Page 5 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody (Elven Fantasy Romance #3)

Chapter 4 Rhianelle

I ’ll never let anything hurt you.

You’re the only thing that matters to me.

You’re my everything.

I can’t lose you, Nel.

Svenn’s confession from last night echoes like a haunting whisper. It wrecks me in the best possible way. He cradles me closer to his broad chest in the cold of dawn, molding my body to his. But just as the sun begins to rise, he slips out from the bed.

I wait a good half an hour before I pretend to stretch and yawn. Svenn is waiting for me, perched at the long table, crossing his arms in his black tunic and leather. He’s more like his usual self, cold and menacing. A heavy silence falls between us as I stare back into his punishing dark eyes.

“If you’re hoping to find some knight in shining armor or a Prince Charming in there, you’re out of luck, little fawn,” he says tonelessly. “I’m not it.”

My heart beats sharply against my ribcage. The tension in the air grows thick as we stew in the silence.

“If I had given you that impression, then I apologize. I leave a trail of bodies behind me. Go on, see for yourself,” he says, urging me to enter into his mind.

I need proximity to do that, the same way I did with Kheirall. But Svenn has completely lowered his barrier, inviting me into his mind. I close my eyes and enter into his consciousness freely.

A montage of him follows, massacring an entire ballroom full of people, of him hanging skulls and limbs of his enemies at the side of his steed, of him decimating castles and fortress to rubbles, of him terrorizing through town. And in every one of those scenes, he is laughing like some dark god, the blood thirst in his face apparent.

“You see, I’ve done unspeakable things in the past. Burned villages, fell kingdoms. I’ve killed, tortured, maimed, slaughtered and I know I’ll do it again.” There is no remorse, not an ounce of guilt in his voice.

I gaze up at him, speechless by the visions he showed me.

“I’m not some misunderstood creature. There is no hidden good inside of me,” he says, more quietly this time. “This is who I am, Nel.”

I think he’s holding his breath, waiting for me to speak.

“I accept that,” I say easily.

“You shouldn’t.”

His eyes narrow as he studies my face, searching for the truth. “You’ve seen what I’m made of. A patchwork of monsters—”

“I accept them too.”

Hope rises on his face before he kills it. “Why would you do that? Even I hate the fuck out of them.”

“I don’t hate them—”

His dark eyes spark in anger, and I don’t finish my words.

“Can you still say that when I have blood on my hands, Nel?” he asks in a breath.

A shiver rolls up my spine at the question. But the way he asked that makes me more sad than afraid. My heart sinks at the heartbreak in that voice.

“The first day we arrived in Windhaven, the Rhunhraefn had shown me this dark, forbidden part of you,” I confess with a sigh. “I accepted it then, and I accept it now.”

The world seems to pause right after I say those words. Svenn stares at me for the longest time, unblinking.

Then his eyes flare with emotion, vulnerable and raw. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

I draw in a shallow breath. “I think I know enough.”

After seeing everything the curse had displayed to me, I tried to hate him back then. But I couldn’t. Svenn is not perfect, but neither am I.

“I know about what happened in Visegrád,” I say, recalling what he did to every man and woman there in his bloodlust. A haunted look creeps into his face before he averts his gaze. It’s almost like I can see him breaking into pieces right before me.

And it’s tragic.

All I want to do is hold him the same way he held me last night.

“I didn’t get a chance to appease the bond yesterday,” I say casually. I want to run into his arms, but I keep my cool as I stride calmly towards him.

His eyes gleam as he watches me silently. I don’t run despite the dangerous darkening of that gaze as I wrap my arms around his neck. I press my face to his collarbone, inhaling his warm scent of ocean breeze and lush spice.

Svenn curls his arm around me and holds me close. “I’m a terrible fucking thing, Rhianelle. Why aren’t you scared of me?”

I don’t know how to answer that, so I just stay in his arm. Svenn thinks he is terrible, malicious, and twisted. But what he doesn’t know is that I have parts of me that are dark too. I just learned long ago not to be afraid of it.

“You continue to surprise me, Nel,” he whispers, his breath stirring my hair. “One minute you’re safely tucked in my arms, the next you’re inches away from being mauled by a monster.”

