Chapter 19 Svenn
Ialmost fucked her to death.
The girl is curling on the bed, weeping uncontrollably as if someone has died. I look at her in complete awe and disbelief. I still can’t fathom how she can possibly be real.
For as long as I can remember, there is nothing but the swirling darkness. I watch as my soul and mind slowly chip away, degraded by time.
A meaningless existence.
No one heard my cry for help. No one listened. I was lost to the world. I was forgotten.
And then there was light.
Her.
The most stunning thing I have ever laid my eyes on.
A figment of a wondrous dream, a midnight fantasy. She stumbled into my prison like a wandering fawn and resurrected me from my slumber.
The curse sometimes taunts me with visions. It gives me hope for an escape, a victim to devour. Anything to plunge me into the sinking, hopeless despair when they reveal none of it is real.
It felt like drifting out of a nightmare as the girl dragged me from the dungeon.
I nearly lost control when I licked her wound in the cavern.
Her blood sings to me, gracing my throat like a taste I have long forgotten.
As sweet as honey and milk. The thirst usually wins over everything else.
But with her it didn’t take much to curb the hunger before an entirely different need took a hold of me.
I have been trapped in that hell for ages. Even my own name felt foreign to me when I uttered it to her.
Everything after that played out with an unreal quality that only existed in dreams. The chase, the escape, the fight.
Endless questions keep on piling in my mind.
I thought the isolation had driven me insane.
An odd, younger Balthazar appeared, telling me this beautiful thing offered herself as my plaything for the entire night.
Rhianelle is all my darkest desires wrapped in one.
From her perky breasts to every gentle curve and quivering hips, to the way she kept begging for more when she clearly couldn’t take it.
I fulfilled every one of her requests, ravaged her like a beast relentlessly with her hands tied.
This is definitely another trick by the Rhunhraefn, one I would willingly fall into.
But then…
“I’m turning into a snail.”
And…the dream stops.
Snail?
There is no way the curse can conjure something that odd.
This girl is real.
And so is everything else. I look at her soft, delicate frame on the bed. I almost lost complete control of myself. Hell forbids what could have happened then. Her weirdness saved her life. My first instinct is to kill the male who planned this fuckery.
Balthazar.
But I can’t leave her. The girl is crying her heart out, her tears spilling to the bedsheet. I glance at the cord mark decorating her wrists. She doesn’t seem like someone accustomed to restraints. Then why beg me for it?
Have I broken her?
No, this is not the rope or the rough fucking. It’s something else…
“Rhianelle,” I call to her.
Her long elven ears perk at the clear utterance of her name. But she doesn’t look at me, burying her face in the pillow.
“Nel…” I try again.
She stirs a little.
“Snail—”
The girl finally lifts her head to glare at me. I fight back a smile. Definitely not a dream.
I look at the amulet around my neck, hoping it will carry my words to her. “Did I hurt you?”
Just when I begin cursing myself, I feel her small hand touching mine.
“No,” she says in a gentle voice, managing a feeble smile of assurance for me. “I’m all right.”
She covers her body with the blanket and crawls slowly into my arms. I wrap my hand around her waist, holding her close to me.
The small sobs continue, her emotion raw and miserable.
I let her hide in my embrace without words.
The heartbreaking cries finally cease after a while.
When the last of her tears dry, I shift to lay us down on the bed.
“Will you tell me what’s wrong?” I ask after a while, making an effort to use the softest tone in my voice.
“The bond hasn’t formed. I’ve failed everyone,” she despairs.
I’m still terribly confused. “Bond?”
She nods feebly. “Our contract.”
Of course. Demons and their bargains. I remember Balthazar’s cunning face at the clearing.
‘These elves wish to bone you before dawn.’
A new term of this age which means fucking.
That is the only thing he said to me. There was no bond, no contract, nothing else.
I jump at the first chance he offered me with Rhianelle.
The bastard must have promised this elf something as part of the bargain.
Anger burns in my veins and my talons erupt in response. “I’m going to kill that fucking demon.”
Alarm flashes in her face.
“Please don’t,” she says, tugging my arm. “It’s not his fault. He was trying to help.”
This elf clearly has never dealt with a demon before. I hate to add to the sorrow in her eyes. I withdraw the beastly shift slowly. The sight of her in pain forms a hollow ache in my heart. She doesn’t complain when I tuck her closer to me.
“Maybe I can’t be as selfless as the Maidens of Arawynn. Maybe deep inside all I want is for the Fae King to die,” she mutters to herself in a breathy whisper. “Of course, the Goddess wouldn’t allow such a horrible request.”
Again, none of the words in her mouth make sense to me. My brain begins to piece and weave together all the information. Balthazar must have offered her some kind of a twisted bargain by marrying and sleeping with me. That slimy fucker.
This whole twisted thing is confusing the fuck out of me.
I look at the elf curling up in my arms. I may not understand everything, but I recognize vengeance when I see it in a person’s eyes.
It’s a dark and cold path. Who am I to tell her that when I’ve ventured the same road far too many times to count.
Her loss had to be profound if she turned to a demon for a wish.
“I’ll bring you the Fae King’s head,” I vow to her delicate ear. I barely know this woman—female. But whoever her enemy is... is now my enemy.
She sniffles, turning those wide eyes to me. “I am being selfish. You have more at stake here than I do. Your freedom depends on this.”
