Page 7 of Forged in Fading

“You scared me, I⁠—”

He growled and shoved her toward the spiraling stone staircase that led to the palace doors.

Alvara yelped as her heel caught on the first step, and her hands and back smashed into the stone.

“Get up.” The guard dug his boot into her side.

“Ow! No, there must be a mistake. I’m here to get rid of this damn sword and leave this godsforsaken—I mean, lovely—kingdom.”

Rough hands sank into her hip and ripped her blade free. No, that was one of her favorites! Jalomir wasn’t getting any sweets for at least a week when she returned home from this horrible errand.

The guard hauled Alvara to her feet, lugging her on one side and the loathsome sword on the other toward the now-open palace doors. She stumbled in his grip down the hallway, past more guards who paid her as much mind as the fly buzzing around their heads, as if this madness was a regular occurrence for them.

“This is all just a misunderstanding⁠—”

“One more word from you, and you’ll regret it.”

Alvara clamped her mouth shut. They passed pillar after pillar wrapped in greenery, painting after painting of royals with greenery, and finally turned down a new hallway.

Hunched elves dressed in plain brown garments shuffled and limped about in silence, also seemingly undisturbed by whatever in the nine realms was happening. But something about their gaunt faces wormed its way into her mind.

Maybe one of them would help her. She locked eyes with a bald young male, but he gasped and scurried away like a mouse, even bearing the same round ears.

Round ears.

The king’s servants were all human.

In her moment of distraction, she collided with the back of the guard and tumbled to the ground. He cursed and towed her through yet another set of massive doors, scraping her over the stone floor without pause, even as she cried out from the rough texture tearing open her skin.

He dumped her without a word, and Alvara shut her eyes, though it did nothing to block out the pain. That damned sword. This might have been the first time in her life she had ever hated a weapon.

Another hand approached her, and she braced her body for a new onslaught, but this one paused in front of her as if waiting for an answer. She gripped it, and the owner pulled her to her feet.

“Brave face.” The whisper left her as quickly as it had come. If someone didn’t start explaining what was happening, she was going to⁠—

King Einar.

Alvara stood at the foot of his throne. The king of Ela.

It took everything she had to not heave her breakfast onto his immaculate shoes.

He looked about as terrifying as she always imagined a royal would be. Flanked by vines that twined up the arms and back of his throne and wriggled like snakes, he bore into her with cold, emerald eyes that matched his tunic and sweeping cape embroidered with delicate gold patterns. Even his ash brown hair brushing his diamond-encrusted chest looked like it had been stripped of all its warmth.

He seemed about as interested in her presence as he would be in a worm. Which made sense, seeing as she had nothing of value to offer him, yet he appeared to be waiting for her to say something.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Another elf stood to the king’s right and bounced his foot on the ground, his amber eyes fixed on her. Like Alvara, he was built with more muscle and heft than most of their lithe kind, and his chestnut hair had been cropped short, though still long enough to look a tousled mess. He even wore a dusting of stubble along his tan jaw. A disarray of untraditional choices, especially in the service of a king.

He bent his body forward and pointed his head in King Einar’s direction. Alvara narrowed her eyes. What in Dalviri’s name was he doing?

Bow. Oh gods, she needed to bow.

She folded herself in half and stared at the gray cobblestones beneath her feet, only to remember there was a distinct possibility she should have curtsied. Too late now.

“Rise.” King Einar’s deep voice echoed off the walls.

Alvara did as commanded, clasping her hands behind her back to keep from fiddling with her braids.