’m a gnome. I can bring warmth to even the most aloof elf. Now stop being so pretty so I can rest.”
