Lovely Dark Things

THIRTY-ONE (ISELEN POV)

"Are you all right?" Ruby whispers but barely moving her lips while we get close to Urian, the Beast Lord, who's talking to some elves on a big terrace of the King's tower.

"Yes, I'm out of breath because we've climbed a lot of stairs to get here, but I'm okay..." The assassin nods although doesn't seem convinced but there's nothing she can do while we're in public.

"Do not leave my side."

I roll my eyes but luckily she can't see it because of the hood over my head and the scarf that hides most of my face, the truth is that I never leave her side, not even when we're in our rooms. It took one month to recover from my pneumonia helped by the Queen's spells, one month locked up in the Captain's tower, most of that time I was lying in bed struggling with fever and later trying to regain strength while the beautiful elven woman monitored my movements, gave me food, helped me to take a bath... It's been a humiliating situation.

I didn't care at first, I only wanted to sleep, every breathe caused a sharp pain in my chest and I was exhausted but the Lady of the Dark Elves didn't let me go, every time my conscious mind sank in a dark and deep but calmed sea that made me feel good, she brought me back to the room that smelled of strange herbs, where I was freezing to death despite my skin was burning, soaked in sweat... I tried to escape from pain but she didn't let me helped by Ruby... The damned assassin talked to me for hours, calling me by my name and threatening with going back with her former lover till she almost drove me crazy. Sorceresses took care of me while I was coming and going from the world of dreams, or rather, febrile nightmares and even the Queen helped me to eat a bowl of soup to make sure I didn't dare to throw it up like I did before. Much later, when it was obvious that I was out of danger, they left after giving precise instructions to the assassin about how to take care of me.

I realized how fragile human life is at that very moment, we're pathetic compared to this race of extraordinarily beautiful and strong creatures that also have a will of iron. Dark Elves are unbreakable even suffering the worst situations and there I was, weak as a newborn kitten, while the assassin handled me like I was a ragdoll. I wanted to cry my frustration and embarrassment but Ruby didn't let me hide under the sheets.

"Use it to your advantage," she whispered in my ear. "That's the way dark elves do, use the rage to fight, to improve, to reach further... turn it into your strength."

I gritted my teeth and forced myself to eat despite the smell of the soup made me feel sick, I drank all the warm wine with bitter herbs I could, I let her carry my body to the bathroom, wash me and hold me in her arms when I had a coughing fit. I was able to sit down on the bed a couple of weeks later and didn't feel dizzy when reading my notebook so I could work on some projects: I gave instructions about how to build the flying buttresses to support the dragon's pool, how to start refurbishment works in the King and Queen's chambers to give them heated floors and sent Ruby's father the blueprints of a new tower, walls and barracks to turn Kaldra into a biggest and more comfortable fortress for the garrison and possible visitors.

This is the first time I'm going out, I've been locked with a moody elven woman for four weeks and she's more protective than ever before although she's never talked about Sryne again, fortunately. The only reason why she's allowed me to breathe fresh air is because the Queen swore her I was all right, and because I need to check how the works in the dragon's nest are going, but she's forced me to wear her warmest clothes, wrapping me up in her cape and scarf and has waited for the snow storm to stop despite it's still cold and light is dim. Ruby remains vigilant taking a look at the surroundings showing off the knives hanging from her hips, that's a visible warning to everyone who thinks I'm an easy prey, given that she's decided to wear a short jacket even if it's lined with wolf fur. Her butt sways in front of me as she walks, the short swords scabbards hit her thighs rhythmically and I can't help biting my lower lip when I notice how good those tight pants and tall boots look on her.