Page 3 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

Shaking her head, Teddy huffed out a dry laugh.

“Consider it an order,” I said.

George bowed low before Everly and Brenton followed suit. This—them bowing to me, me barking orders at them—made me want to balk. But they’d be safer here.

“You should ask Alastor to go with you,” Teddy said, her voice quiet. “His lirio can hide you from human eyes.”

I kissed her temple, grateful for the reminder.

I trusted Alastor but knew what he was capable of. While I’d been taught mages were evil and cruel, Alastor wasn’t. Not exactly. But he wasn’t kind in the way humans understood it. Like me, he’d done things most would never forgive, but not for power. For justice and vengeance.

He had every reason to hate me and my kind, but instead, he’d chosen to help us by destroying all the fae root his sister had planted outside of Niev’s borders.

He’d ensured the safety of my people, and even now, he maintained a hold on the lirio, a different breed of fae who resembled trees.

Where they were once our enemies, we’d become allies.

Alastor did this without ever asking for anything in return, all so we could have peace in our realm.

“Should I go fetch him?” Hayden asked.

I nodded. Aside from me, Hayden was the only one of us who could use his magic to bend the folds between space and get to Alastor to bring him back quickly.

Hayden returned within minutes with Alastor at his side.

Teddy crossed the room to greet him, her touch easy and familiar in a way he still hadn’t quite figured out. As I led the others to the long table, I heard her filling him in.

“Would you go with Elias?” Teddy asked. “Maybe ask Koa to go too. I’d feel a lot better knowing you were with him.”

Alastor didn’t answer right away. With him and his lirio living outside our borders, neither he nor the lirio were mine to command.

Every time he aided us, it was by choice.

And likely done for Teddy, who seemed at ease in his home and the village of Tera Insaldame.

She even visited Koa’s mate and younglings whenever the lirio crossed the veil with me.

“Then it is done,” Alastor replied. “I’m sure Koa will agree as well.”

Teddy beamed up at him and offered a quick side hug. He hesitated, lifting a hand to return it just as she pulled away. She noticed and lingered a little longer, squeezing his side. His normally unreadable expression softened.

I took the seat beside the one at the head of the table. My father’s seat. It was mine now. I couldn’t sit there though. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

No one questioned the empty chair as they filled the rest of the table. When a chair didn’t remain for Teddy, she stepped behind me and placed her hand on my shoulder. I reached up and tugged her gently forward, guiding her to perch on the armrest just as Alastor stood to offer his seat.

Teddy gave him a warm, grateful smile but shook her head when I slipped my arm around her waist. Had we been anywhere else—anywhere but a room steeped in talk of war and unrest, I would’ve pulled her onto my lap.

But the armrest was low and this was enough.

Close enough to calm me. Close enough to satisfy the possessive instinct humming beneath my skin.

I leaned into her, moved her hair to the side, and kissed the base of her neck. Not for the first time, I was grateful for our height difference. She looked at me from over her shoulder, and with her eyes glistening, she gifted me a small smile.

“I appreciate all of you being here,” I said, my voice steady despite the weight pressing against my chest. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to do from here.

” I looked around the room, letting the truth settle.

“These past few months, I’ve traveled every region.

Alastor was with me for all of them. We brought back every fae.

Not once did I sense anything wrong.” I paused, jaw tense.

“If humans were hiding them, either they knew how to mask their scent or they hid them far from the regions where I couldn’t sense them. ”

My primal instincts, my magic, should have alerted me. I’d cast my senses wide, extended my consciousness deeper than ever before. And still found nothing.

While I was still exiled from Niev, the humans had started experimenting with different forms of metal. The thought of them learning how iron affected us filled me with dread.

It didn’t just kill us but weakened us. It masked our scent and cloaked us from every instinct we relied on. Fae magic held many strengths, but iron would always be our most tragic flaw.

My shoulders threatened to sag under the weight of this monumental failure, but then I felt the familiar brush of Teddy’s magic against my mind. While mind-speaking was still something new to her, she’d grown stronger since the last time she’d tried to communicate this way with me.

