by Nelson, JD
“That was very thoughtful.” I couldn’t help but think of how Soren told me he’d done the same thing. That seemed like years ago now, instead of just a couple of days.
We lay face to face, taking the opportunity to examine each other again. He’d grown a goatee since I’d seen him last, but it didn’t diminish his beauty. He was resplendent. I wondered what he was thinking about.
He answered my thoughts. “You are so beautiful, Emelie. I am the luckiest elf of any world.” Leaning closer, he gently pressed his lips against mine and my body instantly ignited, responding like the traitor it was. The electric connection between us was more intense than it had been before. I moaned my pleasure into his mouth.
He reluctantly pulled away. “Do you feel it—our connection? It’s returned!” He was overjoyed.
“Yes.”
“I missed this feeling.” Kristian mused. “It makes me almost feel normal. I have not been myself as of late.”
“Yes, I heard that you housed the people responsible for the explosion at Soren’s house.”
“Freyr and Katrine?” He asked, unbelieving.
“The same.”
He looked pissed. “I didn’t know.”
I arched a skeptical brow.
“Oh, I knew they were up to something, but they never clued me in to their plans. They are only here as a favor to Odin—they are no friends of mine.”
My mind exploded with revelations. Now, I was absolutely certain that Odin had been directly involved in trying to kill me off. Kristian was probably ignorant of everything, including that Freyr was a fake. We were in a lot of trouble.
I sat up. “Why do you serve Odin? It makes me feel unsafe.”
His expression was one of surprise. “Odin has always helped me in times of need. I have no reason to distrust him.”
“He put Freyr and Katrine here in your castle, and they could have killed me in that explosion.” I was vexed. How long would it be before Odin tried to assassinate Kristian instead of me? “Your brothers have a theory that Freyr is trying to prevent our marriage to regain control of the elves.”
“My brothers? Do you know my brother, Viggo?”
“He’s my friend, as well. You can expect to see him around here.”
“Viggo has always been somewhat of a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think we have anything to fear from Odin.” He reassured, but the smile he offered didn’t reach his eyes. He had doubts.
“I know he is, but Jakob is not. He’s a realist.” I stroked his handsome face. “I’m worried, and I want you to be on the alert. I can’t have Freyr kill my husband before I even get the chance to marry him.”
“I promise that I will be careful.”
“Okay.” I needed to change the subject. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
“What would you like to know?”
“Everything.”
“Everything? Hmm…let me see, how I can condense a thousand years.” He chuckled and moved closer to me. “Have I told you how beautiful you are tonight?”
“Not in the last few minutes.”
“I could tell you every minute of every day.”
I blushed, and looked down at the duvet.
He tucked a lock of my long hair behind my ear. “Even your shyness is charming.”
I loved it when he did that; it showed me a sweet side that he didn’t normally show. However sweet it was, it could not distract me from the fact that he had a room full of females right next door that he had sex with every night. They had to leave—now.
I thought for a moment about what I could say that would prevail upon him. With a deep sigh, I started. “I want to love you, Kristian. I didn’t think I would, but I do. You are handsome, kind, and smart, but your perversity makes me want to push you away.”
“The harem?” He said with a sigh.
“Yes, of course. I almost hung up the phone when one of them answered earlier. Will you ask them to leave?”
“No.” He answered, immediately.
I was aghast “Why? Do you love one of them?”
“Absolutely not, they are whores.” His voice was adamant.
“Then why?” I couldn’t fathom why he’d deny me this. Was it some kind of weird dark elf tradition?
A combination of fear and guilt covered his face. “What is it, Kristian?”
“Please, understand that the harem has been here for thousands of years. My father started it before me, and continued to use it until his death. For a thousand years, I didn’t use it. I thought it wrong to stray from your Fated mate.” He paused, and looked me in the eyes. “One morning, I woke to find that I had violently raped one of the females.”
I recoiled from him. “Were you drunk?”
He shook his head. “I do not drink.”
“Then, how could you?”
“I do not know. I have not remembered a single night since then.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, you have no idea how much I wish I was telling you a lie. Every night I black out and I cannot remember what I’ve done in the morning.”
“Have you…done what you did again?”
Tears appeared in his eyes. “Every night, just before midnight, I lose myself. I can’t remember anything the next morning when I wake. The females tell me that as long as they give themselves willingly, I will not hurt them.”
I struggled to stay in place as my muscles tensed up. My common sense had set off the fire alarm in my head. It was telling me to run. However, because Emelie plus dangerous situations equal stupid decisions, I ignored it and decided to hear him out.
“I set up a camera once,” he continued
“In the harem?”
He nodded.
I didn’t want to know, but I asked anyway. “What did you find?”
“I raped three of the females, Emelie—like an animal. I didn’t care if I hurt them; all I wanted was to fuck them until they couldn’t take me inside them anymore.”
Frightened, I asked him, “Is that why you have so many females here?”
“Yes, I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I could never subject you to this. You understand now why I can’t ask them to leave. Not until I can trust myself with you.”
“Yes, but I despise the thought of you being with them.”
