Page 78 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

“We should tell everyone. Just get it over with and tell them.” She rubbed her face against my shirt. “Or most everyone. Then maybe we won’t have to repeat it too many times.”

“Did you just rub snot on my shirt?” I asked.

As I hoped, she laughed. While tears still shined behind her eyes, her smile was genuine. I’d do anything to keep that smile in place.

“Do you want to ask Alastor to contact everyone to come over here?” I asked.

George, Everly, and Brenton wouldn’t be able to come since they had gone to the last compound with Kieren’s father, a few shifters, dragons, and lirio and the fae warriors George had selected.

To my surprise, Nalari had stayed behind.

She seemed to want to stay nearby ever since Teddy’s and my abduction.

She might say she was no longer my Guardian, but she still looked after me as if she were.

While George and Evander had formed a plan if the humans wanted to fight, their hope was to go peacefully. All my warriors wanted was the last of our fae back, while the shifters wanted to give the humans a chance at survival.

The people at the last compound had understood and surrendered. I only hoped those at this final compound did the same.

“Yes,” Teddy said, resting her head on my chest. “Would you mind if Bon came over with her kids? I like the noise.”

She missed the noise Javier and his friends had brought to our home.

Although Kieren was staying with us for the weekend while his father was away, Javier stayed at Alastor’s.

It was the one weekend a month the warriors-in-training had off, and I knew it pained Teddy that Javier had stayed away.

To make things easier for him, she’d told Alastor she’d drop the girls off at his home the following morning, but now I wasn’t sure I wanted them gone to leave Teddy with an almost empty house.

“Of course.” I brushed my lips across her silky hair.

She shivered against a cool wind that whipped her hair back.

“Let’s go inside,” I said.

“What happened to all those blankets you kept in your magical pocket?” she asked .

“My magical pocket?” I pursed my lips. “Do you know how dirty that sounds?”

On a laugh, she slapped my shoulder. It died too quickly, and I already started thinking of other ways to make her laugh again.

When we still lived in Colina, it seemed to please her whenever I pulled out a blanket when she was cold, so I always made plenty and kept them in the inner pocket of my magic while her small cottage had contained even more.

Since returning to my realm, I hadn’t had as much time to sew as I’d like.

It wasn’t so much a fun hobby as it was a relaxing one.

“I guess I lost them all,” I said. “I’ll make you more. Come on.” With my arm around her shoulders, I turned us around to head back toward the house.

As we went inside, I searched for the threads of Kieren’s mind-speak magic to see if he was here or still waiting to be released from the military school. Just as his magic brushed against my mind, I found him walking out of the kitchen with a cup of water in hand.

He looked at Teddy, narrowing his eyes at her. “Is something wrong?”

Teddy smiled, giving him a hug before she passed him to go to the kitchen.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said.

Although she meant it, I still felt her sorrow.

Assuming he hadn’t opened his connection with her, I said, “There’s a problem with one of our son’s hearts.”

Kieren nodded, his brows drawing together in concern as he watched Teddy closely.

When I saw Teddy open the cupboard where we kept our mugs, I went to the herbal plant we kept and plucked a flower.

“Do you want tea?” I asked her.

Biting her bottom lip, she nodded. “I think it’ll help me relax a little.”

“Go. Sit,” I told her. “I’ll make your tea.”

She kissed my chest, and I held her for a few beats, wanting her to linger, before she stepped away.

“Your Majesty,” Kieren said.

Where so many magics were stalling, Kieren’s and Alastor’s mind-speak remained strong.

“Do you wish for me to leave? I can go to the orphanage or see if Alastor would let me stay with him.”

“You’re staying with us as I promised your father,” I answered, my tone gruff. “Teddy wouldn’t want you to leave anyway. She likes having you here. When Alastor and our human friends arrive, we’ll tell everyone what’s going on. After that, it’s up to you what, if anything, you tell Javier.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Girls,” I shouted, and from behind their bedroom door, I heard Hee-haw’s braying reply. “Bon.”

I sighed when they didn’t reply.

