“Well then, I say tomorrow we get this book and let you and Rin have a crack at it.”

Oakley nodded. “I agree. We need to start somewhere and what better place than our history?”

Lisa smiled at her son and then looked over at Elora who was also looking at her brother. “We?” she asked him.

Oakley frowned. “Don’t think for a second that I’m letting you two do this alone.”

“They won’t be alone,” Cush spoke up.

Oakley rolled his eyes. “Dude, don’t even get me started on the other reasons I’m staying around, which has everything to do with you not knowing if you want my sister but knowing you can’t live without her. Sword, quiver, arrows, or whatever…if you hurt my sister, I will take you out.”

Elora tried not to laugh, but seeing her computer nerd brother tell an elfin warrior that he was going to take him out was nearly too much.

“Okay, Oakley, that’s enough.” Elora stood up and walked over to him and gave him a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“I really will kill him if he hurts you,” he whispered back.

Elora pulled back and looked up into his sober eyes. “I believe you,” she told him finally and then turned and headed towards her room. “Night,” she called out over her shoulder without bothering to look back. She was drained. Her head hurt; her emotions were raw and she felt like every nerve in her body had been exposed to the elements, and she was ready to be alone.

She took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, put on her favorite black tank top and gray sweats, and climbed into her bed. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she heard a soft knock on her door. She knew it was one of two people. It was either her mom coming to check on her, in which case she didn’t feel like doing the whole mom–daughter I love you scene, or it was Cush. And she didn’t have a clue what he wanted and, at the moment, she was so tired that she didn’t really care. So she ignored the knocking and let herself drift off to sleep.

Cush stood listening to her breath on the other side of her closed door. He could tell that she wasn’t quite asleep yet, which meant that she had chosen to ignore his knock. This both irritated and amused him. He didn’t know why he had sought her out. Maybe it was to make sure she was okay after learning that her father was a dark elf and that her mother had lied to her her entire life. Those seemed like pretty big pieces of information for a person to learn, and a part of him worried that she was in her room alone dealing with this new information without any support. He didn’t want a Chosen—but she was his, and he hated the idea of her hurting, and he wanted to be the one to comfort her.

“Get a grip, man,” he growled at himself as he finally walked away from her door, accepting that she wasn’t going to answer. He went back to the room that Lisa had given him and Rin to share and found that his comrade was already snoring softly, sound asleep, which was well and good since he wasn’t in the mood to hear his little remarks about how he couldn’t get around fate. Rin had already shared his two cents with him about how Elora was his Chosen and he should be embracing it, not fighting it. When Cush didn’t respond to that, Rin dove right into the do you know how many warriors would take your place argument, which had made Cush want to kill something.

Yes, he was well aware of how many men would be happy to find their Chosen and even more ecstatic to see that it was Elora—

beautiful, exotic, sexy, Elora. He huffed as he undressed and climbed into the bed that was entirely too small. But then he had volunteered to come on this little mission so he couldn’t very well complain. He closed his eyes and immediately her face popped into his mind. His eyes snapped back open and he stared up at the white ceiling. He didn’t know how long he lay there fighting his instincts, his need to go to her, before he finally drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Lisa sat on the edge of her bed. Her heart was heavier than it had been in a very long time. Talking about Steal had dredged up old pains and finally telling Oakley and Elora about their father had worn her out. Most days she tried to forget, but then most days she failed miserably because you don’t forget your Sh’mai. In fact, most don’t even go on once they lose their mate. But she had Oakley and Elora to take care of after Steal died. She didn’t have the luxury of curling up in a ball and turning her back on the world. She had to keep living. She had to live and give their children lives that would make the sacrifice he made worth it.

She hadn’t told them everything. She had nearly bit through her tongue as she waited for them to ask her how he had died, but somehow that question had not popped up―yet. She knew it would be coming and she dreaded having to answer it, dreaded seeing the hurt in Elora’s eyes. How do you tell your daughter that her best friend’s mate killed her dad?

Chapter 5

“It would be nice to be able to set ourselves apart from the human race, to be able to say that we are superior in some way no matter how great or small. But the truth is, we are more alike than many of my kind would want to admit. We love, we hate, we fight, we fall apart, and we try to get back up again. I can only hope that as we move forward to a new time in our history, we will prove to be as willing to change as I’ve witnessed the humans to be. I can only hope that we will not fall victim to pride and greed.” ~Syndra

“Is that everyone?” Trik asked.

“Yes, the entire light-elf kingdom. We’ve assembled everyone in the main courtyard,” Tamsin told him as they stood staring out into crowd from the second story window.