by Kara Jaynes
“I feel so honored, my prince.”
The elf’s face darkens. “You mock me.”
“Can I go home now?”
“No.” He’s clearly agitated and paces the room, muttering to himself in Elvish.
I watch him, my apprehension and puzzlement growing.
“If I reject you, which I do, why keep me here?” My tone grows bitter. “Why would your stupid Kenelky thingy pick me, anyway? You—you told me I was unattractive.”
“I did not. Plain and unattractive aren't the same thing,” he says, but he sounds distracted. “Plain simply means ordinary, lackluster. Unattractive is ugly, undesirable.”
Lackluster, huh? My grin is wry. “I’m thrilled to discover you find me palatable.”
“Really?” He eyes me.
I snort. “No.”
“This isn't a laughing matter,” he replies, his voice tight. “I'm in a precarious situation.”
“Send me home, elf,” I say. “There is obviously no chemistry between us.”
The prince's shoulders slump, and he exhales heavily. “Unfortunately for me, there is. Very much so.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don't you see?” He watches me, carefully keeping a distance between us. “The Kenelky brought us together, girl. Maybe it didn’t work for you.” His breath is becoming ragged, alarm warring with longing in his eyes. “But it did for me. I don't want anyone else. I can’t have anyone else.” His nostrils flare as he inhales sharply. “The Kenelky has begun. We are both in this until either you choose me—like you’re supposed to—or you move on to another . . . erm, physically.” His face twists, clearly frustrated with the situation.
“What? That doesn’t make any sense,” I complain. “What about courtship, or dating? You’re not going about this the right way at all.”
“What’s courtship?” he asks.
“Are you for real?” I shout. I reach up, gripping handfuls of my hair. “What is wrong with you?”
The elf’s face is deadpan. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He tilts his head as he regards me. “When the Kenelky stirs to life between two elves, we simply—” He stops, his face flushing. “Fyit, this is awkward. I thought humans behaved the same way.”
“Oh.” My voice is small, and my face feels every bit as warm as his looks. His actions make more sense now, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. I look at the window wistfully. “I don’t suppose you’d let me crawl away into complete obscurity instead?”
“Absolutely not.” The prince shakes his head. “Maybe it just takes longer for humans to feel the effects of the bond. If I lose you, it will be an excruciatingly painful existence for me, at least until you die.” He studies me. “You appear healthy. That could take years.”
“Maybe I should just fling myself from the window and spare you the pain,” I joke.
“No!” The elf’s face pales, and his body tenses. “Stars, no, dearest. Don’t do that.”
The feeling is there again, an unbelievably strong attraction to the man standing before me. I swallow hard and look away. I don’t know what it is, but I know it can’t be my real feelings.
“I’m very tired,” I say quietly. True. I am overwhelmed and utterly exhausted.
“I understand.” He doesn’t sound like he understands at all. “This must all be very . . . sudden, for you.” He turns toward the door, opens a wooden panel to push a series of buttons, then pauses to look back at me. “My name is Eldaren,” he says softly.
We stare at each other in silence until the door opens, admitting an elven female. She looks young, younger than me, and she dips in a curtsey to the prince, nodding her head when he speaks to her in Elvish.
“This is one of my servants, Aleere. She will take you to your new rooms. If you need anything, ask her. She will take care of you during your stay.”
“But I—”
“Go,” Eldaren commands. He glares out his window, the same one I escaped from less than an hour ago, his dark brows lowered in a scowl.
I do as he says. This isn’t the time to argue. It won’t get me anywhere. I follow Aleere out of his room and a few yards down the hall to another door. The elven girl opens the door and silently motions me in.
I head straight for the bed, weariness cloaking me. I’m beyond exhausted, and I want to cry. I settle for climbing into the soft bed and burying my face into the plump pillow. Ignoring the servant girl, I curl onto my side.
I hope Quinn is okay.
I hope Lyra will take care of him.
I miss Wilder. Shoot, I miss him. So much. His image rises behind my closed eyelids: his tangled mop of white-blond curls, his brilliant blue eyes, his slender form, and carefree manner. Before the warmth in his smile disappeared, and his gaze grew dull. Before he walked with the dream vagrants, leaving me behind.
He will be my first and last love, not an arrogant elf prince I don't even know.
I blink, allowing a few tears to drip on the pillow. The room goes dark. Aleere must have turned off the lights. I hear a soft thump as the door closes.
I am finally alone. I close my eyes and drift into nothingness.
8
Eldaren
I stalk from the fortress, ignoring Miska and the guards attempts to speak to me, and head toward the small skyship that’s waiting for my arrival. A driver sits at the controls, waiting for me to board. No one is aware of what has happened, and I plan to keep it that way for now.
How can the girl resist the Kenelky? We’re attracted to each other, or it wouldn't have stirred to life.
Yet she'd rejected me. How? Why?
The Kenelky shouldn’t have even happened. She is human.
But what if the reason for this disaster has nothing to do with her? What if there is something wrong with me? I very much hope that isn’t the case. This will be much easier if there’s something off about her.
