Page 13 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

“Look”—he held up his hands, his words falling frantically from his lips—“I know where every compound is and where the military is keeping the fae at each compound.” He drew in a shaky breath.

I ran a hand over my chin, careful to keep it from trembling. “Why are you suddenly feeling so helpful?”

Again, his pulse escalated, but he maintained the same eye contact. “My unbreakable bargain. I’ll tell you where they are if you agree to take my wife and kids back to your realm and keep them safe.”

“Safe.” I bit out the word.

I’d learned with Teddy how impossible it was to protect even the person who meant everything to you. But her heart, her soul, those I could keep safe.

“Safe,” Sebastian repeated, his expression open so that I saw the fear that lived beneath his skin.

“They’re all I have, Elias. All I love. Every person I’ve met from your region said that you treated them well.

That you were fair. My family can’t stay here, so I have to trust that you are good and fair. ”

“Why can’t they stay here?”

“Whether I help you or not, you’ll eventually find your people,” he said. “We’ll all die once we no longer have the fae’s magic.”

It dawned on me how stupid I was. If Nalari were here, my Guardian would’ve called me foolish. But in all this time I’d searched for them, I could never figure out why my people had gone missing.

“The military are using my fae for their magic?” The veins on my neck strained with the hot anger that flooded through me.

“Their magic keeps the compounds livable,” Sebastian said, eyes downcast. “The magic is the only thing keeping us alive, so the military is forcing the fae to use it the same way you and your people did before you were forced to leave.”

What we’d willingly done to keep the people of this realm alive and fed. To keep Teddy alive.

The anger that boiled inside me shot through my fingers in a ray of silver magic that wrapped around Sebastian’s throat. His eyes widened, the pulse on his neck quickening. The need to bite him, puncture his thin skin with my canines stirred inside me.

I stepped closer toward him.

“I could simply force you into helping us,” I said.

He clawed at his throat, unable to grasp the threads of my magic.

“Please.” His words came out as a plea. “My wife and kids.”

I heard the desperation and the love he held for his family. I understood that need to protect. It was only because of that that I withdrew my magic.

He heaved in a sharp breath.

“Did my people beg when you put them in iron chains?”

“No,” he answered, his voice lower and filled with what sounded like shame.

“Before they were chained, they tried to fight back but they couldn’t fight against the iron net that was thrown over them.

Even in chains, they threatened us and told us you’d find them and make us pay for what we were doing to them.

But they never begged.” He paused. “If that’s what you want”—he dropped to his knees, where he sank into the deep snow—“I’ll beg.

I’ll do whatever you want. Please take my family, and I’ll tell you where to find your people. ”

Emotions warred inside me as I fought to determine what my father would do in this situation. I wondered if I even wanted to rule the way he had.

But leniency and kindness had made me a target in the region I was supposed to lead. It had almost killed one of my best friends and had destroyed all that I had built for the people of my region.

“Elias . . .”

I growled at the familiarity with which he spoke my name.

“My wife and kids aren’t responsible for what the military is doing to your people,” he said. “Please take them so that they may live. You can kill me after. It can be part of our bargain. I die so that they can live.”

It was too similar to the deal I’d made with Leanora. My parents’ death so that Teddy could live. So that the people in my realm and the human realm could live.

I was tired of the death. Tired of the sadness, doubt, and anger that had festered since my father’s death. Tired of the responsibilities, of the truths and betrayals I’d yet to tell my people.

Moreover, I was tired of not being home when I only wanted to show my mate all the treasures of Niev.

“Rise,” I told him.

Casting me a wary look, Sebastian pushed off his knees to stand. He worked quickly to brush the snow from his pants. When he finished, he put his hands back in his pockets, seeming to hold his breath while he stared into the snow.

“I cannot promise I can keep them safe.” The words came out resigned.

I held up a hand when he opened his mouth to speak.

“They can come to our realm”—I tipped my chin toward Alastor and his lirio—“and I will provide them with a place to live and enough food to get them settled. The rest is up to them. I cannot promise their safety any more than I can promise my own family’s safety. ” The truth in those words gutted me.

