Page 59 of The Dark Elf's Surprise Baby

They scurry around like rodans on a sinking ship, immediately fleeing the house into the night. I don’t care where they go. All I want to know is that they’re gone and out of my sight for good.

I meant what I said. If any of them are still here when I get back, I’m going to have them arrested. Or killed. I haven’t decided yet.

But Ivrir was right. All that matters now is finding Harper. Where would she have gone? What would she have done if she thought that I didn’t want her anymore?

The thought pains me. I know that those girls must have cornered her tonight and fed her lies. They filled her head with taura manure and made her think that I didn’t want her. Or worse, that I only wanted her for Addie.

Gods! How could I have been so blind? So clueless? I should have never given Bryrion a second chance. I should have fired every single one of my staff. They all betrayed me. Ivrir should have retired years ago. He’s too old to run a household and look where that got us.

Even if he hadn’t been entirely to blame for Harper escaping with our daughter, he was blind to the nasty things that the maids did to my poor, lovely Harper.

I have to find my mate. No matter how long it takes, I have to track her down and beg her forgiveness. I have to reassure her that I do love her, and do want her.

Dammit! All those weeks of hard work to build up trust between us, gone in an instant. All that carefully rebuilding our relationship, gone in a puff of smoke.

I wish I had strangled the stupid girl when I had the chance. I would have killed her if I could. I don’t care that it would have landed me in jail. It would have made me feel better knowing that every single threat to my precious girls’ lives was eliminated.

How could I have let my mate and my child in my household with those serpents? I knew that dark elf-human relationships had their detractors but I didn’t honestly think that there were some in my own household.

I thought I culled all the weeds from my garden, as it were, when I fired the ones that Bryrion accused of conspiring to keep Harper away from me. It turns out I still had weeds in my garden after all, and they were slowly trying to choke the life out of my precious flowers.

As I walk the streets searching for them, I despair that I may never see them again. I have to get to Harper before she flees the continent. Where would she have gone?

Well...there’s only one place I would go if I thought the person I love betrayed me.

I know where she is now.

28

HARPER

“It’s over. We’re over.”

My voice is dull. My eyelids are heavy. My limbs feel as though someone has poured mud into the marrow of my bones.

There are marks on my face where the dark elves slapped me.

My ears still ring from the violence of their blows.

I cannot do this anymore. I cannot go on anymore.

Layla places an arm carefully around my shoulders, stopping when I flinch slightly.

I do not really want anyone to touch me, but I trust Layla. I know she just means well.

All I can see, whether my eyes are opened or closed, is the zagfer, shouting at me, attacking me.

“Sweetheart,” Layla’s voice is soft as she strokes my head. I am surprised that I am not crying yet. “What happened?”

I do not know what triggers my tears. Maybe it is the tenderness of her voice, or the soothing calm of her hands.

Whatever it is, it opens the floodgates, and I burst into tears.

My shoulders shake and my face burns when tears roll down my newly scarred cheeks.

Layla gasps slightly at the violence of my tears, and I know that I am crying as though I will never stop.

“Demethys doesn’t love me,” I choke the words out, hiccupping slightly. “He never did. His zagfer confirmed it. He only wanted me back in his life because of Addie.”

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