Claimed by the Elven King: Part Four (11 page)

“Esdil?” Sethian inquired with a frown.

Instead of answering, his eyes turned from the king to me. They were
now accusing, angry, as if
I
was the one who had committed a great wrong
against him by preventing him from succeeding. Just looking at him made my
stomach turn. However, I didn’t look away, not wanting to give him the
satisfaction of knowing that his very presence disturbed me.

He turned his attention back to Sethian. “I did what I had to do,” he
repeated. “Soon, another will, as well.”

After that maddening declaration, no matter how Sethian threatened him,
he did not utter another word.

Needless to say, we never did make it to Talloth that day.

Looking at myself in my hand mirror, it was hard to believe that I had
been living in the elven realm for thirteen years now. My features were the
same now as they were the day I first looked into this mirror and saw a
semi-stranger staring back. Had I been in the human realm, I would have been
nearing middle age. Now, except for a few hiccups now and then, it was as
though I was living the best years of my life over and over again.

I didn’t wait ten years to give Thaylan a sibling like I had once
sarcastically told Lariel. He was four when his brother Anir was born. A year
after that, my daughter, Rinya, arrived. The last had been my youngest daughter,
Arra, four years ago. After four children, it had become apparent that Thaylan
really was a special little boy as the rest of the children were born as blond
as their father and nowhere near as powerful.

As it turned out, Thaylan’s ability to phase to different places just
like Sethian had only been the tip of the iceberg, a fact that had no doubt
shaved off a few hundred years from my lifespan before he had grown old enough
to understand that he shouldn’t go around creating and leaving what amounted to
mini-portals in walls, floors, and furniture for his poor unsuspecting mother
to fall into.

By age six, he had mastered the ability to permanently alter the space
around him. It had been a year before either Sethian or I had realized that the
little booger had carved out an entire separate room the size of our sitting
room from a dimension none but him could touch where he and his little brother
could run around and play with his portals without having to worry about their
mother scolding them about “the dangers of messing around with reality.”

By this time, I had integrated so deeply into the elven realm and life
as a member of the royal family that my old life back in the human world no
longer seemed real. Now, except for official ceremonies, I always appeared in
public on Sethian’s arm, his clearly favored wife, which had raised more than a
few aristocratic brows in the beginning.

The queen as well had been less than impressed with this new development,
but over the years we had finally managed to find a compromise of sorts where
we basically pretended that the other did not exist—on the surface, at least. I
still could not quite shake the suspicion that she was up to something, so I
had finally caved and shared my concerns with my friends, asking them to keep
their eyes and ears open for me without alerting Sethian to my fears.

However, it was really because of Thaylan, more than Sethian’s
influence, that I had been accepted into elven society as well as I had. Even
those who clearly despised the fact that a human dared walked among them as
though she were a
Sidhe
didn’t dare say or do anything publically to
express that disgust because of their fear of Thaylan’s power, never mind that
he was still only a kid. Thaylan’s affection for me was obvious to anyone who
had eyes, so to disrespect me, the adored mother of their future king, was
essentially akin to political suicide.

He had also proven to be a problem for some on another front. Over the
years, people had begun to realize that Thaylan resembled the mythical elf,
Hirion, in more than just his unique looks. Although not clairvoyant, he had an
uncanny ability to sense when someone was up to no good, whether it was his
younger brother playing a prank on him or something more sinister like a plot against
my life—and there had been a fair few of those in the early years.

I felt a chill go up my spine as I remembered the last, a scene four
years ago that I would unlikely forget, even after a thousand years. It was the
day our enemies had truly learned to fear my son.

“My human bride-to-be wishes to speak with you, milady, before she
makes her final decision.”

I had heard this request twice before in the past two years, but I
was a little surprised to hear it from the noble before me. He had been among
the ten families that had just been given permission by Sethian to seek out a
human bride a moon-cycle ago. That he had found a bride so quickly was
astonishing. There were some from the very first group that had set out seven
years ago that still hadn’t had any luck.

I glanced at Saeria, and she shrugged. “We can go now if you like.”

When we arrived to the point between worlds he had been frequenting,
I could tell immediately that this was going to be another bust without the blonde
woman who was sitting in a daze in the middle of the field having to even say a
word. This was what a lot of the nobles didn’t understand. Here under a
Sidhe’s
full enchantment, a woman would agree to anything because to her, this was only
a dream world. However, almost every time the women returned to the human realm
and their minds became clear again, they freaked out about what had happened
and would never return.

Seeing this dazed woman, it now made sense how he had found somebody
so quickly. He really hadn’t. There was no way she would pass Sethian’s final
test to gain permission for the change in this kind of state. Still, I had
promised the noble I would talk to her, and I would.

I was so busy observing the woman that I didn’t notice that the
noble had stopped at the threshold of the “door” we had used to enter this
space.

Without warning, he lunged at me. I don’t know if he had intended to
grab me or push me into the space beyond the barrier between both realms where
God-only-knows what terrible thing would have happened to me, but the moment
both hands came within an arm-span of me, they disappeared up to his wrists in
an instant. There had been no flash of light, no sound, or not even a sign that
his hands had met with some kind of resistance. They were just—gone.

I stared in a kind of horrified shock as he fell, screaming, to his
knees, holding out his arms before him to reveal two perfectly healed stumps
where his hands had been only seconds ago. They looked like amputations that
had happened years ago, the skin only slightly darkened along the end of the
stumps and none of it bloodied or even reddened with inflammation.

