Claimed by the Elven King: Part Four

by Cristina Rayne

  Cries of surprise and pain sounded out from the direction of the courtiers, and as I regained my footing, I turned and saw everyone to a man sprawled out on the ground in every position imaginable, some moaning, some still shouting, and others not moving at all. I reached Sethian just as he turned to me, his eyes wide and his face pale with shock.

  “Thaylan! Is Thaylan okay!” I demanded, reaching for him.

  Sethian nodded somewhat dazedly and let me take the baby from his arms. Thaylan was clearly upset, his face scrunched up just like a crying infant’s, but the only sounds from his throat were those little noises of exclamation that he would make every once in a while as though he was trying to talk but frustrated that nothing would emerge. That was probably why holding him felt as if I had gotten dangerously close to a live wire. His tiny body thrummed with energy, making my arms start to feel a little numb. I immediately sat down onto the steps of the dais and used my lap to support his back, afraid I would abruptly lose all the feeling in my arms and drop him.

  “Good. Stay there while I tend to the queen and my people,” Sethian said after giving both of us a once-over, his voice strained.

  Both Sethian and my friends had warned me that something like this could probably happen, that some elven children might use an inborn ability without warning, but judging from the completely stunned look on Sethian’s face, Thaylan wasn’t supposed to be able do to something like this.

  I rocked him gently in my arms and smiled down at him in an effort to calm him, but from the waves of unhappiness that his emotions were shouting at me and the way he was kicking his legs and flailing his arms, it was clear that he was in no mood to be comforted. If he were a human baby, he would have been screeching fit to wake the dead. I’m not sure if it was the queen, the roar of the crowd, or even some negative emotion I had inadvertently sent him when I saw that the queen was about to touch him that had set him off, but maybe it was better to take him out of the throne room until things settled down.

  Sethian was currently at the queen’s side, helping her to sit up and asking if she was injured. I started to call out to him, but all I managed to get out was the first syllable of his name before the throne room rapidly faded from view and a startled breath later, I was sitting in the center of our bed. Thaylan started to thrash about more vigorously, and I felt a rush of excitement from him, probably because he had just spotted his bassinette beside the bed.

  “I guess no one will ever question whether Sethian’s really your father with a power like that,” I told him, smiling weakly as I continued to rock him.

  If the elven king had been hoping for our son to shake up the court today, he certainly got more than he had probably bargained for. I didn’t have to be a political expert to know that knocking your future subjects on their asses wasn’t the best way to win hearts.

  Suddenly, the door flew open and Sethian came running in, his crown lying skewed on his head, followed closely by Lariel, Saeria, and Rinwen. “Thank the High Powers I found you!” Sethian exclaimed, relief flowing from him like a bleeding wound. “When I saw you two disappear, I did not know what to think!”

  “It seems Thaylan just wanted to come home,” I said with a helpless shrug. “I don’t think he liked the noise.”

  “Noise, is putting it mildly,” Sethian replied with a sigh, running his hand through his hair and catching his fingers in his crown. He frowned and opted to just remove it rather than try to move it back into place.

  “It sounds as though we missed a rather grand spectacle,” Lariel said hesitantly.

  “Yes, you could say the baby had quite the temper tantrum,” I said with a slightly hysterical laugh. I was probably still in shock.

  I guess hearing familiar voices and being in a familiar place again were enough to finally settle Thaylan down because the energy emanating from his body completely died down, leaving my arms to tingle madly as if they had gone to sleep. His face had also lost that pinched look, and his eyes were currently fixed on his father—or rather, the light from the oil lamp glinting off the crown in his hands.

  “We left a pretty big mess back there,” I said to Sethian. “The baby’s calmed down now, so if you need to get back, I think we’ll be fine here with everyone.”

  His hands clenched the crown. He started to say something, then shook his head and gave me a look. I nodded. We would have much to discuss later when the room wasn’t so crowded and there were no more nobles moaning on the floor in the throne room. Sethian bent over and kissed both of us on the brow before phasing out of the room.

  “So our little prince has been named, Thaylan,” Lariel said, sitting on the bed beside us. “‘The one who sees all.’ Auspicious.”

  No, threatening, I though with an inward groan. What was Sethian thinking giving him a name like that? The name had a pleasing ring to it, but if that’s what it meant, it really did come off as a not-so-subtle warning, especially after what had just happened in the throne room.

  Of course, I told none of them this as I smiled and said, “I certainly hope so.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “I don’t think I have ever seen anyone so excited for a journey as you,” Lariel remarked as I stuffed a few last minute things for Thaylan into a pack that I would be keeping with me inside the carriage tomorrow.

  Sethian had assured me that his staff would see to the rest of our packing, and I was grateful. I had never gone on a trip that lasted over a few days, much less a couple of months. I wouldn’t have known where to start.

  I was both relieved and a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be riding the elvensteed but instead pulled by them inside a carriage. Although Sethian had taken me to see them once before, with Thaylan in tow, I had only been able to pet them. At this early stage of an elven child’s life, the child rarely left the side of his or her mother as the first few years were important to the strengthening of their familial bonds. It was more than just cultural.

