Page 74 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Two

ELIAS

We had a full house with the girls back from Alastor’s. Neither Brenton nor Alastor had felt comfortable going home, so they took one of our many spare rooms. This somehow led to Everly and Ryenne wanting to join our impromptu slumber party, so Donnie, Nate, and George decided to stay too.

It helped knowing each traitorous fae and human Pietro had named were held within my uncle’s old home while lirio, nyxx, and dragons guarded them to ensure none escaped.

For the time being, at least, Niev was safe. Or safer.

At first, I’d been hesitant to have George over, but Alastor had used his magic to reach out to Javier, explaining what had happened to Teddy and me.

Although he’d originally worried about us, he stayed resolute in his need to stay away from us, but he graciously allowed George to check on us and see the girls.

Thankfully, George didn’t hold grudges, and his concern had wrapped around me like a warm blanket.

Kieren had used his mind-speak magic to enable Javier to speak to Delaney, which meant she also stopped by .

Pride filled my chest. Whether Javier ever spoke to me again, I was proud to know what an incredible and thoughtful young male he was.

While Delaney wasn’t staying the night, she did agree to have dinner with us. We passed around sandwiches from the bakery in Somnio, although Ryenne grabbed one of the fruit bombs instead.

“I want dessert before dinner,” Jasmine said, pouting at Teddy and me.

“Sorry, pequen —what’s that word again?” Ryenne asked.

My heart thudded at the reminder.

“Pequinita.” Teddy forced a grin I knew she didn’t feel.

“Yeah, that.” Ryenne pointed at Teddy before taking a large bite. With food still in her mouth, she continued. “When you’re an adult, you can make horrible, horrible dietary decisions like this.”

Teddy rolled her eyes as she went over to the box of fruit bombs. She grabbed two and handed one to Jasmine while she tried to give me the second.

Smiling, I shook my head.

I couldn’t eat. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how I was still sitting up.

While I hadn’t felt the full scope of the pain I was in when I’d first regained consciousness and definitely hadn’t felt it when I brought Teddy to ecstasy on our bed and then again in the shower and a final time on our bed again, the pain on my burned skin was unfathomable.

I knew Teddy sensed it just as I still somehow sensed her emotions despite the severance of our soulmate bond. It was a gift I didn’t question but welcomed into my soul.

It wasn’t exactly that I hadn’t felt the pain before, but simply that my desire for Teddy took precedence. It hadn’t felt like a simple hunger, but a deep-rooted need. The pain on my skin hadn’t mattered. Only Teddy.

My fiercely brave mate. She’d leaned into her mage blood, using the magic that was inherently hers. She’d taken charge of Pietro’s magic and commanded it to her will. She’d saved us. She’d saved me .

And in the moments that followed when I’d woken up, all I wanted was to have her fill me so completely that she was all I felt.

Teddy pinched her lips, drawing her brows together in worry. With my unburned hand, I patted the couch I leaned on from where I sat on the floor.

“Sit,” I told her.

After she put away the uneaten fruit bomb, she sat on the couch with her legs sandwiching me. I leaned my head back to gaze up at her and rested my head on her leg after a kiss to the side of her knee.

“I have an extra box of fruit bombs in the fridge,” Teddy told Delaney. “Would you mind giving them to the boys if you see them?”

“Sure.” Delaney’s smile was as sad as the one Teddy gave her.

I squeezed her ankle; the only way I could think to offer any comfort.

“I summoned Leah,” Alastor said into my mind. “She should be here shortly.”

“You needn’t have done that.” Even in my own mind, I sounded tired. “But you have my thanks,” I added when he scowled.

Teddy leaned down to kiss the back of my head, and the featherlight weight of her hair on my charred neck sent a shot of pain. I chewed my inner cheek to keep myself from groaning.

“What’s wrong?” Teddy whispered.

Our fae friends turned to look at me, but it was Alastor who spoke.

“Why don’t we eat outside?” he asked.

From the way Teddy gave her cousin a slight smile, I knew they’d spoken privately in their minds.

“That’s a great idea.” George stood, scooping up Jasmine and Juanita, nestling his face close to theirs while his hold tightened as if he feared someone would rip them from his arms.

I sighed in resignation because maybe someone would.

While everyone filed outside, Teddy and I stayed where we were but Victoria rushed to her room. A couple of beats later, she returned with a dragon plushie.

“You can sleep with her until you feel better.”

I took the offered plushie and held it against my chest. I swallowed past the sudden thickness in my throat. “What’s her name?”

