Lovely Dark Things

THIRTY-FOUR (RUBY POV)

50 years later...

"Fuck!" I growl holding the card in my hand. "A gala dinner in the dead of winter, who has had this great idea? The big hall will be frozen even if the fireplaces of the lower floor are connected to the hall floor... It's a massive space and impossible to heat it up properly." I let the invitation card drop on the table and lean back on my arm chair, thinking while fixing my eyes on the window covered in frost.

I believe the King is nervous and he wants to make an appearance at the Court to, I don't know, reassert his power or calm things down... or maybe he wants to poke the bear to settle this situation once and for all. It's been 50 years... I can't help shaking my head in disbelief... Half a century since my intelligent human arrived to this kingdom and started working, Iselen was like a tiny snowball running down a slope, slowly at first, but she got bigger and bigger as time went by and now she's about causing an avalanche.

I knew this day would come. We have new roads and ports, greenhouses on top of roofs where we grow different types of fresh veggies, new ships, walls and weapons, heated floors, hot water in our rooms, sewerage systems underneath our cities and many more things. Every time it looked like her time had come, Iselen surprised us all with a new invention and now our ships can shoot a burning liquid that sets out enemies' boats and villages on fire. She calls it "Greek fire..." She's also became friends with Seraphon and Sulepeth after giving them treats... The entire society standard of living has improved since she arrived, every city has adopted some of her ideas, craftsmen work following the schedule she gave them and lot of people have become rich following her advice... Above all my family.

And that's a problem. I knew this would happen and the Queen herself told me that Iselen would upset the balance among the most important clans of Baalberith in the long term, my father is the most powerful noble in this kingdom now and Argyle is plotting a coup d'état to take power in the City of Executioners, our prestige is immense and our allies thrive while our enemies plot against us... And they're powerful too, above all those hiding in the temples: the High Priestess, my mother, Sryne... Iselen's good reputation, her direct access to our monarchs, her successes and the Black Guard's unconditional support are deeply offensive to most elves, she's just a human, after all, only one step above any other slave: an abomination that shouldn't exist in Baalberith. Our life is easier now and light elves fear us more than ever before... but it's time for Iselen to disappear.

There're more and more hate, jealousy and machinations, nobles whisper behind our backs, sorceresses look at us with contempt and I'm having a hard time trying to keep us both alive with the guards' help. The Queen gets pressure to withdraw her protection but without it, Iselen won't last long. My own reputation is suffering even if I'm still the best assassin and the most skilful handling knives, of course, and they fear me but they also know I have a weakness now. It's been 50 years but I didn't have any other lover, I could've asked the Queen to look for a new bodyguard after the first decade but the truth is that I'm not bored of her, Iselen always presents new challenges, every day feels different with her and sex is still very good. We feel comfortable together, talking honestly about everything, I've told her things about my childhood that no one knows and she's told me things about her fascinating world, but we feel fine in silence too, working or reading sitting on the same couch. Stable and lasting relationships are uncommon among dark elves but they can happen, above all if they have common interests and support each other to achieve a goal.

But Iselen has already fulfilled her part of the deal and I only have two options: protect her till the end... and we'll both die... or I can move away from her deliberately, let them kill her and go on with my life. Maybe I could join Sryne at the City of Witchcraft or get back together with Khrise. I wouldn't have hesitated to do it 50 years ago but now... I don't understand what's going on but I don't want to give up on the human, I'm pretty sure there're still some wonderful and useful ideas inside her little head and dark elves could take advantage of them. If my compatriots weren't so stupid and stopped getting carried away by their darkest passions: hate, jealousy, pride and resentment have helped us to survive in this doomed kingdom but they're also the reason why we lose lot of chances to succeed.