“I managed to hammer and nail—”

The change in his expression makes me reconsider finishing that sentence. There’s a gentle crease between his brows. “Why would you risk yourself like that?”

“I can’t simply stand by while innocent people are dying.” I exhale softly. “You can’t get mad at me for that.”

He draws back slightly to look at me.

“That’s just who I am.” I throw his words back to him. Now it’s his turn to accept me.

His face still screams with dissatisfaction. “You should have at least told me you were hunting demons in the sewer in the middle of the night.”

“You would have gone with me?” I ask.

One side of his lips tips up. “I would have done it for you. There is no length I will not go for you.”

My heart trips like I’ve been thrown from a cliff into free fall. Raw emotion floods through me over his words.

For me…

“Why?” I feign ignorance.

I already have the answer. He said it all in his confession last night. But I want to hear it again. I need him to utter those words right now in broad daylight to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

You’re my everything.

I need to hear him say it again like I need to draw breath.

“Because I will do anything to stay by your side,” he mutters underneath his breath. That is even better than the confession from last night…

The butterflies in my stomach have somehow transformed into wyverns, wrecking chaos and setting my insides aflame.

“I fucked up my chances with you in the past,” he says, more quietly this time. “I know I’ve hurt you, broken your trust once. I will do anything to have it back.”

The gods have decided to favor me today…

“Let me make it up to you,” he says, his voice gruff. “I’ll start by finding the elven sorcerer for you. If he’s not dead yet.”

I’m sure he’s dead. Svenn tore half of his body and smashed his heart, but wait—

“The sorcerer is an elf?” I quirk an eyebrow.

Perhaps Svenn is mistaken… The guy who calls himself the Shadow Fae must be a fae, right…?

His face slackens for a heartbeat. “I recognize it because it’s the same presence I felt when I put a hole through the messenger’s chest.”

It feels like someone pulled a rug from under me, then hit me in the head.

I stop breathing at his answer. Knowing the sorcerer is an elf is one thing, but knowing that it is our own Elders… Air may never return to my lungs.

“The Aeonians?” I ask with a tremble.

He nods curtly.

Disbelief courses through me for a moment, but something tugs at the recesses of my memories. Back when I was a child, I punched the Shadow Fae in the face… yes, I remember the shock I felt back then when I saw him.

He’s an elf.

“Nel?” Svenn nudges me. “You’re quiet.”

“I’m just shocked…” I exhale with a small smile. Svenn doesn’t know the enormity of his revelation.

Shock doesn’t begin to explain what I feel right now. My uncle has long suspected there are traitors in the council, scheming for Aelfheim’s demise. I just didn’t expect for it to be the Elders themselves.

A heaviness settles in my chest as my mind races. I recall that power hungry invitation he made to Svenn yesterday…

“Hey, I don’t like this look on you,” he says, pulling me tighter against him.

“I’m all right, Svenn. I really am.” I lay my head on his chest, basking in his warmth to calm myself.

He searches my face for the truth. “How do I make you feel better?”

Svenn already made me feel better by staying here with me. I share with him what little I understand of the Shadow Fae and a small part of my childhood.

“So, you see, you’ve already given me so much…” I swallow thickly. I can’t even begin to thank him for what he did. Svenn has killed someone that has haunted my nightmares for years.

“Thank you for the gift in the council room,” I murmur quietly. I didn’t get a chance to thank him for that last night.

“Do you like it?” he asks. The usual cadence in his tone wavers with the question, as if there is an actual possibility I might resent his present.

“I love it.” I smile at him.

It’d be more awesome if I could see Garrett and him working together to make that chair.

He exhales slowly over my answer, relief etched into his features. “I do have another gift for you. Technically it’s from Coinneach—Ken.”

“Well, give it to me then,” I demand, even though it’s not my birthday yet.

“I don’t know. It seems inappropriate. I think you’ll hate it,” he says, uncertainty playing on his face.

“I won’t, Svenn.”

He stares at me for a long moment, the russet in his eyes glowing like heated metal. “Better put on your hunting leathers then.”