FULL NOVELXO Taken by the Dark Elf King : Chapter 25
ARKAIN LEFT OUR BED EARLY this morning to go out hunting with the nobles.
So instead of waiting around for him like a loyal dog, I find myself in Kaethe’s lab, helping her with last-minute ingredients to assist with her orc’s teeth poison antidote. We are quiet as we work. Kae is sifting more liverworms through a fine mesh sieve and I am trying to grow more to replace our dwindling supply.
Kae sighs and holds up the glass container.
“I only have a small bit of the poison to test against. So my chances of getting this right are slim.” Her face hardens. “And if the orcs do march toward us then I hope King Arkain sends them all back to whatever hell they escaped from.”
That stops me. Kae is normally curious, if a little snappy. Never have I heard her speak with such anger before.
“Did something happen between you and an orc?” I ask. Kaethe’s hands freeze on the glass tube and I am afraid she’s going to shatter it.
“It’s just that all of this seems quite personal, so I just assumed…” I trail off. “Don’t mind me, I haven’t been getting much sleep.
“I know. The whole castle can hear you two,” She sighs. “When I was a girl, my family and I lived in a village outside of Moonbourne. Life was typical, easy. Until one night my father heard a noise outside and didn’t come back in. My mother hid me and my brother in the cellar but it didn’t keep out her screams.”
Kae shakes herself as if from a particularly bad memory.
“Orcs raided our village, my brother and I escaped, but in our panic I lost him in the woods. I do not know if he is still alive or what became of him. I hope he is still alive but I just don’t know…” She trails off and I grip her shoulder.
“You were very brave, Kaethe. You still are.” We sit in silence for a moment before I add, “Is the antidote ready to test yet?”
Kae shakes her head. “This new experiment requires me to let the mixture ferment for twenty-four hours. Once it is done, by the gods I hope it works.”
“If anyone is going to figure it out it’s you, Kae.”
“Gods I hope you are right. Let’s just hope the orcs haven’t developed any new weapons since the last time they fought a war.”
Pushing through the doors to our room, the last thing I expect to find is Arkain.
Sweaty and shirtless and back from his hunt, I almost think I am in for an afternoon tumble in the sheets. His grave face stops me. Icy fear trickles down my back.
“Our scouts sent word, the Orcs are almost at Moonbourne. Our nobles have already sent the bannermen here with them east to fortify our lands. The rest of their houses will ride out to join them. The orcs will be there in two days’ time and it takes almost that long to get to Moonbourne.”
“When will you leave?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
“At first light.”
“But what about us?” My chest is beginning to ache. “I just found you, I can’t lose you.”
“Elvie,” Arkain says, coming to stand at my side. “The gods themselves could not pull me away from you. But I am king and I have to ride out with my men.”
He is leaving in the morning. My king, my beast, my Arkain. My love. Riding out to face an enemy that decimated his forces last time. The gods could not have brought us together only for war to tear us apart.
Perhaps they are not convinced of our union being true. We must honor it to them before he leaves. Lest they deem him not worthy of protecting.
“We will marry,” I say but he shakes his head.
“I contacted the priest. The fastest he could get here would be tomorrow evening. I am sorry, Elvie. If there was another way—”
“There is another way. You are a king are you not?”
“Yes?”
“Then you can marry us. In the way of the First Gods. How our kind married before there were priests.”
“Elvie, a marriage made directly in the name of the gods is not something that can ever be broken. Are you sure that is what you wish?”
“I am yours and you are mine. I will have it be known to all the gods that our pairing is true.” I start to unlace my dress while Arkain remains rooted in his spot. “You do know how to perform the ritual, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he whispers as he begins to disrobe as well. Soon we are naked in front of the roaring fire. Knees pressed together, digging into the soft carpet. The small knife Arkain bestowed to me is in my hand. I drag the blade across my palm and watch the blood swell.
“I offer you my blood,” I say and watch as my blood sizzles on the burning logs. Arkain does the same as me. Picking up a piece of one of my favorite gowns, I watch it blacken in the flames and turn to dust.
“I offer you my possessions.” Arkain throws a scrap of leather from his armor and repeats the phrase after me.
“Dear gods,” Arkain says, “as your appointed monarch and wielder of the free magic, I come to you today to take this female as my bride. To have her and keep her. To take no other beside her. To lay my life down for her. To make her mine from this day until my final day.”
The flames crackle as if hearing his proclamation. I repeat the passage back and the flames crackle for me as well.
“Take from us these offerings that our union is true,” I say, tossing a bouquet of wildflowers into the flame. The symbol of our first meeting. Arkain and I gaze at each other as the flames warm us. There is a finality in the words that are spoken here.
For all that led us to this point, I have no regrets. I love him. And I will be damned if the gods take him from me before we’ve even gotten a chance to start our lives together.
“Now we honor our vow to you with our bodies.” Arkain’s red eyes glow in the firelight as he leans down to kiss me. There is a tenderness to his touch and I refuse to believe it is his way of saying goodbye. His kiss his devastatingly soft, his tongue languid as it dances with mine.
Our movements are slow and unhurried. He gently pries my legs apart, running a claw along my slit to deem me wet enough to take him. There, on the carpet in front of the hearth, Arkain claims me in the old way. With the gods as our witnesses and our bodies their vessels to bestow the blessings.
He moves inside me over and over again. Each thrust is as devastating as the last and I do not realize I am weeping until Arkain wipes the moisture from my eyes. I cling to him in this moment. As if he is the only thing tethering me to this plane.
My muscles tense as do Arkain’s, and with one last mighty thrust, my muscles clamp down around him as he gives me his final offering to the gods. Our union is complete.
A satisfied grin spreads over my face as we lie in the afterglow.
“How was that, wife? Didn’t know I could be so gentle, did you?” The endearment tickles me and I turn to snuggle into his side.
“I prefer your rougher side, husband. But it’s nice to know you can do both.”
We laugh quietly and resume our comfortable silence. Until a squawk at the window makes us both shoot up.
There perched on the ledge is a golden seagull. The official messenger bird of Lysan. Rising, I pad over to the creature and gently unclip the tiny scroll he has tied to his foot.
My stomach drops as I read my mother’s elegant script.
“Elvie what is it?” Arkain asks, coming to stand beside.
“It’s my father,” my voice is shaky. “He has fallen ill, our healers say he may not make it to see in the morning.”
Dropping the note, I rush to the wardrobe, ripping clothes off the shelves. I slip my legs into a pair of riding pants and rummage around to find a pair of sturdy boots. I pick up the knife from in front of the fire and tuck it into my boot.
“What are you doing?” Arkain asks.
“I have to leave for Lysan at once. If I use the portal, I can be there before sundown.”
“No.” My mind is cycling through a million different thoughts that I barely hear what Arkain says. But when I register what he just said I paused in my tracks.
“No what?”
“No, you will not travel to Lysan. I forbid it,” he says and I turn and face his molten red eyes.