Dark Heart

The Crossing was that rare place on Shecrish that thumbed its nose at distinctions that everyone else seemed to be preoccupied with. It sat half in the Above and half in the Below, a place where Dark Elves ventured from the depths of the earth to mingle with the other elven races who dared to enter the tavern—but rarely any deeper. The Dark seemed to be the only ones who didn’t fear the shadows.

The entrance of the pub didn’t have a door. The dark rock had been chiseled smooth with a gentle, wide arch like a pair of open arms. Welcoming. Inviting. Everyone who entered The Crossing, be it from the narrow doorway from Below or the wide access from Above, all saw the same wall. If the entrance had been scored smooth, the wall was as smooth as silk. And on it was an enormous mandala. Half of the geometric symbol that represented the universe for elves sat in sunshine displaying vibrant colors while the other half with its white lines was bathed in shadow.

Arya’s eyes were glued to the mandala. No matter where she placed herself when she visited the tavern, her gaze always found the symbol. It meant something much more to her, something that she had tried to forget, to put out of her memory. She even succeeded a few times.

But that part of her past she couldn’t seem to release completely.

Just like she couldn’t forget Jai.

Time didn’t lessen the pain. The wound occasionally scabbed over, but something would make her think of Jai and the future that had almost been theirs. The scab would be yanked off and the hurt would begin all over her. The scar was too deep, too jagged to ever fully heal. Even though she pretended otherwise. Her chest was empty, devoid of the heart that had once beat so steadily there. It had been ripped out of her chest and shredded to oblivion. There had been no pieces left to pick up and attempt to move on.

So, she didn’t.

She was the walking wounded. A shell of who she had once been, a portrayal of what almost was. Of what should have been but never would be.

The hours she had spent at The Crossing waiting and hoping for Jai to show had been some of the longest, most agonizing of her life. But it was nothing compared to finally realizing that he wouldn’t come. That he hadn’t chosen her.

She pulled her gaze away from the mandala and down at the table where her ale sat untouched. It took her a moment to realize her superior had stopped talking. She swung her eyes to meet his. Yellow eyes that tipped toward gold stared intently at her. There was nothing soft about Dain Kelro. He moved with predatory grace. He saw everything in one sweep of a room and had skills no other Dark possessed.

His long, white hair was loose except for small, silver bands around locks of hair. He wore the scars of his battles like a warrior. The deepest ran from the inside corner of his left eye and cut diagonally down the left cheek to his jaw. Another dissected his mouth at an angle right to left. A third ran from his left temple through his left brow, across his nose and along the right cheek.

Even when he wasn’t going into battle, Dain wore his favorite long black coat with the bottom cut into six thick strips and armor-plated shoulders. Beneath was a black shirt with chest and abdomen armor. Black trousers tucked into knee-high boots with more silver armor on the front.

And he had been mentoring her since she joined the Dark’s elite Counter Corruption Division.

She would never dare to call Dain a friend aloud. Mostly because he didn’t have friends. Or he hadn’t before. Something had changed recently, and it all pointed back to Dain’s recent encounter with a Dragon King.

“You’re doing it again,” Dain remarked.

Arya lifted the cup of ale to her mouth and drank. She held his gaze as she swallowed and slowly lowered her arm. There was no use denying it. Dain always saw through lies. Even hers. “Am I?”

“It’s been four years.”

She tried to school her features, but she wasn’t sure she managed it by the way Dain’s lips compressed.

“It was your first assignment. Those are always difficult.”

Arya didn’t want to talk about the assignment or Jai. She inhaled and released the breath as she looked away. Right to the mandala again.

“You attempted to warn him,” Dain continued. “It didn’t work. You know he wasn’t captured in the search. He got away.”

That should be enough. Why wasn’t it? She had waited at The Crossing for Jai for two days, but he never showed. And that’s what stung more than anything.

“I’m fine,” she said.

Neither believed the lie.

She looked at Dain expectantly. “You didn’t call me here to talk about the past.”

“Actually, I did. Just not that far back.” Dain scanned the room before he leaned his arms on the table.

