Page 134 of A Serenade To The Elf Queen
It comes out sharper than I intended. But she needs to understand that there is no escape for either of us. We’re both set on a path to damnation.
She stares at me for a long moment. The depth in her lilac eyes threatens to swallow me into their abyss.
“Perhaps it is fate that the curse has fallen on me,” she says against the loud thunderhead and rain around us. “I’m the best person to contain it.”
Doesn’t she know every last one of them will eventually fall? She lifts her hand to touch me. My body instinctively backs away.
Hurt flashes across her face. “I’m not going to use the curse on you, Svenn.”
My frozen heart rattles inside its cage. I want to believe her. I would have believed her if Lilith hadn’t filleted my soul so completely and thoroughly.
“Rhianelle…” The words stall in my throat.
“This evening you said I get a wish,” she whispers in the dim light. “Give me a chance.”
The tremble in her voice burns me. I have been most unkind to her. She keeps her hand raised, reaching out to me.
“We shall see.” I manage to grit out, but I can’t bring myself to take her extended hand. I back away, swiftly removing myself from the water.
“Svenn.”
She calls for me the moment I almost step out of the doorway. I glance over my shoulder and meet her gaze.
“When we get to Aelfheim, I’ll look for a way to unravel the Rhunhraefn,” she says with a bright smile.
What? The girl does that thing again where she blinks her eyes. I think it’s supposed to be a wink.
“I swear it,” she promises brightly.
Fucking hell.
Rhianelle isn’t just convinced she can resist the curse; she plans to break it. This tiny elf who is scared of spiders and shadows believes she can defeat Lilith and the Rhunhraefn. I don’t know where she manages to fish out that kind of confidence.
“I promise I’ll honor our vows. I’ll break the curse and find a way to make you human again,” she says, touching the Arawynn tattoo on her wrist. “If that is still something you desire.”
“It is.” I hate the vulnerability in my voice.
“Then it’s done,” she says simply. The promise is so sincere that my heart feels like it might burst. There’s a bit of arrogance in her words too, as if the curse is nothing to her. I can’t get a word out of my mouth to reply.
“But what do you get in return?” I finally ask. My skepticism ruins her optimism once again.
She raises a finger in deep thought. The pause takes a long while. It’s almost as if she didn’t plan to want anything in exchange.
“Keep pretending that the Wiolants have your loyalty,” she finally says.
An onslaught of emotions takes hold of me. A mad part of me wants to go crush my lips to hers, the other cowardly part wants to run away and hide.
“You have no reason to trust me,” she says, her voice echoing in the bath chamber. “Some of the curse bearers toyed with you for years with the promise of freedom. I understand you’re afraid I may pass the curse to someone else when my time is up.”
That is the inevitable fate set for us.
“Give me a year—no, six months to unravel the curse or my life is forfeit.”
The shock that filters through my veins nearly paralyzes me. She even set a timeline. Goddamn it.
“The books and libraries will be there waiting for me in Aelfheim. Right now, I need to focus on my friend,” she continues when I say nothing.
I regard her for a moment, Red’s warning echoing in my mind.
