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

Chapter

Two

ELIAS

I patted Teddy’s hand on my arm before we neared the castle’s meeting room.

Pietro, the castle’s head guard and long-time messenger, dipped into a deep bow.

I nodded at him, clapping his shoulder, more out of habit than warmth.

Even with the doors shut, I heard the murmur of voices rising. Anxious and demanding.

When Pietro opened the door, I inhaled and stepped in. Every head turned.

The room was crowded with fae desperate for answers.

A few familiar faces stood among them from those who worked within the castle walls and those who’d grown up here, spared from exile after their parents betrayed the crown.

While my parents hadn’t forgiven the traitors, they’d given the younglings a chance.

A rare mercy and one of the few things they’d gotten right.

Teddy’s grip on me tightened.

The room thrummed with panic from the fae who’d rushed to speak to me when they realized their loved ones had never returned. The weight of their disappointment settled on my shoulders. Not even Teddy’s touch could dull it.

I took in the meeting room and, noting the similarities that remained despite my father’s death, I swallowed back the despair surrounding me. This room held countless memories of my late father, and each one haunted me.

I loved my father to the depths of my heart, but he’d betrayed us all. He’d massacred an entire village. Everything inside me staggered at the monster he’d been while also mourning him for the incredible father he once was.

To both love and hate the dead was the cruelest form of torture. But that wasn’t what pained me that evening.

“Save our people. Be the king you were born to be. A king far better than I ever was.”

Those had been my father’s final words, and his trust in me had almost made me believe I could do it. A few short months after his death, I’d proven him wrong.

Despite every warning, every betrayal, I’d taken the humans at their word, and believed them when they said no fae remained in their realm. Like a naive babe, I’d returned home, grateful to be back with my mate, while I’d unknowingly left fae in a realm they didn’t belong.

I should’ve chased that instinct that told me something was wrong. Now we were here, and I was the fool who’d brought us.

“Where are they?”

“Are humans harming them?”

“Do they know what iron does to us?”

“When will you bring them home?”

The questions came hard, fast, and unrelenting. Each unanswered question pounded against my temple. Pain bloomed in my chest and I pressed a palm to it, rubbing, grounding, trying to keep myself upright as my people’s panic threatened to buckle my knees.

Teddy slipped her hand through my arm and kissed my shoulder. I leaned into her, needing her and the support she offered. Her warmth bled into me, making my heavy limbs relax.

With my throat tight, I spoke through the tension, my voice low and even. “I don’t have answers for you. I don’t know where they are. I don’t know if humans are holding them captive.”

The moment the words left my mouth, the room erupted with overlapping voices. There was so much anger, so much fear. So many accusations.

I raised my voice, louder, sharper. A boom that echoed off the stone walls in a way that reminded me of my father. “But I will find them.”

Silence rippled.

“I will bring them home. You have my word. I will not rest until each one is back.”

Dead or alive.

Teddy peered up at me, her lips thinned as if she’d heard my thoughts. Her free hand found mine, still curled tight against my chest.

Guardians, she was magic, somehow calming the storm raging inside me.

“ We will bring them home,” George said, his voice steady.

His narrowed eyes held a challenge, knowing I’d counter him.

I’d chosen him as my commander, unofficial for now, although the title would be formalized after my coronation.

But I hadn’t allowed him or any of my closest friends to help retrieve our people.

Instead, I’d relied on others. Warriors like Hayden and Ximena, who had fought alongside us in the mage battle.

I’d also sought Alastor’s help along with his lirio.

The ancient mage considered himself Teddy’s cousin, which, in a way, they were.

Except that thousands of years separated their births, and had it not been for his sister’s greed for power and revenge that extended his life, they would never have met.

I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek to keep the thundering no from bursting out.

But I wouldn’t let George return to the human realm.

I didn’t care that my council thought his seer magic could be useful.

His magic wasn’t like that of other seers, but more personal, only having visions regarding those he was closest to.

I wouldn’t allow Everly or Brenton to go either.

Already, they’d gone through enough because of me. I wouldn’t further risk their lives.

“With your permission, I’d like to go too.” Finley, the female my uncle had entrusted to be his second-in-command before his death, eased her way through the crowd. When she stood before me, she bowed.

I felt Brenton’s ire the moment it rose. Teddy turned her head toward him but didn’t say anything.