She cocked her hip to the side. “Nalari.”

I chuckled, petting the dragon’s gray head. “It’s a perfect name. I’ll take good care of her while I heal.”

“She’ll take care of you.” She looked around before she leaned into me and whispered, “She has magic.”

I stared at the dragon’s black eyes, trying to find if it actually possessed magic. “Good magic, I hope.”

Her nod was serious. When she wound her arms around my neck, I didn’t have it in me to ask her to stop. Despite the way my wounds screamed in anguish, I held her tightly to me.

It was Teddy who ushered her away with a quick pat on her head. “You better go outside and eat before the others devour the fruit bombs.”

Victoria rushed outside, shouting threats as she opened and slammed the front door.

I turned the toy dragon over before I leaned my head against the side of Teddy’s leg again.

A relieved sigh fell from my lips. Not because the pain had lessened, at least not the physical pain, but because my closest friends were here.

Despite the differences between George and me, he was here for me and for Teddy.

As was Alastor, who I’d wronged significantly in the past few months.

Then there were the girls, who missed Javier and questioned his disappearance, but they were in our home. Safe.

It was the closest to normal that we’d trekked in so long, and all it’d taken was my near death.

“Alastor said Leah will be here soon,” I said, closing my eyes.

“You don’t look comfortable. Why don’t we wait for Leah on our bed?”

I wasn’t comfortable, but I also didn’t want to move. It wasn’t just the burns or the stab wounds that, although healed, still throbbed. It was more this bone-weary fatigue that nipped at my heels ever since the adrenaline of fucking Teddy had worn off.

One of my people, a guard and messenger I’d trusted, had aligned himself with our enemies to remove me from the throne.

He’d murdered hundreds, all while believing he was saving them from me.

He’d wanted to kill Teddy and had almost killed me.

Splattered visions of him holding Teddy against him with a blade over her stomach made that ever-present anger rise .

It wasn’t only him, but fae, some of them warriors I’d fought alongside, others my parents had housed in our home as younglings. It was like a nightmare that wouldn’t dissolve, making my heart thump faster.

I wanted to rip into my chest to tear my anguished heart out and crush it the way Pietro had almost crushed my kingdom.

But no, I wouldn’t let him win. I couldn’t let any of them win.

While George, Donnie, and Hayden dealt with the traitors and all our prisoners, I’d force the feeling of betrayal out and mold it to something that didn’t sicken me.

Something I could share with Teddy that wouldn’t cause her any more heartache.

Although Leah entered our home quietly, I sensed her before she sat on the floor beside me. Since she remained quiet, I kept my eyes closed while her magic swam inside me. I felt the way she worked on the wounds on both my stomach and back and the way the ache turned duller.

When she turned her magic to the burn on my hand, I couldn’t help the groan that left me. Even the slightest touch of her magic was pure agony.

I wound my unharmed arm around Teddy’s leg where I trailed my fingers over her smooth skin. I focused on her—on the way she tried to soothe me, the way her melodic voice reassured me, and the way her scent filled my nostrils.

I wanted to drown in her and pull away from the pain of Leah’s healing magic.

“That’s all we can do for tonight,” Leah said, drawing my attention back to her.

While the burns still hurt, the pain had subsided. I looked down at my injured hand, taking in the blisters that covered the surface and spread over my arm to my shoulder and upper chest .

“Wouldn’t it be better to cover his open wounds so they don’t get infected?” Teddy asked.

Leah smiled. “My magic adds a protective layer while also letting the wound breathe and heal freely.” She turned to me, her lips thinning. “You’ll have some scarring. I’m sorry, but that can’t be helped.”

“It’s fine,” I told her, and it was. If Teddy wasn’t repulsed by some of my actions or the charred skin that had covered me earlier, then I doubted a few scars would scare her away. “Can you check the babes?”

“Of course,” she said.

While Leah’s eyes hadn’t dulled in color, dark shadows lined beneath them. It’d taken a lot of her magic to tend to my burns, but I refused to feel guilty about asking her to look at our babes.

I took Teddy’s hand, and with Leah behind us, I led us to our room, where Teddy lay on her regular spot. Or not exactly her regular spot since she always ended up in the middle. I didn’t mind since it meant waking up to her pressed against me.

When I stared at the bed, Teddy patted my side. “Lie down with me.”

I hesitated. Once I lay down, I was certain I wouldn’t be back up until the following day.

“I can see myself out,” Leah said, sensing my hesitation.