Page 72 of The Broken Elf King
Raife stared at the breach in the wall and rubbed his chin. “I’m torn between wanting to close this off after tonight to keep Nightfall soldiers out of Archmere, or leave it open so that we can sneak in at a future date.”
Always thinking like a king.
“My vote is to leave it open. If Nightfall really wanted in, they would just climb the fence and jump over.” Which we could have done as well, but it increased the risk of being seen by the guards up top.
He nodded. “I think you’re right.”
I’d read a war theory book in his bedroom yesterday while I was stuck there for several hours. So I knew a little about what he might be thinking.
Raife ducked down, going through the hole in the fence first, and I held my breath, waiting to see if it was safe to follow.
“Come on,” he whispered.
I crouched down and looked through just as he held out a hand for me. Taking his offered assistance, I allowed him to pull me through, and stood before him, brushing off my dress. He didn’t back up to give me space, so I stood right up against his chest with the wall at my back.
With our bodies this close together, my heart ratcheted in my chest so loudly I was certain he heard it.
“If things get dangerous, I want you to come back here and wait for me, okay?” His voice was deep, and the protective vibes coming off of him were so strong I could feel my jaw tighten.
I laughed nervously. “You’re the king. If things get dangerous,youneed to come back here and I’ll press on.”
“No,” he growled, holding my gaze. “I’ve had enough of your heroic efforts to last me a lifetime. If I tell you to run, you run. Got it?”
I hadn’t really known what my empathic gift was. All my life I’d just sort of kept to myself because people overwhelmed me. Now that I knew what it was and that the feelings weren’t mine, they were his, it still confused me. Because in this moment, underneath all of that protectiveness, was a deep love. Or at least what felt like love. Was that my love for him? It felt different, like a raw love mixed with so much fear. Because I wasn’t afraid to love; I welcomed the feeling.
“Okay, Raife.” I reached up and trailed my fingers down his jaw.
His eyelids fluttered, but then that fear surged up so strongly that it drowned out all the adoration left in him and he stepped back.
He’s at war already, I thought.A war with himself.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
“Stay behind me,” he muttered, and then took off into the woods.
With a sigh I followed him and shoved down all of the tumultuous feelings I was having.
We trudged through the woods, following the map. Raife kept his hood pulled up over his elvin ears and an arrow nocked into his bow. I was a foot behind him the entire way as we wound through the path that Autumn had left us on the map. There were little clues letting us know we were going the right way. A flat stack of rocks, a ribbon tied to a tree. I assumed this path kept one out of sight of any of the woodland guards, and I was right, because when the giant Nightfall castle loomed in the distance I nearly cried out in relief.
It was my home—filled with bittersweet memories, but my home nonetheless.
Raife stopped abruptly and I slammed into his back.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just… bigger than I thought.”
I nodded. The Nightfall queen was a visionary, an inventor, a builder. Everything was big, strong, made of steel or stone. Made to last and made from the blood, sweat, and tears of the Nightfall population. What the humans lacked in magic, they made up for in good old-fashioned hard work.
We were still hidden in the tree line and I watched his face as he stared up at the looming fifty-foot stone wall erected around the city. His gaze flicked to the dozens of archers patrolling the top wall, and the river moat that ran around the entire city. His eyes held wonder, disappointment, and determination. Or maybe that’s what I felt from him.
“It’s nearly impenetrable,” he breathed. “For a large army to breach that will take…” I let him trail off, knowing his mind was working out the kinks of his eventual war plan. While he stared, working through all the different ways of attack, I turned around every few seconds and scanned the tree line for Nightfall warriors. I had thought up a cover story if we were caught by soldiers, but I was hoping that didn’t happen, because I wasn’t sure if Raife would go for it. Humans couldn’t smell supernaturals. So long as Raife didn’t show his ears we should be okay. I’d made him take off any insignia of Archmere before we left. The queen did employ a few sniffers, but they were rare. Not many fae wanted to betray their own kind for gold coin.
“We should move.” I finally dragged Raife away from his gawking and towards the two sharp rocks that matched the ones on the map that Autumn had drawn. She’d sketched a log and then a plus sign and then a boat. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I was hoping it would make sense when we reached the two sharp rocks.
Raife followed my lead, and I quietly celebrated when I noticed the two rocks jutting out of the ground just a few paces to our right. The rocks were at the edge of the river moat, and when we reached them I looked down at the hollowed-out log on shore and grinned.
The log was a boat. Log, plus sign, boat. And it looked like it wouldn’t fit more than three grown men, hence why this route was only enough for three.
