Page 60 of His Impossible Elf Mate
“Kelda? Why?” The serious elf almost had a confused look on his face.
“We thought you had far too much to do, so I wanted to ask her to help me,” T said as I was busy answering the call.
“Help you in what way, cousin?” The lady in question asked.
He briefly explained, noting how much her brother had to do. “Of course I will help. I am delighted you have found love, cousin! Oh, I had some files I wanted to send over to my brother. Can you tell me how to transfer them?”
The elves went through the complicated process of moving the data from Kelda’s hub to the tablet Ívarr was holding. Aldrin and James just watched with me while they talked.
Over the course of their conversation, the air shifted. Tension filled the room. “These results are troubling.”
“You see it too, brother?”
“I do, clever sister. It does, however, pose more questions.”
“Such as whether this is specific to our prince or are more of our people affected?” she asked, soaking up the praise from the brother she clearly adored.Kelda was much like Ívarr, with dark, straight hair, bright blue eyes. Her features were finer. She looked like a pretty porcelain doll, with her rose blush and porcelain skin.
I was not jealous of her. She barely even looked at Teárlach, though he was part of the conversation.
“I would like Teagan to look at these results, if you do not mind?”
“Teagan would be useful. I was unsure if I was letting my personal biases against this color my reading of the data.”
“Biases, sister? No. You are too fair for that. I see the exact same thing, though it is true I would not like to see you married to this brute.” He aimed a teasing smile towards T and I nearly fell off my chair! I couldn’t believe the stoic elf could crack a joke.
“We would make pretty babies until they died of the horrible genetic disorders thanks to our DNA,” Kelda mused, with a twinkle in her eye.
“Um… what?” I blurted out when I got what she was saying.
“Cousin, is this your shifter? He’s very handsome. I will certainly give you my assistance in keeping him.”
“He is my beloved, Kelda, and I appreciate the help. We will need it to stop parliament from going to war over this farce of a bargain.”
“True. I apologize,” Kelda said to me and the other shifters in the room. “The long and short of it is that I’ve found some troubling information in the geneticprofiles of the candidates for Teárlach’s wife. It seems in all of them, they are too closely related to produce healthy offspring.”
“All of them?” Aldrin asked.
“Yes. The pool was reduced to fifty women. All of them were a poor genetic match, including me. Especially me. These pairings would lead to children with serious genetic defects that would reduce their quality of life dramatically.”
Teagan burst through the doors then. “Your highness! There is a contingent from Abrocaelum. They say they are here to take you home.”
We met them outside of the science center. Ívarr caught Teagan up with the genetic bomb his sister had just dropped. T was looking a little green. I wanted to get him home as soon as possible.
“They’re not taking you,” I warned my lover. “I will fight each and every one of them. My alter wants to fight.”
“Don’t shift unless absolutely necessary.” T laid a calming hand on my arm, then laced our fingers together. “They will not take me.”
“I am going to ask to speak to your mother,” Kelda said, her hair fanning out behind her as she ran through the halls of the castle.
The carriage was a surprise, as were the guards on horseback. They stopped in front of us and a brown-haired elf left the safety of the vehicle.
“Ellgar!” Teagan hissed. I felt her tense beside me.
“Not a fan?” I whispered.
“Later,” she answered in an undertone. The other elves were close enough they could hear us if they tried to.
“Prince Teárlach, I am here to accompany you home. Would you like help with packing your things, or can the shifters manage it?” he said with a sneer, raising my hackles. T’s grip on me tightened.
