“What’s wrong?” I demand. I instinctively tighten my grip around her waist, pulling her closer as her body quakes.
At first, I think the threat is external. I seek out my cleaver—see it resting against the table—and press my hand to Arlet’s chest.
Her breath comes in shallow bursts.
I sit up, still trying to make sense of what is happening. She falls flat on the bed.
Then, her eyes snap open, black and unblinking, and her voice changes.
“This is your last warning: let me take her.”
Words spill out her mouth, cold and malevolent, as if someone else is speaking through her.
Fuck.
This has never happened, but I recognize the lilt of an elven accent.Arion. It has to be.
I snarl.
“She belongs to me now,"
My chest tightens. Fuck.No.
“Arlet?” I say, positioning myself over her immobile body.
“If you do not, she will leave a path of destruction in your wake. I will find her, no matter where you run. Any city that harbors you will burn."
The Elf King’s presence moves through her like poison. When I uncover a stiff leg, I find her curse mark glowing.
It’s activated and letting him in.
“Come on, Arlet,” I growl. I refuse to let Arion poison what we’ve just built.
I shake her.
No response.
Then she kicks me. Her fingers curl into claws.
No.
I need her back—my Arlet—before that darkness hurts one of us.
Without any other options, I grab her shoulders and lean in. My lips find hers in a desperate, searing kiss.
Her body goes still. Then, slowly, like breaking through a fog, her trembling eases, and her eyes return to normal. She blinks, waking from the nightmare.
“Thank Endu,” I breathe.
She pants through the pain. Her eyes find mine. They are sad. Tired.
So heartbreakingly weary.
"We need to go," she says, practically flinging off the bed. "Before it’s too late. We can’t let the city suffer."
I stand, trying to grab her wrist. “But we are supposed to leave in a few hours. We?—”
“We have to go now.Arion is searching for me. He will find this place, and the whole city will be destroyed. Dragon’s Reach has been hidden for hundreds of years and I will be the one to ruin it.”