Freedom? The demon promised me nothing of the sort. But if Balthazar is truly some kind of wish granting genie, what I want most is…
“I want to be human again.” It’s the first time I’ve ever admitted that to anyone. To be granted the true death.
Rhianelle raises her head to place her chin on my chest. She studies me quietly for a moment. “Most humans would do anything to achieve immortality. They’ll bargain with demons and witches. Some would go as far as searching for the fountain of youth in Avalon. But you want to give it all up?”
I merely nod.
My curse is that I will never die. I would give anything to be granted an eternal rest.
Amusement dances in her soft doe eyes as she stares at me.
I wish we could stay like this forever but the Rhunhraefn is already calling me back to the labyrinth.
I’m surprised it didn’t drag me by the neck already.
Despite the demon’s wicked schemes, or whatever led me here, I’m grateful for the chance to meet this soft creature nestling comfortably on my chest. A small reprieve from my suffering.
I can’t resist touching her long ear because I love her reactions. She lets out a soft whimper this time, my cock twitching at the sound.
“Tell me something else about you, Nel,” I say to distract myself.
She scrunches her nose. “What do you want to know?”
Everything.
As funny as it is seeing her as the murder bunny who wants to kill the Fae King, I’d like to get to know her better. “Do you have other dreams?”
She nibbles her bottom lip thoughtfully, her cheeks flushing into the faintest shade of pink. “I do have another one.”
A brief pause as she adds, “But it’s silly and impossible.”
She shrinks to my side, placing her head on my arm as a pillow. I like that she’s completely unafraid and content with me.
“You don’t have to worry. Your secret will be buried deep in the ground with me when the sun rises,” I tease. Sadness haunts her soft features again and I wish I hadn’t said that.
The girl inhales deeply at long last. “You have to promise not to laugh.”
The vulnerability in her eyes steals the breath right out of my lungs. This is something she has never told anyone.
“I promise.” I brace myself for her deepest and darkest secret.
“I want to open a bakery,” she finally says in a small voice.
A what?
There is a hint of insecurity and fear as she utters her dream out loud, as if it might bite.
Thank the devils my face remains calm, so I don’t spook her.
She looks a lot like a cowering deer in the forest. It’s hard not to make that comparison when the creature is depicted on every piece of fabric and object in the tent.
“Why a bakery?” I manage.
“When I was young, I had nothing to eat for days. It hurts trying to sleep with an empty stomach,” she says quietly.
Something in my chest cracks over her revelation. She was starved as a child? Despite Balthazar’s mistranslations, he did mentioned Rhianelle was a queen. Perhaps her elven kingdom is poor. I went through the same thing in my early human years.
“We will give bread to everyone who passes by our store,” she continues spilling her pure thoughts.
Wait, it’s free now? I don’t know how they do transaction in this new world, so I don’t question the girl.
“My friend Blaire will open her shop next to mine and sell her fragrances.” Her eyes light up with every passing word.
I love the way she ardently describes every detail of the bakery as if she can see it with her own eyes.
There is hope in her bright, lovely voice despite knowing that this dream is somehow impossible for her.
“You don’t think it’s weird?” she finally asks uncertainly.
“It’s a sweet dream, Rhianelle,” I say, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “But if I have to choose which dream to fulfill a bargain with you, taking out the Fae King might be easier.”
She smacks my chest playfully, her laughter shaking her small figure. “You said you wouldn’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not. You’ll make it happen,” I say, turning so I can look her straight in the eyes. “Tell me, what else do you have in your bakery?”
She continues whispering her dreams to me.
I can tell she’s been dying to share this with someone.
I’m honored to be that person. Rhianelle’s peculiar stories will carry me through the next dreaded years in the dungeon.
I study her exquisite face, framed by clouds of silver hair.
There is no way the darkness of the labyrinth can craft an illusion this perfect.
I kiss the nape of her neck, inhaling the sweet scent of water lilies in her hair. “I was afraid you’d turn into tendrils of shadows and dust.”
“I’m real, Svenn. I’m sorry I failed to help you.” Her eyes start to pool again. No one has ever mourned for me before, not my first death or the next. I tilt her chin to look at me.
Tears stream down her face. I wipe her soft cheek with a swipe of my thumb. “Don’t cry, Nel. It’s not worth it.”
Not for me.
She launches herself into me. I feel her body trembling against mine. Her gaze falls on the discarded gown and the fancy elven accessories. “Everything has been for nothing.”
“It’s not for nothing,” I tell her. “I got to meet you.”
A smile tugs her perfect lips as her head tilts up to look at me, “You’re right.”
She stares at me with her wide, mesmerizing lilac eyes. I like seeing my reflection in them when she focuses on me. For a moment, it feels as if I have escaped from the Rhunhraefn as I stay in them. I wish she could keep me in there forever.
Heat sparks between us and my blood stirs in response. I lean in to kiss her, but Rhianelle shakes her head. My heart cracks a little over the rejection but I understand. She underwent this strange ordeal for a bargain with the demon to kill the Fae King. There’s no need for her to continue this.
The girl suddenly leaps on top of me. I stare up at her with a look of surprise. “Rhianelle?”
“This time I’m not doing this to appease the gods or for whatever bonds,” she says, her cheeks flushed with arousal. “I want you.”
Thank fuck.
“Then give me a night to remember, Rhianelle.”