Page 39 of The Broken Elf King
Hades.Being confronted with my own mortality at nineteen years old made me feel a little sick. Still, I didn’t regret it.
“I’m not sorry I saved the little girl,” I said, and held my chin high.
Raife hooked his palms together and gripped the back of his neck. “Go back to the castle and dye your hair, Lani. We cannot let this get out.”
I frowned. “But I thought we were going out tonight? I brought dinner—”
“I’ve lost my appetite, Kailani,” he snapped, releasing his hands and walking across the room. He pulled his cloak off a hook on the wall and walked over to me, wrapping it around my shoulders. He then pulled the cloak up and started angrily shoving my hair into it.
I was stunned by his anger until I reached up to brush his hand and felt a fierce protectiveness. It was like a rabid animal standing over a fresh kill. Wild, unrestrained feral possessiveness bubbled through Raife and it was all over me. The protectiveness was in fear of my safety. He would kill for me, die for me, do anything to keep me safe.
I grasped his hand and he stilled.
“I’ll be okay,” I told him.
He yanked his hand from mine. “Whatever,” was all he said, and then he tore from the room.
I tried and failed to keep the tears from flowing down my cheeks. Raife Lightstone sure had an interesting way of caring for someone. It was all too confusing for me to bear. Keeping my hood up, I left the room and passed the front desk, not even grabbing the dinner basket I had made. For all I knew the nurse had poisoned it. This was my life now, living in fear at every corner, all because of the Nightfall queen and her psychotic vision to rid the realm of magic.
My stomach grumbled. That chicken and boiled eggs I’d made sounded pretty damn good right now.
I wasn’t sure who wanted to kill the queen more right now, me or Raife.
* * *
After tellingMrs. Tirth I had some early graying hair I wanted to cover, she ran out and purchased some brown hair dye for me. I spent the entire night dying my hair, twice to cover the bright silver strands, and then made a second dinner because I was starved.
I took a long bath, and then got into my nightgown and tucked into my book. The character was having a hard time coming to terms with her new reality of being able to see the spirit realm. It sounded familiar. I’d like a vacation from my reality right about now.
There was a knock at the door. I threw a robe over my silk gown. “Yes?” I said through the wood.
“It’s Raife,” a slightly slurred voice called from the other side.
I tore the door open, and all thoughts of our earlier fight were forgotten when I looked at his sleepy eyes and the way he swayed in the doorway. His long blond hair was pulled into a sexy messy bun at his nape, and he put one hand on his hip.
“You’re drunk!” I said accusingly. I didn’t know why this made me happy but it did.
“I may be slightly ib-riniated. Inebretatid.” He frowned, unable to say the word, and I couldn’t help but bark out in laughter.
“Oh, Raife, this made my night, thank you.” I beamed, then a thought struck me. “Who tasted the beer for you?”
“Mybowmen.” He rushed the words together and then stepped closer to me, so close in fact that I had to step backwards into my room.
“I’ve been thinking.” His gaze fell to my lips. “If we are to kiss only on our wedding day in front of thousands, it won’t look real.”
My stomach bottomed out and I licked my lips in anticipation. Gone was the angry Raife from the infirmary. He didn’t even look at my hair or say anything about my being blessed.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked. If he wanted to forget my saving the little girl tonight, I was totally okay with that.
All this talk of kissing seemed to have instantly sobered him a little. He stopped swaying, his eyes looking more alert as his gaze fell to my nightgown. I glanced down, following his gaze.
Oops. My cloak had opened, so I covered myself up again.
“I was thinking in order to make it look natural, we should practice. One kiss a day,” he stated.
Now I was the one swaying. A heady rush consumed me and my heart pounded madly in my chest.
Kiss Raife? Like arealkiss in order to make our fake kissing look real? I didn’t know what was what anymore, but if I was being honest I’d thought about kissing this guy a lot since the first day I met him. Most women might care that he was drunk. I did not. Whatever it took to get him to open up about his desire to kiss me was okay with me. Raife lived a lot of the time in his head. He needed to drop into his heart once in a while.