“As do I. Rest assured, I will not ask you for sex until I am no longer sleeping with any other females. I could not ask that of you.”
I sighed in relief. “How long has this been happening?”
“One hundred and forty eight years.”
“What?”
“I completely understand if you take a lover, I just ask that it not be Soren. I don’t want to lose our connection again.”
Now all that lover talk Nils that was going on about earlier was starting to make sense. He could sniff out an opportunity to get laid anywhere.
Kristian was being so forgiving to me concerning Soren. I felt relieved by that even though he would surely be sleeping around a lot more than I would—if I ever did. “I don’t think I will need a lover, Kristian. Just tell me how I can help you?”
He thought for a moment. “Be patient. Help me find a cure?” He paused. “Don’t leave me.”
“I’ll never leave you, unless you give me a reason to.”
“You are an angel,” he sighed. It was obvious that the weight of his worry had been lifted.
“An angel with an extremely jealous temper, I suggest you not flaunt the females in front of me.”
“I have moved them into another wing. I didn’t want you to overhear.”
I just nodded. What else could I do? I never thought I’d be agreeing to whores. “How are these females compensated?”
“They do it for the chance to bear my young, for a connection to the royal bloodline.”
I grimaced. “That’s just…disgusting.”
“I’m so sorry that it has to be this way. I wanted so much for this to be over by the time you were old enough to marry.”
>
“I’m sorry too. No one deserves what you’re going through.” My heart felt torn in half. My mother’s enchantment made me feel so much for Kristian, but I knew that I could never love him like I did Soren. What Soren and I had was real, not a love spell.
Unexpectedly, I yawned; it had been a long, stressful day.
“Would you like to rest for a while?”
I checked the clock on the wall. It was only half past eight; I could sleep for a little while before Kristian turned into Mr. Hyde. “Maybe a short nap.”
“Very well, I will leave you.”
I stopped him from rising with a hand. “Will you stay? I don’t want to be alone.”
“There’s nothing I would like more.”
He shifted to his back and I lay my head on his chest. It felt right, being with him like this. It was hard to believe that I’d felt the same way with Soren; he couldn’t be more different. Where Soren was fair, lean, and reserved, Kristian was dark haired, muscled, and wore his heart on his sleeve.
I ran my fingers across the thin layer of black hair displayed behind his open collar, and he sighed in contentment.
“It will be so easy to fall in love with you, Emelie. I hadn’t expected that.”
I closed my eyes and smiled sleepily. “I didn’t expect you to be so good to me.” I mumbled, drifting off.
He kissed the top of my head and whispered to me. “Sleep, love.”
At two in the morning, I awoke groggy and disoriented. I lay there on the most comfortable bed in any world, and thought of Kristian as I admired the ornate ceiling. He’d probably be in the harem right now. The thought of him being with those females in that way disturbed me. I couldn’t help but think that the females ‘sacrificing’ their bodies had an ulterior motive. No female would do that if they had any other choice, and these females weren’t slaves. They came and went as they pleased. “For a connection to the royal bloodline, my ass.” I said as I swung my legs off the bed. My spidey-sense was tingling; something was up.
A recently stoked fire was burning bright green in the fireplace across the room, and my luggage had been set just inside the door. Jakob had been very busy while I was asleep. I’d have to remember to thank him when I saw him next.
I was putting on my shoes when I felt a presence just outside the room. Tip-toeing over, I grabbed the fireplace poker and tried to identify the signature. It didn’t feel like Kristian, but I couldn’t be sure. With him being in his ‘cursed’ time, he could have a different imprint.
Without warning, Nils whispered, “Emelie, are you in there?”
I swung the door open and Nils nearly fell to the ground. “What the hell are you doing roaming the halls of Väsen castle at two in the morning? How did you get past the security?”
He smirked. “I’m the Fenrir Wolf, Emelie. I have fought hundreds of males at once; you don’t think I can handle getting into a castle?”
I shrugged. “Maybe, but I still don’t understand how you snuck past the guard.”
“I’m really sneaky?”
“Sneaky enough to elude a hundred soldiers?” I asked disbelievingly.
“Oh, ye of little faith.” He paced around, looking into the adjoining rooms. Apparently satisfied with the inspection he said, “I don’t think anyone will realize that I have arrived until tomorrow. Kristian certainly won’t notice anytime soon.”
“You didn’t go down there, did you?”
I scolded him, but I secretly wanted to know what was happening in the other wing.
“Do I seem the type of person who would leave well enough alone?”
I sighed, still pretending I was distressed with him. “No, you do not.”
“Come on Emelie, you aren’t the least bit interested in what’s going on with your groom-to-be down there?” He teased.
“No, I respect his privacy.” I lied, because I am a big fat liar and that’s what liars do.
“You probably don’t want to know anyway.”
“You’re probably right. Does Jakob know you’re here? Have you seen him yet?”
With a pained expression, he started to speak and then shivered. “You don’t want to know what he’s doing either.”
“Spill, what’s going on?”
“He’s just having your average everyday one on one time with the demon, Lilith.
“That sounds ominous?”
