heads as they reach me. I’m about to protest when they reach for the elf, wrapping their arms around him as they lead him away. “We will not forget your kindness,” one of them tells me, dipping her head again before turning back to the elf in need.
Waiting until the elf and his companions are out of view, I look around and see everyone’s watching me. So much for not causing a scene.
Turning to Eldrin, I clutch my injured arm to my chest. “Can we go back to my room now?” I feel instant relief when he nods in agreement and gestures for me to lead the way.
After what feels like a lifetime, we eventually reach my rooms, and as I push open the door, I see Naril’s back as he sorts something on the large dining table. He can’t have been at the border for long if he’s back already, my mind reasons, but I don’t have the energy to bring it up.
“There you are,” he says, turning to face me as I step into the room. “You’ve been gone for ages…” Trailing off, his smile drops as he takes in my bedraggled expression and bleeding arm and the furious Eldrin behind me. “What happened?”
“The queen,” Eldrin growls, walking past me and heading straight to my bathroom. “She threatened Clarissa,” he calls out, and I can hear him rustling around in the cupboards before reappearing a few seconds later with a first aid kit in his hands. “Then Clarissa decided to be a hero and saved a sea elf.” The sarcasm in his voice makes me wince. I guess he’s not very pleased with my actions in the entrance hall.
“What?” Naril exclaims. Walking over to me and grabbing my hand, he pulls me over to the table and pushes me down into a chair. “Damn, I thought it was suspicious that she sent me to the border and then called me back before I’d even been there for an hour,” he mutters, examining the cut on my arm and holding his hand out for the medical kit. “But where were you? I thought we weren’t going to leave her alone?” Naril fires back at his brother. “And what’s this about a sea elf?”
“The queen ordered me to stay behind. What was I going to do, disobey her?” Eldrin snarls, pacing up and down the length of the room. “She wasn’t gone long, about twenty minutes, but when she came back, she looked like she was running from death.”
There’s a pause as the two of them exchange meaningful looks, but I’m too tired to demand they tell me what’s going on. With a sigh, Naril returns to my wound, cleaning it with a yellow liquid that stings. Gritting my teeth, I’m relieved to find the stinging only lasts a couple of seconds, and before I know it, the wound is dressed.
Leaning back from me, Naril looks between me and his pacing brother. “What happened?” I’m surprised he managed to wait this long before asking the question again. Opening my mouth, I prepare to tell the story when the door flies open, bouncing against the wall from the force of it.
“Clarissa?” A familiar figure hurries into the room, his eyes wide as he looks around for me. When I jump up from my chair, his head shoots around as he catches the movement, his face hardening when he sees the blood on my dress.
“Vaeril!” I cry, not caring that there are others watching as I run into his arms. He freezes for a second, then I feel the fight go out of him as he sighs and wraps his arms tightly around me, and a part of me feels like it can breathe again. Pressing my face against his chest, I inhale his scent, rubbing my cheek against the fabric of his shirt, wishing it was skin instead.
“Mate,” he exhales, the word soft and full of relief as he holds me tighter. He lowers his face to the top of my head, nuzzling against my hair. We stay like this for some time, if the sighs and grumbling from Eldrin are anything to go by, but we both need this.
“Are you okay?” Vaeril finally asks, his words mumbled as he speaks without pulling away from my hair. “I felt your terror through the bond, then I got a message from one of the guards about an emergency.” His fear for me flashes through the bond, clear as day.
“The queen threatened her,”