Page 103 of A Serenade To The Elf Queen
“Cheer up, sweet queen. It’s not the end of the world.” Kheirall offers me a sincere smile.
It actually is. I’ve seen it.
“Listen. I’m a Demon Lord who lives in the In Between. I’ve seen all kinds of folks from Beyond the Veil. Orcs snatching their human mate kicking and screaming, Fae Lords arriving on their ferocious steed to whisk away their mortal bride—”
“But I am the first to bring home a vampire,” I finish for him.
Doom unfurls low in my stomach. I am in over my head.
“You misunderstand me, love. The vampire is not the reason I find the whole thing amusing.” He chuckles to himself. “Those humans I mentioned rarely get a say on the matter. You gave him a choice.”
Kheirall’s deep eyes rise to mine. I know his words are meant to comfort me and I wish they did, but I can’t shake this horrible feeling in my chest.
“I should go now,” I say.
“Don’t forget to call me sometimes.” His voice takes on that soft, teasing quality again.
I fight a rising smile. “It’d be a cold day in hell when I do that.”
“You’ll be surprised that happens more times than you think,” he chuckles.
Kheirall stares at me for a long time before extending his hand to me. “Your ancestors have not been very kind to mine. But you’re different. I wish for a brighter future for both our realms.”
I take his hand without hesitation. “I wish for the same. Thank you, Kheirall.”
It seems too small of a phrase for everything he has done for me for the past few days. Despite his allegiance to the Fae King, I pray I never have to become Balthazar’s enemy in the future. His hand lingers on mine far longer than is appropriate.
“Everything is going to be all right,” he says, as if he knows I need the assurance. “I have a feeling for these things.”
Part of me wants to believe that everything will work out. But that part is naïve. “You don’t know that.”
“Oh, I think I do.” He brushes a soft kiss over the back of my hand. There’s a mischievous glint in his eyes when he does that.
I think nothing of it until I feel a strange awareness. An unbearable tension hangs in the air, the charged kind that comes before a storm. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I spontaneously turn my head to Svenn.
His dark gaze locks with mine. There is no subtle change in his cold expression, but his eyes are burning like molten metal. I drown in the fiery possessiveness of that stare.
The vampire turns to the demon beside me. In a heartbeat, that eternally beautiful face shifts into the soulless wrath of a reaper. The formidable power flows from him in waves as if he is unable to rein it in any longer.
“He can’t quite make up his mind, can he? This new friend of ours.” Kheirall gives a low laugh, toying with his life.
But I finally know it then; I’m not the only one affected by this strange longing.
Chapter 31 Svenn
The queen of elves exudes a clear air of confidence as she leads the cavalcade on her golden stallion. There is no trace of the crying girl I comforted in my arms on our wedding night. Trotting around her are a dozen masked elves dressed in black.
The chains on my wrists rattle. The curse bearer’s lilac eyes were glazed with tears when she placed the binding on my hands, almost as if she was hurting for me. I can still feel her delicate fingers tugging the manacles loose so they would not bite into my skin.
That kindness in her face is genuine. The psychotic witch is a master of deception but even she can’t fake that.
None of this makes sense. The Rhunhraefn should have devoured her by now.
I stare at her for a beat longer. She is truly something else to behold. From the way her golden skin glows in the daylight, and the gentle way she tucks a wayward strand of silver hair behind her elongated ear.
I remember how her expression changed every time I thrust, how her lips puckered as she called my name passionately, begging for—
More.
