He's spent his life devoted to his goddess.
It's time he worships someone new.

Me.

When his unit brought the wounded warrior, Guilri, to my camp, I had no choice but to heal him.

It would be inhumane to let someone so hot die.

As he came back to life, I realized my mistake.
He was a threat. Not to my body...

...but to my walled off heart.

Only Guilri has been strong enough to tear down my barriers to love. But the goddess he fights for is a vengeful deity. She will not sit idly by as her champion finds love in the arms of a human woman.
She will force him to choose…

His destiny. Or his heart?

Chapter 1

Guilri

The pub is smoky and noisy and my men are boisterous but we’ve earned it after our latest victory over the pathetic humans.

We successfully rounded up the worthless scum we found near the mountains who were stupid enough to escape their masters homes. Repossessing them was easy enough and they’re on their way back to their owners now.

“We did it!” Vythor yells, holding up his mug of ale in joy. “We took down the whole band of them! Can you believe they tried to lie and say they were free humans?”

“Good thing they were dumb enough to try to fight us,” Hiphilo yells, taking a large gulp from his tankard.

I shake my head. These men are really enjoying imbibing. I’m not personally one for drunken revelry but soldiers will be soldiers. I find it a bit distasteful to be loud and disorderly. It’s a stain on miou honor.

It’s never been my thing to drink and make merry. I’ve been told I’m wound too tightly to relax. I’ve even heard rumors that people think the beads I wear in my hair are there to represent the people I’ve killed.

They all fear and respect me but I would never let loose around them in a place like this. They need to be able to see me as their authority figure.

However, I’m not entirely without pity. I do know how hard we worked today, how hard my men fought and how much work they’ve been doing over the last few months.

Frankly, the men probably need to blow off some steam before they get their next marching orders. They need to be able to kick back and let loose. And who am I to judge? Live and let live, I say.

It’s how I was able to rise in the ranks so quickly. I often turned a blind eye to the more unsavory things that my commanders did, trying to cultivate the image that I was one of them.

It worked and now that I’m in charge, I don’t have to put up with anyone else’s taurashit. I get to call the moves.

Like right now. I’m considering telling off Hiphilo for spilling his ale all over the tavern floor. But I don’t bother because I prefer to eat the large slab of steak in front of me. That’s how I’m going to celebrate. I’m going to enjoy this delicious meal that isn’t rations and then I’m going to go sleep it off upstairs.

“Gods, she was so pathetic. Screaming and crying and blubbering like a cheap whore.”

I freeze, knife and fork poised over my steak. Did I just hear what I think I heard?

“Did you do it?”

“Of course I did,” the soldier says with a scoff. “She begged me not to but everyone knows human women are hungry for elf cock.”

I feel my blood boiling. That behavior is the only thing I never accepted from my superiors and I won’t accept it from my men either. It’s dishonorable to the name of our caste. It’s disgusting and vile and beneath us as soldiers.

My utensils clatter to the plate below and over the din of noise, I hear nothing but the rushing of blood in my ears. I push my chair back, the loud scraping noise echoing off the walls as I stand. The entire pub goes dead silent.

I take careful, measured steps around the table, approaching the soldier I overheard. It’s Varhys. One of my weaker men. I stand in front of Varhys, eyes boring into him as he turns towards me meekly, cowering from my glare.

“Repeat what you just said,” I order him. “I want to know if I heard you correctly.”

“W-what I said?” he stammers out. “What did I say?”

 “Just now. Tell me that last thing you said.”

 “That h-human women are hungry for elf cock?”

 “That’s what I thought you said,” I say, voice calm before I rear back and punch him in the face. I punch him so hard that he goes flying backwards, landing in a heap on the ground. He yells in pain, clutching his broken nose while blood pours down his face.

I walk over to him and easily lift him off the ground, holding him in the air by his tunic. “You are disgusting,” I tell him through clenched teeth. “I find your actions deplorable. You are dishonorable. I hereby strip you of your rank and cast you from the service. Go before I beat the living shit out of you, you worthless sack of manure.”

 Varhys slinks out the door, holding his face with his hand, shoulders hunched. I watch him leave. “And if any of you have a problem with it, you can answer to me!” I tell the rest of my men. “I won’t tolerate that shit under my command!”

