Lovely Dark Things

THIRTEEN (ISELEN POV)

I've made a mistake... Fuck! I've been planning this outcome for years, from the very first moment I woke up in this new world, throwing up and feeling my body throbbing in intense pain, and I realized that there was no coming back: I'd never be able to go back home, I'd never see my family and friends again. One day I was walking back to my apartment from the university cutting through the park to enjoy the nice spring weather when someone grabbed my neck from behind... and suddenly, I was here fighting for survival. It was a shock, of course... Sorceresses, elves, dwarves, dragons? Are you kidding me? But Kevan showed me it was true and I was at his mercy...

That really pissed me off, rage like I never felt before ran through my veins, but I was helpless... The hybrid wizard was right, he had the winning card in this world and I knew nothing about it, depending on him to survive... That pissed me off even more even if it seemed impossible, I absolutely hate feeling helpless and finally, after crying for days while my body tried to recover from traveling between dimensions, the solution to my problem crossed my mind like a flash of lucidity. Information... that was what the wizard wanted from me, but it was what I needed from him too: learning everything about this world, its kingdoms and inhabitants in order to plan the perfect revenge while I had control of the information I was giving to Kevan at the same time. Little by little, the asshole made his name as an engineer and inventor taking credit for my work while I pretended to be a docile girl biting my tongue and restraining myself from poisoning or stabbing him, I still needed information to survive after getting rid of him... killing him all of a sudden would've been a bad idea.

After studying and planning for years, the dark elves seemed the best option to solve my problem despite they were dangerous. I've been always aware of the fact that this situation could end badly for me and I bore in mind that reality could be way worse than the stories people told about them, but I had to get rid of a skilful and sneaky wizard and needed to build a new life for me... Only the most powerful and ambitious creatures in this world could give me what I needed. I planned, pondered, weighted pros and cons, I dreamt with dark elves and also had nightmares about them, I studied books and maps, listened to all the old wives' tales I could and the stories of the few survivors of their attacks... and I made up my mind finally.

My plan worked perfectly as I expected because I'd planned it well, I was a military strategy teacher after all, and Kevan didn't suspect anything till he saw Ruby sat in front of Ingstad's Council, he knew the assassin from the elven Temple was there because of me but never knew I had lured her. I couldn't sleep that night, my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and ideas while I went over the plan again and remembered Ruby sitting in my garden, drinking lemonade... It was the first time I had a female elf so close to me and she wasn't just anyone: she was a purebred dark elf, an aristocrat who belonged to one of the best families of Baalberith, an assassin trained to be the perfect killing machine... Her beauty took my breath away and I knew I'd done the right thing.

The Queen considered me important enough to send one of her best assassins and not a simple soldier to bring me to her. I guess that has emboldened me, making me believe that I'm of great value to the sovereign of the dark elves, my arrogance led me to make a stupid mistake after so many years of careful planning. Also, self-preservation has played a key role: I knew Ruby didn't love me, actually, I knew her charade was all fake in order to bring me to her kingdom, I repeated it again and again in my head while staring at her beautiful face entranced and feeling her hands traveling all over my body. "This is not real, she's lying, not real..." I crooned in my brain every time the beautiful creature made me shatter under her mouth. It's so easy to fall under the spell of an elf and Ruby Rose's eyes... could drive a woman crazy. I thought that it'd hurt less if it was a clean break, before we reached her home and the Queen ordered her to go back to her mundane life leaving me behind.