Page 72 of Crown of Flame
“A job well done,” I remark. “What do you think, Cinis? Are you happy with it?”
My love tilts his head, his eyes running studiously over the interior of the hovel. He smiles.
“The concept of a dwelling, a space to call your own to reside in permanently, is so strange to me.” He turns to face me, pulling my body by the waist. “But it seems so right, Serena. I just wish I could think of how to explain it.”
I laugh and stroke his hard face.
“You’re not meant to think this is right,” I tell him, lowering my hand to his chest where I imagine his heart to be if he had one. “It’s something you feel. This is where we’ll spend our life together, there’s something special in that. No one could have given this to us but ourselves.”
I kiss him, holding his face with both hands. Sighing from exhaustion, I rest my head on his torso, nestling into the warmth of his form. My eyes remain pointed at the interior of our home.
I find it ironic that I’ve forged such a human connection with this monster of mine, something set in stone by this dwelling we’ve built for ourselves. I love this place already, but I know my real home is wherever I am with this being I call my love.
Yawning, I pull back. Although I’m tired, I think I’ve been in here long enough for one sitting.
“I could use some fresh air, how about you?”
He nods and heads for the door. I grab my sheathed sword on the way out, securing it on my waistbelt.
I step outside, met with a chill, crisp air. I welcome it, its temperature proving further relief to my overheated body. Closing my eyes, I breathe in the air and let it all out with a relaxing sigh.
“I can help you make more weapons,” he says as he seals the threshold to our hovel. “For if you intend on sourcing food in the wilderness.”
“That’d be handy. Even if Aldris is gone, I need to keep my skills sharp.”
The remembering of his final words hits me harder than a strong gust of wind at that moment.
More elves will come.
I swallow hard, my face twisting in an expression of confusion and anger.
“Is there a problem, Serena?” asks Cinis.
It takes a moment to find the right words as we tread through the snow.
“I want to believe the struggle for the humans in Prazh is over, and part of me does feel that way, but… I don’t know if we’ve truly reached the end.”
“What do you mean, my beloved?”
He offers my hand as we begin our ascension up a steep slope. My response is drawn out, exhales of effort and heavy breathing blanketing my words.
“Do you remember when you took Aldris’ life force? He said something that I can’t get out of my mind.” I hear his voice, ingrained in my head, repeating his final words before I continue talking. “More elves will come.”
Our path levels out to even ground, allowing me to catch my breath for a moment.
“Yes,” answers Cinis reflectively. “But I think his threat was empty, just a last attempt to strike lingering fear in you. The dark elves appear to be quite skilled in doing that to humans.”
“You’re right, but still, what if he is too?”
My throat swells with a lump. I must swallow if I hope not to cry. I’ve cried enough tears for the loss of human life already.
Cinis’ face contorts in deep thought, so humanlike in the way his features move. Even in moments of emotional turmoil like this, he’s so beautiful that he distracts me.
“Prazh is one small part of this realm of existence,” he says, his tone like a wizard reciting wisdom of old. “Dark elves will always be around in other parts of the world if not here.”
“I know that, but do you think they’ll stop coming here?”
I want him to say we’ll be safe, that we have nothing to worry about. However, deep down inside of me, I know that for as long as dark elves exist, humans will always have real monsters to worry about. I think Cinis knows this too.