Fierce Heart (Elven Alliance Book 1)

by Tara Grayce

  Farrendel tugged her down, and her words died against his mouth.

  If she’d given it much thought and had expectations about her first kiss with Farrendel, she would’ve guessed his kiss would be as restrained and quiet as he was.

  But something sparked deep inside her chest. His kiss was more like his magic. Crackling. Reckless.

  He tugged her closer, a hand on her waist, the other hand cradling the side of her head. She smiled against his mouth as his thumb skimmed her ear. He’d been as curious as she was about their different ear shapes, even if he was a lot more subtle about it.

  This kiss was spark and fire. Lightning and crackling magic.

  She eased back, her breath coming fast.

  The hitch in Farrendel’s gasps was probably from the kiss, but the ragged edge was his pain. His hand left her waist, and he pressed against the bandages around his stomach.

  “Sorry. You’re in pain.” Essie put a few more inches between them, but she didn’t pull away that far. “Maybe we should hold off on kissing until you’re finished healing.”

  The corners of Farrendel’s mouth tipped up. “Depends on how long the healer takes to finish healing me.”

  Essie let out a small laugh. “I like kissing you too.”

  They remained still and silent, simply relaxed in the moment. It was comfortable here with Farrendel. Essie could get used to waking curled up next to him.

  Was this what love felt like? Yes, it could be fiery and passionate. But it was also this. Warmth and comfort. A quiet sort of trust that didn’t need to be spoken.

  Farrendel’s breathing steadied into something more relaxed, less pained. The tilt of his smile faded from his expression. “When I said you saved my life, I did not only mean when you shot those trolls. I was dying, and you did not let go. We elves call that elishina. Heart-bonded.”

  “Elishina? What do you mean? How did I save you then? I’m not even sure what happened.” Essie tugged her pillow closer to him and lay back down. Her shoulder and elbow were getting sore from propping herself up.

  “Do you remember in our wedding ceremony when we pledged that our hearts would be as one?” Farrendel shifted, winced, and glanced toward her before focusing on the ceiling.

  Essie nodded. “There was this zing of magic, at least I think that’s what it was.”

  “When we elves marry, we become very literally and magically bonded. Sometimes, the bond is so deep that if one is injured, the other’s heart can literally keep beating for both of them.” Farrendel remained staring upward, but his hand squeezed hers. “I was not sure it would happen with us. The only human and elf pair to experience it was Daesyn and Inara, and even then, it was the elf’s heart beating for the human’s.”

  Essie propped herself on her elbow again. “So when I gripped your hand and it felt like I was struggling to breathe, it was because I was breathing for you?”

  “Sort of. More like as long as you were breathing, I would stay breathing, and as long as your heart was beating, mine would be too.” His expression sobered, and he pushed a strand of hair from her face. “You could have died if the strain of keeping me alive had been too much. Before I met you, I never would have expected a human’s heart could sustain an elf’s that way.”

  Essie shook her head, something of a smile tugging at her mouth. Even after all this time, she was still reminded of how little the elves understood humans. “We humans may be reckless and make a lot of mistakes, but when we love, we love fiercely. Our lives are too short to afford to do anything less.”

  “We elves could probably learn something from you about making each day count.” Farrendel didn’t smile as he cupped her cheek. “I hoped on the day I married you that we would form a heart-bond. But I did not expect, if it would happen, that it would occur this soon. We had not even kissed before the battle.”

  “Maybe we hadn’t kissed, but both of us have been choosing to love each other from the day we married.” Essie wanted to kiss him again, but that would distract them, and this heart-to-heart conversation was something they needed. “Love is a choice, and it’s one we have been making all along. That probably counts a whole lot more for a heart-bond than kissing does, even if I’m discovering I really like kissing you.”

  A smile briefly flickered on Farrendel’s face before it faded. “Will it bother you if your life is longer than what is expected for a human?”

  He was talking cryptically. Essie huffed and flopped back down next to him. “What do you mean? This has something to do with Daesyn and Inara again, doesn’t it? I think it’s high time I heard that whole story.”

