Page 123 of Night Meets the Elf Queen

Varlett choked out a laugh, and they both looked at her. “I’m surprised you’re not blushing and berating him for his dirty mouth, Val.”

She slowly rolled her eyes to Varlett and scowled at her. This dragon seriously needed to die. “You don’t know me, Varlett, and you certainly don’t know anything about our sex life.”

“He told me all about you. How you lay like a dead fish, too proper to make a sound when he’s railing you. How he wished you’d suck him off once in a while, but you never did.”

Anger flushed her cheeks, and she accidentally dug her nails into Hel’s shoulder, until he said,Put the claws elsewhere. I never said that.

Of course he didn’t. It was just more of Varlett’s lies and manipulation to try to drive a wedge between them again. Sheknew Hel wouldn’t have said that even if he’d been angry with her. Mostly because it simply wasn’t true. They had chemistry she’d never felt with anyone else, and it showed when they made love.

Hel pushed up and staggered slightly, shoving a finger at her. “First of all, I’ve never said a damn word about her to you.”

Valeen held onto his arm. It was only her grip on him that kept him from falling over. The creatures around them, and Varlett shouldn’t see him so weak. All Mother, if the princes showed up now…You need to sit down and rest for a moment.

“Second, if I did say anything, it would be that she is the sunrise after a long dark night, and the reason that I still wake up each day. She is my heart, the only one I have, and if you say another disrespectful thing about her, Varlett, I will invade your mind and turn you into my puppet on a string to dance for the demon princes forever.”

Protective Hel certainly knew how to make her feel wanted.

“In your state you couldn’t touch my mind,” Varlett sneered.

“Want to find out?” He challenged.

Hel, now is not the time. You could hurt her more than you mean to and I don’t know what that means for me.She stepped behind him and touched the outside of the bite mark; his skin was flaming hot. “Hel, how do you truly feel? Don’t you dare lie to me.”

“I’m a little dizzy,” he murmured.

If he admitted that, he was more than alittledizzy. He’d downplay it.

“Are you ready to ask for my help?” Varlett twirled a lock of her silvery hair around her finger.

“I’d rather die,” he snarled at her, then one of his knees buckled.

“Hel!” Valeen wrapped her arms around him from behind, but his weight pulled her with him to the ground.

He was on his hands and knees, breathing hard, heart pounding.Promise me you will not let her anywhere near me with that demon’s ring. You must not trust her. You understand? You don’t know what she could truly do with that kind of magic.

She knelt and took his face in between her palms. He was too warm.I won’t watch you die.

I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important.

His half-closed eyes and blown pupils sent her pulse racing. “Hel, we have to dosomething.” She still couldn’t feel her magic; it was like a spark between flint and rock that just wouldn’t catch flame, and it made her sick. Did that pool shut off their powers until they left this realm? She’d racked her brain on what to do but came up with nothing. Without magic to heal him, all she could do was wait.

Hel’s rough hands slid along her neck and up into her hair. “I am already prone to wickedness. I’m not a good person. If I’m touched by demon’s magic—” he went back to speaking to her mind,I don’t know what it will do to me. I don’t know who I could become… who she could turn me into.His eyes were glassy, and his cheeks flushed from fever. “I will survive this bite. My body is pushing out the venom. I can feel it. Trust me. Please.”

“You are better than you believe you are,” she whispered.

“No, I am not.”

She kissed him hard on the mouth. “Yes, you are.”Your serpent’s bite doesn’t scare me.

He managed to half-smile. “Don’t let her touch me no matter what happens. Promise me.”

Gently, Valeen pushed away the sweat-damp hair stuck to his forehead. It wasn’t a promise she wanted to make. She’d take a wicked Hel over a dead one. But she had to trust him. “She won’t touch you. I promise.”

Not long later, Hel laid on his side with his eyes shut, shallow breaths coming slower. Valeen nibbled on the edges of her nail, pacing next to him. Varlett sat at the edge of the fire, arms slung over her knees. It was difficult to tell if Varlett had any care at all for Hel as she stared at him. Would she save Hel the way she did Thane? Did she ever love Hel? She wasn’t certain Varlett knew what love actually was, other than love for herself.

“He would rather die than let me help him, huh?” Varlett picked up a stick and tossed it into the blue flame. “It wasn’t always that way. He used to let me do many things to him.”

It took every ounce of self-control not to react to that statement. This connection between them was going to drive her mad.

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