Page 24 of His Impossible Elf Mate
Dismay filled me. The picture Ívarr painted made things seem so hopeless.
“Why not you then? We are cousins, your mother was my mother’s half-sister. Does that not mean you are in line for the throne?”
He spluttered, shocking me. Then he laughed. “We do not share enough blood for that. I am not royal enough to resist any challenges to the throne. The parliament would become a republic, get rid of all the royals, before they would let me reign.”
His words made sense. Too much sense.
No, I would not rule without Axel if I had to do so at all. I would not allow it.
“No,” I said firmly, surprising both of us. I hadn’t intended to voice my thought aloud. “If I am to become king, it will be with the consort of my choosing by my side. Axel is not some lone shifter. He comes from a brave and large pack. They are gifted with magic, children, and allies.”
“Teárlach—“
“No.With Axel by my side, we will usher in a new era for Abrocaelum. Together we will aid the shifters and our goddess will bless the union.”
A feeling of certainty settled over me. A knowing I had only felt but a few times before. The goddess was with me.
“We were sent here for a reason, old friend. The goddess wanted us to aid the shifters. Why not so I could meet my soul-bonded? In my hundreds of years, I have met none that are his equal in his ability to reach my heart. Letting Axel go would be to live the rest of my life without love. There is no other for me.”
“It has only been a few weeks, Your Highness.” Ívarr looked at me with shock painted over his features.
“My soul is half bonded to him already, Ívarr. I can feel him from here.”
Ívarr looked dismayed, then resigned. “This cannot be undone.”
“I do not want it to be,” I answered simply, putting all the honesty I could into my voice. “Axel is my heart.”
My friend left me alone by the lake to think things through. If it was indeed true that Axel would struggle with our people accepting his legitimacy as my consort, then I had much to do before I could take the throne.
I considered my next steps while I took a circuitous route back to my room in Dakota’s home.
First, I would have to confess my secret to my love. I had contemplated it before, yet a sense held me back, telling me it wasn’t the time.
I knew not telling him the truth was a mistake. Still, I had to keep the secret for a while longer. Our relationship had to be on firmer ground before I told him to not lose him completely. There was work for me to do as well. I had to ensure the pack was seen as important allies in our hunt for answers.
Our goddess would not have sent us to the shifters without a reason. They were important, and if they did indeed assist us in returning our fertility, then my people would have no choice but to venerate them. How could they be pets when they solved a problem our people and even the fae could not?
We had not told the shifters the fae were also in a crisis, and we had reached out with a plea to share information. Our former allies had grown distant over the several millennia since Abrocaelum had come into being. For many centuries, we had been at war. Now we were in a protracted period of peace. Yet it was a fragile truce.
The fae had not wanted to admit vulnerability by giving us their own research into their fertility rates. We had appealed many times, only to be rebuffed.
It would rock their society to its core to have their pets be the solution to our mutual problems.
“T? Are you here?” Axel’s voice floated up the stairs to the small apartment I lived in over Dakota’s garage. He sounded concerned.
“Here.”
“Everything okay?”
Like me, he was also rubbing over his chest absentmindedly. It was a sign that our bond flowed not only one way. It should have been impossible, but I found with Axel, so many things had become possible. Like falling in love, something I had never truly done. I had lost my heart to the young shifter. I had been waiting for him.
Catching him around his waist, I drew him to me and pressed my lips to his. “Better now you are here,” I said as we broke apart and I pulled Axel further into the room.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked so sweetly.
“No, just elf business. Nothing to worry about.”
His frown told me he was not convinced.
