SWNOVELS Taken by the Dark Elf King : Chapter 6
THE SCENT OF ROASTING MEAT and freshly poured wine is thick in the air.
The halls of Blackfire Castle have not been this loud since the death of my parents. The sounds and smells are almost enough to allow me to feel as though it is years ago. Though the last party I attended I swore would be my last.
Without it, I may never have been strong enough to become who I am.
An old ache forms in my stomach as I look down from my perch along the atrium above the throne room. I’m hidden up here, able to observe what’s going on down below. And who is already here.
As a boy I used to hide up here when my parents would invite our lords and ladies to court. When we would have royal visitors that needed entertaining and wanted a taste of our unusual tendencies. I remember how loose my clothes had been on me back then, not like the tight leather that encases me now. So many things have changed since the last ball I attended.
All thanks to her.
Glancing down, I can see the thing that put me on this path. Vysha. Daughter of Lord Vyshen. Her rather callous dismissal of my affections still ring in my ear.
I can hear her cold words of rejection. Her tinkling laughter and the chorus of those around her that joined in to mock what I felt in my heart to be true. Vysha is as beautiful as she is cruel. To have even thought for a moment that she could’ve been my mate…
She looks the same tonight as she did so many centuries ago. Glossy black hair, tight-fitting black gown adorned with hundreds of flaming rubies. They glow with the same fire her eyes do as they scan the ballroom. I guess I am not the only one who changed from that night.
And now I’d rather stick my cock in a razortail’s bog than ever make her my queen.
The floorboards to my left squeak. This old atrium has seen better days but it is not a rogue wind causing the disturbance.
“What have I told you about trying to sneak up on me, Aiko?”
Cloaked along the stone wall, a whisper of a laugh tickles my pointed ears.
“If I thought you would actually kill me, Your Grace, you wouldn’t even know I was here.”
Of that I have no doubt. Aiko is one of the deadliest assassins in Myrkorvin. Perhaps the entire realm if I ever let her out of my employ. Luck had me find her one day in a desolate town on the outskirts of Moonbourne. She had been no more than a halfling babe, I had almost mistaken her for a human.
But no human would have possessed the primal grace to sneak into my saddle bags and rob me of my gold. The town had wanted her killed; apparently I was not her only victim. Whether it was for her status as half dark elf or because she had just robbed their king, I had never seen such fervor for spilling the blood of a child.
So I had given her a choice. I could allow them to carry out her punishment or she could still sneak, steal, and stalk, but this time for me. Aiko has been in my service for the last ten years. And while she has never robbed me again, the gold I keep her flush with for her services guarantee her loyalty and discretion.
“Killing you would put me at quite the disadvantage. Is everything prepared for tonight?”
Aiko pushes off the wall. The glow from the sconces here on the atrium and the moon above give enough light for me to finally get a glimpse of her. The hood of her dark cloak is down, revealing black hair the color of ink pulled back from an angular face. The only indication that she has any dark elf lineage is in the slight pointing of her ears.
One of her parents must have hailed from the eastern lands beyond the Brokenbone Mountains. The even gold hue to her skin glows underneath the pale moon. Her dark eyes assess me, missing nothing.
“Everything is prepared. The guards have been made aware of the plans. They have been briefed on what to expect as far as this whole ball goes.”
I chuckle at that.
“And why are you not dressed for the ball, Aiko? My direct order for you was to keep an eye on our friends from the south.”
“Do not insult me, my lord. I do not need a mask to conceal me; if I do not wish to be seen, then I shall not be seen. As far as our friends from the south.” She looks down from the railing to the party guests trickling in. “The King and Queen of Lysan as well as their three children have arrived for the party.”
I grip the banister, the old wood creaking under my fingers. Tonight is a means to an end, nothing more. These wounds I have spent centuries trying to heal, yet at the mere mention of the King and Queen, it is like I am back on that battlefield. Swords clanging, my mother’s wailing, my father’s blood soaking through my armor…
A golden knight perched atop a white stallion, only to turn and flee.
Aiko slides closer to me, raising a brow at my sudden change in demeanor.
“At the risk of inciting more of this sudden wrath that will surely lead to the defacing of our historic atrium, I should caution you to not look down at the guests who are entering in…three…two…one.”
I cannot help myself and I glance at the palace room before me. The light elves have arrived. Flowing golden gowns, silver hair, skin as pale as the moon above. They fan out within the room, eagerness and morbid curiosity written on their faces. Golden eyes are wide as they take in the castle. As they feel what it is like to live with the free magic once again.
