SWNOVELS The Dark Elf’s Surprise Baby: Chapter 16
I should never have come to this damn thing.
I try not to swear.
Not in front of Adelaide anyway. She is at an impressionable age.
And I do not like cursing anyway. It makes me feel guilty for reasons that I have never quantified.
But now I feel like swearing.
I wanted to be here for Layla, but I feared coming back. And I’m starting to think the fear was right and my attachment to a woman moving on with her life isn’t.
At least Addie has been behaving herself throughout the night. She was playing with Jasper earlier, but now she is by my side, clutching my hand.
“Mama, I want to use my magic. Please?” Addie looks up at me with her wide, dark blue eyes.
Adelaide inherited her shocking almost navy-blue eyes from her father. From Demethys.
I know that she is looking more and more like him every day.
She may have my skin tone, but that is where her likeness to me ends.
Instead, she has his nose and pouty mouth. And her dark blue eyes are rimmed with dark lashes like his did.
I think the only other thing she has inherited from me is the way her eyes crinkle up at the edges.
I didn’t even know my eyes did that, until I saw her do it.
“You can’t use your magic my darling.” I tell her and lift her into my arms. She is growing and will be very tall.
I won’t be able to pick her up soon. The thought breaks my heart. She won’t be a baby for much longer.
And as for her magic, Adelaide wields her magic more strongly every day. But I only allow her to do it at home, in private.
Where no one can see her, and realize what she is.
Because Adelaide is a dark elf. And she has magic. And I can never let anyone discover this.
“But why not?” Addie’s questions are only natural. She is old enough that she is starting to master her magic.
But she is also still too young to understand why her mother does not want her to use her magic in public.
“Why can Jasper use his magic?” Addie continues asking. I hold her close to me – I do not need anyone around me to hear this conversation.
“Will Auntie Layla be upset at me? Why can’t I tell Jasper that I am a dark elf too?”
Adelaide’s anxiety and confusion is palpable. Jasper is open about his magic use, and the fact that he is a dark elf.
Jasper is only a little bit older than her, and they have become fast friends. But maybe it is time for me to start spending less time with Layla and Kerym.
At least until I figure out what to do about Adelaide being a dark elf.
“Darling, let’s not think about this now, okay?” I try to distract Addie, but a stubborn look flashes across her eyes.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Addie has inherited more from me than I care to admit.
She is as stubborn as I am sometimes.
“Mama, I don’t understand…” My daughter is about to start crying when Layla comes over and interrupts.
Addie’s incoming tears instantly turn into a smile. She loves Layla almost as much as she loves me.
In truth, they are like family to us. They have been my greatest supporters in the last four years.
And every day, I feel guilty about keeping the truth about Adelaide from them. Especially Layla.
“Why don’t you put Adelaide down?” Layla smiles at my daughter, but there is a steely look in her eyes. “Go find Jasper and play with him.”
“And remember what Mama said!” I call after her. I know that she is frustrated, but I also know that she will be obedient to me.
“So,” Layla crosses her arms over her chest, turning to me. Her expression becomes more gentle. “I just had a very interesting conversation with my husband.”
“What about?” At least Layla is taking my mind off Addie’s questions. I know I need to wrack my brain to figure out how to answer her questions soon.
When I focus on Layla, I see that the steely look has remained in her eyes, even though she is trying to look gentle.
“Who is Adelaide’s father?” The question knocks the breath out of me.
My stomach turns and I feel like throwing up, but I do my best to keep my expression nonchalant.
“He died, Layla. A very long time ago.” The lie does not sound like the truth anymore.
Even though it used to.
Layla sighs heavily, as though she is disappointed with me.
“That is not the answer to my question Harper.” I have never seen Layla this solemn before.
Her lips are pressed together in a thin line before she speaks.
“I’ll rephrase, to make this easier for both of us. If he died, then what was he? Before he died?”
I want to lie. I have an arsenal of lies that lay underneath my tongue, ready and sweet and easy.
But I turn from Layla, the movement unconscious, my eyes skipping over the crowd in the hall.
Demethys is no longer at the back of the hall where I had imagined I saw him.
When I turn back to Layla, she is looking at me with her right eyebrow arched and her lips pursed.
I sigh inwardly. I might have just betrayed myself, and I am still not sure whether I actually saw Demethys, or if I was just imagining him.
I probably did imagine him. I have been fretting in this corner for no reason all night.
But Layla’s expression says different. And when she actually speaks, my breath catches in my throat.
“Do you know a dark elf named Demethys?” She asks me the question, but reaches out instantly when I stumble backwards.
Breathe, I tell myself. Just breathe and you’ll be okay.
I look up almost violently at Layla. I am still trying to breathe, trying to find my way onto my feet, even though the weight of Demethys’s name drags me down.
I cough before I speak.
How much can I say before I have to tell the truth? It seems that Layla already knows more than I want her to?
“I used to work for a dark elf named Demethys.” I try to make it sound like a bigger confession than it is.
Layla does not say anything, still looking at me, her arms still crossed over her chest.
“He died. Years ago.” My voice is hoarse from saying the words that I haven’t quite accepted yet.
Of course you haven’t accepted that the love of your life is dead yet! You’re seeing entire bloody apparitions of the man!
I almost laugh out loud at the ferocity of my thoughts.
I jump with surprise when Layla closes a hand around my wrist.
“Come with me.” Her voice is hard, but her hand is tender. She knows the truth.
Somehow Layla has figured out the secret that I have been hiding for four years. And I don’t even know how.
Layla shoves several people unceremoniously out of the way, pulling me gently along behind her.
We stop in front of a window that looks out over the vast, beautiful gardens of the property.
She shakes her head at me as we stop there.
“Look.”
And there he is.
Demethys.
Alive – certainly not an apparition. Alive with a bottle of elf spirits in his hand.
Alive, breathing, and crying apparently.
He takes another swig of the bottle and then starts walking. Though it is more of a stumble.
My heart lurches when he stops, and wipes tears off his face.
Why is he crying? Why is he crying like someone broke his heart?
I know exactly where I was when I got the news that Demethys had died in battle. I can still remember the way the fabric of my dress irritated my skin that day.
I can still remember the taste of the tea on my lips and tongue, and the way my neck was tired from working.
I relive those moments every day.
And now, I will never forget today. I will never forget the scent of Layla’s perfume, and the sounds of laughter from the crowd.
Today. The day that I realize that Demethys is alive.
“He is alive, Harper. See?” Layla lifts a hand to my face and wipes away tears that I didn’t even know were falling.
I am glad. Because I am too frozen in place to do it myself.
“You should go talk to him,” Layla says. “Trust me. I know what you’re feeling better than you think.”
I can almost believe her.
And after patting my shoulder comfortingly, Layla leaves me standing there.
Demethys is only a few paces away, out in the garden. I can be near him, in his arms, in less than five minutes.
He could be meeting Addie, his daughter, in less than ten minutes. She’d be delighted to meet her father.
But something stops me from running out to meet him immediately. I am not sure what.
Maybe it is because all of this feels like a dream.
I could never have imagined that I would ever see Demethys alive again. This has to be a dream.