Taking a deep breath, Ella stepped forward into the clearing.
~
Ryu collapsed against the tree trunk, trying hard not to pant. Azuma and his cronies would be looking for him. He had to stay safe until Erlan could come get him.
Surely by now, Erlan would have noticed that he was missing. His uncle would be here soon; he was sure of it.
Ryu’s head thunked against the tree as he leaned his back, struggling not to close his eyes. He couldn’t die here and give Sanada Azuma the satisfaction of winning.
Azuma had always hated him—right from the first time they’d met as young elflings, when his father had introduced Lord Sanada as a member of the Twilight Court, and Azuma had glared at him from behind his father’s back.
Later, when his father had asked Lord Sanada to meet him and Erlan in private, Azuma had made his feelings more plain.
“You’re that half human, aren’t you?” he’d sneered, looking Ryu up and down. He’d bristled at the implied insult in the other boy’s tone, standing up straighter as he had responded.
“Yes, I am.” Ryu had glared. “My mother is human.”
“Clara Heavenwalker, right?” Azuma’s mouth had turned down into a moue of disgust. “Heavenwalker, likeDarkwalker. These humans have even copied our names. They want to takeeverythingfrom us.”
Ryu had rolled his eyes, used to the people who couldn’t look past his human heritage. His mother was as wise and as strong as any Elf, and she didn’t need him to defend her from the babbling of fools.
“Even your father’s life.”
Ryu had stared, and when Azuma realized that Ryu didn’t know what he meant, the other boy had crowed in delight.
“You do know that your father’s human iskillinghim, don’t you?” He’d smiled with sadistic glee. “Draining his life force with every day she stays bonded to him.” He’d laughed. “The Twilight Prince, laid low by a human.”
Ryu had not been able to stop himself to reacting to that, and by the time his father and Lord Sanada had returned to the throne room, he and Azuma were at each other’s throats. Ryu satisfied himself with the fact that even though Azuma had bloodied his lip, he’d bloodied the other boy’s noseandlip.
That night, his father had explained to him how he’d shared his lifeforce with his mate.
“Humans aren’t as long lived as Elves, Tsukito,” he’d said. The usage of his true name had made Ryu pause and listen carefully. “So, I’ve shared my own essence with your mother, so we could stay together all these years.”
“But you’reshorteningyour own life,” he’d said, bewildered. He couldn’t imagine loving someone that much.
His father’s lips had quirked into a smile. “I find it a fair exchange.” He had run a hand over Ryu’s hair. “We’re sharing our life spans—longer than a human’s, a little shorter than an Elf’s life would be.” He’d shrugged. “And we are content.”
Ryu had said nothing more that night, and it was only years later that he learned that his father had further shortened his lifespan by pouring most of his Elven essence into his only child, ensuring that Ryu was more Elven than human. It was thanks to his father’s power—his life force—running through his veins, that Ryu had the Darkwalker magic that was essential to ascending to the Twilight Throne one day. Gods, it was due to his fathergiving awayso much of himself that Ryu even had the pointed ears of the Elves.
He waskilling his father the longer he stayed alive.
Ryu had started to learn more about Elf-human bondings after that, trying to figure out some way to save his father. He’d spent hours in the library, prodded and asked Erlan—the only other half-Elf he knew—questions about their powers, their essences, how long his own father had lived—every avenue that he could mine for information, he had. And all of it had come to nothing.
And every day, his father’s life was growing shorter because of him.
It was almost a relief when his parents announced that they were traveling through the Four Kingdoms and beyond. Ryu couldn’t look at his father and not feel guilt, and he couldn’t look at his mother and not feel irrationally angry that she wasn’t an Elf, and now that his parents were going to be away, he was free to find a way to reverse what his father had done to himself.
Almost as soon as the Twilight Prince and his consort left the Ellem Isles, though, things went wrong. Instead of leaving him to his brooding and his research, Erlan had insisted on taking Ryu and some of the other young noble Elf lords and ladies on a sea voyage.
“It’ll be good for you all to see what lies beyond our shores,” Erlan had said. “See that there’s more to life than the Isles.”
Ryu had been excited to see Lady Aiko board the ship with him, but his excitement had dissipated as soon as he’d seen Azuma among the young Elflings on board. But he’d hoped—stupidly, in hindsight—that Azuma would leave his old animosity in the past. After all, they were seventeen now, and nearly adults. Childish rivalries weren’t important anymore.
Except they were.
When Lady Aiko had made it clear that she preferred his company to spending time with Azuma, the other boy had sworn revenge. Ryu had tried his best to stay with the group and make sure Azuma wouldn’t get him alone, but this trip to the forests of the Merovian coast had given him the opportunity to strike.
Erlan was busy with the younger Elflings, leading them through the forest and showing them the trees that grew in human lands.
