Page 25 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

“I don’t know,” the boy rasped out. “I-I don’t know.”

I plunged my canines through the boy’s thin flesh, ignoring the way he cried out. My heart thrashed, yelling at me to stop. This was wrong. So very, very wrong.

But I was desperate to find them. I was just as desperate to get back to Teddy, the kids, and our unborn babes.

This couldn’t be how I did it, though. I’d never be able to face my mate.

Disgusted with myself, I pushed the boy away and spit out his blood. He stumbled to the ground and scrambled away on his hands and knees. I let him, sending him a silent apology he’d never hear as two adults, possibly his parents, helped him to his feet.

Using my hand, I wiped the blood covering my mouth.

“Will no one come forward?” I asked, my voice steady.

Everly grabbed a male who appeared to be Donnie’s age. She pushed him toward me, but this time, it was Koa who grabbed him. The man shook while Koa traced his long, spindly fingers across his neck. The lirio licked his lips, his forked tongue slowly dancing across his mouth.

“We don’t know of any fae here,” the male said, his eyes wide, and his pulse drumming loud enough it reverberated in my head.

I looked up at the bright lights shining down from the many platforms around the compound. Each light pointed at us. Maybe the humans had hoped to blind us, not realizing how quickly we could adapt. I pointed toward the buildings also flooded with lights.

“You have electricity, do you not?” I asked.

The male paused before he nodded.

“I’d wager your phones still work,” I said slowly. “Am I correct in assuming your technology is still in use?”

The male’s throat bobbed when he nodded again.

“And your livestock and vegetation—how are they faring in this frigid climate?” I kept my voice level, watching each person’s expression as I quirked a brow in question. “How is it you have enough to feed everyone without running out?”

“I don’t know,” the male answered. “I never asked. We were just grateful to be surviving after the fae left.”

“Left? Your soldiers forced us out,” I said. “They said they didn’t want our help, all the while abducting my fae and using their magic to keep your compounds running and your stomachs full.”

“We didn’t know,” a familiar voice said.

Dr. Daniels stepped forward, and I snarled. If Teddy were here, she’d do far worse to this vile creature of a man. While his clothes appeared disheveled, his face remained rounded with proper nutrition.

“Do not come closer,” I told him.

He stopped.

“If you wish to survive this night, you will all return to your homes and not interfere with our search,” I said, dropping the barrier I’d formed. “I will find my people by any means necessary, and as you’ve witnessed, we have no qualms about killing you.”

Alastor stepped toward me and whispered, “I’ll grab the traitorous human I left bound in the woods. Surely, Sebastian will know where they’re keeping the fae.”

Grateful, I bowed my head.

“What will happen to us once you leave?” a woman asked, clutching a swaddled babe against her chest.

“Where I once made it my duty to ensure your survival, I no longer care what happens to you.” Pain edged toward my temple, and I held my hands rigid so I wouldn’t massage it.

“Live, die, it makes no difference to me. However, I suggest you avoid visiting any other compounds. My warriors and I will get each missing fae back and destroy every human standing in our way.”

“We’ll die without your magic,” Dr. Daniels said.

“Then you die.”

With Sebastian’s instructions, we found the missing fae deep beneath the ground in a bunker behind a door made of iron. Coupled with the iron shackles and how they’d been forced to give of their magic, it was a wonder any of them had survived.

Alastor and I didn’t have time to heal the sickest of my people. There were far too many whose pallor had turned a sallow gray, whose breaths came in wheezy fits, and whose legs shook and knees buckled.

I needed to take those back home first, hoping beyond hope that none of the humans had called for reinforcements.

With only three fae and Brenton grasping me, I bent space from the compound to the hidden tear.

Brenton and I shouldered them beneath their underarms, with their arms across our shoulders as we took on most of their weight.

We half carried, half dragged them through the tear while their heads hung forward.

Once we stepped through the tear to the castle grounds, I bent space again so that we stood outside Leah’s clinic.

The male on my right groaned, and I firmed my hold of him when his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body slackened.

“Leah.” My sense of urgency hung in the air with nowhere to go.

When Brenton took on the full weight of the female we carried between us, I scooped up the male who’d fainted and carried him to the closest examining table, where Teddy and I had heard our babes’ heartbeats only a few days ago.

“What?” Leah breathed out, her tone uncertain as she looked at the fae we’d brought in without notice.

