Page 98 of A Serenade To The Elf Queen
He sees right through me. I suck in a sharp breath. I feel so vulnerable around him sometimes.
His thumb strokes my cheek. I lean to that touch. We gaze at one another for a long moment.
This feels familiar…
A warm tune plays at the back of my head. My mind races, searching for a memory. I blink my eyes slowly and all the pieces finally fall together.
It’s him…
Fate truly works in mysterious ways. Svenn is the man in those strange dreams. The one who calls to me in a beautifulsiren song. An overwhelming joy fills my heart. I’ve finally found him. He’s the one—oh Gods.
I recall vividly how the nightmare ends.
With the death of thousands.
I snap out of my daze and jerk away from him instantly. A shiver courses through me as I look at him. “It’s you…”
He raises an eyebrow. Something shifts in his eyes as if he is reminded that he hates me. The ferocity of that stare grips my heart. He still has the Valorians hanging by his shadow vines. I can read the cold gleam in his eyes loud and clear.
He will annihilate them all.
My lips quiver. “Please don’t kill them.”
It’s delusional to think I have any sway against this lawless beast, but he released Eamon earlier. He has shown me kindness before. I know there is room in his heart for mercy.
A shadow crosses the hard features of his face. “Fine.”
I must have dreamed the word on his lips because the next thing I know blood cascades the earth in a symphony of red. Limbs and bodies shower the ground.
No.
I want to scream but my voice is lodged at the back of my throat. An unbearable pain seizes my heart over the horrifying sight. My entire body aches as if it has just been wrecked by a storm. All the blessings of the Gods and adrenaline are wearing off from my veins. The exhaustion finally catches up, hitting me in full force.
Everything goes numb.
I hardly feel anything when Kheirall plants his jacket over my bare shoulders. Rainer’s harsh voice is telling me something, but I have gone deaf.
Svenn’s broad back retreating into the forest is the last thing I see before darkness swallows me whole.
Chapter 29 Svenn
One minute, I was fighting a burning rage against the new curse bearer and the next I was ready to raise hell for her. There is no name for the dark power that filters through my being. It is something written in the language of chaos, death, and destruction.
I see the horror in her eyes when I sliced up those bastards. My odd bride somehow cares for her attackers.
Somewhere in the dark corners of my heart, I pity this Elven Queen. She’s just another victim of the Rhunhraefn. Any trace of kindness will be used by the curse as a weakness. Even from a distance, I can feel it’s ominous aura enveloping the Elven Queen, trying to corrupt her. I silently mourn the loss of the sweet, innocent person who set me free.
I wait with bated breath for this new curse bearer to turn vicious. She will fall eventually, just like the rest of them.
The day is almostover but Rhianelle Wiolant has not uttered a single demand. Every single Curse Bearer who has ever held the reins over us flaunted that power almost immediately.
I’ve seen the madness in every wielder.
Queens, paladins, warriors.
The last bearer who held out the longest before unleashing the spell on us was a holy priestess. Her resolve lasted for a whole two hundred thirty-two seconds. That’s the furthest anyone has ever withstood the temptation of the curse.
Memories of the girl pulse through my thoughts endlessly; her voice, her laughter, her smile, every single soft and perfect feature of her body. I try to put a halt to this intrusion, but they refuse to vanish.
