Page 64 of Night Meets the Elf Queen (The Elf Queen #4)

Gently, Valeen pushed away the sweat-damp hair stuck to his forehead. It wasn’t a promise she wanted to make. She’d take a wicked Hel over a dead one. But she had to trust him. “She won’t touch you. I promise.”

Not long later, Hel laid on his side with his eyes shut, shallow breaths coming slower.

Valeen nibbled on the edges of her nail, pacing next to him.

Varlett sat at the edge of the fire, arms slung over her knees.

It was difficult to tell if Varlett had any care at all for Hel as she stared at him.

Would she save Hel the way she did Thane?

Did she ever love Hel? She wasn’t certain Varlett knew what love actually was, other than love for herself.

“He would rather die than let me help him, huh?” Varlett picked up a stick and tossed it into the blue flame. “It wasn’t always that way. He used to let me do many things to him.”

It took every ounce of self-control not to react to that statement. This connection between them was going to drive her mad.

Dread and agony slowly increased with each passing moment he didn’t get up. Valeen slipped her boots back on and trod down a trail in the black foliage while pacing next to Hel. I could drag him to the door and take him back home, then I’d regain my powers, and he would recover faster on his own .

“I healed Thane, and nothing bad has happened to him.” Varlett tapped her talons together in a steady rhythm. “I promise I won’t harm Hel.”

“He said no, Varlett. I know you’re used to manipulating everyone, but no.”

“You’ll let your mate die?”

“He won’t die.” Hel was strong and his will to live was as fiery as her temper.

“He’s dying! Look at him!” Varlett shot to her feet. “I’ve never seen him like this. Never.”

Valeen’s stomach turned and she stared at his sheet-white face, the sweat beading on his brow and temples.

His eyes fluttered and he let out a soft groan, curling in on himself.

She dropped beside him, holding her hand against his forehead and then his cheek; his skin was on fire. “Hel, we have to go back.”

“No,” he panted. We have to do this to save you. “I’m… I’m…” he groaned again and started shivering. “Fine. Just a little longer.”

“Move.” Varlett pushed her hip into Valeen, nearly knocking her off balance. “There’s no more time.”

“Don’t touch him.” She shoved Varlett and knocked her on her ass. It felt good to finally do something .

Varlett sprung to her feet once more. “Get out of the way. I’m not getting trapped down here if he dies.”

Valeen pulled her blade, metal sliding against metal, and stood over Hel. “You will not touch him.”

Her gut said not to trust her to use magic on him even under the guise of healing.

Varlett had proven time and time again she was the enemy, and letting her touch Hel with that ring wasn’t going to happen, she made a promise.

Even if she hadn’t promised Hel, Varlett was starting to look more like a demon by the minute.

A slow trickle of dread slid down her spine. Varlett looked like a demon… the ring wouldn’t come off her finger, the third prince Morv was dead… her eyes were changing, had changed to red, and her skin was blue-gray like one of the princes. Even her hair was white.

All Mother above, she wasn’t dying at all. S he was turning into a demon, and not just any demon. She resembled the rulers of this realm.

“You can’t use that blade on me. You’ll hurt yourself,” Varlett purred, starting to circle.

She had her sights set on Hel with a possessiveness that had the hackles on Valeen’s neck rising.

“He should be mine, Val. We are much better suited for each other. We crave power, and he doesn’t realize that with me, he could rule all of Runevale.

You hold him back from what he could be.

He wants power. He craves to be the ruler that all worship at his feet.

Even his queen. I crawled on my knees for him, but you, you’re too proud. ”

If she could claw out her eyes, she would. Gouge them out and feed them to the disgusting demon hounds. “You are so pathetic it’s almost sad. He doesn’t want power. He wants vengeance. He fights because he must.”

“Are you so certain? He wasn’t afraid to let me see who he truly is and it’s as dark as this place. He even said himself he is not good. You’re trying to turn him into something he is not. You’re trying to turn him into Thane. You could go back to him, you know. He still loves you.”

“Shut up.” Valeen gripped the sword handle hard enough her hand ached. “I do know Hel’s heart, and it belongs to me. He’s my mate.”

“Come on, Val. You’re lying to yourself.” She kept circling like a hawk, waiting for an opening. “You’ve seen the darkness in him, and it’s blacker than mine.”

“He only did those things to save me, to protect me.”

