Page 19 of The Dark Elf's Secret Baby
“No, not at all.” Salnath is all smiles for the soldier – one whose name I’ve forgotten. He’s a new transfer.
“What did you need?” I ask, distracting him from mycelebrityof a brother.
“Oh.” He blinks as he reorients himself. “Right. Sorry, sir. We’ve uncovered some files that you might need.”
I take it from him, flipping open the folder and finding itemized lists of guards, inventory, imports and exports. It seems there was someone keeping the books but no one organizing them. Hopefully this will help me fill in the gaps as I try to improve the camp.
“Where did you find these?” I ask as I flip through them.
“The canteen, sir.”
I stifle a sigh. “Of course you did. Behind the barrels, I assume?”
He nods. “Yes, sir.”
Well, their previous Lieutenant was nothing if not a drunk.
But then, as I flip through, I spot a date. It’s almost two years prior, and my heart stutters. That’s when I was stationed there. And more importantly, that is when Layla was there.
“You’re dismissed,” I say, sinking back in my chair and flipping through the papers. The door clicks shut, and I don’t look back up, so absorbed in the file.
“Anyway, as I was saying–”
“You, too.” I cut Salnath off immediately.
The silence should have clued me in, but I don’t look up. Not until he takes a step forward, a hand coming down on the edge of my desk. “Excuse me?”
My eyes drift up. “You are dismissed from my office. Thank you for visiting, Lieutenant General, but you are discussing a personal matter when I’m trying to work, and that’s not a good use of time, don’t you think?”
His lips press into a thin line, and he finally spits his response through gritted teeth. “We’re not finished with this conversation.”
My gaze is already tracking across the page again, looking for any whisper of the information I need. I’ve done a good job at piecing together labor and export percentages, but there is some information I have no way of tracking – population being one.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I mutter, and Salnath huffs.
When I don’t give him even a parting glance, he spins on his heel, the click of his shoes against the wood floor announcing his departure. And the slam of the door.
A small part in the back of my brain is telling me not to get my hopes up, but I can’t help it. I’ve looked for her for so long. I can’t understand how someone can just vanish without a trace, and I’ve even been tempted to transfer just to get my hands on other records. I keep thinking that I may be able to figure out where she’s gone and transfer there, but no place has ever struck me as right.
Maybe because I don’t get why she left. It was so sudden with no change in her behavior. I didn’t even see them collect a group of transfers, and the guards weren’t notified of it. She must have been a solo transfer, which was usually only for medical responses. Not that the dark elves cared about their humans but they didn’t want to waste resources on someone who can’t work.
That thought has tormented me over the years. Could she have been sick, too sick to work? Could she be…
I can never finish that thought, every time it crosses my mind it drifts off there. I can’t imagine a world without Layla, even if I’ve had to live a life without her. That alone is killing me enough.
My heart stops when I pause on one of the last pages. ‘Human Transfers’ is in bold across the top and I drag my hand down my face. I don’t know if I can stomach it.
What’s worse is I don’t know if I’m more afraid to see her name or not. If I do, do I go after her? I will be faced with a new dilemma.
I sink back in my chair, gripping my hair at the roots. I’ve wanted to find her for so long, but I’ve never considered what would happen when I do. Will I tell her? Or should I leave her be?
It’s killed me to just know that she’s okay, that she’s alive. I want to know why she left me, but I’m not sure I want to impose in her life. And daily, Amara’s words have plagued me.
If she wanted you to know, she would have told you.
Numerous times I’ve told myself to let go of this human woman who fled from me. I’ve considered that she left simply because she didn’t want me and didn’t think she could tell a guard in her camp that.
I’d hope that Layla knew I’d never hurt her, but from the way Amara reacted to me, I was never sure. I’m still not. All I know is that Layla didn’t tell me when she was leaving or where she was going. She let go of me. And I could never let go of her.