  Farrendel twined his fingers with hers. “Inara was a princess of the elves, and Daesyn was a human woodsman. They met and fell in love. Daesyn helped the elven king, Inara’s father, push the trolls back into the northern realms, and he was wounded in the last, great battle. Inara’s heart-bond with him kept him alive until the healers could save him. Their heart-bond was so strong that Daesyn lived to nearly five hundred years old. Inara died shortly after he did, young for an elf. The stories say she gave her years to him, and that’s how he lived for so long.”

  Essie stared at the ceiling, trying to absorb what Farrendel was telling her. Was there a possibility she would live to be several hundred years old? She would outlive her family. Her brothers. Her mother.

  But she would have Farrendel. She would see her brothers’ children and grandchildren grow up and grow old.

  If she and Farrendel had children, she would be able to see them grow to maturity. Maybe even marry. If she lived only a normal human’s lifetime, she would never see her half-elf children reach their adulthood.

  “This is why your family was so concerned about you falling in love with me. They feared that either we wouldn’t form a heart-bond and your heart would be broken when I died in only a short time compared to an elf’s years or we would form this special bond and you would end up dying young. They don’t want to lose you.”

  “No, they do not. But, Essie,” Farrendel pushed himself onto an elbow, only a tightening of his jaw to betray his pain. His hair fell in a curtain around his shoulders. “I would gladly give up a few hundred years if it meant that the years I did have were spent with you.”

  That was the most adorable, swoon-worthy, romantic thing anyone had ever said to her. Essie leaned closer so their faces were only inches apart. “And I would happily live to be five hundred if I’m with you.”

  This time, he was the one to close the distance, burying his fingers in her hair. At least the elven conditioner had been doing its job, and her hair was the silkiest, non-frizziest it had ever been, even after going through a battle.

  Not that she cared what her hair looked like at that moment. Heart-bond, indeed.

  Farrendel drew back, just enough to murmur, “I think I am in love with you.”

  “I should hope so. I know I’m in love with you.” Essie thought about continuing kissing him, but his breathing was growing ragged again. She toyed with a strand of his hair. “There isn’t a guarantee that whatever heart-bond we have will give me a longer life, is there? We know there is one, thanks to me saving your life, but if I’m understanding this right, then we still don’t know if that means your magic will give me a longer life.”

  “No, it does not. We may not know for years, not until you stop aging like you normally would.” Farrendel’s eyes held a sadness. As if it was too much to contemplate that she might die after only a few decades together.

  Seventy years. It was a lifetime for Essie. It was hard to wrap her mind around the thought that, to Farrendel, seventy years would seem like only the beginning. If she had only a normal, human lifetime, Farrendel would be left mourning her longer than he’d been married to her.

  But if his magic gave her a longer life? What would it be like to live for centuries? There was no guarantee that it would happen, but if the whole heart-bond thing was any indication, then they had a better chance than most human-elf couples.


  A knock sounded on the door to their train car. Essie had just enough to time to lurch back, putting a few more inches of space between her and Farrendel before the door opened, and Jalissa stepped inside.

  Her gaze flicked from Essie to Farrendel and back. Essie didn’t want to know what Jalissa was thinking. The way Essie and Farrendel were facing each other, it wasn’t too hard to guess they had been kissing, even if they had been some space between them now.

  Jalissa’s mouth twitched. “Good. You are both awake.”

  Essie sat all the way upright. “Where is everyone? Are we in Estyra? Why are we still on the train?”

  Jalissa paused for a moment, as if she wasn’t sure which of those questions to answer first. “We arrived in Estyra an hour ago, but we did not want to move Farrendel until after the healer finished.”

  Farrendel eased himself back onto the pillow, grimacing and pressing a hand to his stomach. Blood now spotted the bandages.

  Essie rested a hand on Farrendel’s shoulder. He hadn’t even moved that much, and it had caused his wounds to bleed again. How badly was he still hurt? “Why wasn’t he healed all the way? I don’t know much about elf magic and healing, but...”