A chill wind springs up, but I don’t button my coat. It’s a sign of weakness to show any reaction to the weather. You dress for it, or you don’t, but sure as stars, you don’t react. I didn’t prepare for the freezing wind that’s now howling across the courtyard. I walk briskly, striding up to the skyship.
The pilot is heating the ship’s interior. Good man. The ramp is lowered. I stroll up it and take my place next to the driver. “Home,” I command.
This is too important a matter to not discuss with my father. If anyone will know about the process of the Kenelky, it's him. I feel heat rise to my face and look out my window so the pilot doesn't notice. I don't dare risk sending my father a message. What if it's intercepted and rumors are spread that I am somehow defective?
We're flying, the ground dropping away below, the collection of glittering lights that is Liberty surrounded by a sea of darkness, one side quite literally being the ocean. I study it—the humans call it the Puget Sound—chin in palm, as the driver punches in the coordinates that will unveil the portal to transport us home. I smirk. Humans have tried to learn the secrets of teleportation, but they turned away from magic in their efforts to do so.
Magic is almost always the answer to life's problems and mysteries. Magic, in the human tongue. Though, that isn't quite the right word for it. Power? Ability? I frown, tapping my fingers restlessly for a moment before I realize what I'm doing and still my movements. Translation is sometimes a dicey thing, though we seem able to communicate with the humans well enough.
Well, most of us seem to be able to communicate with the humans. I'd somehow bungled it. I don’t understand. I'd been perfectly honest with the girl. Honest, yet she'd still looked at me like I was less than the grime under her shoes. Perhaps that isn't a virtue humans value.
When the swirling mix of darkness and light of the portal clears, we are flying over Dertryis, Parent’s Embrace; my homeland.
I smile as I gaze down at the city shimmering with the sparkle of countless silvery lights; homes, shops and other buildings built right into a massive forest. Eart
h is beautiful in its own broken sort of way, but it isn't home.
Several minutes later, we are skimming over the royal docking field. I don’t wait for the driver to park. Standing, I open the hatch and begin moving the ramp into place. If the pilot is irritated by my display of impatience, he doesn’t show it.
I inhale the soft air as I stand, holding on to either side of the open frame, waiting to disembark. Even the docking field smells cleaner than Liberty. It will be a challenge to grow a forest there. There are centuries of pollution built up in that one city alone.
Father expects me to heal the entire planet. Is this possible? When I accepted the mission, I had certainly thought so. But now that I have been there, I am not as sure.
But I cannot give up. I’ve seen the state of Liberty. That anyone can survive in that place is astounding. My heart hurts to think of the women and children who dwell there, trying to scratch a living from the filth of the city. Liberty. Derision ripples through me. There isn’t a name that could be further from the truth of that place.
How has the girl managed to live there? And she wants to go back, to slip away in shadow and obscurity. Why? What is she hiding from me?
The need to discover her secrets is overwhelming. I want to understand her. I inhale through my nose, trying to calm my desire. I want to make her happy.
But the girl isn’t an elf. She doesn’t understand our ways. The Kenelky didn’t work. Rather, it only worked partially. We didn’t come together like we were supposed to. So, my need for her is still there, roaring through my blood. It will stay there until we can get this sorted.
I exhale hard as discomfort squirms in my stomach. If she resisted, that probably means she somehow isn’t interested in me. But that isn’t entirely true. I can still feel the connection, the Kenelky hanging between us like a golden thread, even light years apart. Thoughts of the small human woman are to me like water is to a man dying of thirst. I’m not able to push her away. I need her.
The skyship is about to land, hovering a foot above ground, but I am already striding down the ramp.
Leaving the docks behind, I walk up to the palace. It's half stone, half massive tree, a stunningly beautiful, living, work of art.
I enter, walking through the entry, down several halls, and finally up the stairs to the upper corridors that will take me to Father. It doesn’t take long before word spreads of my arrival. Guards sprint to catch up with me, but within moments I’m knocking on the door that leads to the Room of Maps. Father spends most of his time here.
The guards already standing at the door don't react to my presence. Nor should they. Surprise belongs to the unprepared. If they want to keep their rank, they will always be prepared for anything.
I open the door and go in.
Father looks up from a large circular table covered in paper maps and several glass light cubes. Small as the little blocks of cane sugar served on Earth, once turned on, light cubes project large images of explored space.
None of the images are of Earth. Father is focused on other planets. I frown, studying them briefly. These planets are very much alive, thriving and growing. Lush green covers their land, and they have plenty of oceans.
But we're elves. We don't bother with healthy worlds. We attend to the sick planets, bringing our magic and healing them, nursing them back to health. For the amount of space we have discovered, there are a fair amount of wounded planets, and humans are almost always at fault. Mismanaging resources is almost a talent for them. They’re everywhere, like rats, discovered on countless worlds.
Earth is the sickest planet of them all.
“Eldaren.”
I glance back at my father. He watches me, his face expressionless. Father is a master at controlling his emotions. So much so, that sometimes I'm not sure he has emotion. “You arrive unexpectedly. How does your operation go with cleansing the planet Earth?”
I lick my lips and inhale deeply, trying to calm the sudden pounding of my heart. Father's opinion means so much to me, and with several older brothers, I don't want to fail this mission. I need to prove my worth. I have to believe I am worthy to be his son. That he can trust me to nurture and protect Earth.
