Elven Legacy

Chapter 100

Kili

"They should be here the day after tomorrow," she said, faintly aware of a soft, fond smile tracing her black lips. "They're currently in the City of Lyr." Her pale, delicate fingers slid away from the velvet case that held the crescent moon opal. Quite fascinating how, without even touching the elven stone itself, she'd felt him, his essence, his energy.

Kili cleared her head, returning to the reality of Imxi's well-tended gardens, and the empress herself, seated before her at the pale oak table. With ever earnest teal eyes, offset today by a deep burgundy dress and half-pinned pale brown locks. Kili herself wore a black summer dress with a gossamer shawl, which she pulled tighter now against the evening breeze.

"That is amazing news." Imxi's hopeful gaze trailing from the velvet case to Kili.

Kili nodded gently, and put on a smile to reassure her. Imxi seemed to need that a lot, from Kili. Reassurance. Which made sense, because after all, the stakes were particularly high for the empress. A deep ache lanced Kili's old, weary heart at the thought, as it always did. Even so, she knew what she must do. She'd known for a long time.

The two women had shared a late dinner in a flagstone courtyard surrounded by weeping willows and alder trees. Warblers capered about and chased one another among their branches. On the oak table was laid a dessert of star fruit slices sprinkled with cocoa powder, as well as their unfinished glasses of red wine. With of course, the small velvet case inside which the crescent stone rested. The urge gripped Kili to touch it again.

A connection to Noah.

She locked this urge away. Emotion nonetheless crawled up her throat, and keeping her eyes dry and clear was an effort in stubborn will. But Kili managed it as she looked at Imxi, in the light of the two shaded lanterns that flanked their table. Up in the young night sky, the first quarter moon shimmered idly – a faraway confidante for secrets shared after dark.

Kili smiled fondly. "Tell me about Undreen. Have you asked him yet?"

A faint pink hue claimed the empress's sculpted cheekbones as she took a sip of red wine. The stuff had darkened her lips over the evening, and earlier Imxi had teased that at the very least Kili didn't have this particular issue.

"I almost did." Imxi inclined her head as she set down her glass. "There was a moment, but then . . ." She waved it away. "Then I thought better of it. I've decided I want to wait until after." The empress nodded once, as if for herself, pale gaze brushing the velvet case.

Kili waited a beat, then returned the nod. She also took a sip of wine, though she knew it would not, could not appease the disquiet in her heart.

The day after tomorrow.

All too soon. Yet in a sense, she found it such a long wait still. Strange how time shifted, elongating or shrinking, dependent on a myriad of factors. Her people had pondered the nature of time, but in many ways it had remained a mystery for them.

For us. Remained a mystery for us.

But her heart said otherwise, darkening and coiling away from Kili's futile desire to call herself one of them. She winced from the grief it stirred.

"What are you thinking about?" Imxi asked.

A joyless smile curled the corner of Kili's lips. She tugged her shawl tighter as her fingers caressed the stem of her wineglass. A warbler sang from a branch overhead, but he forfeited when Singhi looked up from her nap. She lay sprawled a few flagstone tiles away, long black tail curled gracefully around herself.

When she was Noah's demon, Kili could oftentimes glimpse the other demons' true forms. She could peer past the veneer, discern what they'd looked like in their home world. Their appearances were undeniably alien and disturbing to humans. A mystery Kili had never quite solved. Why did the demons change, at the time of bonding with a person? Was it intentional, or some fascinating side effect from existing here and now, when it should not be so?

Now, her ability to see this demonic duality had faded away. Singhi was just a panther in Kili's eyes. Perhaps she was slowly but inexorably losing her connection to the demon realm.

Not quite an elf, not quite a demon.

Kili shook her head slightly to clear it, drawing in a breath as she glanced at the empress in lantern light.

"My long lost past, I suppose," she said with a teasing note, because in spite of it all, she could still make fun of herself, if nothing else.

Imxi appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Have you ever been in love?" The empress's voice stood halfway between timidity and curiosity.

Kili smiled, she didn't mind. "Twice."

Imxi leaned forward on the table, arms crossed. "What happened?"

A soft frown appeared on Kili's face. "The first time . . ."

Indrian knew me, understood me like second nature, and I him. We were to start a family, before it all went so wrong. So very wrong.

"He died in battle," Kili said.

"I'm so sorry." Pain flashed across her eyes, perhaps she was imagining how she might feel if Undreen suffered the same fate.

Kili shook her head, smiling through dreadful memories. "It was a long time ago." Which was both the truth and a lie.

After a compassionate pause, during which Singhi raised her head and yawned, Imxi asked, "And the second?"

Kili's frown deepened as she looked down at the velvet case.

She found she could not think about him. Especially that their story wasn't over. Especially that it would be over so soon.

"He was the one who killed the first," Kili chose to say.

Imxi's eyes briefly widened in surprise. "Oh."

"It wasn't his fault," Kili said. "He had no other choice."

"I see," the empress said carefully. "Well, I see how that might complicate things."

A wry smile brushed over Kili's lips. "Complicated. A word befitting my life."

Imxi reached out and took Kili's hand in hers, squeezing it fondly. Imxi's hands were warm, whereas Kili's hand was cold. They locked eyes, and Kili's heart thumped hard against her chest – a bird wanting out of its cage.

The day after tomorrow . . .

"But you can start over now," Imxi said with the optimism of youth. The optimism of someone who knew she had a lot of time. "You have a home here in Chyulin. My palace is yours." With a beautiful smile, Imxi added, "And you'll meet someone again. I'm sure of it."

Kili summoned a smile of her own. And in that moment, Imxi was most certainly misreading the teary glint inside Kili's dark lantern-lit eyes.

One more lie. Always one more lie.

"Perhaps I will."