Thankfully, she didn’t need or ask for directions but immediately rushed to the fae I’d laid across the table. Her magic came to life, jetting from her fingers into the unconscious male.

I hurried to help Brenton hoist the two remaining fae onto the other tables in the clinic. His expression grave, he shook his head, and his eyes widened with worry as they bounced across the room.

His throat bobbed. “There isn’t enough room in here for the rest of them.”

“How many more?” Leah asked, her attention fully on the male she tended.

“At least one hundred in dire need of healing,” I answered.

“What rooms on the second and third floor can you spare to serve as infirmaries?”

“All of them,” I answered without haste. “ Whatever you need, Leah.”

“I’ve already summoned more healers.” She rushed to a nearby icebox, where she retrieved a clear bag containing liquid. After rummaging through a drawer, she pulled out an IV. “I’ll have them set up the rooms with everything we need.”

I turned away when she dug a needle into the male’s arm and hooked the bag to the other end of the IV.

“Will this help him?” I asked.

“He’s severely dehydrated and malnourished, Your Highness,” she replied, her brows drawn together.

“Whoever held him captive depleted his magic entirely. I don’t know that it’ll return.

” She frowned, the lines on either side of her mouth deepening.

She ran a hand over the burn marks on his wrists caused by the iron shackles I removed only a few short hours ago.

“These marks should heal. The rest . . . it’s up to the Guardians. ”

Her words, what they implied, stung the backs of my eyes and made a lump form deep in my throat. This male and many others like him may not survive. And if he did, he could lose his magic permanently.

Just how depraved were these humans, using a living creature so heinously? If I could bring the soldiers back to life and kill them again, this time slowly, I would.

I lowered my head to rub the bridge of my nose. On a hard swallow, I tried to slow my breathing before my gaze inched back up toward the male.

“Send word that we need any fae who can bend space at the castle,” I told Brenton while I stared at the male. “I can’t bring them all back on my own.”

From my periphery, I saw him nod. When he reached the door, he looked at me over his shoulder. “Do I tell Teddy to come?”

I ran a hand over my face and squeezed my chin. “No.” She would just be rising to get the younglings ready for school. If she came, she’d want to help, and I didn’t want to cause her any unnecessary stress.

Brenton angled his face in disapproval.

“I know.” I sighed. “She can be angry with me later.”

Rather than watch Brenton leave, I went to stand beside Leah. She kept her hand slightly above the male’s chest, and I watched the threads of her magic swirl inside him, casting a gold hue around him.

“I’ll be back with two more fae,” I said.

“With all due respect, Your Highness, I think you should wait for Brenton to return with others who can bend space and help you bring our people home,” she said. “You’ll be of no use to anyone if you deplete your magic.”

I gritted my teeth, knowing she spoke the truth.

“I’ll return shortly,” I said.

When I returned to the compound in the human realm, the stench of blood and decay filled the air, so much so that I seemed to choke on it with every inhale. It was the agonizing groans that made me want to flee.

Finley was at my side in a few beats. I sensed her exhausted magic, knowing she’d grow more tired before the morning was over.

“Where’s Brenton?” she asked.

“Gathering fae who can bend space,” I answered, surveying my surroundings. “Is your intended here?”

“No.” It came out small. “I looked everywhere and asked any fae strong enough to talk. No one’s seen Etienne. He must be at another compound.”

“We’ll find him.” I was sure of it. What I wasn’t certain of was the state he’d be in once we did.

“There’s a burial site over there.” She pointed beyond the buildings toward a small, wooded area. “It smells of dead fae.”

I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to draw blood. “We’ll bring them home as well.”

I summoned Hayden with a wave of my hand. “Find other warriors who can bend space.”

With a quick nod, he ran toward the warriors working together to bring our fae to the surface and away from the underground prison they’d been sentenced to.

When he sensed me, Alastor stood from the fae he’d been healing. He brushed the snow from his pants.

“We’ll have to carry this one.” He pointed at the female. “Her toes are frostbitten, and she has several breaks on both legs. I healed what I could, but there are others worse off.”

“Give me our worst two to take back.”

“The worst we have is one of my lirio,” he answered, his eyes leveled with mine.

I stumbled at his words, rejecting what he implied. While the lirio had been paramount in this rescue, my fae were priority.