Chapter 22 #2
She reached for the cloak but then caught sight of herself in the mirror. The soft violet lighting went easy on her skin. For Dark Elves, the crystal light really suited their gray skin tones, but there was something different about her.
The reflection in the mirror—her usual look, one born from her life in the temple, made of restraint and quiet reverence, had settled into an eerie calm—she didn’t look at all like herself at all.
She put her hair up in a high ponytail, letting some long bangs fall out on the side, just the way she liked it. Maybe then, things would start to look more familiar.
As she turned to put on the cloak, Shikra was already on it, tying the strings around her neck. But before fitting the hood on, he smiled down at her. His hands gently turned her head to face him.
“I’ve been waiting for this all morning.” His lips moved with her as she backed away. The kiss was gentle, but strangely, possessive, as if he were marking her.
He backed her up against the dresser, and her hands flailed until they met its surface to get away from him.
He broke from the kiss with a perplexed look on his face as she scooted away from him. “Don’t do that,” she uttered with her back to him.
“What’s this? You act as if I am a stranger now.”
She sighed deeply and faced him again. His brilliant ruby eyes regarded her with suspicion, but once he noticed her looking, they softened into concern.
Did he suspect her? Was seducing her all a big ruse to get the truth out of her?
She looked down. She couldn’t let him see her like this. She was too unsure of herself at the moment.
Seduce him. Use his own tactics against him .
This was her new course of action. But Aelrie the virgin had never seduced anyone in her life, and now she faced a master of the art. “What happened last night,” she started, "can’t happen again.” She raised her head to look him in the eyes.
Hurt crossed his face, but just momentarily. He was about to retort, but she cut him off. “I get too emotional and attached.” She sighed, turning her head to the side. “We’re just going to go our separate ways and … I am Light Elf, and you are Dark Elf. It wouldn’t work.”
Was this her big plan of seduction? Honesty?
But … men liked the chase. Would he?
“Aelrie.”
She turned quickly at the sound of her name. Shikra was looking at her with such a sad expression. He even said her name and not the nickname he gave her.
His breath was warm and smelled vaguely of cinnamon, one of the spices from malaas .
“Nothing can keep me from you. No matter what happens, even if we have to go our separate ways, I will find you again.” His tone took a serious note, and she stared into his eyes that seemed to be burning like a furnace, intense with heat and fire.
She shivered despite herself.
Oh … he not only liked the chase, he relished it.
In pursuit of her, he’d follow her anywhere. Even to Alfheim …
A strategy started to form in her mind.
He turned from her before she got any more ideas. “We should go. Keep your hood on.”
She followed him out of the door and down the corridor, watching as he sauntered down the stairs—a casual, sexy walk, with his shiny new twin blades at his side. His confidence was brimming after all that had taken place during the night.
She kept close to his back, and her eyes darted around at the Dark Elves.
All the chatting and sounds quieted as the room stared at her.
The male gazes were lustful, eyeing her face and up and down her body, even though much of it was covered by the cloak.
They were markedly different from the female glares, which were baneful and cut like knives.
She didn’t know which was worse or who she’d rather be locked in a room with.
Two prostitutes in revealing gem-colored dresses leaned against the sleek black bar and whispered to each other, which Aelrie overheard. “That Ljósálfar must have had a good time last night. ”
The other prostitute fixed her gaze on Shikra with a glimmer in her ruby eyes and moaned, getting herself excited. “Look how handsome he is. It’s my turn next.”
“Poor thing looks tired. Ljósálfar just can’t keep up with Dark Elf appetites.”
Shikra hissed at the prostitutes, and they laughed darkly amongst themselves. The jealous one didn’t relinquish her glare on Aelrie, though.
She was glad to be rid of that place.
Once they left the inn, they stumbled outside into the busy town.
Elves were everywhere on the streets, which were much more crowded than the night when they arrived.
The town had felt so cold and lifeless then, but now, with the elves scurrying all about and the warmth coming from the markets, it seemed alive.
“Stay close,” Shikra prompted, taking her by the arm.
Light Elf architecture used white marble and made use of spiraling towers and mighty walls, but was still elegant and close to nature, with graceful columns and intricately carved knot arches.
But Dark Elf architecture used a black stone that shimmered in the purple lights.
Towers were cut as if they were slivers of black gemstone with sharp spires and broke through the looming darkness.
The sharp angles and shadowed edges of the city felt like a warning to her, but were a monument to pride and power for the Dark Elves, built in defiance of the oppressive weight of leagues of rock above them.
She walked slowly through the busy street, feeling like a trespasser in a place she was never meant to belong, no matter how welcoming the markets looked.
The lights in the town were brighter, perhaps because this was their daytime. The shops at the market were open, and above the stalls hung lanterns made of brightly colored gems illuminating a rainbow of colors down onto the wares for sale—foodstuffs, baubles, silks, and satins.
She smelled the malaas scent wafting in from the food stalls.
Her mouth watered even though she was full from breakfast, and turned her head to a particularly mouthwatering smell from a vendor selling grilled meat sprinkled with the malaas spice on skewers roasting over an open flame.
The charred meat smell made her hungry again.
“Later,” Shikra told her. “Myrkheim has even better street food.”
The Dark Elves wore beautiful clothes resembling robes, and females showed off their smooth gray skin, which glistened in the violet light.
Light Elves loved beautiful clothes too, but in colors of white, gold, and silver.
Dark Elves dressed in black, purples, and reds.
But Dark Elves did wear their white hair long with gems on their brow like Light Elves.
There were other Dark Elves not dressed so beautifully, though. They were workers or indentured servants and wore simple loose-fitting shirts and pants. If they were of the soldier, mercenary, or assassin persuasion, then they looked like Shikra and had visible weapons.
But there were no flowers here. She could not expect to see them in the Evergloom.
Shikra’s pet name for her was “little flower.” Why did the scent of flowers impress him so? Flowers were usually impressive, but they seemed to be a rarity in the Evergloom.
She then saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks. Slaves at the market, mostly goblins, but she also saw some female orcs, and even a Wood Elf. She did not see any other Light Elf such as herself, and while she was glad to see none of her kind taken into slavery, it did not comfort her.
The slaves walked with their masters, either kept on a leash or following close behind. They wore metal “collars” around their necks with their master’s name etched in runes across.
“Come.” Shikra pulled her away from the market.
They left the high-arched town gate and walked on the path that veered to the left.
She glanced back after they climbed up a hill of rock.
From up here, the town didn’t look as big as it had from the inside, but many Dark Elves lived there, as she’d seen crowds in the marketplace.
The purple lights from the town got smaller the farther they walked through the cavern, but it wasn’t dark.
They were still in Dark Elf land, so it was illuminated here with the same violet starlight embedded into the rocks.
Oddly, it was comforting, feeling this magic all around, despite being out of the safety of town. Not knowing what dangers awaited her was daunting, but at least she had this comforting light and Shikra, a Dark Elf accustomed to the harsh life of the Evergloom, to guide her.
She was reminded of this fragility later when they climbed up another winding pathway that looked much like a tower. As they got closer to the top with rock columns all around it like a cage, they heard shouting ahead.