Chapter 29
MISTLETOE
The beast roared again, sending a putrid smell of rot spewing through the room. Elden sprang into action, pushing me behind himself, his arm out in a shield.
“Back, beast!” Elden cried.
He was moments from transforming into the shade monster’s twin and going a second bout—but something was very wrong with the yeti.
It staggered, huffed out a heavy breath, then swayed and fell into a mighty heap.
Elden held me back, protecting me from the creature.
Upon closer inspection, the creature looked pained, ill.
Like a fork in an over-proofed loaf, the beast began to shrink, shadows writhing around the monster like vines around a stone column.
After a matter of only a few heartbeats, the beast fell into shadow, until at last, what lay on the floor of the castle was a handsome male elf with a halo of golden white hair.
The first Elf King of Ravensong, King Theronvere.
I gasped, my hand flying up to my mouth. “Y-your majesty!”
“Grandfather!” Elden raced to the king who lay in a puddle of strange robes from a forgotten time.
Elden cradled the ancient king’s head as the elf coughed.
He was strong, handsome, if a bit wane. Dark circles bruised the bottoms of his eyes.
His hair hung limply about his shoulders.
But he looked young, only a few years older than Elden, though I knew him to be well over a thousand years old.
His ornate robes were a deep red with intricately woven gold filigree with a tall white evergreen tree, the same unusual tree, emblazoned on the material.
The same symbol I’d seen on so many intricate carvings and designs at Winterthorn.
Coughs wracked through the king as I looked on, awestruck.
Elden held on to the king’s hand with care.
Once the coughing subsided, the ancient King Theronvere blinked up at the room he now occupied, recognition slowly dawning.
He sat up and traced the room with his golden eyes, finally landing on Elden.
Theronvere knit his brows together in confusion and asked. “My son? Handel? Y-you’ve come?”
Elden shook his head where he knelt, emotion misting his eyes. “No. I am not your son, but your grandson, Elden.”
“My grandson?” Theronvere’s confusion wrinkled his stately brow as he took Elden in. “I do not understand all that is occurring, but it seems you have freed me.”
Elden nodded toward where I stood looking on. “It wasn’t me who freed you, but her.”
King Theronvere stood, with a hand from Elden, then fixed me with his beautiful golden eyes. A curious expression crossed his handsome face. A wistful smile. “Elayna?”
Nerves squirmed in my stomach faster than a nest of bees.
“No, I am Noelle, a baker from the human realm.” I nodded.
“I found this.” I reached in my satchel and pulled out the glass jar of brown nibs, eager to have something to do with my hands.
“This is what cured your grandson. This is what cured you.”
“Chocolate?” The old king smiled as if we shared a secret, deep laughter filling his voice.
“I do not know what matter of magic you possess, but I do know that it is not the substance, but the heart that matters. My life has been lived in shadows these long years with only moments, bursts of light. I saw you in the throne room. I thought, in my muddled state, that you were my love, Elayna. You have quite the strong right hook with that frying pan.”
Theronvere rubbed at his chin as if he still felt the sting. I blinked in utter amazement.
Elden’s eyes softened as he smiled at me, a tenderness in his gaze.
“Only the strength and magic from one’s true love can bring you back from the brink of death.
” King Theronvere looked between Elden’s soft smile and my blush, then grinned, as if pleased.
He nodded slowly. “The magic of the treaty has been reinstated. I am glad. Though I would have liked to see my son one last time. I wanted to say that I was so very sorry for pushing him away after the death of his mother. He needed me more than ever, yet I was obsessed. Angry.” He shook his great white head.
“I let hate fester for far too long. Forgive me.”
I understood the festering hate, building a protection, a wall against vulnerability. Against feeling. But all I felt now was forgiveness and love pounding through me. Giving me new life.
New purpose. Making my heart grow larger.
The hardest thing was to open up my heart to vulnerability. To allow love to grow again. I learned to let go and would live my life better despite the pain of my past. My future would not be squandered on hate.
The ancient king, so beautiful, so bright, began to fade from sight.
Elden grasped onto Theronvere’s hand, but his fingers slipped right through. “What is happening?”
“I will fade from this life in peace. Forgive me.” Theronvere’s last words hung in the air as he disappeared into nothingness in a brilliant flash of light, leaving Elden standing over nothing but an empty floor.