Understanding brightened his eyes. “Thank you,” he said before he reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “This map will tell you where each compound is.”

I took the offered paper and stored it in the inner pocket of my magic, where I also pulled out a pair of gloves I’d knitted for Javier several months ago. I tossed them to Sebastian. He slipped them on his hands, and while they were a bit too small for him, they would do.

“While your map is helpful, you’ll join us as our guide,” I told him.

His head snapped up. “I can’t.”

I snarled in reply. “It isn’t up for debate.”

“They’ll notice I’m missing,” he replied quickly.

“Your family will be in Niev,” I reminded him, hiding the frustration from my tone. “You’ll be with us. What does it matter if anyone sees you’re missing? ”

The way he mulled it over made me uneasy. I watched him carefully while Alastor moved to stand beside me.

“He said we are close to one of the compounds,” Alastor began, his voice low but steady, as we both kept our attention on Sebastian. “With the map he gave you, we can find it on our own. There is no need to bring his humans back with us.”

Sebastian gaped up at us, scrambling forward with his hands stretched out as if he meant to grab me, before he dropped them to his sides.

“I’ll go with you,” he rushed out. “I’ll take you to each compound and show you where they’re keeping the fae.

But”—he seemed to sway forward before he caught himself and wrapped his arms across his chest—“the people, the civilians at the compounds . . . they don’t know about the fae.

They don’t know what the military is doing. ”

I angled my head to the side. “They don’t know there are fae held as prisoners, being forced to use their magic to keep you humans alive despite the way the iron drains them?” Slowly killing them.

“They don’t.” He dragged a gloved hand over his face, pinching his nose before he dropped it. “They’re innocent in all this.”

“Innocent.” I huffed out an exasperated breath. “I assume these compounds have food and heat.” I gestured to his front pocket, which held the outline of his phone. “Technology. How do they think they still have all that?”

“I don’t know.” His words came out in a frenzied rush. “My wife only just found out about the fae when I told her I wanted her to go to your realm. She was horrified at what they were doing and pissed that I’d helped them.”

“She was willfully ignorant,” I said, my words carrying a snapping bite. I’d been willfully ignorant, not even considering the humans had abducted the fae to use their magic. “Anyone who doesn’t suspect what they’re doing is being willfully ignorant. That doesn’t pardon them.”

“Maybe it doesn’t,” he said, his voice low. “They’re trying to survive, though. That’s all any of us have tried to do since this endless winter came.”

The endless winter I’d brought them, all to reach Teddy. I couldn’t find it in myself to feel remotely guilty about that anymore. Not when I held so much remorse for other things.

“Are you asking me to spare the civilians’ lives?” I asked.

“Yes. I can’t—I can’t be responsible for their deaths.”

“You already bargained each human life, civilian or soldier, for the lives of your family.”

Denying my claim, he shook his head, his throat bobbing at my words.

“You’re responsible whether you go with us or not.”

“They. ..the people of your region said you were fair and kind. I don’t?—”

“This is what fairness and kindness got me.” When my voice rose, I forced it down to sound more in control than I felt.

“Your kind has lied to me. You’ve stolen my people from me and are torturing them.

I don’t have any kindness to spare for you anymore.

” I paused, that knot in my stomach growing with the need to see Teddy so I could feel anything aside from this endless depth of hatred and despair.

“Whether I kill them when we get to their compounds or they die when there aren’t any fae left to help them, they’re dead,” I said.

I hated the way my stomach turned with disgust, but they had done this to themselves.

While I’d wanted to help them, they’d wanted us out and then abducted my people for their own benefit.

Buried deep beneath all that was the guilt I tried not to acknowledge, because I’d been the one to destroy their world in the first place.

“If you leave them alive, they have a chance at survival,” he said.

“If I leave them alive, I’m leaving them to suffer,” I countered.

I wouldn’t help them. I didn’t have it in me to care about one more thing. Not when Teddy and my people consumed my every thought.