Page 58 of The Broken Elf King
She set the broom against the brick wall of her house and then rolled the rug up into her arms. Pushing the door open, she called into the house, “Reeves! We have a guest, darling.”
The way she spoke to him, with such sweetness and respect, it made me think of Raife. I’d meant it when I said I loved him. Ihadfallen in love with him. It wasn’t a fake relationship for me. I wanted to call him darling and come home to him like this and it killed me what had become of us, how quickly he’d discarded me.
A man stepped out of a back room and into the kitchen. He was bigger than his brother, not only taller but wider too, and handsome.
“Hello,” he greeted me with a head bow.
“This is Kala. She’s lost and was looking to get to Buckshot,” his wife told him.
He was staring at me, his eyes going from my hair down to my face in a look that made me uncomfortable.
“I’m going to Buckshot tomorrow. I can take you,” he offered.
“Thank you,” I said, worried again about the way he was studying me.
I noticed all of the dried flowers then. They hung upside down in bundles all around the kitchen. “Beautiful flowers. Are they from your garden?”
They both shifted uncomfortably. “We… had a death in the family last month. The flowers are from the mourning,” Flora said.
I instantly regretting saying anything about them. “I’m so sorry.” I rubbed my hands nervously on my dress.
“Hungry?” Flora seemed eager to change the subject, and I nodded.
Reeves pulled out the chair for me at the table and gestured that I sit down. I did, and he sat across from me,stillstaring at me oddly.
Did he recognize me? He couldn’t. This was too small a town.
“You look familiar. I can’t place it,” he finally said, and my stomach dropped.
Flora looked over her shoulder at us, keen on knowing where her husband might know me from.
“Maybe the festival last week?” Flora offered.
He shook his head, gaze going again to my hair. “Do you have a sister?”
I almost said no, but then remembered my cover story. “Yes,” I said with relief.
He relaxed a little. “Was she at the sailing competition last weekend? When the king was attacked?”
My entire body froze and he noticed, stiffening himself.
Flora spun from where she was heating something on the stove. “Were you there too? It gave Reeves such a fright. And then to find out our queen is blessed! The village has been talking about it all week. Oh, how I hope she comes out of her unconsciousness.”
No, no, no…
I needed to leave. I was stupid to think I could travel alone. That’s what Raife told everyone? That I was unconscious for days on end?
“I wasn’t there. Neither was my sister,” I said quickly. Too quickly.
Flora didn’t seem to notice, but Reeves was watching me like a cougarin about to pounce on his prey.
“It was pretty incredible to see the queen bring him back from death like that,” Reeves said, not looking away from me, not even blinking. “Her hair went white, but for a small chunk right here.” He reached for the darker reddish-brown part of my hair and I jumped up, bolting for the door.
Everything happened so fast then, I could barely track it. I was almost to the door when Reeves crashed into my back, bringing me to the ground. Flora screamed, and then he rolled off me, pulling me up by the arms.
“Reeves, what the Hades are you doing!?” Flora yelped at her husband.
When I faced him, I expected to see a menacing snarl, but he was… crying—full-on fat, hot tears streamed down his face. “Can you bring back the dead? Is it true?”
