Page 48 of The Broken Elf King
You’re a good friend.
Those words would haunt me, and yet they were true. I looked up, and the expression on Raife’s face, the emotions coming off of him, they stole my breath.
His eyes were slightly hooded as he swallowed hard, and reached for me. Taking both of my hands into his, I was hit with an overwhelming sense of adoration and lust.
Raife Lightstone wanted to bed me just as much as I wanted to bed him. He’d been hiding it before but he couldn’t now, not in this moment with all eyes on me and how beautiful he thought I looked. I could feel his emotions leaking into me too strongly, and my stomach heated.
This changed everything.
My plan to be a loyal friend to the end pivoted to a plan to expose that he was hiding his feelings for me. I was going to make him admit it, to see that no matter how scared he was we would get through it together.
The music died down, and as I held his gaze his feelings of lust and romance quickly turned to fear and regret. I bit down on my cheek, hating that I had this gift to feel what others were feeling. His emotions quickly spiraled into panic as the priest began the blessing of our union, and I reached up and stroked the side of his face.
“We got this. Together,” I whispered.
It was like I’d doused a fire in water. He instantly relaxed, his stormy emotions subsiding into decisive action. In the entire one-hour union blessing, I did not break away from his gaze. I watched as he waffled between wanting to run out of here and wanting to kiss me, and I held his hands tightly, feeling the same thing.
When the priest finally placed the giant flower garland over the both of us, encircling us together, Raife’s hands relaxed in mine.
“King Lightstone, please declare publicly to all of these witnesses your intention to marry and care for your betrothed.” The priest’s voice was calm and smooth, anything but how I felt.
Raife cleared his throat, and broke my gaze for the first time since I’d entered the room. “I, Raife Lightstone, intend to marry, care for, and devote all of my time and effort into making Kailani Rose Dulane happy, healthy, and prosperous.”
Even though it was a canned phrase said for thousands of years among the elvin people who married, tears pricked the edges of my eyes nonetheless.
The priest looked at me and I stared out to the crowd. “I, Kailani Rose Dulane, intend to marry, care for, and devote all of my time and effort into making King Raife Lightstone happy, healthy and…” I paused. “More prosperous?”
The crowd erupted into laughter, and even the edges of Raife’s lip curled. I was glad for the comedic moment, because what came next had my stomach tying up into knots. Would it be a small modest peck for the crowd’s enjoyment, or an earnest kiss from his heart?
The priest raised his arms. “Do I have the blessing of the elvin council?” he asked.
I looked to the side, where the council sat in high-backed chairs, and one by one they nodded their heads.
“May the Maker bless this union for ages to come,” the priest said, and the crowd went wild. “My king, you may kiss your queen.”
I faced him, holding my breath, and watched as indecision crossed his features.
I felt it then. Tendrils of sorrow worked its way into his energy and doused us both. He was holding himself back for fear of falling for me. Watching his entire family die left a scar on his soul, one that would not allow him to love another.
Yet.
Leaning forward, he grasped the sides of my face and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss wasn’t as brief as I thought it might be, but it was still painfully short. Knowing how kissing him could be, this felt like an afterthought, and it was hard not to be saddened by it.
The crowd didn’t seem to mind, as claps and cheers rang throughout the space. Raife pulled away from me and then slipped his hand into mine, stroking my palm and raising our interlocked fingers into the air.
He looked at the council with a big smile that said,See I’m married. Now will you approve my war?
It was a double event: wedding and coronation. The priest then crowned me as queen, something I still couldn’t even process. When he set the crown on my head and I took my vow to protect Archmere and prosper it at all costs, the gathered people clapped and screamed so loudly the windows shook.
I felt slightly numb as we walked through the crowds, waving and fake smiling. All the while I just wanted the man next to me to give me something I wasn’t sure he was capable of. I clung to Raife as the throngs pressed in on us, and I picked up on all of their elated energy. Despite the overwhelming nature of it, the night was beautiful. We ate a wonderful meal that Mrs. Tirth tasted—the job was no longer mine as a queen couldn’t be food tasting for her husband; it wasn’t proper. We danced and walked for hours through the throngs of elvin people as they showered us with praise and well wishes, and before I knew it we were being ushered back into Raife’s bedroom.
Two Bow Men stood like sentinels on either side of the door. Raife gave them a nod and led me inside. It was near midnight, and I was tired, but I had completely forgotten to talk to Raife about our living arrangements. He’d briefly discussed sharing a bedroom for the first year so that the council didn’t get wind of any issues, and then sleeping apart after the war was funded and done. Now that I was confronted with sharing a room, I felt a whole host of emotions rush through me.
The last time I’d glimpsed into this place, there had been a woman streaking across it. My eyes flitted over the large four-poster bed to the left. There was a giant rug and fireplace to the right, and rows and rows of bookshelves. In front of the fireplace was a large sofa and reading chair. I noticed the room didn’t have any windows, which I assumed was for safety, but there were plenty of lights so it didn’t feel dark. As soon as Raife closed the door, he walked over to a wardrobe on the far wall and pulled a pillow and blanket from it. He brought it over to the sofa and started to make the bed.
Okay… that answered that question.
“It was a nice day. Everyone looked happy,” I said, trying to shake off the nerves I was feeling.
