Page 58 of Taloned Heart

“I can.” Abraxas gathered Zephyr up easily, arms underneath his knees and shoulders. Though it might not be the most comfortable for Zephyr’s wounds, it was the easiest position to get him out of here. “Shall we?”

They had likely already run out of time. Even now, Margaret was likely storming the castle. They were stealing her greatest chess piece, and if they didn’t move...

“Let’s go.” Lore didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Margaret caught them. Though she was quite confident she could fight the other elf, she didn’t know how well it would go for either of them.

Something deep inside her said that now was not the time to fight. They still had a long way to go. They still had more to this story that they needed to fix.

Striding out of the cell, she led the way with her dagger in her hand and her eyes on the shadows. There were two elves who had fled, and they could easily linger for a better moment to attack.

Except they weren’t.

The other cells, however, were lively. All kinds of creatures wrapped their hands around the bars and begged for their release.

“Please!” a dwarf called out. “My family knows where I am. Surely the dwarves told you where we were?”

They did not. But she still waved a hand and released them.

The humans cried out. “I remember you! We were there, together. Don’t you remember?”

She did, and she remembered how terrible they were. How most of those women were willing to be cutthroat to get their hands on a throne. But still, she unlocked their doors because she could.

That left the elves.

They stood in their cell, stoic as always. They watched as Lore paused in front of them and she felt something twist hard in her chest. A familiar feeling. A desire to want to be part of their group and their family, even though none of them had ever wanted her.

Because at her very core, Lore still wanted them to acknowledge her. She still needed them to see her and tell her that she was wanted.

She turned only her head toward them. “Do you not have any reason for me to release you?”

The elves all looked at a single elderly man who approached the bars. He wore an outfit that marked him as their leader. But the faded blue cloak with golden edges was moth eaten and worn.

“Would begging really make you release us?” He tilted his head to the side. “You were never part of our family. I will not lie to be released.”

“So you still see me as nothing more than a half elf.” Her heart stuttered once, twice, then thundered in her chest.

“I see you for what you are. I know the prophecy and I know more about your story that has likely never been told.” He reached through the bars, his hand outstretched as though she might touch him. “I call tell you all that you never knew about yourself. I can tell you so much about your story and it would give you more power than you ever dreamed of.”

Lore wanted to suck the air from his lungs. She wanted to put her hand through his chest and feel his heart beating against her palm.

“You know nothing of what I dream.” Her voice thickened with emotion, her palms sweaty and her words stumbling she spoke so quickly. “I was a little girl who wanted a family. The only people I ever knew were my mother’s people.You. I wanted to go home to the elves and have someone read me the same bedtime stories that I was raised on. I wanted to hear the songs of our people and the sound of our language. I wanted to learn how to speak, act, and eat like all of you. And you denied me that.”

She drew closer to the cell until her face was nearly pressed to the bars. She wanted him to see her pain. Needed him to realize that he was the one who had done this to her. He and all his people who refused to see a little girl when all they saw was an abomination.

The elder drew back from the bars, not in fear, but in disgust. “You were born this way for a reason. We saw you as the creature who would destroy our home. You wanted us to deny the truth of your existence.”

“No,” she whispered. “I wanted you to see me. But you could only find it in your heart to be cruel to a child, and that spoke volumes about you and your people. This castle is empty. Find your own way out.”

She started to leave, but the old man lunged forward and grabbed onto her arm. His ancient fingers felt like shackles around her bicep.

“Wait!” His voice was filled with desperation. “Don’t you want to know more about your prophecy?”

Her spine straightened, stiffened, and her heart hardened into ice. She turned her full attention to him again, and this time, he shrank away from her in fear. “No. I have no interest in learning about the prophecy. Five hundred years ago, elves saw into the future and knew it had changed. Fear spread throughout them because they were not the catalyst of such change, and they knew they could not control me. Perhaps what they saw scared them not because it was bad, but because it was different. I have no use for prophecy. I make my own life, and my own steps forward. You would do well to remember that.”

The crowd of elves surrounded him, pulling them into the safety of their arms and their family. But the old man had eyes only for her. “You walk the path of destiny, half elf. Even you cannot step off that path.”

She shrugged. “Then the path will bend to my whim.”

She turned away from the elves who were meant to be her family, her safety, her people. She left them with only the sight of her back and a dragon who snarled at them as he trailed up the stairs after her.

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