“And my name isn’t ‘human’,” Ella shot back.
The Elf inclined his head, and Ella was surprised when he said, sounding more conciliatory: “What is your name then, girl?”
“Ella,” she said, and then, about to reveal her full name, she clicked her mouth shut. If any of the superstitions she’d heard about Elves were true, she didn’t want him to know her true name. She didn’t want him to have evenmorepower over her, she thought grimly.
As if guessing her thoughts, the Elf smiled.
“Ella,” he said mockingly. “You may call me Lord Ryu.”
“Ryu,” Ella said, drawing the syllables out as he did. His face darkened when she dropped the honorific, but she ignored it. “That means…dragon?” She smirked. Trust an elf with a pet dragon to be named ‘dragon’.
Ryu frowned. “It means ‘defiance’,” he said repressively.
Ella shrugged. She’d been kidnapped, she didn’t need to worry too much aboutpoliteness.So, what if she got the meaning of his name wrong?
“Why am I here?” she asked again, subtly struggling against the bonds that still held her tight.
With a wave of his hand, the Elf—Ryu, his name was Ryu—freed her. She sat up at once, crouching on her knees and scuttling as far away from him as she could reach.
She seemed to be in a stable of some sort, there was a huffing sound, like that of a large horse, but it sounded like the creature was enormous—
Dear lord. He’d kept her in the same stable with his dragon.
Ella scanned her surroundings frantically, relaxing a fraction when she realized that she was in a stall with walls and a door—which meant that the dragon was somewhere outside, far enough away that it was no immediate danger to her.
“Ember will not hurt you,” the Elf said, speaking as if he could read her mind. Ella frowned, and dropped her gaze from his. Was he using magic to read her thoughts? She’d heard the myths, that if people locked gazes with an Elf, they could be controlled—what if it was true? Was he using his magic on her even now?
“Stay back!” she cried, raising a hand to ward him off.
Ryu growled. “Stop being sodramatic, you silly human—”
“Well, stop using your magic on me then, you damned Elf!”
“I’m not!”
“Why am I here? I want to go home!Let me go home!”Ella’s voice broke on that last line, and she bit her lip to stop the tears that threatened to overflow. “If you brought me here to be your mistress, I’ll kill myself before I submit to you.”
“Ugh.” There was a pause, and the Elf’s voice came slowly, sounding very cold. “I assure you, Ella, I did not bring you here to be…forthat.”
“Then let me go!”
“I can’t.”
Ella risked a glance at him then, and saw that he had stepped closer.
Ryu approached, his gaze searing into her soul. “You are the key to my ambitions, human. We are connected, you and I. And once I sever the bond we share, I can finally prove my worth to the Twilight Court and claim what is rightfully mine.”
She shook her head, confusion and anger mingling within her. “I don't understand. How am I connected to you?”
A smile played upon the Elf's lips. “You will learn soon enough, human. The elven magic that binds us, the emotions we share, it is a power unlike any other. With your help, I will ascend the Twilight Throne, and once I am the Twilight Prince, you are free to leave.”
Ella's mind whirled with a mix of fear and defiance.
What bond was he talking about? And why should she care? She refused to be a pawn in his game, to be used for his selfish desires.
“Why should I care about your ambitions?” she spat, even as some part of her rational mind told her that maybe it would be wiser to pretend to go along with him. But her mind was clouded with anger, and if she didn’t scream, she would cry, and she refused to break down in front of her abductor.
Ryu’s eyes seemed to flicker with something akin to regret, but his voice remained firm.