  She wasn’t even sure what she’d been trying to ask with the end of that question.

  Jalissa stepped closer, her gaze focused on the blood dotting Farrendel’s bandages. “It was because of the elishina.”

  When Jalissa hesitated, Essie nodded. “Farrendel explained about the heart-bond thing and how I accidentally kept him alive. But what does that have to do with healing him?”

  “When Rheva and the healer in Arorien started to heal Farrendel, it put an additional strain on your body. We feared that if the full healing was completed, the strain would kill you, and we did not think that Farrendel would want us to heal him at your expense.”

  “No.” Farrendel shook his head.

  “Exactly. We did only what was necessary, and our healer has been waiting for you both to wake up to finish. With Farrendel awake, the healing will not put a strain on you.” Jalissa turned back to the door. “I will fetch him.”

  “Jalissa.” Farrendel’s voice held a taut note to it. “Has Weylind called a Council yet?”

  Jalissa didn’t look at them as she answered. “Weylind left shortly after we arrived to arrange a meeting of the Council. I believe it started a few minutes ago.”

  The Tarenhieli Council. It was the governing body that made the big decisions for the elves. As far as Essie knew, it wasn’t called often.

  Was it called because of the trolls’ raid so deep into Tarenhiel? Because the attack was targeted to wipe out King Weylind and Farrendel all at once?

  Or...Essie swung her feet to the floor. “I have to stop the Council. Or talk to them. They’re discussing the weapons that the trolls had in that second attack, aren’t they? I can’t let them decide to go to war because someone is making it look like Escarland had something to do with it. My brother would never give guns to the trolls. Never.”

  Farrendel shoved onto his elbows. “I will stand with you.”

  The blood on his bandages was getting worse. Essie pressed a hand to Farrendel’s shoulder. “Don’t get up. You aren’t going anywhere until after you’re healed.”

  Jalissa paused in the doorway. “I will return with the healer, then you can both clean up to face the Council.”

  Farrendel relaxed back onto the pillow, his skin a pale gray.

  “The pain is getting worse, isn’t it?” Essie took one of his hands. “Are you sure you want to go with me before the Council? I know it will be mostly my word that my brother didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “I will be fine once I am healed.” Farrendel squeezed her hand. “I will be at your side when you face the Council. They can be...hard-headed.”

  There was something in Farrendel’s voice. He didn’t like the Council that much. The Council probably didn’t like him all that much either. If they were as stuffy as they sounded, the late king’s illegitimate son wouldn’t be their favorite person, especially since the royal family had fully embraced Farrendel’s place as one of them.

  Jalissa returned, followed by a male elf with long, light brown hair. The male elf—the healer Essie assumed—shook his head and said something in elvish. Essie only understood a few of the words, but she understood the sentiment. Farrendel had been moving about far too much for someone in his condition.

  “I need to be healed quickly.” Farrendel said in elvish, something in his expression going hard.

  The healer frowned. Farrendel held the healer’s gaze. After a moment, the healer sighed and tipped his head in the elves’ small nod.

  Essie squeezed Farrendel’s hand. Why would a fast healing make the healer frown?

  Farrendel tugged his hand free from Essie’s. “I do not think we should be touching during the healing. He is going to do the healing fast instead of gently. I do not want you to feel it through the heart-bond.”

  Was that possible? Essie still felt connected to Farrendel, but not the way she had before.

  Farrendel turned back to the healer and nodded. The healer produced a small shears and cut through the bandages around Farrendel’s torso. As he peeled them back, Essie could see the three bullet wounds, still raw, gaping, and oozing blood.

  The healer placed his hand over the wounds. A green light burst around the wounds, flaring bright enough Essie had to look away, squinting.

  Farrendel squeezed his eyes shut, making a small, muffled sound in the back of his throat as if he’d swallowed back a cry of pain.

  Then it was over. Three scars were all that remained of the bullet wounds.

  Farrendel pushed into a sitting position, hunching over as if he was still in some kind of pain.

