Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,49

tall, lean, and powerful elf glided across the packed earth toward me, a bow and quiver on his back and a short sword belted at his waist. If he were human, he would have been roughly forty, but purebred elves reputedly lived centuries, so maybe he’d been alive during the Crusades. A torc of gilded woven twigs wreathed his neck and emanated power, but the rest of his brown and beige clothing was ripped and stained, as if he’d been on the road for a long time. I remembered seeing an elf when I’d been here with my mother weeks earlier, but I hadn’t gotten a good look at his face and wasn’t sure if this was the same person.

He lifted a hand to stop me.

I glanced at Zav and Greemaw to make sure they weren’t looking back expectantly and waiting for me. Neither of them was looking in my direction at all.

“Glad I made the trip,” I muttered.

The elf stopped a few feet away and bowed to me.

I had zero bowing experience so I lifted a hand and said, “What’s up, Legolas?”

He straightened and regarded me curiously.

“I guess you haven’t been on Earth long enough to get signed up for Netflix,” I said.

“I have recently arrived on this world. I chose to help some refugees escape the wrath of the Silverclaw Clan, and now, I am waiting and hoping to chance across someone who can create a portal so that I may return.” His gaze shifted toward Zav, then back to me. He touched his chest. “I am Syran Moonleaf.”

“That sounds about right.” I held back a quip about the probability that an internet fantasy-name generator would spit that out within the first five tries. He wasn’t holding any weapons or glaring at me like he wanted to drive a sword through my gut. I could be polite. “I’m Val Thorvald.”

“Thorvald… That is your mother’s name?”

“Good guess.” With the certainty of a fist connecting with my nose, I realized this guy knew who my father was. He hadn’t said that, and I couldn’t imagine how he would know—especially if he’d just come to Earth and hadn’t heard anything about my reputation—but that question… What else could it mean?

Moonleaf was studying me with more than his eyes, I sensed, as a hint of magic brushed my awareness.

All the curiosity I thought I’d long ago given up bubbled to the surface, and I wanted to know everything he knew about my father. “It’s Norse. It means Thor’s ruler. My first name is even better. Valmeyjar. It means Battle Maiden or Corpse Maiden. My mom named me that and then was surprised when I became an assassin for the army. Weird, huh? Did you know my father?”

Moonleaf blinked. The color of his silver-green eyes reminded me of the lavender leaves on the plants potted at the front doors of my apartment building.

“I traveled with him once long ago when we were diplomats and explorers, serving the three kings.” Moonleaf smiled wistfully. “That was before our fates veered onto different paths.”

“Is he still alive? What’s his name?” I knew the name my mother had given me and figured it would mean something if this elf gave me the same one. If not, Moonleaf could have mistaken me for someone else. How could he tell from looking at me who my father was?

“Oh, he is most certainly still alive. I would tell you to visit him, but I fear there are few here who know how to make portals to the Cosmic Realms. I was warned about that ahead of time, but I didn’t quite realize how barren of magic this world would be.”

And here I’d been thinking about how many more magical beings were in it lately.

“I am debating what I could offer a dragon to send me home.” Moonleaf looked at Zav again. “But one does not presume to ask favors of dragons.”

“No. I assume you’re probably in trouble if you owe a dragon a favor too.”

“It depends on the dragon. The Stormforge family has always been fair.” Moonleaf waved at Zav, his fingers long and elegant, exactly what one would expect from an elf. “It is unfortunate that their hold over the Dragon Justice Court is not what it once was and that so many crueler and more insular dragons are working against them to steal their positions. That is why so many refugees have been forced to flee to this world. It is—it was—a place that nobody believed dragons would