Page 9 of The Dark Elf's Surprise Baby

Harper runs her hands through my hair, and though she doesn’t have magic, I feel as though she is imbuing my hair with something.

It feels as though she is threading love and happiness into each strand of hair that she twists between her fingers.

And again, I feel the same feeling that I always have with Harper.

Home.

Home.

Home.

The words echo forcefully around my mind.

I am finally home.

I am suddenly dragged back to the moment that I walked through the doors of my mansion. I knew that Harper was waiting for me. Now I remember exactly how I felt at that moment.

I was at peace for the first time in a long time.

Because of Harper.

I take her hands in mine then and sit up. I pull her into my arms, cradling her to me.

“Harper?” Her name tastes sweet on my tongue. Again, I am reminded that she has no magic. And yet her entire existence feels magical.

“Hmm?” She sighs the sound, nestling against me.

“I really like coming home to you.” I murmur the words. She is stroking my thighs with her soft hands.

It is suddenly very difficult to focus.

“Well,” she replies. “I really don’t like waiting for you to come home.”

I laugh out loud, pulling away from her. Then, taking her chin between my hands, I kiss her.

The kiss is hesitant at first. It is simply a ‘getting to know you again’ kiss.You have been gone for weeks you know.I remind myself.

But then the kiss deepens.

And suddenly the kiss is a ‘glad to have you back’ kiss.

5

HARPER

Inever realize how deeply, how desperately, I miss Demethys until he is gone.

Then his absence, a Demethys-shaped hole in my life, becomes an ache in my chest.

And the ache was becoming almost unbearable in the days before his return. The ache almost consumed me, so intense that it took my breath away.

But now he has finally returned, and I finally feel at peace. The constant turmoil at his absence finally abated.

The turmoil has been replaced by new emotions. Mostly joy, but also a little anxiety.

I cannot help it. Every time I look at Demethys, I see a handsome, affluent dark elf.

Why would he want you?A slightly nasty voice in my head asks. I know that it is my voice.

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