Page 4 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

Just before we reached the kids’ door, I tugged Teddy’s hand and pulled her against my chest. Her immediate surrender rendered me breathless.

I slid my nose down her jawline, only for her to press her lips to my chin.

I nuzzled against the side of her throat, letting that rumble of pleasure vibrate through my chest when she ran her fingers through my hair.

I wanted to stay here, in the moment, where everything was right and whole. Too soon, she pulled back. I cupped her cheek, my fingers trailing down to her chin before I leaned in and kissed her.

“Do you ever stop kissing?” The sweet voice of ten-year-old Jasmine broke us apart.

From a distance, George snorted.

“I love Teddy,” I told Jasmine. It was the only truth I could give her.

She rolled her eyes, and we followed her into what had been converted into the girls’ playroom with a thousand toys.

But it wasn’t all my fault. George and Brenton were just as bad, adding to the collection of wonderful things to play with.

Victoria rushed to me, her arms encircling my neck when I swooped down to pick her up.

Small, even for a seven-year-old, she fit perfectly in my arms.

“Time for bed,” Teddy told the girls.

Juanita groaned while Javier started picking up the toys scattered around the room.

“Thanks for staying with them,” I told him.

He waved me away as if it was nothing, but it was. He’d skipped a night out with his friends so the girls wouldn’t be left with the castle staff. He was a good brother, not only to Jasmine and Juanita but also to Victoria, even though they didn’t share blood.

“He wouldn’t let us make him a princess,” Victoria said with a pout.

Javier’s mouth twitched into a half-smile. “Sorry, pequenita . That’s not happening.”

“What’s that?” I asked, frowning as I tried and failed to repeat the word.

“It means they’re all little shorties.” His grin grew wider at the way Jasmine glared at him.

Teddy tried to smother her laugh. “He’s been calling them that,” she said, leaning down to press a kiss on each girl’s head. “You’re on bedtime duty while I help Javier pick up a bit.”

“Night, pequen —whatever you said,” I told Javier.

He grinned.

When six-year-old Juanita lifted her hands, I picked her up with my free arm, careful to keep Victoria tucked safely on my other side.

Juanita smiled wide enough that I could see the loose front tooth she wiggled with her tongue.

If only she’d let me pull the thing out, but she was far too afraid to let me try.

Jasmine went in front of me, leading us up the large staircase .

I hurried toward the room they shared, which was far away from my mother’s room so they wouldn’t be able to hear her if her cries turned to soul-shattering wails. My heart ached over the way she mourned my father, the way the break in her heart seemed endless.

I wasn’t sure what I’d do if not for Grandma Richter, who was actually Donnie and Ryenne’s grandmother, but she’d basically adopted both my mother and me.

While my mother barely spoke to me, Grandma Richter was able to reach her and sometimes pull her out of her despair long enough that we could visit with her.

I was a terrible son, leaving Grandma Richter to take care of my mother.

But after two nights of staying up with her as she sobbed and screamed, I couldn’t do it anymore.

When Grandma Richter offered to start staying with her again, I let her.

All the while, hiding Teddy, the kids, and me in the rooms farthest from my mother so I wouldn’t have to hear her.

I distanced us even more when our cottage in the woods had been built and we only saw her once or twice a week.

Another guilt I carried.

I missed my mother, sometimes more than I missed my father. And I couldn’t help but feel like she was vanishing, and soon, I’d have to help her make her voyage into the afterlife too.

Just as I opened the door to the girls’ room, a familiar tingle brushed against my mind. Teddy’s mind-speak magic.

“Mo elma?” I asked.

“I know it’s late, but would it be okay if Javi went out with his friends for a bit?” she asked. “I feel bad that he couldn’t before, and he said they usually went to the bakery around now. I mean, we’re going to be up for a while anyway and ?— ”

I chuckled. “Tell him to go. Just give him a curfew. I trust whatever you decide. You needn’t worry while he’s out despite the late hour. The fae will watch over him.” The same way they had watched over my friends and me in our youth.

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

“If you have, I’ve clearly forgotten,” I teased. “Better tell me again.”

“I love you.”

“Once more, in case I forget.”

Her laughter floated up the stairs and into the girls’ room, enveloping me in its rich sound, and I couldn’t help but smile.

