Page 129 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
A strange gut feeling rises to my throat. I try not to think of the way he recoiled from my touch earlier.
Something is wrong.
I can’t quite figure out what it is, but I sensed a change in the air this morning, the moment I realized Svenn was not there when I woke up.
Is it nerves before a battle? Mother always gets a little temperamental right before a fight. She would rage and throw stuff at her squires, Aerin, and me. One time she accidentally flung her boot at my head.
Aerin quickly healed the cut and told me to keep it quiet. “She had just lost a battalion northeast of Aldurin. The angst helps her to focus.”
I was young so I merely nodded.
Perhaps it’s the same with Svenn. But this feels different from the conventional anxiety… There was malice in his eyes earlier, something I haven’t seen in a long while. He sounded detached and cold. The terse atmosphere between us is no different from the morning I became the Rhunhraefn’s vessel.
Wait—did I scare him by confessing that he’s my mate?
The rhythm of my heartbeat stutters at the thought. I shouldn’t have spilled something so important so carelessly.
“Don’t forget to recheck your weapons.” Darstan’s rough voice breaks my thoughts. He slips into his heavy armor with a practiced efficiency. I move closer to the tall knight, shifting on my feet.
“How did you feel when you found out that Siofra is your mate?” I suddenly ask him.
He falters for a moment at the sudden question.
“I will never forget it.” Darstan finally heaves, warmth flooding into his eyes. “We were on a long journey from Myrkheim. I barely knew the feral girl your uncle wanted me to rescue from the orcs’ captivity.”
“Lady Siofra is not feral,” I interrupt him.
He merely raises his brows and continues. “It was a struggle to get her to come with me. She didn’t want to return to Aelfheim.”
My heart shrinks at that. I remember the truth she revealed to me a while ago. The cruelty she had to endure at the hands of her ex-husband makes me shudder. When Mavren found her in her bedroom chained to the wall, he did not offer the lord of Celestria amnesty. The orc king cleaved him into halves with his heavy falchion right where he stood.
“Siofra argued for most of the journey home. She kept telling me she wanted to stay in Myrkheim.” Darstan drags a hand through his hair, recalling his efforts. “I had better luck bringing back a live Auroch.”
I smile a little at that. The lady had grown fond of the people who healed the injuries she sustained from decades of torture. I feel a light guilt for separating them and demanding her return. I didn’t know she was happy there.
“When she escaped my custody for the sixteenth time, I decided she should know about the new queen, about you. I told her of your sincerity, of the letter, of how the Elders disgraced you for it,” he says, his features hardening at the mere mention of the Aeonians. “After hearing that, it was Siofra who led our way back to Aelfheim. She couldn’t wait to meet you.”
My heart goes warm and tight.
“It was then I started sensing something, a strange stirring in my chest. Perhaps it was earlier than that, but either way it started as a small seed. I loved her strength, her smile, her voice, her resilience,” he recounts, closing his eyes.
Her voice? Lady Siofra can’t speak… but I don’t focus on that because I am blushing over his tale.
“I love her fierceness, her fight, her silly jokes. I even love her stubbornness. One by one, the seeds add up. I tried to resist that feeling. I knew I have a duty to the Kingdom, to you. One day, my feelings for her swelled until I felt they might burst out from me. I had to confess then, or else I’d have died from the explosion,” he finishes.
“That’s beautiful, Darstan,” I marvel in awe.
The knight gives me a striking smile that rarely graces his stern face. “Aelfric and Garrett will be fine. Your husband as well.”
His assurance is so earnest, I believe him.
It doesn’t erase the sting of the burning on my skin when Svenn slapped my hand earlier. It makes me feel like trash, a disgusting waste, repugnant and hideous.
I shake my head.
Waste or not, I have this army to lead. They need me. My battle plan has to work.
It has to…
