Kiss of the Dark Elf's Blade: A Dark Fantasy Romance by Celeste King

Author:Celeste King [King, Celeste]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Protheka Publishing
Published: 2023-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

17

THALI

The house has fallen into disrepair, a particular oddity given the care which my parents always take in ensuring its consistent maintenance. They make my cleaning habits look negligent by comparison.

I tend to keep a safe distance from my parents, but they still make semi-regular family meals a priority. They are not old by any means, but time has made them more sentimental. They want me and my brother to eat with them together, though they’ve forgiven my younger brother, Aylmer, from visiting on some occasions. He’s been tied up in other obligations.

Today, Father has not prepared the cleaning spell for the dishes, the servants are all attending to other business, and the lights are flickering different colors, a sure sign of diminishing reagents. By all accounts, the house is filthy, even when held up to human standards.

“I don’t see what the problem is,” I tell my father. “I’ll stop by the market and pick up some hearthsbloom and goligan leaves. We’ll have the problem fixed in half an hour, and it won’t cost us more than five jetons and fifteen minutes of labor.”

He is insistent.

“I keep telling you, we’ll get it tomorrow when we’re out. Don’t worry about it.”

“What’s this your brother is telling me about you meddling with the humans?” Mother asks. “You know how important this is to him.”

We are gathered around a table of various spreads and meats. Father even brought in some iypin, a favorite treat of mine. But Kaisax is still notably absent. He always talks about how busy he is.

“Mother,” I start, then wait for her to allow me to speak. “He’s always been defensive of that territory as if it’s not a huge quadrant in the city. How am I supposed to do my business effectively when he’s walling me off?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “Figure it out. Just don’t take this away from your brother after everything he’s been through.”

I shake my head, looking at the filthy oven. I want to clean it for them. I want to help.

“I really don’t get it,” I reply. “You know I don’t have the power to take anything away from him. Why is he so threatened by me?”

A servant girl with Brielle’s build enters the eating room, her hair disheveled and falling in her eyes from hard work in the cellar. My mind avoids the temptation to wander, as I mull over whether or not Brielle has accepted my proposal. In the morning, I will look. But I’m still coming up with excuses not to check, even though it’s all I think about.

“I’m just going off of what he told me,” Mother says. “You know, he’s been all out of sorts lately… even more than usual. If you two would look after each other rather than bickering all the time, maybe you’d both be a little happier.”

“Yeah, well…” I reply, taking a piece of braised iypin from the center of the table and placing it on my plate. “We’re survivors.”

Father casts me an angry look.

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