“He’s gone.” I blinked in disbelief.
“He has passed on to his eternal rest,” Elden said to the echoing silence that followed. “I wonder if my father has done the same.”
Elden was healed, whole, and beautiful, but nothing could stop the pain that etched across his handsome features.
“It took some time for the magic to reach your grandfather,” I said. “Perhaps it will take even longer for it to reach your father in Elkhaven. Perhaps you will have a chance to say goodbye.”
“Perhaps.” Elden offered a sad smile.
I offered one back in return as I fell back onto the red couch, exhaustion aching through every muscle.
It had been the treaty all along that sealed the magic of their world to that of the humans.
The magic of the elves had caused the desolate lands to be fertile, but the curse stripped that away, little by little, leaving the blight in its wake.
The elves’ power had been fading. Human magic all but taken from the land, until me.
I still did not understand how I’d come to possess magic, but it was a part of who I was.
Just as this new love I felt for the Elf King was a part of me.
We’d both been cursed and forced to travel the land for the cure, but it was our love, the love between our two peoples, that was the cure all along.
Elden’s bright gold eyes met mine from across the room. He smiled widely at me. “The curse is broken. Time to go home.”
And for the first time, my mind went to the alabaster castle of Elkhaven at the word “home.”
But one glance at my face had Elden knitting his eyebrows together. He inspected me flopped out on the large red couch, exhaustion and excitement running through me in discordant waves. “There is no rush. We must rest after all that has occurred.”
I must really look haggard. “I am only human.”
“Yes, and thank the stars for it.” Elden beamed.
The deep red couch was large enough to accommodate my entire family and Elden’s. Elden sat beside me on the fluffy furniture and sighed contentedly. He held the saucepan of potion that I made to cure his ailments, to cure the curse. But it hadn’t just been my magic, it’d been my love.
“Here, you must try your new concoction.” Elden held the pan of warmed chocolate out to me.
“But I am already healed.” I pulled back my stocking to expose my bright, clean leg. The scars of the shadow beast remained, but were faint, fading into thin white lines.
“Trust me, you don’t want to miss out on this new delicacy.” Elden smiled. “It is divine.”
I tentatively took a sip. Nutty, warm, sweet and cozy. It traveled down my throat and into my stomach, spreading warmth and comfort through my entire body. It was absolutely incredible.
Delicious. Scrumptious.
My eyes flew wide, and I sat up on the edge of the couch. This flavor, this chocolate…What else could I make with these nibs? My mind filled with frostings and tarts and pies and cookies and breads. The possibilities had no end.
“Ah, I can already see your mind working. I think this one beverage could cure all manner of illnesses.”
Oh, that smile. I melted at the sight of Elden’s bright white teeth and side grin, my stomach twisting in all kinds of knots.
We passed the saucepan of hot chocolate back and forth as we snuggled side by side.
Elden laid his hand on mine, and I thrilled at his tentative touch as we stared at the mural on the wall, of the first Elf King and his human bride.
My stomach growled, and I wrinkled my nose. “I think I need a little more to eat than hot chocolate.”
“I as well.”
“Any idea where the kitchens are?”
“I have a little bit of an idea from my study of the map, but there’s an entire enchanted castle all around us.
Would you care to explore it together?” Elden’s wide smile caused my heart to pound wildly.
But he stood and held out a hand, which I took gratefully.
He pulled me close to him, his breaths rumpling the brown curls about my forehead.
“Let’s go.” I blushed at the Elf King’s closeness. At the tension in the air. This was all so new, but all I wanted was to pull Elden to me and kiss him until I couldn’t remember my own name.
Elden smiled, his eyes twinkling, then tugged me along.
We wandered around the ancient palace like giddy school children, reveling in the castle that was lit up like a Christmas tree with brilliant gemstones and polished floors.
Every room immaculate, waiting to be enjoyed.
So at odds with the oppressive dark of the palace before when all we had to light our way was the singular gemstone and the knowledge an ancient beast roamed these halls.
“It’s basic palace ownership,” Elden said when I mentioned how clean and dust-free everything was for it being left abandoned for centuries. “The first thing you do when you build a place like this is add several dozen enchantments.”
“Basic palace ownership?” I teased, gripping his strong arm.