Page 11 of The Dark Elf's Secret Baby

She really is such a busybody. I wish she would get off my back. “I’m careful,” I tell her through gritted teeth. “I swear I’m always careful. If they haven’t caught me by now, I’m not likely to be caught anytime soon.”

I am careful. It’s just that I also have a dark elf guard at my disposal should anyone catch us.

“I just want you to be safe,” Amara says. “You don’t know what it’s like...” she shakes her head. “Nevermind. You’re lucky you haven’t been caught yet but please be more careful. And maybe stop sneaking around if you don’t have to?”

I don’t want to get into a fight with her but I’m not about to agree either. I compromise. “I’ll be careful and I promise not to go out again unless I take precautions.”

Amara seems a little less than thrilled with this but probably understands that I’m not about to stop. I’ve always been extremely stubborn, even more so after my parents died. I know my aunt and uncle love me but they’d live and die in this camp if they could. They don’t feel the need to want for more. They feel as though they have a perfectly fine life.

Uncle Jethro is a blacksmith, he repairs the mining equipment and Aunt Leandra is a seamstress assistant in the shops. They feel like they have it better than most. Even though Amara and I work in the mines, Aunt Leandra hopes that the two of us will find respectable men to settle down with and have babies.

I don’t want that though. I want better for myself. Amara always seemed to me to be content to go along with their plans too. I don’t think she has ambition outside of the camp.

It’s not like I need some grand life to be happy. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I could be happy leading a relatively ordinary life. It’s just that I don’t want the only thing I ever see in my life is the inside of kirialite mines and the four walls of my cabin.

We get back to working, the silence stretching between us. I know this isn’t over. Amara is likely to ask me more questions, to poke at my story more. But at least for now, I got her off my back.

I don’t know how long it will last but maybe I can find a better excuse in the meantime. At least good enough to keep Amara from getting suspicious about Kerym. I can’t put his job on the line because of me.

So I focus on working and try to put him out of my mind.

8

Kerym

Imanage to keep an eye on Layla throughout the morning but by mid-morning break, she’s disappeared into another sector.

Instead, I decide to wait until the end of the day and try to pull her away so we can have another night like last night. Just as she’s coming out of the mines though, I spot her cousin Amara hurrying to meet her. Amara pulls her away by the sleeve of her dress and they stop by the water bucket to get a drink.

They’ll probably head to their home cabin now. Fuck. I can’t even get near Layla right now, not with the way Amara seems to keep a sharp focus on every person who even gets close to Layla right now.

She’s probably suspicious. This is the third or fourth night over the past two weeks that Layla stayed away from home all night long. She doesn’t usually stay over so often but we’ve been getting a little lazy, a little bold.

I’m still watching them and I don’t realize it until Amara catches my eye and I blink, turning away quickly. I can’t have our secret getting out.

My cheeks heat up and I realize what I’ve done, feeling silly for panicking. Amara is tiny, smaller even than Layla. She’s not as fierce either. I have nothing to fear from her. There’s no way she could somehow guess that the two of us have been spending time together just based on a lingering stare.

I’m just being paranoid.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Amara. I know Layla finds her annoying but Amara is much kinder than Layla gives her cousin credit for. Amara has her overprotective side but it’s natural for the way that she was raised around here.

Besides, I can’t be everywhere at once and where I can’t go, Amara can. She can be places with Layla that I can’t access, can keep an eye on her more often than I can. I do the best I can but Amara is there to cover me, even though she doesn’t know she’s doing it.

Layla is so stubborn and speaks her mind without thinking through the consequences as well. If Amara weren’t there keeping an eye on her, she would end up in way more danger than she realizes. It’s only because there are people looking out for her that Layla can get away with being as brash as she is.

I watch as they continue to chat and argue with each other as they wait in line to get a drink before heading back home. My eyes don’t leave them until they turn the corner and disappear from sight.

Layla is very lucky to have a family that cares about her as much as they do. Not that mine don’t. They just show it differently.

I’m interrupted in my thoughts when another guard comes over. “Hey, Kerym,” he says.

Pulling my gaze from the corner where she disappeared, I turn to see Zeymur standing in front of me. “Keeping an eye on the miners?” he asks, glancing over to watch some of the last stragglers leave the mines.

“Yeah,” I nod. “Just making sure everyone has left for the day.”

“Good. I think some of the humans try to linger so they can steal equipment,” he sneers. “I don’t trust them.”

“What did you come here for?” I ask, redirecting the conversation.