Midnight Chains: a Dark Elf's Possessive Love

Patrina Warden squinted at the faded parchment notices tacked to the town board, her fingers drumming an impatient rhythm against her thigh. The morning sun splashed golden light across the High Elven script, turning simple announcements into glittering hieroglyphs that swam before her eyes. She had waited there for three hours, and still no sign of any eastbound travel opportunities. The quill pen tucked behind her ear threatened to fall with each frustrated tilt of her head."For a race with centuries to spare, one would think punctuality might be a virtue worth cultivating," she muttered to herself, pushing a strand of straight brown hair from her face. An ink stain on her thumb left a smudge on her cheek, unnoticed.The town board of D'Gnilth sat in an elegant courtyard, framed by white stone archways that twisted upward like frozen waterfalls. High Elven architecture always made Patrina feel as though the buildings themselves were watching her – judging her human clumsiness, her

The Sylvanae Archive rose before Patrina like a temple to knowledge, its pale stone façade intricately carved with symbols from languages long forgotten by humans. She took the marble steps two at a time, her excitement making her clumsy as she nearly collided with an elf exiting the grand doors. Apologizing breathlessly, she slipped inside, the familiar scent of ancient paper and preservation spells washing over her. Somewhere within this labyrinth of knowledge, Aldergon Graniel had organized the world into neat categories, and she needed to find him before the merchant caravan departed."Aldergon?" she called, her voice echoing too loudly in the vaulted main hall. A nearby scholar glanced up with disapproval, and Patrina winced, lowering her volume. "Sorry."She wound her way through reading tables and towering shelves, searching for the familiar tall figure of the Head Librarian. The past weeks in the archive had taught her his habits – at that hour, he was likely in the rare manus