Page 7 of Enchanting the Elf
Sadie shoots out of her seat, forcing everyone’s attention to her. “What the fuck?” she says with a shaky voice.
The women swarm around her and some of the males join me as I approach her too, but it’s like she’s caught in her own world. Her face pales and she holds a hand to her stomach as she skids forward another foot.
My palms grow clammy and my heart rate accelerates to an uncomfortable degree. The pressure from today tightens the increasingly heavy noose of responsibility around my neck. Sweat drips down my back but I keep my face impassive as I imagine explaining this in front of the other elves, or worse, my father.
I don’t know what this is. I don’t know how to fix it.
I sense Everett approaching and people part for him as he strides directly for Sadie with a single-minded focus.
Placing a gentle finger under her chin, Everett tilts her head up until their eyes meet. “Are you alright?” he asks earnestly. Themoment between them feels intimate and intense, so much more than should be expected between two people who only met each other today.
I look away and try to give them some privacy, everyone following suit, though confusion and concern remain on their faces. Their emotions are so strong that they scrape against my mental barriers and my anxiety ratchets up, unable to keep them all out.
All my life I strive to ensure boundaries are in place, that emotions remain personal unless voluntarily shared with me. I aim to never exert force or alter others’ emotions, just as I never enjoy when it’s done to me. However, when chaos ensues—like today—the ability to keep everyone from infiltrating the ice wall I have raised around my mind, is nearly impossible.
Everett covers Sadie’s hand where it rests on his forearm, and addresses the room. “Can everyone please take a seat? I think I’ve discovered something else that might complicate our situation. Actually, Jamie did earlier, but we got sidetracked.”
Still suspended in shock, no one moves to take a seat.
Everett looks to Sadie and they share some kind of silent communication. “Oookay, um, seems like the fates have another surprise for us. If I’m not mistaken, we now have a limit to the distance we can be separated from our… tattoo partner.”
Around the room, people drop into seats with various degrees of disbelief. Calling on my lifelong experience of masking my emotions, I keep my face neutral and lock my joints to keep my posture straight and unaffected.
Unable to help myself, I look to Florence to see how she is taking this information. She shares a soft smile with her sister but I don’t miss the tremble in her hands where she fidgets with her hair.
I take up pacing in the hopes that it will center my thoughts and force some kind of explanation for today’s events tomagically appear. I ask Jamie and Everett so many questions, it feels like an interrogation, but it is imperative that I find a reason for all of this.
My teeth ache as I grit out questions, years of research flitting through my brain as I search for plausible explanations. Everett and Sadie had such a strong reaction to their distance limit, yet Jamie and Iris did not.Why?
I card my hands through my hair and tug on the strands. Pausing my pacing, I look to Everett, who is holding Sadie close. “Is there any reason you can think of that things would be different with you and Sadie? Something you’ve done?”
The room holds its breath as I voice my question, the women leaning forward in their seats, the males tilting their heads.
Everett looks to Sadie before speaking to everyone else. “I don’t know if this could be it, but we have physically touched. When I grabbed her wrist back in the forest and touched her skin for the first time, it was like a jolt went through my body. She felt something too.”
“Oh yeah, Iris and I haven’t touched… yet.” The salacious tone in Jamie’s words and his ability to make jokes at a time like this irks me beyond belief.
Nevertheless, I follow the line of thought pertaining to touch, and glance at the males scattered around the room. “Has any male here made physical contact with one of the women, except for Everett and Sadie?”
Of their own accord my eyes move to Florence first, though, I redirect my gaze, knowing we have not so much as brushed clothing against each other.
One by one, the males shake their heads. I don’t miss the muted desire in Edmond’s eyes as he looks at Sylvia, nor the flare of Sawyer’s nose as he looks at Louisa.
Jasper’s eyes darken when he meets Natalie’s equally as hungry gaze. He bites his lip and says, “Not yet.”
The pheromones pumping through the air are suffocating and I rub at my brow in an effort to focus. “How far would you estimate this distance limit to be, Everett?”
“I’d say about a hundred yards.”
I grab the back of my neck and catch the bead of sweat rolling down before folding my arms across my chest while my neutral mask remains firmly in place. Then, I unintentionally thank the elvish custom of suppressing emotions and letting logic take the lead at all times.
From what I can deduce, none of this was planned by anyone, thus leading me to believe the fates have intervened in tonight’s events. I will need to search all resources we have on the estate referencing the fates so we can separate from our partners as soon as possible.
I will not fret. I will find a way to dissolve this distance limit. I will not have a stranger bound to remain within a hundred yards of me.
Voice edging on panic, Helena asks, “So what you’re telling us is that we now have a hundred-yard limit from the matchy tattoo?”
I take a deep breath in through my nose and on my exhale, answer truthfully. “It would seem that we can conclude that, yes.” Speaking to everyone, I say. “The fates have presumably intended for us to meet and orchestrated some of tonight’s events, placing various obstacles in our way to dissuade our separation. I shall promptly start my research to find the means to sever these connections as fast as the fates would allow. Please refrain from making any physical contact with your partner unless you also wish to be in a similar predicament as Everett and Sadie. I hope to have found a resolution by morning.”
