Heat creeps up to my cheeks. I’m not used to being so easily flattered, but then again, I’ve never met anyone like her. I don’t know what to say. What man would agree to this?
“Lord Ra’Salore detests the overworld. We will find someone else,” Teo starts.
It’s his refusal that makes the decision for me.
“No need to search. I would do it, My King,” I say through gritted teeth.
Teo casts me a dark look. “You would volunteer to leave again? The last time you left, you hated every second of it.”
I let out a bitter laugh. I will hate it all again, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think I should go. I need to be there.
Forher.
“Give me one reason why you should go,” he demands.
My fists curl and uncurl. “I understand I was unpleasant, but now I have experience walking the land above. Besides, she pointed at me when she asked.”
Melisa smirks. “That I did. He seems good with his magic.”
Teo makes a frustrated noise. “I suppose now we should figure out how we are going to hide a seven-foot Enduar with a tail.”
One of the elves who has joined us in the caves, the man with short white hair, steps forward. “Pardon the intrusion.”
Teo looks livid, letting out an exaggerated growl. “Anyone else hiding?”
“No need to get heated. Mrath sent me here to keep an eye on you. It seems like this delicious little human has an in with the giant lords. She’s even recruited a big blue bodyguard.”
Thorne grins, but I glare.
“Glyni can glamour him into a human without any problem, but it would only last a day at most. He’d need to bring some of the magic with him,” Thorne continues.
My anger fades, replaced with a weariness.
Teo waits a long moment and then nods.
“Very well. It is decided.” Then he looks back at Melisa. “It would likely be for the best that you don’t participate in thedual’moraan.Sending you back with a stone in your chest could be your death.”
She nods. “My thoughts exactly.”
Unbidden, Melisa’s dead body pops up in my mind. I desperately dash the image to pieces as a dull roar sounds in my ears.
What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter 10
MELISA
Ra’Sa escorts me from the entrance to the troll city. In the corner of my eye, I glimpse the other Enduares collecting the dead, carved body of a human man. I look away.
Away from death, away from the blood, away from the man who agreed to come with me.
“Melisa. I don’t think?—”
“Ra’Sa, I’ve made my choice.”
“But why makethat choice?”
I don’t know if I can tell him the truth—that I must get my family. My throat aches, and I walk faster.