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The man knew nothing about women, and it showed. Why was he here to torture me a second time?
I wanted to roll off the rooftop and use the falling momentum to fling myself anywhere but here. Arven’s presence was poisonous. It infiltrated my mind and attempted to open all the boxes I’d wanted to keep locked forever more.
So, I ate his burger without a drop of guilt. I was genuinely surprised when Arven extended his container of fries to me. I looked up at him with a question in my eyes. He seemed conflicted, yet eager to share.
“Are these poisoned?” I asked softly as I reached for them.
His brow furrowed. He grabbed a few fries with his free hand and shoved them into his mouth as if to prove a point. The silent exchange would have been laughable if I’d dared make more than a whisper up here.
Glancing back at the warehouse, I nibbled on a handful of fries while searching for Locke. The man directed his elves to bring in a shipment of crates. The wood boxes weren’t marked with any kind of identifying brand or logo, which was suspicious all by itself.
“He’s moving something,” I whispered, as if Arven needed to know anything about this mission. “And he doesn’t want people to know what.”
Arven lowered himself onto the roof beside me. He sniffed the air and cocked his head. I watched him, curiously. His red eyes flared once more. An almost infernal light flickered inside them—And I saidalmostinfernal light, because I’d seen what an infernal flame looked like back in Lakesedge. Arven was ominous and had a monstrous air about him, but he wasn’t Hellish.
“I smell fae and elven magic,” Arven replied.
That perked my interest. What was Locke doing with fae and elven magic hidden inside those crates? Who was he moving it for? I was filled with questions that shouldn’t have been any of my problem.
Yet, I wondered if that was the reason someone had put a bounty on Locke’s life. If the bounty holder wanted Locke dead so they could sneak in and steal powerful magic, then I didn’t want anything to do with this. I would be playing into the kingdom’s hands in a way that I did not want.
Wasn’t I already helping them by killing Locke, though? I’d already agreed to do what I said I wanted to avoid. The conundrum left me sighing. This felt like some sort of entrapment. I cut a glare back towards Arven again.
“Did you put the bounty on Locke Balefire?” I asked.
He did a doubletake, and it came off as genuine. I wasn’t expecting a real reaction from him. When people lie, they’re guarded. They try to be as subtle or as exaggerated as possible. There’s a middle ground when people tell the truth, and Arven’s rection hit it perfectly.
Lips twisted to the side, I mused what that could mean. It seemed odd timing that Arven had hunted me down right when I’d taken a mission to hunt another elven lord.
“Thanks for lunch. You can leave me to work now.” I pulled out my crossbow and aimed it in Locke’s direction.
“Killing an elven lord will get you in more trouble than you’re prepared for, missy.”
My eye twitched. I almost turned the crossbow on Arven. “Says the man who ruined my entire life. Let me make my own mistakes from here on out.”
Before I could pull the trigger, Locke disappeared inside. He was out of view and out of range. I cursed under my breath, stood, and stepped to the opposite side of the warehouse rooftop. The flat expanse wasn’t hospitable with it’s grooved tin roof, but it was enough for me to sulk on as I glared out at the city that sprawled on this side.
I’d escaped Eveningwind and Lakesedge only to run headlong into my nemesis…and have him feed me a burger. To say that I was confused was to put it lightly. No matter how I framed this, I had whiplash.
Arven had been nothing but kind, if a little dumb, so far. He didn’t seem to offer me any ill will, even though I knew he was the one who’d laid siege to my family’s kingdom and killed everyone I loved.
If the man was determined to stick around, then he would figure out what I’d learned while we’d been apart. I felt the ring on my finger tighten as he stepped close. It would be easy to step in-between, get behind him, and slide a blade across his throat. I’d used speed to out-maneuver larger and stronger men before. It would work this time, especially with Arven’s guard down.
But I didn’t do it. I couldn’t even bring myself to aim the crossbow at him. There’d only ever been one person able to counteract my poison before, and she was long gone. Arven would have no one to help him do the same. He would seize up and fall to his knees before crumbling to dust.
The thought was so sweet and alluring, but my crossbow remained at my side.
“You don’t have to take on work like this,” Arven said, approaching me. “There’s no reason for you to foolishly endanger yourself just to keep food on the table. There is a home waiting for you…”
I stepped in-between, grabbed a dagger from my thigh sheath, and appeared behind him. Shock hit my core when his hand caught my arm before my blade could even meet his throat. With no time to idle in shock, I threw myself backwards and stepped in-between to put myself across the roof from him.
From there, I could see the true man. His skin was red, and two sharp horns protruded from his forehead and reached towards the sky. His shoulders were wider than I’d first assumed. They bore arms the size of trees. I took half a step back, ready to run in case he moved at all.
This was the monster that’d burned down my family home.
“You know, we were a peaceful people,” I said. “Perhaps the only ones in all the elven realms. We wanted nothing more than to study the stars and how they moved across all the realms. And you took that from us.”
My words struck him. His lips parted in confusion.
