Page 4 of Delphine's Dilemma

My father had promised my hand in marriage to Arven when I’d been only eighteen. It’d been Dad’s last ditch attempt to protect the court so that they wouldn’t have to fear the wars going on around them. I’d considered my duty a noble one. I would be a dutiful wife so that peace would remain in place, if only in a small corner of the world.

Then the D’Or Court had raided my family home. Closing my eyes, I heard the battering ram hit the outer gates. I could feel it shaking up through my feet. It clashed with the devious grin of the man I’d met the day he put this ring on my finger.

Bam.

Arven slid a silver ring onto my finger.

Bam.

Arven’s hand lingered on mine, his rough fingers tickling yet warm.

Bam. Bodies hit the floor. Fire crackles up the tapestries. There are no more good memories to stop the bad ones from flooding in. Screams fill the air like a corrupt chorus. No matter how I cover my ears, I can’t block them out. Not even the cold stone around me can dampen the sound shaking my core.

Gasping for air, I snapped back to the present. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks without my permission. I wiped them away. For a moment there, I’d found myself right back in the siege as if I were there all over again.

That’d been decades ago at this point. Everything was gone, and I couldn’t afford to stand here and look back. Since then, I’d told myself that I would always look forward. I would get stronger, faster, and keep running so that no one could find me ever again.

That’d obviously failed. Rhoan had found me and dragged me into his war. I’d been so jealous of his damned girlfriend. We’d shared similar fates, but her memories had been locked away. The girl had grown up with no scars from the fall of her court, unlike me. My psyche bore a broad wound that would never heal.

If Rhoan were here right now, he’d tell me that I was wrong. Cerri’s skin had been covered in scars from her time in the shifter pack. Though, it didn’t matter if I was splitting hairs. Cerri was dead, and Rhoan was probably a collared pet at Faust’s heels. He couldn’t tell me shit right about now.

I turned and stepped in-between to head back to the little studio apartment I called home for the time. The air changed, from the city’s smoggy clouds to the purified air of my small home. I patted the little air purifier and thanked it for its continued service. No matter where I went, I took that thing with me because mortal air reeked compared to the smell of home.

The thin mattress on the floor begged me to come and steal a moment of rest. I curled up on the thrifted blankets and hugged my small and raggedy plush cat. It was another thing that I took everywhere with me. The little black cat with its patchwork of matted fur was the last remnant of my home.

My father had given the thing to me when I’d considered myself far too old for children’s toys. However, it was the only thing I’d been able to grab before escaping the fallen castle. I hadn’t liked the gift at first, but knowing that it was my father’s last gift to me, I held it tight with the hopes that it might grant me a reprieve from my nightmares as I slept.

With it clutched close to my chest, I found myself drifting away. Sleep claimed me and eased the growing pain in my chest from seeing Arven again. If I was lucky, he would be gone by the time I woke, and I would be able to get on with my mission.

Arven

She…sheslipped away from me.

Again.

I thought I’d come to the mortal realm to save Delphine, but the woman had taken one look at me and turned up her nose. She’d clearly changed more than I’d expected. The vision of a young woman that’d been burned into my mind so long ago had been replaced by a feral warrior.

Who had she become? I desperately wanted to know. Glancing down at the ring on my finger, I yearned to explore this new woman. Gone was the fumbling sweetheart of the Eveningwind court. A dangerous beauty who made my heart flutter with excitement had taken her place.

Lifting my nose to the air, I sought out her scent. It was faint, but it remained in the air like a trail I could almost see. It was one of the few perks to becoming a beast. Many of us obtained some sort of extrasensory effect. I’d heard of a fae warrior who could see auras. I’d inherited an intense olfactory boon that allowed me to track arcana scents.

So, when Delphine used her arcana to step in-between, I could smell it. Her magic smelled of the evening night under a full moon. There was a hint of jasmine that made my heart skip a beat. I could almost imagine that smell clinging to my skin after a night of lying with her.

No, not like that. I wasn’t ready to give myself over to her so quickly. No one needed to suffer through sex with me. It’d been so long that I barely knew what I was doing, and this new beast within me would likely make things unpredictable…at best.

I had no desire to put anyone through the trouble.

Following the arcana trail, I found my way to the roof of the building beside me. I could smell where Delphine had sprawled out across the back of a gargoyle. When I leaned over it and looked down, I knew that she’d been spying on me.

Once more, my heart gave an odd stutter. The idea of her watching me curiously gave me a flutter that I hadn’t expected. Then again, this woman likely had a weapon trained on me. I could smell the vague aroma of poison that confirmed my suspicion.

Why did she hate me so much? I understood her disappointment that I could not be there while her court fell. Of course, I deserved animosity for that. This felt like more. It was as if she blamed me for it happening at all.

I rocked back on my heels.

Was she wrong?

Her hand had been promised to me so that I would keep her court safe. The Eveningwind family had no desire to participate in the elven wars burning between kingdoms. They’d wanted freedom and knowledge. And, in the end, they’d fallen because I had not been there to uphold my end of the bargain.

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