Page 41 of The Broken Elf King
SEVEN
The next morning I was eager to see Raife. I couldn’t get last night’s kiss out of my mind. How real it felt, what it all meant. After frying up some eggs and elkin meat, I stepped into the dining room.
Raife was there hunched over some parchments and maps.
“Morning.” I smiled, setting the food before him.
“I’ve got to leave town for a few weeks,” he said without looking up at me.
I tried to keep the disappointment from my voice. “Oh?”
“The king of Embergate’s wife is with child. I’m going to draw the Nightfall queen into a skirmish at our eastern border to pull her attention away from him and his new wife.”
“That’s nice of you.” I wondered why he would do that, risk his own men’s lives.
Raife shoved some of the fried egg into his mouth and chewed. “He’s a childhood friend, and he’s agreed to join my alliance in a war against the queen.”
I nodded, slowly eating my food while I watched him wolf his down. He still hadn’t looked at me. I’d worn a pretty green dress and I was hoping he’d notice.
“Oh, and sorry about last night. I was drunk and barely remember anything,” he said as he took the last bite of his food.
I’d heard the termbroken hearted, but never really understood it until now. The center of my chest indeed cracked open at his flippant comment about the amazing kiss we’d shared.
“You didn’t seemthatdrunk,” I said, placing my fork on the plate and suddenly losing my appetite.
“Alright.” He stood, still not meeting my gaze. “I’m off to the eastern wall with the Bow Men. Cancel my meetings for the next two weeks and take notes for me on anything urgent that comes up. You can brief me when I get back.”
I nodded, trying not to physically shrink in on myself. “Who will feed you? Taste for you?”
Raife rested a hand on his bow, which hung on his belt, and finally met my gaze. There was pain there. I didn’t know how or why but he looked like he was suffering. “I’m an expert hunter. I’ll eat fresh game or the Bow Men will taste for me.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to feel unwanted. “Be safe,” was all I could mutter, now unable to look at him either. I felt like a discarded piece of trash. He wasn’t that drunk. I’d felt the giddiness of being tipsy. But he remembered—I knew he remembered that kiss.
Bastard.
There was a motion to my left but I kept my head down to my plate. Warm lips brushed against my cheek and then he was gone.
* * *
Two weeksof planning a fake wedding for a man that you were pretty sure you’d really fallen for, who had rejected you, sucked. Flowers, silk tapestries, cake tasting, it was all overshadowed by the supposedly forgotten kiss. Chef Brulier was back. His mother had unfortunately passed, and the grieving period was over. We’d come up with a vanilla lavender custard cake that was truly incredible, but no matter how many slices I ate I still felt like crap.
That kiss. Why did the bastard kiss me like that if he was planning on leaving? And fake forgetting the kiss and the pact to practice daily…?
“Aargh!” I screamed as I threw my axe at the tree. With no more daily meetings scheduled I’d taken to coming out to the woods and throwing things. It was doing wonders for my mood.
A twig snapped to my left and I spun. It took me a second to figure out what I was seeing.
“Autumn?” I gasped, my brain unable to place why my neighbor from Nightfall was in Archmere. She was covered in mud and twigs and I could smell her from here. She reeked of burned wood and was covered in soot.
She looked relieved to see me. “Lani.” She rushed forward, and despite the mud and soot all over her, I pulled her in for a hug.
“What happened? Why are you here?” I asked her.
She was two years older than me and studying to be a mechanical engineer at Nightfall University. “Your aunt has been worried sick about you for weeks. I offered to travel here and enquire about your whereabouts. Then I was nearly killed at the border trying to cross over. Apparently, a small battle has broken out there and I was caught in the middle.”
Oh no, Raife’s skirmish. No wonder she’d looked like she’d been dragged through the mud and fire. She probably had.
Literally.
