Shared Between Them by Korey Mae Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

the elf king owes us a wife of our choosing. That's the decree. I'm sure in the kingdom there are elves that are even more fetching. You think that here—in the middle of a dangerous wood—we'd find the most beautiful girl in the world as a trickster thief out to mock us and steal our coin?”
    Draevan ground his teeth but hoped he was right.
     
    * * *
     
    It didn't take very long for both men to find out that Taric was, very unfortunately and very thoroughly, wrong.
    It didn’t take long to get an invitation to the elf kingdom; the dwarves they’d hired to bring their riches safely back to their village in the North—at a whopping seven percent of profits—somehow told the proper people.
    They were the first humans in history invited into the elf kingdom of Alanar, where they presented the king the shield that the giant had worn around his neck until the two men had chopped it off, which had been lost to the elves for nine centuries. The extremely obnoxious king kept his word, but when he told them to choose a bride for themselves, they hesitated, despite the fact that the prophecy was so close to being at-hand.
    The elf-women's hesitancy to even be in the same room with Draevan and Taric wasn't why they were having trouble choosing a bride. The problem was that, upon entering the elven kingdom, they realized that the elves were… strange-looking. The little elf woman they'd met in the woods had been the most human-looking of any they'd seen and therefore was the most attractive.
    Everything they'd heard about elf women before had been proven to be irreparably true. Kyra had unfortunately been the exception. She must have been too low-born not to have dozens of piercings in her ears, nose, eyebrows, lips, or even her forehead like all the royals had. Everyone in the kingdom seemed rich enough to gorge themselves on Guju fruit, which had stained everyone's teeth—men and women alike—a terrifying blood red, but she was probably too poor to afford to eat them. Kyra apparently hadn't “achieved” anything either, because if she had, she would be nearly covered in tattoos from fingernail to eyelid, which they learned were gained in special ceremonies.
    After all of this, the women didn't want to marry them . When Taric or Draevan came around the corner, they had the ability to clear a room quicker than if the giant himself had walked by. Still, the men were told to stay in the kingdom as the king's honored guests until a decision was made, and they weren't hurried to make the decision at all. In fact, the elves thought the idea of one of their women mating with either of the men disgusting, and not something to be happy about, let alone be rushed into. Taric and Draevan found themselves heartily agreeing with them.
    A week into their visit to the kingdom, however, the men were already beginning to despair about their situation. They had hoped to find another girl like Kyra, and after searching high and low the entire week through the entire elf kingdom, they came up empty-handed.
    Taric was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the day. Every single empty minute between the men was tense and filled with accusation. It seemed like the more she-elves they met, the angrier Draevan became, since none of those women were Kyra.
    Taric understood Draevan's anger, because he was just as angry with himself. He should have tied her up, simply put. He shouldn't have trusted her.
    One day, after searching through the city one last time, they sat in their chambers eating a dinner that was laid out for them, and Draevan suddenly had enough.
    “That's it!” Draevan finally said, stabbing the knife he had been distractedly playing with through the thick table in front of him. “We're going to find that lying little slut! If we can kill a giant, we can find a flute-playing, pint-sized brat!” He got up and charged through the room towards his belongings.
    Taric was far from arguing. In fact, a wave of relief washed over him. He