I can tell my men are pissed by my actions. Some of them think that I’ve overstepped, others are murmuring that everyone does it. I don’t care, I don’t want anyone under my command to do something so vile.

“What is your problem?” Vythor asks loudly, coming up to me after Varhys leaves. “I don’t see what the big deal is. Humans are beneath us. They should be used like that. How else will we get relief from those long nights of marching and fighting?”

I can see right through his weaselly eyes. He doesn’t give a damn about it one way or another. He’s just trying to stir shit up and gain favor with some of the other men.

“Shut up, idiot,” I tell him, shutting it down. “I’m not a sympathizer. Not by a long shot. Humans are beneath us. But they’re animals. Fucking a human is like sticking your cock into a defenseless dripir. No man that engages in bestiality deserves to wear the miou crest.”

“That’s manure,” Vythor argues back. “You think they’re intelligent enough to be compared to dripir?”

He laughs and many of the other soldiers laugh with him, cheering him on.

“Enough!” I yell. “I won’t tolerate that shit under my watch. So let this be a lesson. If you do it and get caught, I’ll string you up by your dick before I discharge you.”

Frankly, I wish they would give me a reason to beat some sense into some of them. Most of them are half-wits and the lot of them are only slightly more intelligent than the humans they deride.

Not that I give a single damn about humans. I told Vythor I wasn’t a sympathizer and I mean it. I’m not here to save the humans or any other manure such as that.

But I am here to show these half-wits that I’ve earned my rank for a reason. “I can’t do anything about his caste,” I continue. “But I can do something about his position. And I won’t ever tolerate that behavior. Are you a disgusting pervert, Vythor?”

“No, sir,” he says quickly.

“Are any of you perverts? Tell me now so I can boot you out of my sight.”

“No sir!” the rest of my men shout.

“Good!” I stand before them, arms crossed, daring them to challenge my authority. There’s a reason I’m a decorated general. I keep my men in line with an iron fist and a strong will. I know that I’m just like my father before me, who was also highly decorated.

He ruled the home and hearth with an iron fist as well. He made me the man I am today. I intend to make my own legacy and am determined to be even greater than my father.

“But you must agree, sir, that the humans don’t deserve our compassion or pity.”

“I don’t give a damn about humans,” I tell Vythor. “I don’t care if the lot of them fall into the sea and drown. But when you’re in my service, under my control, you’ll do as I say. No questions asked.”

“But sir...”

“Are you questioning my authority, soldier?” I ask, getting into his face. “Are you really going to question my judgment, my command?”

“No sir!” Vythor is quick to say, jumping back. “I just thought...”

“You just thought, what, soldier?” I ask, crowding him out. “You just thought what?”

“Does it really matter if the soldiers do whatever they want to the humans? You said yourself that they’re just animals.”

“Even animals deserve to be left alone,” I tell him. “They work for their masters and they go about their lives like the taura of the field. Would you whip a taura for not sucking your cock?”

“No sir,” Vythor shakes his head, clearly knowing that he’s losing this argument.

“Good,” I tell him. “Now I’m going to sit back down and enjoy my steak and no one better ruin this experience for me. If it’s cold when I sit back down, I’ll stab the next man who approaches.”

I sit back down and my soldiers all seem to collectively hold their breaths until I take a bite of my meal. It’s thankfully still warm and I start eating again, savoring every bite.

My men go back to rabble-rousing and generally behaving as if they have no moral compass, being rowdy, loud and hitting on every female dark elf that passes through. I turn a blind eye, uncaring what they do as long as it’s consensual.

Just as I’m finishing up my meal, I hear a commotion and I whip my head around. Vythor is standing in the midst of some kind of argument with a few of the other men. Why is it that he’s always in the middle of everything?

I stand up and walk over, trying to see what’s up. “What’s going on?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Vythor says, trying to reach for something in another soldier’s hand. I realize that the other soldier is one of the messengers to the king and he’s holding a letter.

“We didn’t want to bother you, General Guilri,” Vythor says quickly.

“Let me see it,” I tell the messenger.

I open it to find a missive from the king. It tells me to gather my men and set off, we’ve received our new orders.