Chapter Twenty-Four
“At last I have you.” He beamed at me, but there was no true joy in his face, only the embodiment of evil, as I shuddered in his grasp. “What a thrill it was to hunt you down, but now I am all the more thrilled to finally have you.”
Against my better judgment, I fought in his arms as his hold tightened. “Let me go,” I cried, knowing he never would. I knew I would be forever trapped with this man for the rest of my days.
“I will never let you go,” he spat out, his patience wearing thin, despite his earlier glee.
He finally allowed me to pull back. Where was Aleixo? Was he safe? Had he followed my advice and moved in the opposite direction? “Why?” I had to know why, on a random day as he hunted for another, he had chosen me.
“Why what?” He eyed me curiously, as if truly wondering what I was asking about, as if he actually cared.
“Why did you offer for me? It was not a diamond ball that hung, nor a golden ball. It was a silver ball, nothing of substance and barely of value, especially to someone like you.”
Nilsorn gleamed wickedly as he leaned in closer. “Because I liked what I saw.” He released me, likely knowing I wouldn’t run. “You were there, right where I needed you to be. I have no need for the human—he is a mere afterthought—but you… Oh, I have need of you.”
“Calista!” a voice cried out in the distance.
I felt my eyes close, feeling defeated as I heard Aleixo. “No,” I whispered. “No.” He hadn’t run; he had done the opposite of what I’d instructed. Instead of fleeing the forest and having a chance at survival, he had run directly into the trap that was Nilsorn.
“Ah, here comes your knight in shining armour now. I can’t wait to deal with this situation. Do be patient; I’ll only be a minute.”
“You can’t do this, Nilsorn,” I insisted, attempting to put distance between us until he grabbed my arm.
“Are we to be so familiar, my bride? Oh, I do love that.” The silk never left his voice, yet the feel of it covered me as he spoke, grabbing my arm and yanking me to him.
“Listen here, elf. I will do as I please, and no one will ever get in my way. Not you, and not this pesky human who has evaded me so successfully until now.”
Aleixo appeared straight out of the fog like a living apparition, and I nearly jumped. “Unhand her!” he demanded, his face red with rage.
“Aleixo, please,” I pleaded. “You were supposed to run the other way! You were supposed to leave.”
Sadness covered his face as he turned to me. “I couldn’t.” His voice dropped, feeling the gravity of this moment. “I couldn’t do that to you.”
“Yes, yes, yes, this is all well and good. A little lover’s reunion,” Nilsorn mocked. “I’m trying to have a moment of evil terror here, and I’ll not have that ruined!”
I tried to think clearly, think of any way we could get out of this, but no answer came to mind.
We were trapped in an impossible situation with a man who had been given every power of the realms. He could catch up with us no matter where we went, he had hunted us down relentlessly, and this truly could be the end. What could I do?
“Calista,” Nilsorn drawled as he patted my arm. “Think of what I can give you that this other man cannot. Has he even told you what he is? Where he hails from?”
“I know enough.” It was my turn to speak with venom at his words.
“Ah, so you know he is a king in his realm. A man who rules over a kingdom in such disarray that he cannot be allowed to return with the knowledge he now has. Not to mention,” he snapped his fingers, “his advisors no longer wanted him and thrust him into a portal.”
“What?” My head swam. That couldn’t be. Aleixo was so perfectly ordinary—that was half his charm to me. He wasn’t a king; he couldn’t be a king. I looked at him, waiting for him to deny it, but he stood there, looking just as shocked as I felt.
He had gasped in response to Nilsorn’s words. “They wouldn’t have done that…” The hurt of betrayal showed in his words as they trailed off.
“You said you didn’t even know there were other realms, that there are no connections across these borders,” I pointed out to him. “You told me—”
“He isn’t wrong,” Nilsorn interrupted. “Only the advisors are aware such a thing exists. The humans know nothing, dim-witted bunch they are. So out of touch with anything outside of themselves.”
“I wanted to tell you I had been king, I just felt it didn’t matter, given I’m not one here…
And I wasn’t sure I could even return home.
” Aleixo rushed to make it through his words, likely trying to convince me that his hiding of the facts didn’t mean anything substantial. Except it did…to me it did.
“None of that matters, anyway.” I pushed through the pain of my beating heart. “We must go our separate ways.” Turning to Nilsorn, I hoped to break through with something to him. “Send him to a new realm—he doesn’t have to return to his. Send him anywhere you desire.”
“As tempting of an offer as that is, for there are realms that don’t take kindly to humans, the realms do not mix.” He shrugged, his face lighting in the smile I had come to despise. “He will be terminated, and you will be my bride.”
Raising his hand as he faced Aleixo, I managed to pull myself strong enough to escape his grasp, running to Aleixo. Flinging myself in front of him, I cried out, “Stop!” Tears were beginning to show, but I didn’t care. “Please, you cannot do this. Please.”
“You foolish elf,” Nilsorn boomed. “This is the way of things.”
“If you let him live, I will come willingly.”
“I’m listening…” His foot tapped impatiently.
“I will willingly become your bride,” I rushed on. “I will do whatever you ask without question. I will comply.”
“Calista, no,” Aleixo gasped. “Do not make such promises for me.”
I couldn’t face him as I spoke the words. I couldn’t even stand to hear him speak. “Whatever you need, I will dedicate my life to your happiness, only if you let him live.”
Aleixo was still behind me, and he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me back toward him, trapping me in his embrace. “No,” he whispered in my ear. “I would rather die than have you commit promises to such a creature.”
“I’m sorry,” I cried, tears streaming down my face. “I’m sorry I’m not strong enough to watch you die.” His chest was against my back and his lips were on my cheek as he pressed a kiss against it. I could feel his face wet with tears as I shoved away from him to stand firm in my promises.
“You said you wanted me as a bride and the human was an afterthought. You can free him and have me.”
Nilsorn pondered my words, tapping his fingers under his chin with pursed lips. “You make a very tempting offer, Calista.”
I hated the way my name sounded on his lips. It was as though a nightmare of my childhood had taken physical form and was haunting me in my waking hours.
“I suppose I don’t really need to kill him…”
I felt my body relax and the words poured out of me. “Yes, yes! Thank you! I will do all you ask, I will—”
Nilsorn let out a laugh before pointing in Aleixo’s direction. “But I do hate to be predictable.” His voice cut right through me as I watched Aleixo vanish before my very eyes.
“No!” I screamed as every part of me broke into pieces. “No, you can’t!” I collapsed to the ground in a heap of sobs as he disappeared completely, the last view of Aleixo being his sad smile as he faded out of being, his final words ending in an echo.
“Goodnight for now, Calista.”