Finley hadn’t just been my uncle’s most lethal warrior, but was also Brenton’s soul-bound mate; something they’d learned at an early age. While she hadn’t exactly rejected their bond, she hadn’t accepted it either. Their connection had since hovered in a painful, unresolved limbo.

“Etienne is missing.” Her silver eyes flared pure white, blinding against the black curtain of her hair.

Etienne was the male Finley took on as her intended, rather than accepting Brenton as her mate.

“I’d like to aid in finding him and the other missing fae.”

“Why am I only hearing of Etienne now?” I asked, suspicion rising.

Where Finley had been my uncle’s second, Etienne had been his most trusted adviser. I should’ve known the moment he hadn’t returned.

She tipped her chin. Not a lot, but enough for me to see that note of stubborn defiance.

“When Everly and George came to our region to inform Commander Hudson of . . . everything, Commander Hudson sent Etienne beyond the perimeter to keep watch. I thought you assigned him some kind of reconnaissance work while you handled the retrievals.” She drew in a shaky breath, then shrugged like it might deflect the emotions rising behind her words.

“When he didn’t come home this morning and I heard there were still fae unaccounted for .

. .” Her voice faltered. “I knew he was one of them.”

I needed to move, to do something, to simply not fail . . . again. I rubbed my chin, immediately wishing it was Teddy’s hand on my face, bringing me that sense of comfort and home.

“I am truly sorry I don’t have the answers you deserve,” I told the anxious crowd. “Tonight, I will discuss matters with those you see standing at my side. We will craft a plan to find our missing kin and will leave at first light tomorrow morning.”

Dismissed, Brenton and Ximena ushered the people out. While many cast me worried looks, no one spoke as they left. The silence that followed left me unsettled.

I paced the large room, passing unused sofas and empty silence until I reached the fireplace, its flame kept alive through magic. I braced my hands on the mantel, gripping the stone until the wood beneath groaned .

From a couple of rooms away, I heard Victoria’s and Juanita’s giggles. Their quiet sounds nestled against my chest, and I pulled on that joy so that it warmed some of the tension building inside me.

The fire crackled. Our hearths never burned too hot, but the gentle warmth bled into my bones, welcomed against the exhaustion coiled through my limbs.

“You’re not coming with me,” I told George when I sensed Brenton reenter the room.

“Stop being an arrogant ass,” Brenton muttered.

I turned to face them, my shoulders squared, masking my hesitation behind the kind of hardness they’d respect, even if they hated it.

George crossed his thick arms, voice cool. “What’s the point in naming me your commander if you won’t let me lead beside you?”

“I need you here.”

“To do what?” His tone sharpened. “Somnio and Reignom are rebuilt. Everyone displaced has shelter. There is nothing for me to do here.”

“I need you to train?—”

“Everly or Brenton can train our warriors.” George stepped forward, his gaze hard and unyielding. “Or we go with you, as we always have as your compeer . Ximena can handle training in our absence.”

Mo compeer. That was what they were. A bond forged in battle, that made them not only friends but family of my choosing.

“Ximena is coming with me,” I said, glancing her way.

The female warrior dipped her head in silent agreement.

George’s jaw flexed. “Let me guess, you’re taking Hayden and Finley too.”

“We fought alongside Hayden and Ximena in the human realm. You know they’re capable warriors.” I paused. “Finley’s magic—if the humans try to stop us, she’ll be a weapon they don’t see coming.”

Finley was brutal. Among other attributes, her magic’s most significant purpose was death. So I’d utilize her to kill those who’d harmed my own. While I’d try not to kill any innocent civilians, their deaths couldn’t matter to me.

Not when I had a kingdom mourning the death of loved ones and the disappearance of even more.

Brenton huffed. Finley stilled, fists clenched at her side.

“You’re a fool if you only see her as a weapon,” Brenton said. “She’s intelligent and tactical. She reads a battlefield faster than most commanders. If you’re putting her on our team, don’t insult her by only using her for her magic.”

Finley’s expression softened before she locked it down through clenched teeth.

“There is no our team, Brent,” I said. “I expect you to listen to me and stay in Niev.”

“Is that an order?” George squared his shoulders, his eyes piercing through mine.

“If it is, it’s a stupid one,” Brenton grumbled.