Page 70 of Protected By the Elf Prince

My heart skipped a beat. He wanted to take me to his home. Away from this, away from everyone. Just us. My lower gut clenched hotly.

After everything, there wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be.

Smiling up at him, I nodded. “Yeah. Yes. I’d like that.”

Relief flashed across his face.

“Son,” the king said. When Dashiel glanced at him, the king nodded. “We will speak later.”

“Can you please assist the others in getting home?” Dashiel asked.

The king grinned. “Of course.”

Dashiel faced me, took my hand in one of his, and waved the other off to the side as a big shimmering split in the world opened.

Dashiel started pulling me toward it. Any other time I would have freaked out, but I trusted Dashiel with everything I was.

I glanced back at Monkey, who was grinning, and called, “We’ll talk soon.”

“You got it, Pops.”

Then, without hesitation, I followed my fated mate through.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dashiel

The transition through the portal lasted only a heartbeat. One moment, we stood outside a damaged warehouse surrounded by family, guards, and friends.

The next, we had arrived at my beloved home.

Landon stumbled a little, but I curled an arm around his waist to steady him.

He laughed, grinning up at me, making my pulse race. He shook his head. “That’ll take some getting used to.”

His tone said we would have more opportunities traveling together.

Could it mean…? No, I would not jump to conclusions. I would wait until he was ready to accept me… or not.

His attention jumped to my cottage and widened.

I followed his gaze. The forest that surrounded my home stretched in every direction, and currently, the last traces of sunset painted the horizon gold and orange while shadows gathered beneath the branches of the tall old trees.

For the first time since he had been taken, I breathed properly.

Landon stepped forward slowly, and I watched as his amusement began to replace the exhaustion lingering across his face. “Dashiel.”

“Yes?”

“When you said cottage”—a smile threatened—“I pictured something small.”

I glanced toward the house. “It is small.”

Landon looked at me, then at the building before turning back to me. “That is not small.”

A laugh escaped before I could stop it. The sound felt strange after everything that had happened.

My cottage sat among the trees with warm light spilling from every window. Stone walls wrapped around timber framing, and climbing vines covered portions of the exterior.