Page 16 of Night Meets the Elf Queen

Oh, she wanted to punch that smug look right off his face. “Say it one more fucking time.”

“And you’ll do what? I can’t wait to hear it.” His smirk almost put her over the edge. Then his lips crashed hard on her mouth. She wanted to claw and spit at him, but he knew exactly what to do to get her mind clear. Her breathing slowed, as did her heart rate. The sounds all around them came back into focus, as did his hands on her body, the feel of his lips and tongue on hers. Once he pulled his kiss, he studied her face. “Can I let you go now or are you going to keep up this attitude?”

“You really just know how to rile me up. Let me go.”

He did. “What do you gain by going in there and killing these goblins?”

“I want to see what is left. Ihaveto go in there. I just…” Hot tears pricked her eyes. A lump rose in her throat. “They’ve taken everything from me. What is a queen without a throne, without her people? What is a goddess without her immortality? Synick is right, I have nothing.” Those tears slipped down her cheeks, spilling on the ruins of her old life. She should have expected this, should have prepared for this outcome but she’d hoped. Hope was one thing that kept her going in perilous times and it was shattered like a stone to a mirror.

What was there to even fight for anymore?

“You have me, and you have people who love you and will do anything for you.” He cupped her face. “I will get it all back for you and more. I promise.”

“This is my fault. I should have never left you. I should have trusted you. All of House of Night is gone. Your people most certainly are too. Presco pointed out the signs, but I refused to see it. The people of Villhara are probably slaves or dead because of me. All those people… Gods, I let Varlett fool me, and now it’s fucked up. It’s all gone.” Anger turned to panic. She struggled to pull air into her lungs; her throat was closing up.

“Shh.” He wiped her tears with his thumbs. “Baby, listen to me. None of that matters anymore. It doesn’t, alright. What matters is that we’re together now. We can get it back.”

“I can’t breathe,” she gasped, clutching at her chest.

He swept her up into his arms, and they were pulled through a blink of darkness and came out at the base of a large oak tree. He set her on her feet but held her around the waist. His hold was the only thing keeping her from falling. “Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Come on, deep breaths.” He sounded muffled and far away, as if she were under water. A ringing in her ears intensified. She gripped the edges of his cloak and focused on his moving lips. “Breathe, love. If our people are slaves, we will free them. It isn’t your fault. It’s the assholes on the council, not yours. They did this. And they would have come for you for Soulender no matter what Varlett did. None of this is on you.”

His voice slowly came back into focus, but she still couldn’t breathe. The ground seemed to tip and tilt, it was as if she stood on a ship. “Why did any of this happen?” She sobbed, gripping him harder. He was the only thing keeping her from falling. From lying on the ground and succumbing to a hopeless pit of despair.

“Maybe there isn’t a reason, maybe there will never be understanding, but we can’t give up. We have been brought back together, love. It is a gift from your All Mother that we are standing here together now. Your sister isalive. It is not over.”

She focused on his calming voice, on the steady beat of his heart. Air came in easier; her lungs and throat opened back up. She lifted her chin and looked into his garnet eyes. For someone who hated all the world, he had more faith than anyone. “A gift? We have been forgetting each other for thousands of years.”

“I’d do it a thousand times and a thousand more after that if it meant I got to be with you even for a moment. Nothingwill ever keep you from me.” His soft lips met hers. “Anyone who stands in my way should wish they were never born. Our enemies will beg for forgiveness and not get it, and they will ask for mercy and will be shown none. You will get your immortality even if I have to cut theirs out of them to give to you, and you will get your throne and castle if that means I build it from their skulls and broken bones.”

His promises were beautiful, poetic even. “We have nothing, Hel. How can we ever beat them?”

“You are underestimating the lengths I would go for you. How can you doubt so much when you are a primordial? Have you forgotten that dragons fall to their knees before you? You were once worshiped by mortals from every facet of the realms. Have you forgotten you turned the god of mischief from your enemy into your lover not once, but twice?”

Valeen coughed out a half-sob, half-laugh.

“You have your sister back, your friends, and we have the god of war on our side, and no one is better at war than him. I wouldn’t say we have nothing.” He smiled. “And we have an army of cursed elves waiting to be commanded. This is a disappointment, not an ending.”

Her chin quivered and more tears welled in her eyes. “Even with the pale ones we will be outnumbered by thousands. The council has eleven members, that’s eleven armies, eleven gods and territories, and they will have other allies. This wall was our only chance of winning and it’s gone. We don’t even have one stronghold. Who here would side with us when they’ve been poisoned against us for two thousand years? And if we go back to Palenor they would destroy it. If we go to Ryvengaard, the Drakonans are still looking for us. They’re the wealthiest, most influential dragon family in all the realms. They will fight against us for killing Caliban and breaking into their treasury. When I said we have nothing, that is what I meant. We have no one.”

He wiped another tear off her cheek. “I see things differently. I haven’t been plotting my revenge for so long to be deterred by one setback. It is a tragedy, but I didn’t plan for the walls around House of Night to be standing after all this time. We will go back to Palenor where my army waits, where War is king. We will be ready for them when they come.” He gripped her chin and raised it. “And you, my love, will show them why you are the queen of the night.”

Chapter 5

THANE

Thane stood at the base of what was left of Valeen’s castle ruins, watching her and Hel in the distance. Being at odds with her was the last thing he wanted but he couldn’t let her kill Synick. Not yet.

Why was he alive? How did he get here? Did the council make a deal with the demon princes to bring him back? They must know these things to plan for future attacks. Because if they didn’t make a deal, that meant that Synick got out of the underrealm in a different way and it could mean the door was open and only the Maker knew what else could have crawled out.

He turned to the heap of old stone, wishing he could remember the details of what it once was in all its glory. It had been too long. Wisps of another time flickered at the back of his mind, the jasmine trellises, the ornate celestial sconces on the stone walls, a glossy floor made of moonstone he’d once danced across with Valeen. But the finer details were lost.

Now goblins and monsters had taken over this place. They shouldn’t linger here.

Even though this was never his home, it was devastating to know what it once was and what had become of it in her absence.Witnessing the pain in her voice, seeing her face twisted with agony, it cut into him. Part of him wished he was the one wiping her tears away under the oak tree, but seeing them together… He had never been able to console her the way Hel did. She didn’t trust him in the same way, he hated admitting that, even to himself.

Synick groaned under Thane’s boot. His chest heaved up and down, struggling to breath under his weight. “I can hardly believe your betrayal, War. Zaurahel, I understand, he was never as loyal—rebellious to his core, but how could you betray your own and join forces with one of the Drivaar? Not to mention my killer.”

Drivaar, Primevarr… the two sides of the gods were something he hadn’t thought about in a long time. Fighting over whether the All Mother or the Maker was superior seemed foolish now.

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