7. Amber

Chapter seven

Amber

T he skeleton hand was unsettling. Alright, it was terrifying. The elves all had a hand/lower arm that seemed to work perfectly, that could touch and move and grab, without a single muscle or tendon connecting the bones. That wasn’t right. Whatever it was, it wasn’t right. Yes, it had to be some sort of magic, but it still wasn’t right.

And here I was, in the last place in the state I had ever wanted to be—with them .

What were the elves going to do to me? Siliana seemed to be trying to calm me down, but why? What did they hope to gain from me? Because they definitely wanted something from me. Otherwise, why go through all the trouble? Yes, they wanted me to join/bond with the barrier, but this was something more, something they hadn’t told me. There were layers at play, evident in the way that Siliana carefully picked her words. I was not about to believe that I was kidnapped into a happily ever after—there was no way it was going to be that simple.

I had to take one thing at a time. I was still alive. And I was being taken care of. For now. And after being bit by a giant spider that still had a chance to kill me, the skeleton hands were something I was able to overlook.

What I could not overlook was the man, Eldrin, who had stepped into my room with a presence that took every word out of my mouth. That is, until Siliana prompted me to explain how I remembered him from the bar and I started to ramble. All while taking him in.

His silver hair was cropped close to his head, hovering above pointed ears and revealing a graceful white neck. Slowly, he shifted and took a seat on another unoccupied wooden stool, his posture as contained and graceful as a cat. His limbs were covered with a green tunic with long sleeves, but what I could see hinted at a muscular forearm that was no doubt as toned as the rest of him. The movement drew attention to his chiseled cheeks, and his strong jaw that was as sharp as the bones of his left hand—yep, he had one of those skeleton hands, too. How hadn’t I noticed that he was something other at the bar—how he hid his ears—was beyond me. Though I really should have noticed something was different. No human moved with that grace, carried themselves with that surety .

And when he looked at me with those silver eyes, the ones that seemed to stare into every bit of me, I was suddenly very aware I was wearing nothing but a glorified bedsheet.

“Eldrin,” Siliana said with a polite nod of her head once I finished talking, “this is Amber. We were just discussing what she can expect living here.”

“Amber,” he repeated, his voice low. He blinked fast, like he was remembering something. “How much have you told her?”

“Everything. Except for Vanir.”

“Vanir?” I asked. That’s right. The king. The king who apparently shared a name with a race of Norse gods. That was interesting.

From the way Eldrin and Siliana looked at each other, the king was not well-liked. It was like asking two co-workers what they thought of a manager. “You understand the bond with the barrier, correct?” Eldrin asked me.

“More or less,” I replied. “In theory.”

“And how it has to be made willingly?”

“…Yes.”

“Well, in order to make bonding with the barrier more acceptable to you,” Eldrin said, “Vanir would like to offer you marriage.”

“…To?”

“Himself.”

Siliana coughed, covering her mouth and turning away from me. Neither of us paid her any attention.

My own mouth was wide open. “Marry. The king. An elf king.”

Eldrin nodded, watching for my reaction, other than the obvious surprise. What was he looking for? Was I supposed to be happy about this? Though, was my exhaustion making me see things, or was he watching me too, for more than just to see how I felt about the king? When I saw Eldrin at the bar, I felt something drawing me to him, even in that crowd. That feeling had not lessened, though it was being pushed aside by other things. And it couldn’t be mutual. Right?

“The king couldn’t tell me this himself?” I managed to ask, and I could’ve sworn I saw a flicker of a smirk on Eldrin’s face.

“He will not,” Eldrin said firmly. Yep, not my imagination. Eldrin really didn’t like Vanir.

“Wait. Um, do I have to give an answer now? Because I have…a lot of thinking to do.” And naps to take, a nap that was getting increasingly difficult to fight off. But I couldn’t avoid the thinking. Siliana had pointed out that the existence of the barrier had, in effect, stopped me from leaving these woods. And I would be stopped by elves before I managed to get far, even if I didn’t get lost. More than that, the poison effectively stopped me from leaving, even if I managed to get out. And now the elf king was offering marriage to get me to stay? I didn’t trust the fairy fuckers before, and I definitely didn’t now.

“You do not, Amber,” Siliana said, shooting Eldrin a look I couldn’t interpret. “But I would counsel accepting immediately.” She lowered her voice. “You do not want to anger the king.”

Oh. That. They really didn’t like him. And I was inclined to trust Siliana, in this matter at least. The look she exchanged with Eldrin had not been an act, and the nerves in the room were so tight, waiting for my reaction, that it felt like strings about to snap.

“In that case,” I said, “I would be pleased to accept.”

They both nodded, having clearly anticipated no other answer. Little did they know that they were lucky I was too tired to put up a fight. Was I going to marry an elf I hadn’t seen before? Hell no. But he wasn’t standing at the edge of my bed with a priest and a ring, so I had time. Maybe marriage meant something else here. Maybe I would manage to find a way out. I really didn’t have to stay here forever, did I?

“Uh, what now?” I asked, trying not to stare at Eldrin as much as I wanted.

“You will rest and be presented to Vanir within a day or two,” Siliana said. “And then we have a month to prepare you to bond with the barrier.”

“Prepare? Can’t I just…do it?”

“No,” Eldrin said. “The magic will sense what is in your heart. It has to be willing. Of its own accord.”

“What happens if I don’t have the right…heart?”

Siliana and Eldrin looked at each other once more. “We don’t know,” Eldrin said. “But I cannot imagine it would be pleasant. This is a forest that thrives on decay and death. I cannot imagine that if the barrier rejects an offering that the rejection would be pleasant.”

“Oh,” I said. “So not giving me the final antidote…”

“Is to motivate you to try,” Siliana said.

“Yes. Nothing motivates quite like death,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, Amber,” Siliana said, bowing her head. “I know that this is a lot. And I know you will need time to grieve the loss of your old life and home. But I think you will like it here, with time. And we will do everything we can to help you.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why are you two being so helpful to me?”

Siliana was the one who answered. “You did not choose to be here, but we need a human to succeed and protect us. And my conscience would not allow me to act otherwise.” She lowered her voice. “Not when Vanir is guiding this.”

Eldrin, the beautiful bastard who brought me here, was biting his lip while Siliana spoke. He also owed me an apology. He owed me more of an explanation—at the very least admit what he did to me. I could barely keep my eyes open, yet I wanted to wring an answer from him. But all he said was, “Rest. I will see you soon. When it is time to meet my brother.”

With gentle farewells, the two elves left me alone, which was probably for the best. I needed rest, and I needed to figure out how I was going to handle the king—my new fiancé. The last thing I needed to think about was Eldrin—impossibly gorgeous Eldrin. There was no way he would want anything to do with me like that if I was promised to his king. Even if he would settle for a human.

And I had to focus on staying alive.