Page 93 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Kolfinna mentally prepared herself for what they would say. A heartless fiend. A monstrosity. Something evil.

“Plainer than you thought? I thought the fae were supposed to be insanely beautiful.”

“Huh, I heard that in the stories too. She does look a tad bit plain. Those eyes of hers are a bit creepy, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know, I think they’re kind of pretty. But don’t tell anyone that.”

Kolfinna blinked in surprise as the women’s voices became distant as they approached the door. Seeming to have takenwhat they needed, they slammed the door shut. Kolfinna could still hear their muffled conversation—now about soldiers who were annoying them—in the hallway.

She sat there for a moment longer, breathing in quietly with the feeling of … relief? She hadn’t expected them to say what they did. Sure, she didn’t like the comment about her eyes being creepy, or that she was disappointingly plain, but that one human thought her eyes were pretty. That made something swell in her heart.

Blár was silent beside her for a minute or two after that. It was only then, after the adrenaline rush of running and hiding, that she realized just how close they were. That his thighs were pressing against the sides of her thighs, or that her shoulder was flush against his bicep, or that his every breath tickled the skin on her neck. She was thankful the shadows hid the heat creeping up her cheeks.

“That was close,” Blár whispered into her ear. Another shiver ran down the nape of her neck. He was close—too close.

“Yeah …” She gulped in air; she should get up and out of their hiding place, but her body refused to move. She liked the way he felt against her. She could so easily close her eyes and lean her head against his shoulder and forget about everything?—

“So now what?” Blár asked.

Kolfinna crawled out of the hiding spot on her hands and knees. She didn’t need to look in the mirror to know that her face was a patchwork of red, blushing skin. She cleared her throat “Right, uh, so now … I make a hole in the floor.”

She could hear Blár shuffle out from his spot behind her. He banged against something and cursed loudly. When she glanced over her shoulder, he was holding his hip and scowling. The corner of a box must’ve hit him pretty hard.

“You good?” she asked.

“Yeah. Where are you?” He slowly stretched his arms out. “Can you really see in here?”

“I can,” she said. “Just stay still, okay? I’ll lead you down the hole when I make it. Or better yet, maybe I’ll shove you down when I do.”

“Very funny.”

Kolfinna chuckled to herself and set to work. Like last time, she placed her hands on the floor and began to manipulate the stones. It didn’t take her long to create a hole and make a pile of stones beside it. This time, however, she made the hole wider to account for Blár’s broad shoulders.

“It’s done,” she whispered.

“Is it?” He hadn’t moved from his spot in the room and glanced over in her direction. “You really can see in here, can’t you?”

“I told you?—”

“Is that new?”

She hesitated. “Is what new?”

“I don’t remember you being able to do that before.” Blár searched the darkness for her and took a step closer in her direction, his movements slow. “It would’ve been helpful in the forest when we were traveling, or when we were fighting those draugrs in the Eventyrslot ruins. But you didn’t have that acute of an ability before. So it’s new, isn’t it?”

He was a bit too sharp for her liking, and a part of her wanted to spill to him that she was actually part elf, and that she was somehow related to this whole mess. But another part of her—that fearful side that was used to hiding—wanted to keep it a secret. Just for a while longer. “Uh, no. And watch where you’re going—you might fall?—”

“I don’t think you’ll let me fall.” Despite saying that, he stopped walking toward the direction of her voice. “By the way, you’re a liar.”

“That’s not very nice,” she muttered, hating the way he saw through her. “Anyway, I made the hole.”

“So you’re ignoring me now?”

“Blár, we can talk about it some other time?—”

“We also haven’t talked about your hair?—”

“I will shove you down this hole if you don’t want to come down with me.” Kolfinna jumped to her feet, but he was already closing the distance between them hesitantly, going off her voice alone. “Another step and you’re plummeting to your … well, a broken leg at least.”

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