She's a badass assassin, she'll save herself no problem.

I kicked him in the chest as hard as I could with my one good leg, and he was thrown to the ground. I hit the hay with a thud.

He grasped at his chest; his ribs were certainly broken.

I hopped over to him, gasping in pain, and threw him on the ground once more. I pinned him, though he didn't resist, where I punched him in the face over and over and over again, until he was knocked out cold.

I dragged myself to the middle of the stables where the moonlight filtered through, and I passed out.

.

~ ~ ~

.

I woke up very suddenly as Master lifted me from the ground by the horns.

"What did you do?" he hissed, smacking me across the cheek.

"He tortured me, he was going to kill me, you weren't coming!"

He dropped me. "So you killed him?"

I looked over to see the innkeeper, still and unmoving in the faint glow of a sun being born. His skull was dented, and a pool of blood had hardened around it.

"I didn't mean to kill him," I pleaded. "I just meant to knock him out!"

"That's quite a bit of overkill, that's no accident."

"I didn't know I cracked his skull when he went down!"

"Really? You didn't see that?" He grabbed my chin and **** me to look.

"No, I was really mad, he kept saying that you'd killed thousand of elves and liked to **** them and that you'd be a terrible king and that you were just using me and--"

"I never said you weren't a piece in the puzzle when it comes to surviving until my coronation. All I'm ever doing is using you, but I know you like that."

"But...you care, I thought you cared..."

"I do care. But you also happen to be my pawn. And yes, I've killed a lot of elves. It's hard not to in the front lines. But I never tortured them, that was my general. And you better believe I'll be a good king."

"You will, I know that, that's why--"

"I don't care what made you upset right now, I care why you killed our innkeeper."

"He was trying to get **** on me for his son dying in the war, he was going to cut my tits off and feed me my own toes and cut out my tongue and saw off my horns and--"

The Prince pushed me against the wall by my neck. "You realize you could be executed for this?"

"I know, I'm sorry!" I cried.

He sighed, and looked deep into my eyes. He tightened his lips and rubbed my cheek.

"At least you're alive," he muttered to himself.

"He blew my kneecap out," I said quietly. "I still can't walk right..." Looking down at myself, I realized I was stark naked in front of him once more.

He handed me his coat. "Are you alright?"

I nodded faintly.

"How'd you get free?"

"He was going to nail my hand to the post with his knife and I grabbed it."

Master looked over at him. "What else did he do?"

"He cut and whipped me a little, but I got the knife before he got too serious."

He traced the thick pink scar that went down my entire torso from when he cut off my dress. "Well, he's lucky he's dead," he muttered. "He would've gotten something slower than a crack in the skull if you hadn't killed him."

I bit my lip, relieved he was still on my side.

"I'm just mad because you'll get in trouble for it."

"Can we cover it up?" I asked.

"It'll come out eventually. We'll put a hat on him and ride him out of town, pretending he's asleep, and bury him in the woods."

We looked down at the innkeeper. His head was pretty bashed in, but his **** had been quick.

"I'm sorry I didn't come when you called for me," he murmured. "I promised that I would."

"He **** your tea, it's not your fault."

"I should've known better. He was too quick to offer the stables." Master wrapped his arms around me, holding his precious toy close.

Surprised, I hugged him back, burying my head in him.

After a few moments, the Prince broke away and got to work on the cover-up. "I'll go get some clothes from his room. Keep my jacket, and I'll get your coat. If anyone comes in, just peek over the stall at them and they'll run off."

"Yes, Master," I replied, and ducked into the harness room, dragging the innkeeper's body with it. I used some water from the horses' trough and a horse coat to clean up the blood. It took a while, but I was able to clear the evidence of a ****.

No one entered except the Prince when he came back. He threw me a men's shirt and my cloak, and put a hooded coat on the innkeeper's body.

He got his horse out of its stall, saddled it up, and lifted me up onto it. He clumped the innkeeper in front of me, where I held him upright, as the Prince led us out of town.

No one was bustling about, since the sun was just reaching the horizon, so we had no strange looks from villagers. It looked odd, I had to admit, to have a prince leading a horse that carried two hooded figures.

.

~ ~ ~

.

Once out of town, we buried the body, which set us back several hours.

We took a break upon accepting that we wouldn't arrive until tomorrow.

Master sat against a tree next to the grave, as I lay down with my head in his lap while he pet my hair.

"Master, how did this whole war start?" I wondered aloud.

"A noble was killed, the South blamed the North and attacked. They really just wanted an excuse to go to war. This world has always been separated."

"The only humans I've met are either scared of me, trying to kill me, or enslaving me."

"Humans have their own habits and personalities underneath their prejudice for elves, just like I'm sure your kind does as well."

"Elves hate humans because they use black magic."

"Well, then we've got that in common."

I chuckled. "Yeah." Eventually, my smile faded, and I said, "They think the only way to get rid of black magic is to get rid of humans."

"Humans can't practice any sort of magic other than black magic, so they aim to capture the magic essence of elves and turn it into something else. It's not a surprise they get greedy with magic. But honestly, I don't know how many humans there are out there that would stop magic because they knew it was wrong."

I looked around at the treetops before fixating my view on his gentle eyes. "What happened to the other Moonlight Elves?" I asked quietly.

"Their essence was put into a vial in the High Mage's storeroom. He gets a lot of them from the war."

"Is it true that all the soldiers use black magic to make themselves stronger?" I asked.

"Yes, but they don't realize the cost."

"So if humans knew that black magic damns them, wouldn't all the problems resolve?"

"The war might," the Prince said, checking out the view. "But the hate may never fade."

I nodded.

"I'm so sorry you got caught up in all this. And that damn innkeeper... You don't deserve any of this."

"And you do?" I asked rhetorically.

"You're different. You're the beautiful Elf who has been screwed over by life from the start. You were born a Moonlight Elf, since you were born under the full moon, and your family threw you into battle. Then the King catches you and starves you, tortures you...you don't deserve this. And now I've broken you into a fucktoy. You're not meant for this shit. You deserve better."

"But I've killed people..." I said quietly. "I still have nightmares about it."

"Did you enjoy killing the enemy?"

"No."

"Exactly. I did, until I realized everything we knew about elves was wrong. You're not suited for this life. I don't mean to offend you by saying that, because I know you can handle yourself...but...you got dragged into something big. I wish I could give you the life you deserved."

I was speechless. I looked down.

The Prince was a bit worried. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm trying to say--"

"You didn't upset me," I interrupted him with a mumble. "But...no one's ever cared."

He bit his lip, and pet my hair some more. "I know I'm an asshole. But I can promise I'm an asshole that cares."

"Do you..." I started quietly. "Do you..."

He looked at me expectantly.

"Do you love me?" I asked hesitantly.

"Of course I do. That's what I've been saying," he replied immediately. "You might be my ****, but you're my little trophy too. And it pisses me off that no one's ever stopped and gotten to know you so they can really care about you."

My eyes blurred. I looked up at him, stunned.