“They prefer to be out in nature and the palace is built into two cliffs, so it was always going to be difficult to have an equal mix of all three,” he justifies, but his jaw tightens, and I get the feeling it’s something that bothers him too. “Mostly high elves live in Galandell, and they reside closer to the palace. The wood elves who choose to live here prefer to be on the outskirts,” he assures me, but I wonder if anyone has ever asked the wood elves about their preferences? Sure, I can understand why they would want to be closer to nature, but given the choice?
We head back to the main palace, and with every step I take, dread fills me. That dread only grows as we walk into the main entrance hall and see the queen there waiting for us. “Oh, Vaeril, perfect timing.” She says it like it’s a coincidence that she just happened to bump into us, but I get the impression she knew we’d be arriving here.
“Your Majesty,” he greets with a bow. After an awkward second, he pulls me down into a clumsy curtsy. The heavy weight of someone glaring lands on me, but when I stand, I see the queen is wearing a disinterested expression. Glancing around, she takes note of who’s in the room, her eyes lighting up as a small group of elves begin walking down the tall spiral staircase.
“Human,” she calls out loudly, and the quiet chatter in the room dies as everyone’s eyes turn to me. “Clarice, is it?”
“Clarissa, Your Majesty,” I bite out, only remembering at the last moment to address her properly, knowing full well she knows my name. She just waited until there were plenty of ears to hear her calling me human. She’s trying to isolate me and make me feel unwelcome, but I lived for years being considered the lowest of the low. I won’t let her chase me out.
Vaeril turns to me, and I see the apology in his eyes. “The queen needs my assistance. Will you be okay if I leave with her now?” I can tell from the tightness around his eyes that he wasn’t expecting to see her here. He looks around the room, and I know he’s hoping to see one of the twins. “I don’t want to leave you alone here,” he says in a whisper. I almost don’t catch what he’s saying, since he speaks quietly to prevent being overheard by listening, supernatural ears.
“Vaeril, is everything okay?” the queen inquires, her voice deceptively sweet.
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Vaeril turns to face her, giving her a tight smile, but her eyes flick down to where my hand is still resting on his arm.
“The human will be fine,” she declares with a dismissive wave of her hand. Several of her advisers and watching elves nod in agreement, but her silent ladies-in-waiting don’t move a muscle. “They’re like cockroaches, they can survive anything,” she continues with a snide laugh, looking me directly in the eyes as she speaks. I know she’s making a dig at the fact I was a slave, but at this point, her words just roll off me.
Vaeril still hesitates by my side, obviously trying to come up with an excuse to walk me back to my rooms when she speaks again. “Your captivity has made you soft, Vaeril.” His face doesn’t move a muscle, but I feel him flinch at the casual insult.
How dare she, I seethe, my anger almost a living thing inside me as it demands to be released. With a strength I didn’t know I possessed, and before Vaeril can stop me, I remove his solid arm from mine and stride forward so I’m standing in front of the queen. Later, I will look back on this and wonder how I managed to move faster than the elf, but right now, I don’t register the speed with which I moved.
“You’re wrong,” I growl, looking up at her as her face changes from her fake serene expression to one of cold anger.
“Excuse me?” Her words drip with menace, and I feel Vaeril suddenly appear at my shoulder. Before he can say anything or try to pull me away, I speak again.
“You are wrong.” I pronounce the words clearly so there’s no mistaking them. I can hear more elves entering the entrance hall, but I don’t turn away to look because I know I’ll lose my nerve. I keep my focus purely on the queen. “His captivity could have broken him, but it didn’t. Instead, he was still compassionate and chose to help someone he considered to be his enemy.” I want to shout and scream, but I don’t. My voice remains icy as I see the hatred in her eyes.
“You think that makes him strong? Helping his enemy? It makes him weak. Helping a human after everything they did to him…” She finally loses her temper, her tone seething as she takes a threatening step towards me.
All of a sudden, there’s someone in front of me blocking the queen’s route. I see a flash of golden hair, but I lean around his body, not taking my eyes off the danger in front of me. She does look away from me though, and I see the rage she’s about to direct at whoever stepped between us, so I do something stupid.
Later, I’ll blame my rage for making my tongue loose, but I’ll dream of that golden mane, the look the queen gave him, and the flash of fear I felt at the prospect of him being harmed because of me.
“I’m part elf,” I announce clearly. There are plenty of witnesses to hear me, so really, I couldn’t have planned it better. Vaeril groans quietly behind me, and I know this isn’t the way he wanted the queen to find out, but I can’t seem to help myself.
“What?” Her attention is back on me now, her body frozen as her eyes widen in shock.
“Vaeril suspected I wasn’t fully human, but he had to wait until he returned here to confirm it,” I explain, not bothering to go into detail or the fact that I only learned of this yesterday. “I’m part elf.” Keeping my chin high, I stand tall under her piercing stare, only realising I’ve been holding my breath when she looks at Vaeril.
“Is this true?” Her voice is icy, her eyes narrowing as Vaeril steps up to my side and nods his head in agreement.
“Yes, Master Ardeth confirmed it.”
The hall fills with quiet gasps and exclamations. I hear mutters of, “Half-breed” echo around us as the weight of a dozen eyes lands on me.
“Who?” she barks—an order, not a question.
“Master Jaonos.” Gasps follow Vaeril’s declaration, and the hall fills with speculation, their whispers bouncing off the walls, but there are too many for me to understand what they’re saying. The queen’s gaze returns to mine, and I can feel her hatred for me in that one look. I know one thing for certain, she is going to do everything in her power to have me killed. She might not do it publicly, that would cause too much damage to her reputation as a ‘fair ruler.’ After all, I’m not just Vaeril’s saviour anymore, but also part elf, so no matter how small, a part of me belongs here.
The elf protecting me from the queen shifts, and I can now fully see his face. Eldrin. Part of me knew it was him, but I can’t help but gape at him. He hates me, he’s made no secret of that, so why would he jump in front of me? Sure, he tried to make it look like he was protecting the queen from me, but I can tell from her venomous glare that she knows the real reason too.
“It’s true, Your Majesty,” he begins, his velvety voice rolling across me as he glances at me over his shoulder. “Just look at her. She might have human ears, but look at her other features—”
A loud slapping noise fills the air as he’s cut off. It happened so fast that I missed it, my human eyes too slow to see the movements, but Eldrin is clutching his cheek, and it becomes clear the queen just backhanded him. A flash of colour behind the queen catches my attention, and I see Naril watching with barely concealed anger. His hands are balled into fists, but we both know that if he steps in to defend his brother, it will only make the punishment worse.