However, even though the stumps looked completely healed, the elf
continued to scream and scream while the poor human woman he had probably
forcibly brought into the Inbetween as his red herring rocked back and forth
with her arms wrapped firmly around her knees, having woken up from the elven
enchantment straight into what had probably seemed like a  nightmare.

Understandably upset about all the attempts on my life, Thaylan had
somehow used his spatial manipulation abilities along with the natural familial
bond we had between us to erect a barrier around me that he had said would
prevent anyone with ill intent from harming me physically. When I had pressed
him for more details, he had just shrugged and said that his gifts were
instinctual, and it wasn’t something he could really explain

Even though we had tried to keep what had happened that day a secret,
word had still somehow spread, but instead of causing the problems for Thaylan
that Sethian had feared, it had instead been the solution to mine. No one has
tried to come after me physically since.

Now, despite my misgivings, Sethian, the children, and even Thaylan,
himself, have the same protection, but that was the maximum amount of barriers
he could maintain without draining his personal reserves of energy too much.

But now Thaylan was gone, off studying with a renowned,
four-thousand-year-old mage from the
Lithvir
Sidhe
for a year,
and I knew that Sethian was secretly worried that the attempts on my life would
start again. Not only that, but this time there were also a handful of human
brides now living in the realm that could also be targeted. None of them had
conceived yet, so I prayed that some anti-human fanatic didn’t get it into his
or her head to get rid of the “problem” before it became a problem.

I also worried for Thaylan, afraid that while he was far away from the
protection of the king’s mantle and the eyes of the elven court with its
convoluted system of social checks and balances that someone would try to
assassinate him as well.

No, there
was
one thing that was different about my reflection.
The eyes that stared back at me this time were just a bit heavier with the weight
of the ages I still had before me.

“I don’t care if it
is
your duty. You. Are. Not. Going!” I said
firmly as I pushed Sethian equally as firmly back down to the mattress as he
tried to sit up for the third time since we had woken up this morning.

“It is not a matter I can just pass off onto the queen,” he insisted
stubbornly, but at least he didn’t try to rise again, “
especially
since
it is Limira.”

Or more correctly, he just didn’t have the strength to make the
attempt.

“It is just a little weakness. As long as I am seated, I shall be
fine.”

I sighed in exasperation and shook my head. “After thirteen years, this
is the first time I have ever seen you sick. You
Sidhe
are always going
on and on about how you rarely get sick, so the fact that you suddenly woke up
this morning in a cold sweat and feeling as weak as a kitten is definitely
cause for alarm. I’ve already sent Lariel to fetch a healer. Those traveling
dignitaries can just wait a little longer. Besides, aren’t you the one who is
always telling me that time means very little to an elf?”

“Time has nothing to do with this. There are certain protocols that
must be followed; you know this.”

“So says the man that is constantly thumbing his nose at those same
protocols,” I countered.

The dismay that washed over his face was almost comical. “I shall see
the healer. That is all I shall promise.”

I nodded, though there was no real satisfaction in having won the
argument. He couldn’t see himself. He couldn’t see how gray his complexion was
or how his brow was glistening with sweat even though his skin felt as cold as
ice to the touch. No, the reason I was being so stubborn about him staying in
bed was because I was worried as hell. I was supposed to be the only one that
got sick around here. Powerful beings like the elven king were supposed to be
invulnerable.

“Where are the children?” Sethian asked.

“I sent them to the archives with Rinwen for their morning lessons
today,” I replied. “I didn’t want them getting sick, too, if whatever you have
is contagious. If that’s the case, it’s already too late for me. Whatever you
have, you’ve probably had it for longer than just the last couple of days, and
we’ve exchanged spit more times than I can count during that time. I’ve noticed
for a while now that you’ve been looking more tired than usual. In hindsight, I
should’ve been more suspicious, but I thought it was because of all those trips
to Talloth you’ve had to make lately.”

“As did I,” he said with a sigh.

When the healer arrived a few minutes later, he took one look at
Sethian and dove immediately into his examination without a word. After what
seemed like an eternity, he finally drew back the hands that had been pressed
against Sethian’s chest and opened his eyes. The expression within them was
less than reassuring. “Forgive me, Your Majesty,” he said, “but I would like to
bring in a couple of my associates to examine you as well. What I am
seeing—well, I fear it has me at a loss.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded before Sethian could even open his
mouth.

“His life-force is severely disrupted as it would be with any illness,”
the healer explained. “The problem is that I searched his entire system over
and over, and I simply cannot find what is causing the disruption.” He turned
to Sethian again. “Your energy levels fell inexplicably even as I examined you!
Except for the depletion, I can find nothing amiss at all!”

“Can you bring them now?” I asked anxiously.

He nodded. “Of course.”

Once the healer had gone, I went to sit on the bed beside Sethian. “What
do you make of that?” I asked.

“That perhaps you were right to be as concerned as you are,” he said
grudgingly. He closed his eyes for a moment, a frown of concentration wrinkling
the skin of his brow momentarily before he opened them and continued, “Now that
he has pointed it out, I can clearly see the disruption in my life-force he
spoke of.”

“If it isn’t viral or bacterial, couldn’t just plain fatigue cause a
drop in your energy levels?” I asked.

He shook his head. Even that simple gesture seemed to require a
tremendous effort. “Not like this, and especially not this quickly.”

“What are the odds that you picked up some new, unknown sickness?”

“Yesterday, I would have said next to zero, but after seeing this…” He
shrugged.