Arya did the same. The Crossing was an entry point into the dominion of the Dark Elves who enjoyed an existence below ground. They could—and had—lived above with the other races of elves, but it wasn’t normal. And while the Dark might occasionally mingle above, other races only ventured below when it was required. Same with humans.

No one could see into the shadowy depths of the Under like Dark Elves. The sunlight caused an issue with her people, making it difficult for them to see. Though it was a secret none ever shared. It would be considered a weakness, and that simply could never be known.

The pub was mainly occupied by Dark. There was a Sun Elf, two Moon Elves, and to her surprise, a Sea Elf. Like the Dark, Sea Elves had their preferred home and seldom left it. The Mountain Elves were even more reclusive. The Wood Elves seemed to be everywhere, but they had a particular abhorrence to the subterranean. The Star Elves were nomadic.

Arya glanced at Dain and saw his gaze was directed behind the bar now. She turned and spotted a human female pouring drink. It was the first time she had ever known the owner of The Crossing to hire a human.

“You need to be careful,” Dain said in a low voice.

She swung her head back to him. “About?”

“There’s been talk about recent exploits.”

Shaldorn Stronghold. Arya inwardly grimaced at the thought of the mountain fortress. She had been undercover in the depraved, evil place where humans had been held as slaves and all races of elves had taken part in debauchery, corruption, and other sins. Her assignment had been a secret, one Dain had asked of her and kept from their supervisors. She hadn’t understood why until she had been inside Shaldorn and saw firsthand those who fought for an invite to the exclusive citadel.

But she and Dain had merely been backup. It was Ravi, a Sun Elf working for the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Yasmin, the only human to escape Shaldorn, who had infiltrated the stronghold and halted the sale of a weapon intended to start a war with the dragons.

Ravi and Yasmin had accomplished their task and sent those running Shaldorn to ground, but it had nearly cost Yasmin her life. Each time Arya thought about the state she had found Yasmin, it made her stomach roil. And it was churning again, but for another reason.

“What about it?” Arya asked in a soft whisper. Despite their victory, they had yet to discover the tangled mess of just who was involved in Shaldorn. They knew it went up through the government, but how deep they had yet to uncover.

Dain held her gaze, his yellow eyes briefly showing his unease. “As you’ll recall, a few got away.”

Particularly the Moon Elf, Gita, who had been running Shaldorn Stronghold, and One, a Star Elf, the last of the Trio who answered to her.

“You’re worried.”

Dain shot her a flat look. “We’d be stupid not to be. It seems our friends are searching for us.”

A shiver of apprehension snaked down Arya’s spine. “How did you learn this? Can your source be trusted?”

“Unequivocally.”

That made Arya’s brows raise. Dain was distrustful of everyone. She couldn’t name a single person he trusted unreservedly. Apparently, he did this source. “What did they say?”

“A bounty is out on us.”

Six words. That’s all it took for her stomach to drop to her feet. They had no idea how far Gita’s reach was. The Moon Elf had mentioned that there were others working with her, and for all they knew, it could reach to the very top officials. It was something she and Dain had been looking into since their return. How else could the stronghold have stayed hidden for so long?

“They saw me,” Dain said. “And the other two.”

He wasn’t saying Ravi and Yasmin’s name for many reasons. Arya nodded. She had expected retaliation. They had halted a profitable location where criminals could buy, sell, and trade all manner of commodities, both legal and illegal. Mostly illegal. But it was more than that. The depraved had been able to release their true depravity by watching others being tortured, killed, and raped.

“Did anyone see you with us?”

Dain’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. Arya shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“It isn’t a chance we can take. We all need to take precautions.”

She shot him a glare. “You want to hide?” That wasn’t something she ever expected Dain to say.

“Until we know who is pulling the strings, aye.”

“We need to keep searching for Gita and One.”

Dain slowly leaned back in his chair. “We will. Just more stealthily than we have been. Stay at your parents. They have enough security to keep anyone out.”

She looked away briefly and drank another swallow of ale.

Dain’s nostrils flared with his irritation. “You still haven’t told your family you’re working for us.”

