Alfheim Academy by S.T. Bende

Author:S.T. Bende [Bende, S.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

ELIN SQUEEZED MY HAND again. “Aura? Are you okay?”

“No,” I grunted. The nudging at my shoulder blades had intensified to razor like jabs. Pain wracked my back, and I rued whatever laws of Alfheim had altered my anxiety-induced stomach flutters to the full torso variety. “My back hurts like hell!”

“Should we leave and find Signy or . . .” Elin trailed off.

“Give me a minute.” I knelt down, fisting the soft dirt and focusing on the sensation of the grains between my fingertips. I was half dark elf. Half dark elf.

Half dark elf?

“Does this mean my genetic programming is set to evil?” Was I going to turn into a monster queen like my grandmother, no matter what kind of ruler I wanted to be?

“Not at all.” Wynter sounded way calmer than I felt. “Whatever your genetics, you are good. You are light. I’ve seen it. And Kegoth is the same way. Your dad isn’t bad. He was just born into a dark realm. Not all dark elves are evil, just like not all light elves are good.”

“That’s true—look at Britney. She’s here, and obviously the Bifrost should have dropped her in Helheim,” Elin chimed in.

My nails dug harder into the earth. “I’m a dark elf.”

“Half,” Wynter corrected.

“Sweetheart.” Dad’s deep baritone penetrated my anguish. “If it helps, you take after your mom. The only part of you that’s me is your right hook.”

I snorted, then coughed as dust flew up my nose. “You’re funny. I guess that’s a good thing.”

“It’s not bad,” Elin confirmed.

“Do you want to hear about how I met her? Your mother?” Dad offered.

“Yes.” I pushed myself to a seated position and tucked my legs against my chest. “Tell me anything. Everything. Please.”

My father’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “I met your mom when she trekked through the realms after secondary school. We were hiking the same seemingly dormant volcano when it erupted, and we found ourselves fleeing a lava flow. I waved her into an elevated cave to ride out the danger. We ended up trapped in there for the better part of a day, but it only took me an hour to fall in love with the girl with sparkling eyes and an adventurous heart.” Dad smiled, seemingly lost in the memory. “We wanted to be together, but didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t take her home with me—I’d spent the better part of my life looking for a way to break away from my family of origin. And residents of Svartalfheim aren’t welcome on other realms, except for Muspelheim. But I didn’t want to trade the dark elves I knew for the fire giants I didn’t.”

“Fair enough.”

Elin dropped down to sit beside me. The two of us gripped hands as my father continued.

“Since Lily was the crown princess, she thought her mother might make an exception and let me enter Alfheim. This was when immigration was still permitted between light realms. We wrote to Constance asking her to grant me citizenship. She declined,

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