And then there he is. The Cowardly Golden Knight.
The banister I’m gripping snaps in half, splinters cut into my palms, the metallic scent of my blood perfumes the air. A few elves below snap their heads up but we are concealed up here. Aiko lets out a soft curse and slinks back into the shadows.
The King and Queen continue their descent. Floating with that practiced grace of light elves. The coward, Garren, follows closely behind them. A pretty prince. A mirror of his parents in front of him with an elegant light elf draped in matching gold clinging to his arm. The closeness, the way he curls her closer to his side, the way his eyes travel about the room assessing everything for any threat that it could pose to her.
It seems while I inherited a kingdom and an empty castle, Garren has found himself a mate.
My teeth grind and I’m about to call off this whole thing and leap down below. To use my hands and snap the prince’s neck. To let his mate wail over his corpse as my mother did to my father’s. To enact revenge on the light elves like I have dreamt about each night.
I can feel myself doing it, my muscles tensing, coiling, ready to launch me into action.
Before I can move, though, something stops me. No not something, someone.
The most beautiful creature I have ever seen. With dread curdling my stomach, I know she can only be one person. She looks just like her mother who has just passed, though her face has a delicate softness. There is a curiosity that lights up her silver eyes. They are not the cold amber typical of Lysan’s royal family.
Draped in her gossamer dress, a sparkling tiara tucked into the flowing locks of her white hair, Princess Elveena, has rendered me immobile. I am powerless to do anything but watch her as she follows behind her brother. Those eyes taking in the sights of my palace.
I find myself wanting to know what she thinks of it and cursing myself that I have let some of it fall into disrepair. She does not seem frightened. And as I remember what my plan is for tonight I think this is at least some small miracle.
Being so rapt by her, I barely notice the male she’s walking arm in arm with. The anger that she had first quelled after I saw Garren was now back in full force. Who is he? Why is he touching her? Is she mated?
That thought has me almost jumping off the banister again. Until I get a glimpse of the male in question. And the family resemblance is quite clear. That allows my blood to cool again.
What is happening to me? What has caused me to act like this?
Perhaps I am more animal than I had thought. These years in solitude doing little more than training for the next war have perhaps robbed me of the last traces of my civility.
The beast inside of me becomes even more apparent as Princess Elveena continues to walk throughout the room, the black mask needed for tonight’s affairs dangling from her slender fingers. Her gown hugs her slight curves so perfectly, the material so thin that I can just barely make out the curves of her breast. As she passes under the atrium and continues forward, the sheets of the gown part just slightly, revealing the smooth, pale expanse of her thigh.
The blood that was roaring in my head a moment ago has now traveled south. I cannot remember the last time my cock has been this hard for anyone. Even after a battle, when bloodlust was high, it was never like this. It never transformed me into a beast wearing an elf’s skin.
But that is what she has done to me. Wishing only to know if the soft pink of her lips matches the delicate nipples she is hiding beneath her gown. If her thighs will feel as soft as they look when I am nestled between them.
Guilt sours those thoughts.
She is a light elf after all. A royal. A princess. Who has been taught, I am sure, to view my kind as lesser, as monsters. She will scream at the sight of me, not welcome me into her bed with a serene smile. Especially with what’s to come tonight.
Of all the things I will have to do to Princess Elveena, forcing myself on her will not be one of them. The thought of her in any sort of distress does something funny to my stomach. Something I will not be examining any closer.
I cannot let whatever this is distract me. The plan tonight must go off without a hitch, lest my realm be doomed to fall.
Pushing away from the banister, I make my way down the stone steps. Before the night is over I will be much closer to Elveena and I cannot let whatever feelings those were rule me. I have to be smart, I cannot fight my way out of this one.
“Everything is in order with the masks?”
Silently, Aiko has fallen in step behind me on the stone stairs. The leather of my boots echoes off the wall while Aiko’s breathing is the only sound to know she is with me.
“They are just as you instructed. Tricks and all. They’ll be starting soon, so here.” Aiko goes to hand me one of the black masks the guests will be wearing to take part in the Night of a Hundred Faces, but I wave her off.
“I won’t be needing that,” I say, cracking my neck and holding back the unease coursing down my spine. It’s only for a little bit, I remind myself. A temporary discomfort, nothing more. Exiting the stairwell, I pause. Aiko hangs back in the shadows and I grin. Though her face is hidden, I sense she is rolling her eyes at my attempt of bravado.
“For what I have planned tonight, I’m going to use something a bit stronger than a cursed mask.”