It wasn’t a question. She couldn’t hold his glare and looked away. Of course she hadn’t told her family she was a spy. If they found out she was part of the Counter Corruption Division, they would force her to stop immediately.

And if she didn’t, then her mother would put enough pressure on the CCD that they fired her.

“Fuck.” A muscle jumped in Dain’s jaw. “You promised.”

“I lied.”

His yellow eyes narrowed. “It won’t be just your position they come after. It’ll be mine for training you.”

“I went to the CCD on my own,” she argued. “No one recruited me.”

“It won’t matter to your family, and you know it.”

Arya reluctantly nodded. “Fine. I’ll tell my parents. I’m meeting them for dinner tonight,” she stated when he gave her a glare.

“It might be too late for that confession.”

There was an instant of elation of getting out of that lecture, but it quickly vanished. Dain didn’t want her to tell her parents about the CCD, because she would then have to tell them about Shaldorn. If Dain’s suspicions about how far up the corruption went was correct, then there was a good chance it might involve her mother who had been elected to the Dark council.

“Shite,” she murmured.

Dain nodded after he tossed back the last of his ale. “Aye.”

How had she not already thought of that connection? But she knew. It was because she didn’t want to imagine that either of her parents could be involved with Shaldorn. But Dain had. She knew it without even asking him. She felt sick to her stomach.

Arya looked down at her hand that was still wrapped around the wooden cup. Her gray skin looked pale even to her. How was she going to act normal during the dinner? She had been trained by the best in the CCD. She could do it. It wouldn’t be easy, but she didn’t have a choice.

Her gaze snapped up to Dain to find his gaze on her. “How far have you investigated without me?”

“I kept you out because of the chance of conflict.”

“That isn’t what I asked,” she said tightly.

He sighed, his gaze sliding away briefly. “Not far, but I won’t ask you–”

“You don’t have to. I’m part of this. We follow wherever things lead. To whoever they lead to.”

“It’s easy to say that now.”

She lifted her chin. “If something is found…” She swallowed, not able to say the words. She could barely even think about her parents being involved with Shaldorn. “I have to see it with my own eyes, or I’ll think it was falsified.”

Dain stared at her a long moment before he nodded once. “Fair enough.”

She pushed the ale away. If she drank anymore, she might vomit. She might have learned to repress her emotions so nothing showed, but she had yet to learn how to halt the effects of those emotions in her body.

“You can change your mind anytime,” Dain told her.

“I won’t.”

“I know.”

“I need to change before the dinner. Where do we start tomorrow?”

“Meet me here at midday.”

Arya nodded as she pushed to her feet. “See you then.”

“Be vigilant,” Dain warned.

She paused beside him and smiled, hoping to make him believe she was fine. “You, too.”

Arya scanned the establishment as she walked to the back were the lights and torches filling the tavern faded into darkness. There a door stood that was so cloaked in shadows only a Dark Elf could see it. She looked back to find Dain also studying the other occupants. She pushed through the door and skimmed the alleyway to see if anyone was about. There was a half dozen steps down that led to the tunnel that connected The Crossing to the Under.

She had a flat in the Deacos Corner neighborhood, much to her parent’s horror. It was too near the surface for their liking. Then again, they wouldn’t be happy unless she returned to their home. Preferably married. That’s what this dinner was about. It’s what all the dinners for the past year had been about.

To her parents, she should’ve already found her mate, settled down, and waited for the Domestic Ministry to give them a child. As if that’s all there was to life. Her parents paraded men in front of her as if she were picking out a cut of meat. Her father would proudly list the contender’s achievements and bodily endowments which never failed to mortify her. If it was that bad for her, she couldn’t imagine what it was like for the males. Though, the ranking of her family meant that many put aside their egos and pride on the chance she might choose them. There was no way she would allow anyone to make her feel so degraded.

Not one of the men asked her anything about herself. They probably didn’t care about her. It was her family name, its connections, and the money the males were interested in.

Actually, she was a slab of meat. She might not be flaunted about, but she was still on display.

And it was time that ended.