Page 16 of To Kill a King
“By the mages! I did it,” Aliya exclaimed, laughing. “I can build a fire!”
Elessan hid another smile at Aliya’s glee. He hadn’t heard someone laugh, at least when it wasn’t fueled by drunkenness, in decades. Everything about her radiated gold and sunshine, from her blonde hair and tan skin to her rippling giggle, like a series of bells. A sense of serenity crept over him, and for the first time in longer than he cared to contemplate, he was happy.
“I did things backward last night,” she said after her chuckles died down. “I put the larger sticks on the bottom and the smaller stuff up top.”
“You did well.” He stared into the flames, enjoying the pleasant sound of the wood popping. He pulled out two skewers with a rabbit attached and sat them over the fire to rotate. Her attention remained riveted on him.
“We’ll be coming up on a village by midday today. I need to go into the town to resupply, and you’ll want some warmer clothing, a bedroll and your own flint and steel.” Resupply wasn’t exactly the correct term, but he had a contact to meet. He turned his gaze from the rabbits to her. He couldn’t risk leaving her alone before he’d recruited her to his cause, but she could hardly just parade around in public if the king’s guards were looking for her. “How well can you disguise yourself, if I give you spare clothes?”
She frowned as she weighed her answer. “Can you keep a secret?”
“I’m a messenger,” he answered, intrigued. “I handle secrets for a living.”
That was the understatement of a lifetime.
She swallowed and bit her lower lip. “Disguised as what race?”
How was that relevant? He went with the first thing that jumped into his mind. “Mountain elf.”
Aliya fixed him with a hard stare. “I’ll need something to drink.”
What? The serious expression on her face cut off his objection. He offered his canteen. “It’s just water, but it came from a glacial stream. It’s cleaner than anything you’d find in a human settlement.”
She accepted his offering, drinking most of the contents, then held her hands out to him. “Clothes?”
He handed her a pair of pants and shirt from his pack. She ducked around the pile of boulders to change. “I don’t think I’ll be able to mimic your accent, so this disguise won’t stand up to scrutiny if I talk.”
He tried not to listen to the sound of his clothing sliding over her satiny skin. The rest of her body was probably as beautiful as her face. He shifted position, pinching himself hard on the arm. This was what he got for spending so much time alone, turning hot for the first woman to stumble across his path. Worse yet, a human… Covering his eyes with a hand, he shook his head. He needed serious help.
Two minutes later, a female mountain elf stepped into view; a younger copy of his mother.
“Valek!” The word escaped before he realized it. He snapped his mouth shut.
Her skin was now as dark as his, her hair an identical silvery shade. Aliya’s own quicksilver eyes were her only remaining original feature. She stood, shifting her weight back and forth, biting her lower lip.
Walking up to her, he rested his hand against her cheek, his jaw slack. She jumped, as though shocked. A hollow feeling opened in his chest and his eyes stung with tears. It had been so long since he’d seen another mountain elf.
“How is this possible?”
She cleared her throat. “You said I needed a disguise.” She gestured at herself. “Voilà.”
The transformation was flawless. He suddenly had an idea of how she’d managed to avoid detection while living among the nobles. “Is this more magic? A glamour or illusion?”
Shaking her head, she gave him a shy smile. “No, not like you’re thinking. I’ve always been able to do this. I’m some sort of shapeshifter, I think.” She shrugged, examining the skin on one arm. “This is nothing. Shifting isn’t real magecraft, not like the lightning I shot at you.”
She studied him as the minutes dragged on while he sorted his thoughts. “Did I do something wrong? I pulled the features from your appearance, since I’ve never seen an elf before. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
He waved away her apology. “I was being cheeky. You’re quite stunning. I’m not sure I can come up with a good enough story for two mountain elves, though. Perhaps something less noticeable?”
She ducked back around the rocks, mumbling something about wasting water. A minute later, a nondescript human girl appeared, with mocha skin and brown hair.
He rested his chin in his hand for a moment. “How difficult is changing like that?”
She looked away. “Shifting isn’t easy. Each shape takes effort to maintain, and some are easier than others. I need a detailed idea of how I want to appear, or it comes out looking…well, not good. My talent is, was, a closely guarded secret. Only my family and a handful of my father’s key advisors knew. The ability makes me valuable, over and above my magic. People who found out who shouldn’t have, well…” She swallowed hard. “My father killed them.”
“He did what?” The sharp words echoed around the clearing.
She flinched. “To protect me. The one I wore before yesterday afternoon is a slight variation on the one I’ve worn since my fifth birthday, with very few exceptions. I don’t like having people die because of me. Because I’ve used it so long, it’s the easiest to get into, with the lowest energy to maintain.” She ran her fingers through her hair as she stared at the dirt. “I have a complex about shifting.”