“Aaand,” she shot me a playful look, “you should know that speaking about moss interactions with anyone else but your moss or braid partner is scandalous.”
I bit my lip.“But we’re doing it?”
Deidre shrugged.“We’re also sitting on Karim’s moss without him having invited me on it.I don’t like playing by the rules, as you can surely tell.”A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.“If you’re planning a braid linkage with Karim, you’ll need to grow your hair much longer than this.”She eyed my curls with a calculating look before grinning.“Yours will be the most stunning braid in the Kingdom.”
I let out an incredulous laugh at the very idea I would plan a relationship with the Prince.“Karim and I?No, no–I–He…”
The look she gave me said I was full of bull.“Anyway, she-elves are quite possessive of their ex braid partners.Pulled-out claws and cut hair are the mildest consequences for the ex.As for their new partner, they’re not off the hook so easily.”
I winced.“Do I want to know?”
“A merciful she-elf would chop off only a toe or two,” Deidre informed me in a nonchalant tone.
“O-kay.”I returned the prune I’d been holding to the bowl, having lost my appetite.
“I take it your mother didn’t bring a dagger to your father’s secondwedding?”
“Gosh, no.”I snickered, glad we were back to the safer topic of my childhood.“She wanted him to be happy, despite their unsuccessful marriage.”
Deidre plucked the prune from my bowl.“Did she remarry?”
“No.She was happy being single.”
“Was?”
I needed a moment to find the right explanation.“Honestly,” I sighed, “I don’t know.The last time I saw her was when I went home for Christmas.”
Deidre put the half-eaten prune away.“What happened?”
I wish I knew.“My parents lived in another country,” I explained, trying to keep my emotions at bay.“When the war, as you call it, started, I lost contact with both of them, what with all means of communication going to hell.Then I ended up here.”
“Maybe she’s been taken by another kingdom.”Deidre gave me a somewhat sympathetic smile, though from what I’d learned, elves weren’t very attached to their parents.“It’s not just our kingdom that takes in human females these days, you know.Ours did it first, but other kingdoms soon followed suit.”
All I managed in reply was a weak smile.I didn’t know what was best anymore.What if Mom had survived the apocalypses and was in the elves’ hands, but she was too stubborn to obey their rules?What if she hadn’t even made it past the zombie apocalypse?Whatif Dad–
Deidre poked me in the shoulder with a bent finger.“Come on, it’s not so bad among us elves.It sure beats trying to survive on your own on the surface.”
“Yeah.”I took a sip of the elves’ version of liquid courage–pure spring water in a crystal glass.“Unless you’re a man.”
Deidre shrugged.“If you’re referring to the fact that we kill human males encroaching on our territory, then yes, it’s bad meeting an elf if you’re one of them.But it can’t be helped at times of war.Humans have wreaked havoc on Mother Nature and have forced usto hide in the shadows for centuries.Peace between us is out of the question at present.”
Before I finished opening my mouth, she was already answering my unspoken question.“Females and children we spare, because you pose no serious threat to us in small numbers while also being of assistance in maintaining our crops.We need the extra help, now that the war has forced many of our farmers to pick up a bow, and you need safety from the deadly shadow kinds on the surface.It’s a win-win.”
Shadow kinds?If by that she meant the monsters lurking in the shadows, then yes, working for the elves did provide safety from them.But not from the shadow-dwelling hosts themselves.“You still kill women,” I couldn’t help but remind Deidre.
She snorted.“Not in this kingdom, we don’t.Who told you that?”
I frowned.Why would she lie to me?Or was it that she, as an aristocrat’s daughter, didn’t know what was happening in the gardens?“The guards.They say refusal to garden is a death sentence.Once you disobey, you’re taken away and never seen again.I’ve watched it happen twice.”
Deidre’s eyebrows shot up.“You’ve seen females get killed by the guards?”
“Well, no.Just being taken away for the execution, but–”
A lowphewescaped Deidre’s lips.“You scared me there for a second.”She took a long sip of water.“Our garden guards don’t harm humans–Karim would turn anyone who dares into a pincushion.It was his idea to give your kind sanctuary, after all, and the Queen ordered it under,” Deidre scrunched up her nose, “uh, certain conditions.Either the guards were trying to scare you into obedience, or bydeathsentence they were referring to what awaits you on the surface beyond our borders.Where disobeying humans are left to fend for themselves, as per the Queen’s orders.”
“Oh!”My gosh!Did that mean I could have gotten away fromhere at any time by simply refusing persistently to water a carrot?If only the other women knew!
Also, Karim was ensuring our safety in the gardens?He’d suggested giving us women a safe place amid the apocalypses?Then him being a good guy wasn’t just wishful thinking on my part.My impression of him had just been confirmed.