“I know right now it feels like everything around you, around us, is falling apart,” she whispered into my mind. “Each broken piece is still here, though. And together — you, me, and our friends—we can put it back together. Let us help you.”

“I can’t let you or them go back with me,” I replied, the anguish of losing her outweighing my desperation to keep her close.

She stroked my arm. “Haven’t you learned anything, Elias? I don’t need you to protect me.”

“But the younglings need you here.” Javier and the girls had been the only reason I’d been able to convince her to stay before, and I hoped that would remain the case. “After everything they’ve been through, they deserve some normalcy.”

With another kiss to the back of her neck, I turned my attention to the conversation floating around the table.

While George and Finley tried to speak over each other, Alastor sat quietly, his hands on his lap and an impassive look on his face.

Strangely, it was his thoughts on the matter I wanted to hear.

Maybe it was because many of our trips to the human realm had been only him and me, along with his lirio, but I trusted him and his instincts.

“Stop acting like a youngling.” Finley slammed both hands onto the wooden table, making it groan beneath her fury.

A spark of death magic pulsed from her skin. I shot to my feet, tugging Teddy behind me while Everly stood with her dagger already in hand.

Temper flamed behind Finley’s eyes with an unsettling white. They were nothing like my rage-darkened black, but something far more ancient and dangerous.

Across the table, Brenton didn’t flinch. Unarmed and unshaken, he crossed to her, his steps calm and even. He didn’t look at me, at any of us. Only Finley.

With a slow breath, he sank onto her armrest and leaned in, whispering something only she could hear. Her lips twitched.

When she looked back, her voice was soft, yet firm. “I wasn’t going to use my magic on you. On any of you.” Her eyes moved around the table. “I’d never use my magic or harm my own. Especially, not my king. I hope you know that.”

Teddy moved from behind me, sliding her palm against mine and grounding me before I could speak.

“Of course we know that.” Teddy smiled at her. “Although if I’m being honest, whatever that was”—she waved a hand toward Finley—“I’d love to learn it. For once, I’d love to be the one making these fools shake in their boots.”

“That’s not fair,” Brenton joked, his rigid body betraying the easy demeanor he tried to assert. “You haven’t been scared of us in months.”

We all returned to our seats, the tension bleeding from the room as Teddy scooted back on my armrest. Brenton stood, his body swaying toward Finley as if he were ready to pick her up and carry her away.

“That’s because I’m still convinced this is all some fever dream.” Teddy winked.

Finley laughed, an honest, startled sound, and the rigid line of Brenton’s shoulders eased.

“You’re going on day-what of your fever dream?” Finley asked, a tease I’d never heard from her before. “You should probably see a healer for that.”

Teddy grinned, and across the table Brenton mouthed, thank you.

“All right, since this isn’t a tavern night and none of us are drunk enough to pretend this isn’t happening” —I gave Teddy’s side a quick squeeze—“let’s talk it out. Any ideas, even the foolish ones. We need a plan before morning.”

And hopefully a few hours of rest before we left.

“Do you want to see if Donnie can come?” Teddy asked. “I know he’s on your not-going-to-the-human-realm list, but he might have some helpful suggestions.”

I considered it. Donnie had been instrumental in getting humans acclimated to our realm. He’d maintained peace among his people, who continued to fear us despite the many ways my fae had tried to welcome them.

While I wouldn’t have him or any of our human friends risk going back into the human realm, I’d do well to listen to his advice.

He was levelheaded and intelligent. After we started the human patrol force in Niev, he’d shown the fae as much respect and kindness as he did his human counterparts.

He knew how to defuse situations I was certain would’ve turned into a brawl had Donnie not been there.

I turned to Hayden. “Could you get Donnie for us? See if Ryenne and Nate want to come as well. ”

Hayden bowed before he bent space and left.

Teddy kissed my cheek. “I’ll get the kids to bed and let your mom know we’re staying in the castle for the night while we wait for Hayden to return.”

When she stood, I caught her hand. “Wait. I want to say good night too.”

Especially since I wasn’t sure how long it’d be until I saw them again.

I looked to the others. “I’ll be back. We’ll pick this up once we return.”

As I walked out of the meeting room, the tension in my chest began to release.