A tall and extremely handsome male stepped out from the brown gem-lit barn, hair of a black raven’s feathers, “Who will be stabbing peasants mercilessly? Are you saying that my choice for steward is not wise?”
I paled, my heart kicking into my chest like a flying reindeer. Familiar golden eyes peered out through the male’s piercing gaze.
I swallowed down my humiliation and said, “I was just saying how Serrina is a beautiful and fair female and will be a wonderful choice to govern in your stead.”
A smile, slight and barely there, lifted his cheek, the smile I was starting to understand as a teasing smile. A crack in his armor. “Yes, that is what I thought you said.”
The Elf King wore traveling clothes similar to mine and wore his same immaculate face, but his hair was jet black, pulled in intricate braids down his back, and he wore a stubbled black beard. I blinked, then blinked again, unable to stop my mouth from falling to the leaf-strewn grass. He was…ruggedly handsome. Elegant as an elf, but—strong. He looked like a traveler, not a king.
I greatly preferred his long white hair, yet I couldn’t help but admire how the black also suited his sharp features.
“I will leave you, miss.” Rafia left the saddlebags. She bowed to the king, bowed to me and left with a quiet, “be safe,” on her lips.
“Why have you changed your appearance?” I asked through a closed throat, my heart sputtering wildly.I will not be overcome.
“I wish to remain inconspicuous. I will not be taking my elk mount. We will be traveling on horseback.” He looked down at me through his impossibly long eyelashes. “And please call me Elden.” He held a hand out to me as we stood under the light of the moon outside of the palace barn. The moonlight alighted on his black hair, and his golden eyes glowed out from his handsome face as brightly as any old stupid moon.
My heart was indeed in trouble.
“This is one of your human greetings, is it not?” He asked, hand outstretched, as I stood there dumbly.
“Noelle.” I took his hand and squeezed, surprised at the roughness. He did not have the soft hands of a precious royal, but the hands of a working man. My father said I could judge a person by their hands, and this one was strong, warm, solid, and rough.
That same slight smile quirked his lips, and a gleam flashed in his gold eyes. “A pleasure.”
And for a moment, I believed he meant it.
15
SAPPHIRE
Ifollowed the king, I meant, Elden, into the stable where his fair-haired bodyguard stood beside two tall horses. Serrina’s eyes slid over me with barely veiled loathing. I’d always thought of her as exquisite and efficient. Now I could add “likely to remove one’s head from one’s body” on my list of descriptions for the female.
“Ah, Serrina. Well met.” Elden inclined his head to his bodyguard and now, steward?
“Well met,” Serrina said smoothly, eyes not leaving my face.
The king cleared his throat. “You have, no doubt, met our baker.”
Serrina nodded to me in an infinitesimal show of acknowledgement. “Well met.”
The words seem to cause her great pain. The knuckles on the hilt of her sword shone white with straining.
“Well met,” I said through trembling lips, though it was the last thing I truly meant. I’d hardly spent five minutes in this female’s presence. How could such loathing develop in such a small time?
“Thank you for gathering our horses and supplies,” the king said, nonplussed. “We travel for Winterthorn, and I have a special request for you to accomplish in my absence.”
I blinked at the two horses, brushed down and saddled. There were only two horses. One for me and one for the king. So, it would just be the king and me? Alone? On a two-week journey? My heart quickened, and I didn’t know if it was relief or despair coursing through me at the daunting thought.
“I am always happy to serve.” Serrina bowed.
“You know of the monster I imprisoned not two nights ago,” the king started.
Serrina’s eyes found mine and narrowed, flicking to my legs for a brief moment. So, she knew about my encounter with the beast. She nodded to the king.
“I wish you to treat it with…delicacy,” the king finished.
Serrina’s eyes widened, “Delicacy? For the beast that shredded your back? Attacked a human in your gardens?”