He mimed zipping his lips. “You don’t want to know.”
He knew I was dying for details; he was just trying to get me to beg for them. Well, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction—ever.
I lasted about ten seconds. “Yes, I do. Tell me.”
He stretched out across the end of my bed. “Nope, sorry, I wouldn’t want to offend your virgin sensibilities. There are some gentle-males left.”
Was he kidding? “Uh…yeah, I’m sure there is, but you, aren’t one of them.”
“You wound me, Emelie.”
“Uh huh,”
“Whatever! Can I sleep in here? I don’t have an assigned room yet?”
“Sure, but sleep as a wolf, okay? I don’t think Kristian would like finding me in bed with another man.”
“After what I saw him do tonight, that would be the ultimate in hypocrisy.”
Hands over ears, I said, “Alright, alright, I don’t want to hear about it.”
He shrugged. “Your choice, I just think you deserve better, like a thousand times better.”
“Thanks.” I was surprised. Offering heartfelt sentiments wasn’t Nils’s usual modus operandi. He was more of a pervy limericks kind of guy.
He gave me a curious look. “You’re welcome.”
I kicked off my shoes and snuggled into the blankets hoping to find the cozy, warm spot I’d left earlier—no such luck. “Good night, Wolf.”
He turned off the light and climbed into bed, cozying right up to me. “Hey Em?”
His eyes reflected the green flames in the fireplace giving them an eerie glow. “What is it?”
“Have you heard this one?”
“What one?”
He cleared his throat and took on an accent I’d never heard him use before.
“On the moors Kelly walked in a daze
There she'd bark at the moon and the haze
Still her friends weren't concerned
For by now they had learned
Once a month she would go through this phase.”
I laughed. “That’s clever. Did you come up with that by yourself?”
“Sure.”
“Uh huh, so if I Google it, I won’t find out it’s like a super famous limerick?”
He laughed. “Okay, you got me. It’s pretty good though, huh. And, it proves that not all of the limericks I know are pervy.”
“That it does. Good night, Nils.” He was so much more likable when he wasn’t hitting on me. I could actually see us being great friends in the future—if he kept up this kind of good behavior that is.
He shifted into wolf-form and barked a response I assumed was ‘good night’ and then lay beside me, whining.
I cuddled up to his huge body and stroked his fur. “I know. I don’t like it here either.”
—Chapter Eight—
There was an orangish light peeking through the curtains when I woke again; it must be morning. I looked at the clock—four o’clock, nope, not morning. Kristian might still be asleep, but I was famished.
We decided to venture out in search of food when Nils’ rumbling stomach started to make him testy. Using scent as a guide, Nils found the kitchen right away. It was both very impressive and comical to see him sniff his way down the hallways.
To our surprise, Jakob and Kristian were already seated at the table talking quietly over tea. Kristian stood instantly and gestured to his neighboring chair. “Good morning, dear one. Please join us.”
“Thank you Kristian. Please let me introduce you to my friend, the Fenrir Wolf.”
Nils offered a hand. “Call me Nils, nice to put a face wit
h the reputation.”
“Likewise,” Kristian replied and then pulled out the chair for me. “Emelie, you must be starved. Let me call the cook for you. I apologize for not having anything ready. I didn’t know when you would wake.”
Pulling out his cell phone, he said, “Evangelina,” and then spoke to whoever answered in rapid Elvish. I didn’t understand a word.
“She will be down in just a few minutes. Did you sleep well?”
He was adorably concerned, and for a moment, I almost forgot about what he’d had been doing a couple of hours ago.
“Yes, I did. Have you slept?”
“I have. I always wake around daylight.” He lifted the teapot. “Tea?”
I smiled warmly. “Please.”
Jakob had been silent since my arrival and was clearly trying to avoid my eye. There must be something he didn’t want me to know. “How do you fare this morning, Jakob?” I asked, sweetly.
“I am well. Do not trouble yourself,”
He was being evasive. Now I knew something was going on.
I was distracted from the weirdness that was going on with Jakob when a female who must be Evangelina came in with Viveka hot on her heels. Evangelina reminded me of a cherub, pleasantly rounded with curly brown hair and an innocent face. Her happy smile was infectious.
Kristian stood to greet them. “Good morning, ladies. Evangelina let me introduce you to my bride-to-be, Emelie, her chaperon, the Fenrir Wolf, and you remember my brother, Jakob, don’t you?”
She smiled graciously and bowed. “It’s nice to meet you. My lady, may I say how very smart it is of you to have such powerful protectors at your side; these are most uncertain times.”
I clearly heard the warning in her words and thought that she might be trying to tell me about Freyr staying at the castle. I liked her already.
“Thank you for your kind words, Evangelina. I know well that my enemies are both hidden and in plain sight. Uniting the elves is something I take very seriously.”
She winked at me. “Very well, miss.”
I looked to Kristian and was startled to find he was staring intently at me. I blushed and said, “That reminds me. I think that we should move the wedding out of the town square and into a more private venue—immediate friends and family only. I don’t think we should be spending elaborately during a war anyway; do you?”