  The healer glanced from Farrendel to Essie, and when he spoke, it was in Escarlish. “You will be sore for a few days after such a...” the healer paused as if searching for the correct word, “forced healing.”

  Farrendel nodded and pushed to his feet. “Linshi.”

  The healer gave a nod to Farrendel, Jalissa, and even Essie before he stepped from the room. Essie wasn’t sure what she had done to earn the healer’s respect. Was it because of the heart-bond between her and Farrendel? Had the healer been able to sense it?

  Essie glanced from herself, still wearing the bloodstained tunic and pants from the battle, to Farrendel, shirtless and bedraggled, or as much as an elf could look bedraggled, with blood dried hard and crusty on his pants and still flaked in his hair. “We have to hurry if we want to change before facing the Council. I don’t think we’ll make a good impression at the moment.”

  Farrendel’s expression twitched with something of a grimace. If he was as sore as the healer had hinted, he probably wasn’t up to hurrying.

  Jalissa gave a smile, though her eyes were steely. “I sent a servant to fetch your clothes and crowns while you slept. I expected you would wish to speak before the Council.” She took Essie’s arm and guided her from the room. “We will show them you are a princess of the elves, Elspetha Shynafir.”

  Shynafir? Essie blinked at Jalissa, before turning to Farrendel. The a at the end of her name turning Elspeth into the elvish Elspetha didn’t surprise her. But until now, the elves had just given her the title of princess. She hadn’t earned a title-last name the way Farrendel had with Laesornysh.

  Farrendel smiled. A large, teeth showing smile. “Shynafir means Fierce Heart.”

  Fierce heart. She didn’t need to be known for heroic deeds or great battles. It was not a bad thing if, when the history books remembered her, all they said about her was that she loved fiercely.

  She had come here determined to love Farrendel, love the elves, and love this new home of hers. If she managed to bring peace between her kingdom and the elves, it would be because she loved both of her homes and peoples so fiercely that she could stand between them, one foot in both worlds.

  It was time to show the Tarenhieli Council just how fierce
she could be.

  ESSIE GLIDED at Farrendel’s side, her head held high and her hand lightly resting on his forearm. They were dressed as they had been for that first dinner together with his family. Farrendel wore the silver tunic only a shade lighter than his hair, his silver crown resting on his brow. She wore the royal blue dress, its skirt fluttering elegantly around her as she moved, while a matching crown to Farrendel’s glittered against her hair.

  Considering they’d had only a few minutes and no time for proper showers, they’d both managed to clean up rather well. A wet washcloth could do wonders for scrubbing flakes of blood away from hairlines and skin. No one on the Council would come close enough to notice if they both smelled faintly of blood and sweat.

  Jalissa trailed a few steps behind them, dressed in a deep red dress and wearing a thin silver circlet. At least Essie had won over one of Farrendel’s family members. Perhaps more. Leyleira had been supportive from the start. Princess Brina had helped tremendously during the battle.

  But King Weylind? Essie wasn’t sure where she stood with him. He didn’t seem to hate her. He never would have approved of the marriage alliance between her and Farrendel if he had. But he didn’t seem to approve of her either.

  Essie and Farrendel climbed the last of the stairs and reached the landing before the large hall where their elven wedding had been held. Today, the doors were shut and two elves in leather tunics embossed in gold stood in front of the doors. With the leather tunics and their helmets on, Essie couldn’t tell if the guards were male or female.

  Farrendel faced them with all the dangerous hardness that made him so feared as Laesornysh. When he spoke in elvish, his tone was icy. “Farrendel Laesornysh and Elspetha Shynafir to speak before the Council.”

  The guard on the right moved a fraction to face them. “The Council is not expecting you.”

  A female guard then, based on the voice. Essie didn’t let herself blink at the cold words. Was Farrendel’s brother trying to prevent her from defending Averett before the Council? Surely not. King Weylind had allowed Farrendel to marry a human for the sake of peace. He wouldn’t throw that away lightly.