Page 44 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

Chapter

Eighteen

TEDDY

At some point during our private conversation and my meltdown, Kieren and his dad left. The older kids continued setting up camp, but Alastor and our fae friends stayed close.

Sniffling a final time, I looked up at the man who owned every part of me. The concern and affection I saw peering down at me almost undid me. He traced his thumb under my eyes, tucking the last of my tears away.

I loved the way he took care of me. Loved the way it felt to be held against him with his strong arms surrounding me. I just loved him.

“Will telling Alastor our news cheer you up?” he asked.

Not really. “Sure.” I smiled.

He leaned down to kiss my lips before I pried myself off him. I ran my fingers under my eyes, wondering just how puffy and red they were.

His lips lingered on my forehead. “You’re beautiful.”

I bumped my shoulder against his and forced out a dry laugh. “Sure, if by beautiful you mean my face looks like a wreck. ”

He dipped his head down, and when I closed my eyes, he pressed soft kisses on either of my eyelids. “I happen to love this face and the female it belongs to.”

If a heart could swoon, that was exactly what mine would’ve done.

Together, we headed toward the small campfire, each of us taking a seat around it. I bit back a smile when Delaney slipped her hand against Javier’s hand. From the light of the fire, I saw how Javier’s eyes widened, and his lips tilted up before he looked back at her.

Alastor pulled out a bag of marshmallows from his inner pocket of magic, along with roasting sticks.

He shrugged when he caught me gaping at him. “The man growing your coffee beans makes marshmallows for me every few weeks.”

I snickered, my heart a little lighter.

After he handed out the sticks, everyone grabbed marshmallows from the bag. I pinched the fluffy snack before I slid it onto my stick. My heart ached that Ryenne wasn’t here to indulge in one of her favorite food groups, but I pushed that thought aside.

We’d be fine—both Ryenne and me, and Donnie and me. This was simply a disagreement. Friends disagreed all the time, and it didn’t mean their friendship was over.

I tasted the doubt I held in my words, but didn’t have it in me to investigate it further.

Alastor was the first to start roasting his. Unlike his first attempt several months ago, his came out perfect. A sweet, caramelized smell wafted in the air, making my stomach pang and mouth water.

“Alastor.” Elias cleared his throat. “I wanted to talk to you about, well, something that I should’ve talked to you about when we first came back to Niev.

” He shifted in his chair to lean forward with his arms over his knees.

“I’ve been speaking with Leah, and we think she, along with other healers, can heal the lands that once belonged to the mages.

Once it’s healed, or before it’s healed, it’s yours to do with what you like.

You and your people can live there.” Elias turned to include Koa and Bon in the conversation.

“I’ve never been outside Niev’s borders, but when I was younger, I used to wonder if it was large enough to house as many faeries as you have.

We can extend the borders too so you all have ample space to live and thrive. That is, if you want it.”

I took his hand, noting how sweaty his palms were. He was nervous, and it was adorable.

At some point, Alastor had set the bag of marshmallows and his stick on the ground. He sat perfectly still, aside from the slight bob of his throat when he swallowed.

“I think Teddy and I could help heal it.” Alastor turned his gray eyes toward me. “If you want to try. Mage land will respond best to mages.”

“Maybe some of the shifters with mage blood can help too?” I asked.

He smiled one of his unguarded, genuine smiles that showed his teeth. “Maybe.”

“I wish I could offer your people to come live in one of our cities if they chose, but?—”

Everly let out an audible hiss that drew our attention. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly.

The way she apologized, the way she shot glances at Bon and Koa made me uneasy. At some point, this prejudice against the other fae had to stop.

“I think what Elias is proposing is incredible and maybe one day, lirio and nyxx can . . . Koa, Bon, I don’t mean any disrespect.

” Everly shook her head while her nerves danced behind her eyes.

“I like you and would like to call you friends. It’s—for years, we’ve fought fae who looked like you, and maybe we even fought you, Koa.

I have nightmares of friends I grew up beside being turned to ice by nyxx only to be thrown to the ground where they would shatter.

” She pushed her hands between her bouncing knees.

“I have nightmares of a lirio tearing another friend apart and another having her head ripped off. These nightmares and the battles we’ve waged against each other aren’t any of our faults.

I understand Leanora had a hold over your minds and that your actions weren’t your own.

But the nightmares remain and . . . I don’t know.

I have the same wish as Elias, but . . . ”

I wondered if Elias felt the same way or if seeing the lirio brought on the same torment. Had I been selfish in bringing the lirio into our lives? I’d only thought of Alastor and his people rather than Elias and the fae friends I’d made.

“In due time,” Alastor said. “Who knows, maybe some of your people may wish to move to the mage lands? The living book my brother, sister, and I read from said our land was once beautiful. The book gifted Leanora visions of it, but I never got to see it.”

“Leanora showed me,” I told him. “I think I could show you as well.”

“I’d like that,” he said. “I’d like to have the mage lands as well. You have my thanks, Elias.”

“If I may?” Koa asked, looking at Everly for permission. “I understand your trepidation of us. Under Leanora’s control, we did unspeakable acts that we can never atone for. I’m sorry we killed your friends, just as I’m sorry your warriors have killed mine.”

“When Leonora took hold of my mind, I felt trapped but free,” Elias said when Koa finished. “It was as if suddenly all the lies had been revealed, and I felt absolute, like her will was mine and nothing else mattered,” Elias said. “All I wanted was to please her.”

I remembered that day. How Elias had seemed more animalistic and methodical in the way he approached and sniffed me. While it’d originally scared me, the bond that tied us together urged me to have him drink from me. It was all he’d needed to return to me.

“There is no punishment greater than what Leonora did to us,” Bon said.

While her words came out confident, I heard the sadness that bled from behind them.

“It’s like Elias said. Her will was ours.

It wasn’t until Alastor freed us of his hold that I found out Koa was my soul-bound mate.

We’ve been together for years, but we’re getting to know each other for the first time.

” The way she dipped her head down made her look youthful, almost hopeful.

“I knew he was there. I knew we had children together, but I couldn’t care about them—she wouldn’t allow me to care about them. ”

My heart broke for them all, for the life they’d been forced to live. They had their freedom now, but it didn’t seem like enough. Yet they chose kindness, family, and loyalty.

No doubt Everly was right in how she felt.

If the lirio or nyxx even thought to consider living in Niev, the fae wouldn’t accept them.

Hell, too often, I wondered how or why they’d accepted us.

And whether that acceptance would survive the betrayal my kind continued to inflict.

Maybe tomorrow would help, when we reached the dragons’ caves in the highest mountains in Niev to meet with the shifters and the dragons. Only time would tell.