Page 64 of Eluvonia
I pop another piece of cheese into my mouth, letting its buttery sweetness mellow out the sharpness of the blue from earlier. It’s a nice balance, like the lightness in the air between the two of them, easy and familiar.
As their banter continues, I lean back, letting their words wash over me. It feels… good. Simple. For a brief moment, I’m not the Fae girl that was kidnapped and is now surrounded by Dragons and danger all the time. I’m just Aeris, sitting in the sun, laughing with people who don’t completely hate me.I think.
But the peace doesn’t last long. A high-pitched squeal shatters the moment, and I turn to see a woman sashaying toward us from the front gate. She’s… stunning, in a meticulously crafted way. Chestnut-brown hair falls to the small of her back in perfect waves, and her blue eyes practically sparkle. Her tan skin glows against the tight, white dress she’s wearing—one that leaves very little to the imagination.
“Kaida! My darling, I’ve missed you!” she trills, her voice somehow more sugary than the champagne I just drank.
Kaida groans, dragging a hand down his face.
I glance at Declan, raising an eyebrow. He leans over and whispers, “Seraveille,” like it’s a dirty word.
Oh. The supposedbetrothed.
Behind her, I spot Shura trailing with a smug look plastered across her face. Great. Just what I needed to ruin this rare moment of tranquility.
Seraveille stops in front of Kaida, throwing a quick, dismissive glance at Declan and me before focusing all her attention on him. “Kaida, did you hear me?”
He doesn’t even look at her, staring off into the distance like she’s not even worth acknowledging.
“Kaida?” she tries again, her practiced smile slipping just slightly.
Kaida sighs and finally stands, shoving his hands into his pockets. His expression is utterly deadpan as he stares at her. “What do you want, Seraveille?”
Her smile falters, and her gaze flicks back to me for a moment before returning to him. “I missed you, silly. But here you are, having lunch with a…Fae.” She spits the word out, her face twisting in disgust, as if the very thought of it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. I can feel the weight of her disdain, and it only makes my teeth grind harder.
Kaida rolls his shoulders, patience visibly thinning. “Alright, let’s get one thing straight.”
His shadows spill out beneath him, pulsing with his words, stretching and curling like living tendrils. He gestures to me without breaking eye contact with Seraveille.
“This is Aeris. She’s my responsibility. The Ymirals give us one ‘Líðr,’ and she’s it. She’s with me for life. Anyone who so much as looks at her the wrong way will lose a hand—and Iwill feed it to them, finger by finger. Do you understand?”
Silence crashes down. Shura looks moments away from combusting, while Seraveille… her face twists between shock and horror.
Declan, meanwhile, is cackling like a madman.
“W-what?” Seraveille stammers, her voice rising in disbelief. Her gaze flicks between me and Kaida, narrowing as she struggles to make sense of it. “Kaida, what are you talking about? You and I… we were supposed to—”
“We’ve been betrothed since we were hatchlings,” she continues, her voice laced with both pride and confusion. “Our joining was never just about us. It was meant to be a symbol of power, a union for the Dragon Realm. It has meaning.”
Her eyes flick to me, her lips curling in open disdain. “And yet, here you are, throwing all of that away… for a Fae?”
She shakes her head, as if trying to rid herself of the absurdity of it all. “How can a Fae—someone so beneath us—stand in the way of what’s meant to be ours?”
Kaida’s expression doesn’t waver. “I’ve said what I had to.”
Without another word, he grabs my wrist, pulling me to my feet with an unyielding grip. His strength leaves no room for argument.
“She is mine,” he says, voice sharp as a blade. “And no one will touch her.”
Before I can even process what’s happening, he’s dragging me past the two stunned women, his grip firm but not painful. I glance back at Declan, who’s scrambling to his feet with a hasty, “Ladies,” before hurrying to catch up with us.
I stare at Kaida’s back as he pulls me toward the castle, my heart pounding for reasons I don’t entirely understand.
Mine.
The word echoes in my head, unsettling and impossible to ignore. It wasn’t just a declaration—it was a warning, a claim, a promise wrapped in steel, and he had said it in front of his betrothed.
I should be furious. I should rip my wrist from his grasp and demand to know what the hell he thinks he’s doing. I should tell him I belong to no one. But I don’t.
