Read Online Claimed by the Elven King: Part Four by Cristina Rayne - Free Book Online Page B

normally beyond the reach of our
own a mythical Third Realm by his power alone, a land of immortality, great
beauty, and magic, and took half the then elven population with him.”
    “But,” I interjected, “humans don’t have the kind of power that elves
do. Our abilities lie in innovation, not magic.”
    “No,” he agreed, “but the potential is there all the same. Otherwise,
you would never have connected mentally with our son, nor would have any of the
human brides of old with their children. Perhaps it is a matter of
evolution—the next step—or humans simply just need to be shown the way by
another. The moment our son reached out to you for comfort when he was
frightened and confused during the birth was the moment that you were finally
able to hear his soul, was it not?”
    “You’re saying it’s because of something he did, not something that
happens naturally?”
    “Yes and no,” he replied maddeningly.
    I made a face. “That doesn’t help, Sethian.”
    He chuckled. “Bear with me, my Emily. These are questions an elf does
not normally have to answer, much less spend much thought on. Our bonds to each
other as well as our manipulations of the natural energies of the world are
things that are as ingrained and instinctual to the Sidhe as breathing
is to a human. A human does not have to be taught how to take that first breath
at birth; they just know . Thus, our son reached out to you with his mind
and in essence, joined with yours as easily as though he had merely reached out
a hand to clasp your own. If you wish a deeper explanation, then that is a
question you will have to pose to the scholars who study such things.”
    Now that I was becoming fairly proficient in basic Elvish despite my
inability to correctly pronounce a lot of the more tongue-twisting words, I
would definitely seek them out as long as Sethian allowed them to visit me in
the royal suite. I doubted the archives were a good place to take a newborn for
any extended length of time. The baby—
    I cut myself off mid-thought and frowned over at Sethian. “Do we really
have to wait seven days before naming him?” I asked. “It feels kind of awkward
to keep calling him ‘my son’ or ‘my baby.’ We humans usually have a name picked
out long before the baby is even born.”
    He nodded. “It is important that we learn his natural personality from
the beginning in order to select a name that suits him the most. For instance,
my name means ‘the one who forces a new path.’”
    “Yes, I would say that name suits you perfectly,” I said dryly.
Bringing me to the elven realm without so much as a “may I?” and taking a human
bride despite the many protests from the elven court reflected the essence of
that meaning very well. “Fine, we’ll wait, but I hope you at least have
something in mind.”
    Even before the birth, I had decided to let Sethian pick the name
without any input from me. I had gleaned enough from my conversations with my
friends to understand that names were very important in the elven culture, and
I was nowhere near understanding all the nuances involved.
    “I do,” he replied, smiling at me as if I had just said something
incredibly funny, which I usually interpreted as “said something stupid.”
    “Good. Then we’ll leave that discussion for another time. Now, you were
saying about the balance…?” I said, steering us back on topic.
    “Ah, yes. According to the tale, there was much speculation of how this
balance came to be. Some said that the human mother was not human at all but of
a race of beings from beyond even the human realm.”
    “Is that even plausible?” I asked with interest.
    “There are many realms,” he replied enigmatically, and I could have
strangled him when he didn’t elaborate.
    “One of these days, maybe you’ll actually answer one of my questions
completely,” I grumbled.
    “A few centuries from now you will better appreciate leaving some
things for later discussion,”