“It goes well,” I reply. I stand a little straighter, shoulders back and chin up. “The humans resent our presence, but I believe they will come to view us differently, with time.”
“You need to understand that it doesn't matter what they think, youngest son of mine. They don't realize that your intervention is saving their lives, and it doesn’t matter that they don’t know.”
I chew the inside of my cheek. He is right, but all I can think of is the fear and disgust in the girl’s eyes. I want her to understand.
Desire once more shudders through me. Sweat beads on my forehead. It takes every ounce of willpower to hide my emotion. Stars, how can she resist Kenelky? She has to have an insane amount of inner strength.
“Something’s upset you.” Father can always see through my feeble efforts at calm. He points to the chair next to his. “Sit. Speak.”
I swallow, my throat suddenly dry. I have so much responsibility on my shoulders. Saving Earth from death, preserving the people's humanity, social affairs between said planet and my homeland. All while being the youngest, and most disappointing, son of the king. My burdens are almost more than I can bear, but I will never tell him that. Elves don’t complain. They do what they must.
“I-I think it’s time for me to find a companion.” My shoulders instinctively hunch before I straighten them, sitting taller. I must show confidence.
“Good,” my father replies with a brief nod. “It’s about time. I know you’re shy and reclusive, but I’ve wondered why you haven’t bonded with a woman, yet. You are over two hundred years old. It’s past time.”
I lean forward, pretending to study the map on the table closest to me. “I, erm—what do you think of my taking a human consort?”
Father is quiet for a moment, and though I do not look at him, I can feel his eyes on me, watching, weighing, considering. “I think that is foolishness, Eldaren,” he says at last. “You must find an elven woman who will spark the Kenelky when you come together.”
A little late for that. I should have listened to his advice years ago. The Kenelky is always sparked when two elves come together. It’s rarer when it sparks beforehand. If I had hurried and found a woman twenty years ago or so, I wouldn’t have this problem on my hands now.
But I didn’t. And somehow, now that it’s happened, I’m glad. This human girl is definitely the one for me, even if she’s stubborn and doesn’t like me. I’ll have to figure out how to win her over. Hopefully.
“Has an elf ever bonded with a human before?” I ask.
Father arches an eyebrow. “If you mean purely in the physical sense of an elf and human coming together, yes, it has happened, here and there in rare instances, throughout history. But humans are not capable of the Kenelky. It is impossible.”
I very much doubt that. I decide switch tactics. “Well. Kenelky aside, I think bonding with a human would help solidify ties between our people and theirs.” This is assuming I can get the young woman to see reason. Minor details.
If my father were human, he’d snort and roll his eyes. Instead, he gathers the maps near him, carefully putting them in a tidy stack. “That is not a good idea. You are an elf and a prince. You cannot lower your standards, Eldaren. You must set an example for our people. You are there to take care of the earth, not to strengthen ties with creatures that don’t matter.”
I nod, pretending to agree with him. “You’re right, of course.” My voice cracks on the last word.
My father’s gaze softens, and reaching out, he grips my shoulder. “I understand you’re nervous with this responsibility, and with the idea of bonding, Eldaren, but trust me, you don’t have to be. Find an elf woman and heal the earth. That’s all you have to do.”
You make it sound so easy.
“I want to help the humans unde
rstand,” I say. “I want them to see us as allies.”
My father rolls his eyes now, and I cringe inwardly, humiliation stabbing my stomach. He’s upset with me, to show so much outward derision. “You always were more sensitive to others’ feelings,” my father says. “That is weakness, Eldaren, son of mine. You must stamp it out. You need to think and say what is true, and you need to do what must be done, regardless of what others think. If the humans find even a scrap of compassion in you, they will turn it against you. You will be their pawn. You—must—not—feel others’ pain, fear or grief.”
“Yes, sir.” I nod, carefully masking the storm of emotion that rages inside of me.
“Is this the only reason you came, Eldaren? To ask me about the humans and Kenelky?”
“Yes, sir.” There is no chance of me telling him about the young woman. Not yet.
The silence stretches on. Father is displeased. I've wasted his time.
“I will return to Earth immediately.” I stand and turn away. “My apologies for interrupting you.”
“It is always a pleasure to see you, my son.” Father's icy voice is distant, and when I glance over my shoulder, he is gazing up at the image of a planet, several stars away from our own. It's green and vibrant, rich with life.
I step out of the room and close the door behind me.
The guards stand at attention, as if they have not moved since I went in. That is probably the case.
“My prince.” One of the guards speaks. He keeps his gaze on the hall stretching before him. “Consort Dryial would like to see you before you go.”
That would be nothing short of a disaster. Mother must not know about my predicament.
“I'll return when I have time,” I say, unable to keep the curtness from my voice. “I will see her, then.”
“Very good, my prince.”
Several minutes later and I'm back in the skyship, the craft lifting into the sky. Leaving my home and my parents behind hurts, but it's a hidden pain.
My mother will be spitting mad when she learns that I came and went without visiting her. A smile tugs on my lips at the thought.