  Learning to ride would have to come later when Thaylon was old enough to take the lessons with me. I had to constantly remind myself that there was no hurry, that a few years was nothing in this new lifespan I had been given.

  “Remember, I’ve been living in the elven realm for over a year now, and this is the first time I’ve ever left the palace grounds,” I said. “I’ve been dying to see Talloth. Hell, I’ve been dying just to see the realm, itself, to see how it differs from my world. Getting to go to a bunch of cities, too, is just icing on the cake.”

  “It will be a refreshing change of scenery,” Saeria agreed.

  “That’s why I told you, all of you, that you should take a few days off every once in a while,” I said pointedly. “Even if you don’t want to take a year off from serving here like you’re supposed to, everyone needs a little time to themselves to recharge.”

  “We shall take our year after your children are grown,” Lariel said with a grin.

  “The last time I looked, I only have one,” I retorted.

  I glanced at the bed where Thaylan was currently playing with an assortment of colorful wooden block of various shapes and sizes with Rinwen. And by playing, I meant he was levitating a few of them around her body in a rapid whirlwind while a giggling Rinwen tried to keep from getting pummeled.

  The first time I had seen him do this I nearly had a heart attack, but the elven women had been delighted. Thaylan had launched one at me, expecting me to catch it or levitate it like him, but it had hit me square in the nose hard enough to make it bleed. The confused look on his face would have been adorable had I not been choking on blood.

  Lariel’s grin widened. “That will change soon, I think.”

  I felt heat rise in my cheeks despite myself. Not for the first time, I wondered if they could hear us making love at night. When Sethian was here, my friends stayed in the servant wing attached to the Royal Suite, which was only a few rooms away. I could get pretty loud sometimes, to my eternal embarrassment.

  “If by soon, you mean in about te
n years, then sure, a sibling for Thaylan would be great.”

  I could only imagine the chaos that would erupt if I had two gifted children hurdling blocks and lord knows what else at each other. Not to mention phasing in and out of existence. That alone would probably have me completely gray by the time he turned one. Luckily, the farthest he had gone was wherever Sethian happened to be in the palace. Maybe it was because of the familial bond, but he always seemed to know exactly where Sethian was at any given time and would just pop over to see him whenever he felt like it. The maddening part was that there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him from doing this, being the mundane human that I was.

  Unfortunately, Sethian seemed to find the whole thing extremely amusing, and when I had pointed out rather crossly that Thaylan could end up on the other side of the realm, he had assured me that the ability to manipulate space was limited, and he doubted Thaylan could even manage to phase to somewhere outside the palace. I wasn’t as confident.

  “I would hope sooner, but ten years is also fine,” Lariel said with a nod.

  I just shook my head. Sometimes my sarcasm just went right over their heads, and it was easier to just let it go rather than try to explain.

  “You should probably put the little one to bed soon,” Saeria said. “Didn’t His Majesty say that we would be leaving at first light tomorrow?”

  “Or as soon as he gets back from Nallos, whichever is sooner. It had something to do with a land dispute between a couple of pretty important nobles that couldn’t wait until after the trip, so I don’t really expect him back by dawn, either.”

  I went over to the bed and sat next to Thaylan. “Hey, sweetie, it’s time for bed,” I said, pointing to his bassinette once I had captured his attention.

  “No!” he said clearly in English, making me sigh.

  Some days it was in Elvish. Whether human or elven, I guess some things were just universal.

  The first thing I became aware of was the feeling of something moist on the back of my neck. I shifted and tried to turn my head, but a hand immediately pushed my face back towards my pillow.

  “Sethian?” I said somewhat groggily.

  Was it morning already? I felt as though I had only been a sleep for a few minutes.

  “Mmph,” he replied against my skin as he moved his kisses from the back of my neck to my collarbone, pulling the collar of my nightgown away to give his mouth more access to my skin.

  I gasped as he sucked rather hard on my pulse point, the sensation bordering on pain. Although waking me up like this was nothing new for us, I was surprised that he even had the stamina to make love after riding what must have been all night to get here if it was indeed morning. Well, at the slower pace of riding in a sort of caravan, we would be on the road for the next two days before we reached Talloth, so I suppose I understood his desire to get in one last tumble before we left.

  I felt Sethian press tightly against my back, his erection already digging into my lower spine. Maybe it was the grogginess, but his kisses this time seemed to make my head swim more than usual until I felt not only lightheaded, but euphoric.

  He hadn’t bothered to turn on one of the oil lamps, so when he rose up above me and rolled me onto my back, all I could see of him in the darkness was the outline of his body and the lighter shade of darkness that was his hair as it spilled over his shoulders and tickled my nose. I was a little surprised that he was already completely nude, but then his mouth crashed onto mine and whatever thoughts had been going through my mind scattered until the only thing I could focus on was his hot mouth trying to suck the life out of me and his hands that were aggressively fondling my breasts through my gown and tugging at the thin material a bit impatiently.