“You think so? He does it because he enjoys being wicked. Is that what you truly want? You’re supposed to be better than that, Lightbringer .”

Valeen kept her sights on Varlett and slowly squatted down. “Get up, Hel. We have to go.”

“I need just a few more minutes,” he said through chattering teeth.

“You’re not going anywhere with him.” Varlett took a quick jump forward. Valeen jerked a throwing star from her belt and flicked it at Varlett. It cut through the air with a whistle; she turned her face, but it still grazed her cheek, leaving a two-inch gash.

Pain Valeen could handle.

Pain was temporary but letting Varlett get ahold of Hel might not be.

She waited for the sharp sting to mirror Varlett’s, but it never came. She reached up and found no blood.

Something had changed…

Several pairs of glowing red eyes that had watched from afar drew closer. Low growls and hisses made the hair on her arms rise.

Reality flashed across Varlett’s face, and her talons grew longer and sharper.

“You know what I think?” Valeen said, rising to her full height. “I think that all your past transgressions have come back to haunt you… demon . You’ve finally become what you always were inside.”

“It doesn’t change anything.” Varlett’s eyes glowed crimson now.

“Apparently it does. That spell you had over me is gone.” Valeen threw another star, and it sliced into her other cheek, eliciting a hiss then a low growl from her nemesis.

It was time to take sweet vengeance. This dragon had ruined her life.

Had taken Hel from her and was the reason they were here in this shithole to begin with.

Valeen raised Soulender and stood at the ready.

“You know why I think that is? The connection is severed because the lake washed away the magic.” She laughed, who could have ever guessed the underrealm would be the thing to end the spell between them?

“You wanted to be immortal, it looks like you’ll get your wish and live forever in the underrealm. ”

“Well, if it is true.” Varlett crouched into a fighting position. “You’re in my domain now.”

Varlett sprang at her, talons cutting through the air with blurred speed. She brought Soulender up to meet her strikes and sliced through the first talon. Varlett gasped and pulled back. “You’re going to regret that!”

“I’ll keep your talon for a trophy and wear it around my neck.

And I’ll carve ‘the dragon who thought she could betray the goddess of night and live’ on it” She kicked out, connecting the toe of her boot with Varlett’s thigh, then swung her blade aiming for her chest. Varlett bent backward in an unnatural way to avoid the strike, kicked up, and slammed her boot into Valeen’s forearm, nearly knocking Soulender from her grasp.

Shit. The impact made her hand tingle, but the pain was nothing.

It was a step closer to killing this wench.

Varlett squared her shoulders and jerked her own sword free.

The next clash came in a fury of swings and blades cracking.

This wasn’t just about now ; this was for the past, for the absolute devastation she’d put not only Valeen through, but Hel and Thane too.

All her pent-up rage from being forced to hold back rippled through her movements, her swings came harder, faster, her kicks and parries that of a goddess as old as time.

Her fist smashed into Varlett’s nose, splitting open the bridge.

She sliced into her thigh and opened a good five-inch gash.

A guttural growl ripped from her, like that of a beast. But Varlett too was a seasoned warrior, and it would take more than that to bring her down.

That ring and this place gave her supernatural abilities she hadn’t had before.

She was faster, a match for Valeen in speed, and the hits vibrated her arms and hands.

Varlett’s elbow cracked her in the mouth, making her stumble back a step. If there was pain, she didn’t feel it.

A coppery taste filled Valeen’s mouth, and she spit. “That’s all you’ve got, bitch ?”

Roaring through her teeth, smoke billowing from her nostrils, she charged again.

Valeen dipped and bobbed, anticipating the moves, learning her weaknesses.

They hit swords and the black blade Varlett wielded shattered into a thousand splinters, sounding like glass breaking.

Valeen swung at her throat, but she maneuvered just out of reach and stumbled over a protruding root and hit the ground.

“Get up, Varlett. When I kill you, I want you to be standing so I can watch you fall.” She was waiting for her to shift into her beast form, for the wings to stretch and her mouth to turn into a vicious snout, but not even her scales made an appearance.

Varlett rolled backward, springing deftly to her feet.

The amber of her eyes was completely taken over by crimson now.

Her skin held no sign of ever being the bronze it once was, changing entirely to blue-gray.

“You’re not getting out of here alive. I will kill you and keep him.

Together we will rule both the underrealm and the lands of the living. ”