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Then again, we were only engaged. The rings binding us to one another were a promise and not a true handfasting. Did I have the same duty to her as her fiancé? My attentions had been elsewhere at the time. Looking back, I could recall exactly where I’d been.
Another portion of my kingdom had been under siege. The rumors of my fighting on the battlefield manifested as a curse while I was there. . Thoughts and whispers, the beliefs of thousands, had seized control of my body and turned me into something not quite a man.
I could hide it with the magic of a glamour. That way, I looked more like my old self. There were times, though, when my glamour slipped and the monster beneath peeked through. I didn’t want Delphine to see that just yet.
First, I would earn her interest, then her respect, then I would unveil the truth of my being. It would be a long road, but I trusted my brother to keep my throne warm while I did right by my fiancée. Delphine deserved to return to her gentle womanhood, and I would provide the space for her to do that, one way or another.
There was always the option to whisk her away to the castle back in the elven realms, but I caught the smell of fresh smash burgers, and my stomach growled needily. Mortal air might be tragic, but mortal foods more than made up for it.
I stepped off the rooftop and turned towards the smell of food. Once my beast was fed, I would pick up Delphine’s scent and track her down once more. The brilliant idea to supply her with food struck me out of nowhere. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, but I hardly knew what women liked to eat.
The burger place offered a meager selection of iceberg lettuce salads. I scowled at the case of prepacked food and wondered if this would be appropriate. The air smelled of beef grease and salty potatoes. That’s what I wanted, but women were…picky.
In the end, I left with several burgers for myself, a salad for Delphine, and a small bag of chocolate studded cookies. By that time, the arcana trail had changed. I followed the nearly cold trail to a small, hole-in-the-wall apartment, but Delphine was no longer there.
The trail led away from here, towards the packing district. But I paused in the apartment for a moment when I saw a small plush cat on the mattress. Though it was barely recognizable after this many years, I knew it had to be the one I’d sent to her castle so long ago.
The sight warmed me. It gave me hope. Perhaps Delphine didn’t detest me the way my people did. She didn’t see me as a monster…she couldn’t if she still clung to the gift I’d given.
3
DELPHINE
With my body flush against the rooftop of a nearby warehouse, I watched elven men go in and out of the warehouse across from me. My stomach rumbled greedily, but I didn’t have time to eat before heading back to work.
The man I’d been hunting earlier appeared in the doorway. He put his hands on his hips and barked orders at the elves around him.
Locke Balefire was wanted for a lot of things. Mostly for being an asshole in the elven community. Another kingdom had put a hit out on him, and I’d gladly picked it up—not just for the money but because of what I’d heard about him.
I’d wanted to do away with him earlier, when I’d tracked him down at the divebar. It would have been so easy to stab him in a back alley and leave him to dust there, but he’d gotten away during Arven’s intervention. I almost wanted to chalk that up as intentional, but Arven seemed like the kind of man lost in his own intentions.
He’d barely paid Locke any attention, which was interesting considering I knew their courts were still rivals.
It didn’t matter. I wanted nothing to do with either. My only job here was to kill Locke and leave his kingdom without a head so that his enemies could attack. By the time they launched their assault, I would be gone. No one would be able to find me.
“Huh, this is an interesting viewpoint.” The smell of burgers reached me before Arven’s scent did.
I sighed quietly and closed my eyes so I could have a moment to fight back the searingly hot rage building deep in my stomach. When I opened them again, I slowly twisted to glare back at the manstanding in plain view.
“Get. Down.” I bit the words out with as much malice as I could muster, which was a lot in the heat of the moment.
Arven’s brows shot up. The red of his eyes flared with challenge, but he sat and folded his legs in front of him. It wasn’t flush against the roof, but I would take it. His dark hair and clothes were enough to hide him from a glance.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I wanted to see where you’d gone. And I brought food as an olive branch.”
“There’s no way in hell I’m chewing on an olive branch,” I grumbled, even though I knew he didn’t mean it literally.
Every part of me wanted to fight against him, and being sassy was the best way I could do it without alerting Locke and his people.
“Were you always like this?” Arven asked as he broke open the paper bag he’d brought with him.
Before he could extend anything to me, I reached in and snatched a wrapped burger. The smell of grilled onions and jalapenos tickled my nose and made my stomach dance with wicked delight. I bit into it while Arven attempted to speak.
He managed to hold his tongue and sighed, shoulders falling. The way he glared at me, though, one might have thought that I’d interrupted his mission and not the other way around. I belatedly realized, as he pulled out a chef’s salad, that the burger hadn’t been mine.
The man had brought me aniceberg lettuce saladand considered that enough for me while he kept three burgers all to himself. I almost laughed in his face, but I wasn’t about to give away our location. Instead, I smoldered with indignation.