  A smell of something like cedar permeated my senses through my haze of pleasure. I had enough mind left to wonder where it was coming from. From Sethian? The scent was so strong that it was possible, but elves didn’t wear anything like colognes or perfumes. They didn’t have to, as their natural musk always reminded me of something elemental or meteorological. Sethian had always smelled of fresh linens and clean air, of something powerful and masculine, and right now I didn’t smell any of that at all. Maybe that’s why this new scent was bothering me so much now. It made me feel that I was suddenly with a different person.

  With a tremendous effort, I pulled my mouth away from his and gasped out, “Sethian…wait…that smell…what…”

  That was all I managed to get out before his mouth covered mine again more roughly than before, and I immediately lost my train of thought as my head began to swim again. He was certainly more aggressive than usual this morning—or night—or whatever. Did something happen that made him need to release some pent up energy?

  Then that smell hit my nostrils again, and my head cleared a bit as a strong sense of annoyance shot through me. Was that my emotion or his? Maybe he could smell it too, and it was bothering him just as much as it was bothering me.

  I pulled my mouth away for a second time and started to push at his shoulders to get his attention—and in that instant, I finally got a good look at his face. Even in the darkness, the outline was narrow and alien and definitely not Sethian’s!

  With a horrified shout, I shot one of my palms hard into his nose. He flinched back violently, grunting in both surprise and pain, and in that moment of confusion, I was able to get both hands between my chest and his and shove up as hard as I could. I only managed to move him partially off me, his lower body still pinning my legs.

  “Saeria! Rinwen! Help me!” I screamed as I struggled to roll off the bed in order to get to Thaylan before my attacker could recover from my blow.

  I was just picking a now awake and upset Thaylan up when I was aggressively grabbed around my waist from behind. I shrieked and tried to shake him off while at the same time hugging Thaylan closer to my chest. A split-second later the bedroom door crashed open and light from the room beyond illuminated the room and Saeria in the doorway just as Thaylan shouted “Mama!” in fear.

  Then suddenly the crushing arms around my waist were gone and the vision of Saeria, with Rinwen at her back, daggers raised and threatening, rushing towards us faded out of view, only to be replaced by a row of tightly packed trees under a night sky that was just starting to lighten and the cold marble under my feet by cool, damp grass. Behind me, the clomp, clomp, clomp of what sounded like hoof beats had me whirling around and hugging Thaylan to me more tightly even as his emotions shrieked with confusion and fear that was so powerful, my legs nearly gave out on me as they thundered through me and threatened to completely overwhelm my mind.

  I gritted my teeth and fought to find some semblance of balance within me. I could fall apart later when we were safe and the horror of what had just happened to me fully sunk in. Right now I had to be strong for my son.

  I was standing about ten feet from a cobblestone road, and I could just make out the shape of at least five elvensteed as they barreled down the road towards us. At the verge of collapse, I started to turn in order to hightail it to the shadows of the trees before we were spotted by God-only-knows-who, but Thaylan abruptly shouted a word that had me freezing mid-step.

  “Father!” he cried out again in Elvish, reaching out over my shoulder towards the oncoming riders.

  “You’re kidding me…” I whispered in disbelief.

  Squinting into the distance, it was still too dark to see anything except the outline of the riders, but if my son said one of them was Sethian, that was good enough for me. He had never been wrong—not yet, anyway. I moved closer to the edge of the road, rubbing at Thaylan’s back, hoping to calm at least some of his still-lingering fear.

  “Yes, your father is coming,” I crooned to him, praying that wouldn’t turn out to be a lie. How pathetic was I that I had needed my six-month-old son to save us from a would-be rapist, and I knew I would have to rely on his power again if by some million-to-one chance he was wrong about the riders.

  Suddenly, one of the el
vensteed broke off from the others and both rider and animal nearly blurred into something unrecognizable as they shot towards us at an incredible speed. A new wave of fear that did not originate from me washed over me, and this time I did stagger a bit. The emotion was easily twice as strong as Thaylan’s had been and negated the maelstrom of emotions I had been feeling all on my own as well as those I was receiving from the baby. However, this time I welcomed that outside emotion because the essence behind it was very familiar.

  “Sethian!” I cried in relief, not able to hold back at that point.

  As that name was swallowed up into the pre-dawn air, Thaylan became even more agitated, wiggling in my arms with everything he had in him and seemingly trying to crawl over my shoulder so that it was all I could do to hold on to him. Then the steed was only a few yards away, and I could finally see Sethian’s face clearly as he vaulted from his saddle before they had even come to a full stop.

  Then before I could blink, my face was suddenly being cradled between his hands and Thaylan was twisting around to grab at Sethian’s tunic, calling out “Father! Father!” over and over again in an excited tone.

  It took every last ounce of my fragile control to not start crying right then and there.

  “What in the name of the High Powers are you two doing here!” he demanded, his eyes frantically roving over both of us, likely looking for injuries. “And in your nightclothes, no less!”

  “Thaylan,” was all I managed as I choked back a sob. Just the feel of his hands on my cheeks made the painful knot in my chest start to loosen.

  “Thaylan phased you…” he echoed in disbelief. “This is at least a couple of spans from the palace grounds. Even I could not bend space between two points this far!”