“Bon left when I arrived.” Kieren asked, “Do you want me to get the girls?”

“Teddy said she likes the noise.” I wondered if he heard what I left unsaid about how Teddy liked the noise he and his friends had brought into our home.

“Kieren,” Teddy said, looking at us with the side of her head pressed against the back cushion. “Would you mind telling me about the military school?”

Kieren rushed forward as soon as I scented her tears but stopped to peer back at me in question. I nodded.

While I waited for the water to boil, I watched Teddy carefully. It didn’t take long for her face to break out in one of her beautiful smiles as her whole body shook with laughter at whatever Kieren had told her. Once the tea was ready, I handed Teddy the mug and kissed her forehead.

I took in the way her eyes lit up as she nodded at Kieren. His face was animated, and his hands went up and down with large gestures. A knot formed in my stomach, wishing I was part of their conversation. I wanted to know what was happening in Javier’s life and what brought Teddy’s laughter.

But I was too afraid to interrupt and break the moment.

When Teddy stretched her hand to me, I took it and settled on the floor with her legs on either side. As I’d done so many times in the past week, I rested my head against her knee.

“Do you know Guenthrie, Your Majesty?” Kieren asked me, his tone light.

I chuckled. “Yes, I know Guenthrie. I have plenty of horror stories about him.”

Teddy tensed. “Horror stories?”

“They’re funny now,” I added. “At the time, my friends and I were all terrified of him. Don’t tell Brent I told you this, but he was so scared of Guenthrie, his butt cheeks clenched up so tight he wasn’t able to pass a motion for two weeks after meeting him.”

Teddy laughed. “Poor Brent.”

“Guenthrie is good, though,” I added. “He forged us into the warriors we are today.”

In my mind, I heard Kieren laugh. “Aidas got to know him really well this morning before we left.”

“Guardians, what did Aidas do?”

“He has this weird thing about his eyes and the sun. It’s always bothered him, especially first thing in the morning,” Kieren said.

“They positioned us so that we were all facing the sun as it came up, and Guenthrie was in front of us, giving us all the rules of what we can and cannot do on leave. Aidas was squinting so he could see him better, but when he squints, he kind of looks like he’s smiling ?—”

“Oh no,” Teddy and I both said in unison.

Kieren laughed again. “He got right in Aidas’s face and yelled, ‘Are you smiling at me, boy?’ Aidas shook his head, but then he burst out laughing and ?—”

“Oh no,” we repeated.

Teddy leaned toward Kieren, hanging on his every word.

“Oh, yeah.” He snickered. “He’s going to be training privately with Guenthrie when we get back.”

Teddy covered her mouth, but I sensed her amusement through our shared connection, that somehow still existed. “For how long?”

Kieren shrugged.

“Until Guenthrie is satisfied,” I answered. “Could be weeks or months. It depends on how much he offended Guenthrie.”

Teddy pressed her hand to my temple, and I leaned my head back to look at her. “Can’t you do anything? Maybe talk to Guenthrie and explain he has a medical condition with the sun and his eyes?”

I pulled up the leg of the loose-fitting pants she wore to trace a finger across her calf muscle. Goosebumps rose everywhere I touched. “I could, but it would only put a target on Aidas’s back. It’s a disadvantage to be related or friends with any royal.”

“He’ll be fine, Mama Teddy,” Kieren reassured her. “We all will.”

Teddy nodded, and when I scented her tears again, Kieren held out his arms. She went to him for a hug that ended with a sob. I rose, taking her empty mug back to the kitchen where I cleaned it with the mortar and pestle.

Teddy laughed nervously, pulling away as she fanned her face.

Her expression serious, she nodded at whatever Kieren told her while I kept my distance to give them privacy.

If it helped bond Teddy to Kieren and earn his trust back, then I’d remove myself.

These relationships were so important, so vital, to Teddy.

Eventually, Alastor walked through our door with Ryenne, Nate, Donnie, and Cierra behind him. My heart squeezed as I waited to see if Javier was with them. Alastor caught my attention and shook his head.

I couldn’t help the way I deflated. It was stupid to hope for something I didn’t deserve.

