Page 30 of Elf Shot

"Don't waste any more time, girl. My brother will have a reason for trying to claim the prince now, and he has many ways of getting what he wants," Havi replied.

"I'll get him back." Layla began to walk back to the car but was still angry enough to call over her shoulder. "Sharpen your spear, All-Father. You will want to be ready for when your brother comes for what you love next."

12

Arne had two distinct thoughts when he finally drifted back to consciousness—'Where the fuck is Layla?' followed closely by, 'Where is the dwarf I'm going to kill?'

He cracked open an eye and held back a yelp of surprise. He was suspended by vines from the roof of the cavern. His eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, and he could make out stone stairs and cells…rows and rows of cells cut into the mountain and sealed with iron.

"Where am I?" he murmured. He shifted, trying to relieve the cramps in his arms and legs. The vines holding him shuddered, and he stilled. He may have had rapid healing powers, but there would be no point getting free if it was to have every bone in his body broken on impact.

Arne looked around him the best he could, searching for Layla just in case they had stolen her too. He remembered the golden-haired dwarf speaking then something heavy hitting him in the back of the head.

The last he saw of Layla was her swaying hips and smiling mouth heading back inside the hotel.

Please, please be safe. Arne had to believe it. He trusted that Torsten would protect Layla when he couldn't. He would make sure she wouldn't do anything too rash when they found him missing.

Despite waking up in whatever dark hell this was, Arne smiled when he thought of Layla kissing him back. It was like everything in his world had suddenly aligned again for the first time since meeting her.

Now that he knew the touch and taste of her, nothing was going to keep him from her. Whoever was keeping him locked up was going to learn that taking him away from her was the biggest mistake of their life.

"Ah, he wakes at last," a deep, melodious voice said in the darkness. Golden magic flashed through the dimness and settled into the vines like stardust. The vines shuddered and began to lower him slowly down to the stone floor.

Arne stopped when he was eye level with the male who had haunted his dreams and nightmares his entire life. It was a face that might be his own in a few hundred years.

Long silver-streaked black hair and a braided beard couldn't hide the similarities between their face shapes, the quirk of their lips, the curve of their jaws.

Vili had runes tattooed on both cheeks and forehead and a scar running down his neck.

"My son, you've grown," Vili said with a small smile. Two gold-flecked green eyes watched for his reaction, but Arne didn't give him the one he wanted.

"I'm not your son," he said as calmly as he could.

Vili chuckled. "Have you not looked in the mirror recently? There's no doubt where you came from, my boy. She tried her best to keep you from me, but here we are at last."

"Kept me from you? You were Morrigan's monster before I took my first steps and you never gave a shit about the mess you had left behind," Arne snarled. He pulled at the vines holding him, hating himself for reacting like the wounded child he was.

Vili raised a brow. "Do I seem the kind of male who wouldn't want to raise his own progeny? The power in our veins shaped the worlds, boy. Alruna knew it and kept you beyond my grasp." He touched Arne's face, making him flinch. "Oh yes, I can feel Frey and his slut sister's magic all over you, shielding you from my gaze."

"Don't touch me," Arne growled, his magic sparking to life.

Vili only laughed. "She never told you and you never thought to ask why you were raised in Midgard? A prince of Alfheim and Vanaheim raised amongst mortals. Gods, what a sorry upbringing. There is going to be so much to correct in your personality. I don't even know where to begin."

"You can start by letting me go?"

"After I went to the trouble to retrieve you? I don't think so."

Arne tried to push his anger down and focus. "You could at least tell me what you want after so long. You have known I existed for centuries, and you still chose to be a slave to Morrigan so you can't want me for my company."

"That's where you're wrong. I made the alliance with Morrigan because she swore to help me get you back. I couldn't touch you on Midgard, and I couldn't find where my darling mate had hidden you because she had the Vanir gods shielding you." Vili pinched Arne's chin, forcing him to look up. "I burned worlds, became the monster, all for this moment."

"You just want to play father and son? Get to know one another?" Arne leaned down as far as he could and snarled, "Don't fucking lie to me. What purpose does all of this serve?"

"Ragnarök. I'm building an army, and I want my son by my side as I crush the Aesir under my boots and take the Nine Worlds," Vili replied and held up a hand. "And save your breath trying to tell me you'll die before you follow me."

The vines lowered Arne closer. Arne struggled as his father’s golden power began to pour over him, binding him tighter than the vines.

Vili's breath was warm on his ear. "I don't need your compliance, little eagle. I will take it, and then as the years pass and you’re doing my bidding, there will be no desire in you to return to your old life. You won't be able to anyway because you will be a monster. Just. Like. Me."

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