AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wiping the crumbs from my face, I reach into my pocket to produce a ticket, but Marshall is already shaking his head at me.
“No, no,” he says, backing up a step. “You’ve repaid me with conversation, that’s all I need. Save that ticket for your family.”
Ah, shit. My family.
I throw an alarmed look outside the bakery to find that the sky has darkened past twilight and let out a string of curses under my breath, earning a laugh from Marshall.
“At this point, they should expect you to be late,” he jokes as I hurry toward the door. I fling him a crude gesture as I rush outside, the sound of his laughter following me out into the cold night.
I pull my sweater tighter around me as I begin to trudge up the path. I’d move faster if I weren’t already thinking about the way Amara’s eyes will inevitably skate over me, sizing me up and always somehow finding me lacking.
My cousin is perfect, in every way. The golden daughter, strong and smart and capable, and while I know Leandra and Jethro love me just as much as they love Amara, I can’t help but still feel like an intruder sometimes.
My parents brought us to Camp Horizon right after I turned ten. At the time, they told me it was because they wanted to be closer to my father’s brother, saying that it was so rare for humans to have extended family and that we should be more grateful, and find ways to spend more time with them.
Now that I’m older, I understand the real reason they fought so hard for us to get here.
The continents are a dangerous place for humans, especially human women, and even more so for the pretty ones. I’ve never thought of myself as particularly pretty, but I know now that what I think holds little bearing on the way things actually happen.
My parents got us out of Orthani as fast as they could, bringing us here to work the mines and escape the more cruel treatment that runs rampant in the continental cities. For the first few years, everything was perfect.
My aunt and uncle and cousin took us in, and we lived together as a family. The cabin we shared was always warm and full of laughter and conversation, even when Amara pulled my hair or took my favorite doll. I was allowed to work at the tailor’s shop until I was 12, mending clothes until I was big enough and strong enough to work in the mines.
It was only a few days before my thirteenth birthday, when I was supposed to start in the mines, that the collapse happened.
To this day, I don’t know what really happened. It could’ve been something as simple as the wrong stone being taken out, or perhaps the planet shifted deep down and the tunnel in the mountains closed because of it. I don’t know. All I know is that my parents kissed me goodbye that morning before heading into the mines, and then a few hours later, the earth swallowed them up.
The dark elves didn’t even bother trying to unearth the bodies.
I shiver, only partly from the cold, as the eastern edge of the village comes into view. The path winds through the last of the shops and up a small hill, and on the other side, is my home. And the only family I have left.
Despite the fact that it’s late, and knowing that my family is more than likely already worried about me, my footsteps slow to a halt. I do nothing but stare at the crest of the hill, the last stragglers of the villagers pushing past me on their way home.
It’s not that I don’t want to go home, at least not necessarily. My head just feels too full of thoughts to bear Amara’s judgemental gaze or Leandra’s lecturing on finding a husband, however well-intentioned.
Whenever Leandra mentions finding a nice, human man to settle down with, I never seem to be able to find the heart to tell her what I really think. The only thing Amara and I seem to agree on these days is our lack of interest in marrying off any time soon.
I understand why Leandra pushes the subject, of course. She wants her family to stay close, wants to be able to play a hand in mine and her daughter’s life for years to come, and I can’t bring myself to dash her dreams.
While I know I want more for myself than what I have right now, regardless of whether or not Camp Horizon is one of the best places to be as a human, I’m just not interested in any of the human men here.
I’m not ignorant to the sneaky glances some of them give me, both at work and in the village, but I just don’t find any of these men… appealing.
Movement sounds from behind me, far enough away that I almost don’t turn toward it, until the husky voice of a dark elf calls my name.
“Layla!”
Oh, shit.
KERYM
Layla whirls toward me, her dark curls bobbing with the sudden jerk of motion. I can’t help the smirk that rises to my lips as I see the panicked look on her face before she realizes it’s me, a laugh nearly breaking free when her features relax slightly and she rolls her eyes.
Layla steps toward me hurriedly, her eyes darting around for witnesses as she hisses “That’s not funny, you scared me!”
The laugh that had been building in my throat shakes free as I look down at her and give her a wink.
“You like it,” I murmur softly, earning another eye-roll, although she’s unable to hide the small smile playing across her full lips. My fingers itch with the desire to brush across them, to feel her soft, tanned skin beneath my hands. I’ve waited long enough for her.
