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This was not the monster of the Golden Court. Where were his cloven feet? The fangs that protruded from his bottom jaw? The roar of rage that preceded the fall of his enemies? He was the kind of guy to leave bodies on stakes outside the front door and yet…he was laughing because I’d hit him over the head with a tequila bottle?
“Well, that’s one way to reunite with one’s bride?” He lifted those red eyes to mine.
They were the only hint of the monster that hid inside him. No elf had naturally red eyes. That was the sign of a curse, one that I wasn’t about to help him through. I wasn’t Cerridwen of the Lakesedge Seelie court. I wasn’t going to hold this man’s hand while he dealt with his beasts.
Look how horribly that’d ended for Cerri and Rhoan. She was dead, and he was probably a beast in Faust’s control now.
Arven’s beasts were his problem, not mine.
“I’m out.” I ducked my head and moved to push past him.
He didn’t try to stop me as I expected. The man didn’t grab me, he didn’t step into my way, he didn’t even put an arm out. Instead, he spun and followed as if we were two friends leaving together.
I spared a quick glance over my shoulder because my head was spinning. This man didn’t match the mental image I’d been holding onto for years. There was no way that I was looking at the same Arven, but those eyes told me that I was. There was only one man in all of the elven kingdom with red eyes.
Why is he here now? Why catch me in the middle of a job?
That just told me that he knew nothing about who I’d become. He should have heard through the grapevine that I’d worked my way up to become one of the most sought-after supernatural bounty hunters. No target ever escaped my sights.
Except for now.
“That elf should be dead by now, and it’s all your fault,” I bit out between my clenched teeth.
Arven glanced behind him, but the man in question was long gone.
I shoved through the exit and stepped out into the narrow stairwell that led from the street into the dive bar. It smelled of liquor, cigarettes, and some awful weed. The skunky scent in the air should have reminded me of the wilds back home, but it made my stomach churn with the nauseating thought of this grimy city.
On the street, I shoved my hands in my pockets and spun to face Arven.
Arven
She wasnothing like I remembered. It wasn’t just the glamour wrapped around her. Sure, that changed her physical appearance, but her demeanor had changed entirely, too. The woman glaring up at me had her feet spaced apart as if she were preparing for a fight. A muscle in her jaw twitched with rage when she narrowed her eyes at me. I wondered what kind of weapons she hid in her pockets and how well she could use them.
When my brother had asked me to leave the Golden Court for a while, I’d gaped at him. He’d insisted, on the grounds that I could finally go out and find my runaway bride. There were rumors that she’d escaped the fall of her court, like Princess Anastasia. I’d always doubted it.
The young woman I’d met on the day of our arranged engagement had been sheepish and small. There was no way that she could have survived that kind of invasion.
I could tell, without a doubt, that I was looking at the same woman right now. This was what she’d become after surviving such a horrible experience.
I wanted to get down on my knees and apologize for leaving her alone, but I felt like this version of Delphine might punch me in the face.
“I assumed you were dead,” I confessed.
She pressed her lips together in the most unamused expression. Her grey eyes turned a shade of lavender that could have been taken asheated—not with lust but with rage.
“I came to apologize.” I bowed my head. “And take you home.”
Silence.
Of course, I’d expected a cold shoulder. Though, I thought she’d be a little more grateful for a place of safety. Because of my reputation among the other elven courts, there were few who would openly challenge my court. Of course, they pushed at the borders of my lands, but they never came for me directly.
“I understand that you have some reservations regarding the details of our past…” I lifted my head.
Delphine was gone.
People pushed around me. Some even ran into my shoulder and jarred me. But the space in front of me was empty. Delphine had escaped while I’d had my head bowed in apology. Rage hit my stomach and brewed until the heat of it hit the furthest parts of my body. I clenched my fists and fought back the howl building in my throat.
That was rude, and I wasn’t going to stand for it. No one disrespected me.
