I can’t help but wonder if Flap wouldn’t be happier leaving his family behind though. After all, no bat stayed back to help him when his wing was broken. Would he miss being a part of a bat colony when he could be fed coralberries every day and fly out whenever he pleases?
I don’t miss home even though sometimes I’m annoyed that I can’t google whatever question is on my mind, or get a burger with fries. Those are silly little things in comparison to what I’ve gained.
I squeeze Kyran’s hand, wondering how it will feel to accompany him to the altar made of moon rock. Everyone will be watching, and he will show me off as if I’m the prize of alifetime even though I’m just human. And a man at that, but this doesn’t seem to matter here at all, and my gender has never made anyone bat an eye.
It’s refreshing, and I briefly fantasize about asking Kyran to abduct my mom, just so she can see me walk down the aisle with someone she would have labeled as far too good for me.
It makes me smile, but her opinion ultimately doesn’t matter. I no longer care what she thinks of me or whether she thinks of me at all.
We reach the bottom of the cave, which was covered by water last time I was here, and I take note of a bright glow ahead. As we pass a boulder and see its source, I’m stunned to see a blonde woman in clothes that don’t quite fit into the gothic aesthetics of the court.
It’s Carol, the human I was so desperate to talk to.
I glance at Kyran, not even needing to ask to know it’s his doing.
He takes Flap from my arms. “This is Carol, Lady Guinevere’s Dark Companion. By law, she’s not allowed to be here, but if you don’t tell, I won’t,” he says and, after pressing a kiss to my lips, retreats to where we came from. “Take as much time as you need.”
Stunned, I watch him walk off with Flap, then turn to take in the woman’s very human face.
“You must be Luke,” she says with a smile and waves at me.
Chapter 37
Luke
It’s been only a month, but interacting with another human is still a bit of a shock. At first glance, elves and us look very much alike, but after weeks in the Nightmare Realm, Carol seems like a goose among ducks. There’s more texture to her skin, her fingers are on the shorter side, which makes me realize that every single elf I’ve interacted with has elongated hands, and her small, round ears are accentuated with a silver cuff that stands out against bright blonde hair.
She’s also not dressed in the ever-popular black and is instead wearing a dress in an emerald hue, which reaches just below her knees and, tastefully, exposes her cleavage.
After we greet each other, she makes a gesture with a gloved hand, and as I follow it, my gaze settles on a picnic blanket spread over the stone floor of the cave. There’s a bottle, crystal glasses, and even an actual picnic basket that looks like straight from an old cartoon.
“My, aren’t you a dreamboat! Best-looking human I’ve seen in ages!” Carol has a Southern accent that feels weirdly out of place yet only makes her seem more human.
I push back some hair behind my ear. “Am I? Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve seen one,” I joke, trying to find my feet in this situation. “Did Prince Kyranis get you to come here?”
“Oh, he did invite me. Gave me quite a scare when that messenger arrived at the door. I’m technically not allowed on palace grounds until after y’all’s wedding, but, gee, I was so very excited to meet someone like me again,” she says and opens the basket, placing real plates and cutlery on the blanket, before following that up with containers full of food.
A bit shell shocked, I sit down next to her to find that the blanket insulates us from the cold and hardness of the rock despite appearing thin.
I think to myself that we are nothing alike, but that won’t really matter.
“It’s my pleasure,” I say, accepting a dainty plate of… apple pie? “I didn’t expect this. I was trying to meet you before, but it’s forbidden, and I didn’t manage. I… worried it might not be allowed because you’d tell me to run away.”
She stills with a spoon filled with black whipped cream, then erupts with a giggle. “Golly, I didn’t think I looked terrified! Now, why would I have told you to run when you’re the future Lord’s promised? I did hear rumors that he’s fast, and likes his partners easy, but to me he seemed perfectly gallant.”
She speaks as if she was brought up by her granny. If that’s the case, then her granny taught her to make a very nice pie, and the black whipped cream doesn’t spoil the flavor one bit.
“I just…” I stuff my face with more food to give myself a second. “I need to know about this bond. I don’t want to be anyone’s slave, but if I marry him, I have to give up some power.”
She winks at me over her own plate. “Well, I heard he already gave some up foryou.”
And he did so without the certainty of our bond. Something could always happen to stop our wedding, but he’s already offered me a gift no one can take away. Maybe this means I don't need to talk to Carol anymore. But curiosity gets the best of me.
“Is it a dangerous life?”
“Not what the other Dark Companions would have told you, since, you know, they’re no longer with us,” Carol says, lowering her gaze to the slice of pie on her plate. “But my wife is careful and precise in her shadowcraft. She never put me at risk before herself. In the past… sixty—or was it seventy years—” she mumbles absent-mindedly, swallowing some of the pie, “The one time my wife almost lost control, she had me run away, and won the fight on her own. It’s all about trust.”
I stare at her, because my mind can’t compute that my intuition wasn't wrong. This explains why she seems so… odd. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she looks twenty-three at most, and yet she must have been here seven years ago, during the last battle with Heartbreak.