“Bon couldn’t make it?” I asked, trying to hide my disappointment.

“Her littlest has been giving her trouble about falling asleep both during the day and night,” Alastor said. “Without Koa to help, she’s been tired.”

Knowing that made me feel guilty about having her stay with the girls earlier. “She’s welcome to come here and sleep, and I’ll watch her younglings.”

“She won’t take you up on it, but I’ll tell her you offered.”

Donnie lifted a large bag. “I made burgers,” he said.

Teddy rubbed her hands together. “Hell, yes.” She nudged Kieren’s shoulder. “You’re in for a real treat.”

She was right, and I couldn’t help but smile. While the night of the barbecue had ended horribly, burgers had quickly become one of my favorite dishes. Coupled with the cheese in Niev, the burger was sure to taste amazing.

“Where’d you get the meat?” I asked.

While we had animals similar to cattle in the human realm, it wasn’t quite the same. If the shifters managed to populate their cattle to the point they wanted to trade, I wouldn’t mind getting a few for our kingdom .

“Cierra got them for us from the human realm,” Donnie said.

When Ryenne and Nate applauded, she curtsied. “Maybe hold your applause until we know Donnie didn’t ruin them.”

Donnie grinned. It was strange to see him with a well-kept mustache and short beard, but I already knew there wasn’t much a male wouldn’t do to please his mate.

“I didn’t ruin anything,” he said.

“I don’t know.” Teddy tapped her chin. “Remember that time?—”

“We don’t talk about that time,” he said, glaring at her.

“I think we should talk about that time,” Cierra said.

The girls ran out of their room in loud squeals and giggles, but they quickly died out when they looked around the room.

“Where’s Uncle George?” Jasmine asked, her hand on her hip.

“He couldn’t make it tonight,” Teddy answered.

“He hasn’t been coming over or seeing the girls,” I told Kieren, wanting to reassure him we weren’t going against Javier’s wishes. “The only times he’s seen them was after Javier approved it.”

“I didn’t know Javi didn’t want George around the girls,” he said, looking at me curiously.

“He didn’t tell you —” I paused. “Didn’t he tell you what happened?”

“Only that you and Teddy lied to him about how his father died,” Kieren said slowly, as if he weighed each word he spoke. “Aidas thinks you were responsible for killing his father and that Teddy kept it from him.”

“He’s an empath,” I said, understanding how my mother’s magic would pick up on the tiniest of clues.

Not that I’d been all that subtle the night Javier mentioned his father’s death.

I wasn’t sure how much Javier would want Kieren to know or how much I should share with him, except that I wanted him to know.

As a fae, he’d understand my innate need to protect Teddy.

I didn’t expect him to speak to Javier on my behalf, but I simply wanted Kieren not to hold my decisions against Teddy.

“I am responsible for his father’s death,” I said, swallowing the bile that rose with my honesty.

“When I tore through the veil, I thought he was killing Teddy. I didn’t think, just reacted and ordered George to kill him while I tended to Teddy’s wounds.

Teddy was hysterical” —I winced at the word, remembering how angry Teddy had gotten when I’d called her hysterical— “so I erased her memory. She didn’t remember until much later.

She didn’t tell him because she thought she was protecting him.

I hope one day he comes to realize none of this was Teddy’s fault but purely my doing.

He has every right to hate me, but Teddy .

. . all she’s done is look out for him and his sisters, even before I gave her, her memory back. ”

“The problem isn’t that he hates either of you.” Kieren cast his eyes down without uttering another word.

But I heard what he left unsaid. He loved us. Or maybe it was hope that made me hear those words. Although he hadn’t been gone very long, I missed him.

I’d do anything to have him back. I’d do even more for him and Teddy to have each other.

If I still had my magic or my fae life span, I’d forfeit both in an instant. It’d be an easier sacrifice than when I’d agreed to do it for Donnie.

I’d give up my title and all the money the crown had collected through the years. I’d beg on my hands and knees, let fire magic engulf my entire body.

Because Javier wasn’t just some kid I’d come to care about. He was family, and I loved him.