While the others settled in their rooms for the night, I stood outside on the castle grounds where my father’s star shone down on me. With Teddy in my arms, her back pressed against my chest, I tilted my head up and closed my eyes.

The night was thick and cool as if our gods wanted to cast us to the shadows, forgetting us as we’d forgotten them.

While snow continued to fall without end, it wasn’t cold.

Each flake that whispered across my upturned face reminded me of an easier time when I didn’t shoulder the responsibilities of an entire kingdom.

I’d missed the magic that lived in my realm’s air when I’d been exiled to the human realm. Darkness was merely the absence of light, but here at home, it was its own presence, comforting and peaceful.

Yet tonight, I didn’t find either in the night sky.

It wasn’t just that I needed my father’s guidance as king, but that as a son, I simply needed my father. He would’ve conducted our meeting differently, more formally, where others could only speak after getting a nod from either him or my uncle.

I’d rarely spoken in those meetings, trying to digest every word said, every gesture made. For so long, I’d wanted to be like my father, and now that I was overdue to step into his mantle, I wasn’t sure what to do.

He hadn’t been the male or king I’d thought him to be. He was flawed, with ugly sins I felt taint my soul every time I stood before Alastor. While he and I had formed a friendship of sorts, I couldn’t shake the guilt I carried.

So many had died because of my father, mother, and uncle. While Leanora’s war hadn’t been entirely unjustified, my family’s greed had stolen even more lives. Yet despite all that, I still hadn’t found the courage to tell my people the truth.

While I knew she wouldn’t hear me, I reached for Nalari, trying to find my Guardian in the sea of darkness that once housed her end of our connection. After months of calling for her without a reply, I shouldn’t have been disappointed when she remained hidden.

“I miss you,” I told Nalari in my mind, knowing she’d never hear the words.

“I hope you come back one day, not as my Guardian but as my friend.” I paused, breathing Teddy in to drown out the sorrow of losing Nalari, of losing my father and uncle.

“Don’t stay away too much longer. You know how prone I am to foolish decisions without you. ”

Teddy turned to hug my waist. She kissed my chest before tucking her head against me. I held her tighter, resting my chin on the top of her head.

“She’ll come back,” she said, her voice certain.

“You heard me? ”

“I didn’t mean to,” she answered. “Since you came back this morning, it’s been hard to block you out.”

“It’s not just mind-speak, then?” I cradled the back of her head when she tipped her face up.

Where the telepathic connection I’d once shared with Nalari allowed me to feel her emotions, it was different from Teddy’s mind-speak magic, where only directed thoughts were heard without any sense of emotion.

Speaking to Nalari in my mind had been easy, but Teddy had to maintain an open connection for me to reach her with my mind.

It was something she was still learning, and it tired her quickly.

“No,” she whispered. “Sometimes when you’re thinking really loud, I hear you. I don’t try to. It just happens.”

She peered up at me with worry in her eyes. She was still learning the magic she’d been gifted in the astral realm, and soon, she’d ask Alastor to teach her the mage magic that lived beneath her skin.

It was an exciting time for her, and I wanted her to savor each encounter as her magic grew to depths she hadn’t imagined. I loved it for her, remembering the excitement I’d felt as I discovered each layer of my own magic.

“I’m not upset,” I said, kissing her nose. “You already live in my heart and soul. What would it matter if you took up residence in my mind too? Besides, I like that you can hear my thoughts. Now I can send you . . .”

I thought hard about her beautiful naked body, about burrowing my face between her thighs. I thought of my tongue slipping inside her, of her taste that somehow still lingered on my tongue.

On a laugh, she smacked my chest. “Elias!”

I didn’t need to look at her to know she was blushing. I laughed too .

When she nestled back beside me, I inched down to trail my nose over her throat. While the smell of her lavender soap was most prevalent, I still scented us on her skin, that even our rushed shower hadn’t been able to erase.

With my lips a breath away from her ear, I whispered, “The things I want to do to you, Teddy.”

She gripped my arm, and I’d just begun to kiss down her neck when loud footsteps sounded behind us.

I growled.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Brenton said.

“No, you’re not,” Teddy replied flatly.

“True.” He held his hands up as he stepped in front of us. “I’m going with you.”

“I already said—” I started, voice low and dangerous.