“We tried not to,” he said, still turning his stick. “But we both understood that someday you may want to return to where you came from.”
Hot pinpricks went over her skin as she cut him a glance. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to know that I understand if you have to leave it. You’re a young woman now. Perhaps you want to return to your parents—”
“No,” she said, cutting him off. Her gut clenched. “My parents are dead.”
But there was something to return to—her throne. Rule of the Mystic Vale kingdom which did not include the Wyldwood Forest.
“Ardan told me about the stranger in the forest,” Elator said.
Snow’s head snapped over to him as cold pinpricks went through her. “He shouldn’t have done that.”
Elator cut her a glance, but there was no anger in his eyes. “He said the man was human, like you, and that you seemed to make a connection with him.”
She stared at him. She tried to think of a response, but her mind was blank. He shifted in his chair, still slowly turning the stick with the nearly charred marshmallow on the end.
“I think what I’m trying to say, Snow, is that if you wish to return to your world, then you should.”
“But…What about Yirrie? Won’t she be upset?”
“I’ll handle Yirrie.” He gave her a small smile.
“You think because I made a connection with another human that I want to be among them. Is that it?”
His shoulders slumped as he nodded. “Don’t you?”
Snow sat back in the chair, the stick dangling from her hand as she thought about his words. He was, essentially, releasing her from their village. Though not in a way that appeared to be pushing her out. He wanted only the best for her and, it seemed, he felt as though the best was for her to return to her own world, leaving the isolated world of the elves behind.
Did she? She had no place to go, no place to live. No place among humans. How would she survive among them once again?
“I don’t know,” she said, her voice hollow. Then, “I’m sorry I broke my promise to stay within the village protective magic.”
He made a derisive sound. “Snow, what Yirrie doesn’t understand is how connected you are to the energy of the surrounding nature. I do. I understand there is nothing that will keep you within the confines of this village.” He paused, pulling his stick out of fire and frowning at the burned gooey substance on the end. “I regret boarding up your window, but Yirrie made me do it.”
It meant a lot to Snow to hear him say it. For a moment, she didn’t feel so isolated with the elves.
“I brought you out here tonight because I thought it would help.”
How kind of him to think of her when all Yirrie wanted was to keep her locked up inside the house.
“Thank you,” she said on a whisper. “It does help.”
Even though she wasn’t in the forest itself, being in the night with the full moon overhead seemed to help recharge her. She was grateful for the time and for Elator.
She also understood he brought her out here to talk to her about meeting the stranger, something Ardan should have kept to himself. He promised not to tell anyone and yet he’d told Elator.
The stranger with the blue-green eyes was on her mind a lot lately. In fact, she hadn’t stopped thinking about him since the moment she met him. When he rode away, she wondered what it would be like to call out to him and beg him to take her with him. Would he have refused or agreed?
Ardan was right. There was some kind of connection between them that surfaced almost the moment they came face to face. She suspected it was because they were both elementals. That alone seemed to connect them to each other. It didn’t mean they were destined to fall in love, though.
Did it?
It was silly to think about, so she shoved the thoughts away.
Elator tossed away the stick with the burned marshmallow and then rose, stretching his arms over his head.
“Well, I think I’ll leave you here to enjoy the peace and the fire.”
