Fate Calls the Elf Queen (The Elf Queen, #3)

by J.M. Kearl

“You tripped me. You cheated.” “No one set any rules. And I didn’t trip you. My boot simply got in your way,”

“Don’t pull the possessive male horseshit if you’re not going to step up and do something about it.”

“I like it when you’re bossy. Gives me the tingles.”

“I’m Layala—” “That is your name. Who are you?” She stared at herself for a long time. She was reckless and full of anger and uncertainty. Powerful when she must be, but that confidence wavered, and at times was overshadowed by insecurity and harsh words.

“Thane does not want me anymore. I never fit in anywhere I go. Everyone hates me because I woke the Black Mage.” She swiped the angry tears spilling down her cheeks. “I was supposed to be their savior.” She lifted her chin and blinked the last of her tears away. “But I am no savior at all.”

She was the elf who could stop dragons and bring them to their knees, but she was also the elf who shattered the day she failed all of Adalon.

But I learned from that failure. I learned I never wanted to feel that way again.”

“I know who you are. You’re my Thane. The Elf King who took me from my home and saved me from myself. You rescued me from your father at your own peril. You make love to me in bathtubs and whisper naughty things in my ear. You’re the elf who loved me at my hardest and cherished me at my most vulnerable. Nothing stopped you before. Especially not another male.”

I’m the reason you’re alive. You should be worshiping the ground I walk on, you bastard.”

hair escaped her braided black hair like a halo of frizz,

“You may rule the underrealm, but I rule the night. I do not fear the dark, demon, I was born of it.”

“Everything that is mine is now yours, love—my territory, my power, my heart, my body, my soul, yours forever,”

“Hero?” His eyes darkened and he sauntered toward her, stopping inches away; the curl of his magic slid along her skin, catching her breath. It wasn’t dark and frightening but sensual as if it wanted to wrap around her and know every part of her being. “No, love, I’m certainly the villain. I’m everything from your darkest nightmare.

“Telvian Botsberry found half-dead, unable to speak because his tongue was cut out, unable to write because his hands were cut off. I suppose he shouldn’t have been telling and writing lies about a certain someone. He won’t anymore.”

He wished he could forget it all like her, to not feel the warring pain inside of wanting her so much his body could catch fire and hating her with the same amount of passion.

“You have one of the best laughs I’ve ever heard. It’s like velvet and joy and an endless night.”

“You look good letting go. Beautiful. The most beautiful thing in the realms.”

The way he looked at her, like she was the only thing that mattered

“A fucking asshole, yes. I’m the bad guy. Don’t forget it either.”

Every creak in the house, every screech outside seemed louder with Hel missing. Things were always scarier in the dark. Ironic that she was the goddess of it.

so he had to become a monster as evil as they.

“You know what I hate? I crave you in every conceivable way and I hate it. I hate the way you poison my thoughts, the way you infect every part of my being. I hate the way you laugh at things that aren’t even funny, even more that you’ve become so vulnerable. It makes me want to protect you, to worry over you and to never stop thinking about you. I can’t stop thinking about you, morning sun or darkest night you’re there. I hate when you nibble your lip when you’re thinking. I despise every dangerous curve along your body, but most especially this curve,” his thumb dragged along her lips. “I wish you would hate me more than you do.

All those things you said you hate about me… A long pause. Are what I love about you. And I can’t have you. That’s why I hate them.

“Don’t tempt me with that unless you mean it. If you think I’ll let you go back to him after I’ve been inside you, you’re fucking wrong.” One hand slid to her throat and his gentle touch was almost enough to make her lose it. “Once you give yourself to me, you’re fucking mine. There won’t be a choice.”

Raise that chin, love. One day they will kneel to you.

I’ll set the stage on fire and buy us some time.”

“I don’t care about anything that happened anymore. If this life has shown me anything at all, it’s that you are the reason I breathe. I live in an eternal midnight, and you are my moon giving me light in darkness. I have no heart unless it’s in your hands, Valeen.”

I would have fought for you. I may not be selfless or noble, but I do love you and I’d do anything for you but give you up.”

“I don’t blame you for falling for him. He’s easy to love. So, I will wait for you to find that he was best for Layala Lightbringer, but I am the only one for you, Valeen, goddess of night.”

I want you. Every part of you. The good and the bad.”

“You’re even more stunning than I remembered. Look at you.”