Page 20 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

His shame washed over me, and I paused to wonder if I was telling the right memory to pull him out of his funk.

He hadn’t seemed to mind when he took the blame for what I’d done. Had even teased my mother when she’d playfully patted what she thought was his full stomach. And had hugged her tight when she made extras just for him the following day.

“Except you didn’t do it,” I retorted.

One side of Brenton’s lip turned up in a small half grin as he rubbed his hands together. “You’re gonna tell George your dark secret?”

“We weren’t even sixteen yet, and you swore you’d take my secret to the grave,” I reminded him.

Brenton held up his pinky. With a shake of my head, I laughed and reluctantly linked my pinky with his.

“I’d never break a pinky promise.” While his tone was serious, his lips spread into a broader smile that showed his pointy canines.

“The truth is”—I looked at George—“Brent found me hiding under my bed. I was so angry with myself for ruining my mother’s desserts.

Just as I was getting ready to tell my mother what a fool she had for a son, Brent covered for me and told my mother he’d been the one to take a single bite out of every dessert she’d made.

” I turned to Brenton, who sat a little straighter on the chair with that smug grin.

“You didn’t let me call myself an idiot for what I’d purposely done, and I’m not gonna let you be hard on yourself for something that wasn’t your fault. ”

Brenton grunted.

“Okay,” George said, his eyes narrowed at us. “But why’d you put the half-eaten desserts all over the castle? We found one between the couch cushions a week later.”

Brenton laughed. “That was all me. If we were gonna make Mama Renee believe I’d taken a bite of every dessert, we needed to do something absurd.” When Brenton reached for his ankle this time, he lifted the bottom of his pants. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure if she wanted to kill me or laugh.”

“I’d say a little bit of both.”

I sank back to my knees, and he let me slip his shoe off before he removed the sock. While I didn’t see any bones sticking out, it was swollen with black and purple bruises lining the ankle to the curve of his foot.

“I know you’d rather use your own magic to heal yourself, and I’m sorry you don’t have it,” I said.

Brenton stopped me when I wrapped a hand above his ankle to heal it.

“Don’t,” he gritted out .

Red spread from his neck to his cheeks, but I wasn’t sure if it was in anger, shame, or frustration.

“What would you have me do, then?” I asked.

He glared at his foot as if it’d betrayed him. “It’ll heal on its own.”

“That could take weeks.” I roughed a hand over my face. “I know you hate not having your magic. I hate it too, Brent, and fuck, I wish the Elder hadn’t taken your magic.”

Brenton shifted on the chair and waggled his brows at me in a way that told me he’d found something to tease me about. “Sounds like you’re taking on the humans’ colorful expressions just like Everly.”

I scoffed, not bothering to admit how much I enjoyed the way the humans swore. “Allow me to heal your foot.”

The stubborn brute pushed himself up, forcing me to stand with him. He balanced on one foot, and when he went to put pressure on his other foot, he hissed out his own colorful curse.

“It could be broken,” I said patiently.

When he stayed silent, I paced in front of him as he carefully sat back down.

Everything around me was a constant reminder of everything I’d screwed up. The cottage my friends had built and the calluses they carried from the labor I put them through every day.

I ran a hand through my hair and pulled on the ends. “I don’t think the human doctor will see you unless I enchant him,” I said slowly. “We can try, though.”

I hated enchanting them and only did it as a last resort.

As it was, enchantments seemed to cause terrible headaches once the magic wore off.

And too many enchantments could slow down their processing system and mess up memories.

Doing that to the only doctor in town could be far more dangerous than enchanting a few farmers and the civilians I picked to help them.

I’d do it, though, and would continue to do it in the name of protection.

“If he doesn’t fix me, I won’t have to tend to the livestock.” Brenton’s smile was forced. “Sounds like a win-win to me.”

“I’ll go get one of the carts,” I said, pushing my slumped shoulders back. “Meet me outside.”

Strong wind and snow whipped across my face, and from a distance, I watched Nalari land in the paddock with goats and sheep. Already, we had two pregnant goats and a handful of lambs and kids that were growing fast with Nalari’s and my joined magic.

In another paddock, we had more than a dozen calves and even more cattle. During our last hunt, we found about a dozen chickens that Brenton and George had built a coop for.

That was all my friends had done since we got here. Build and tend to the livestock. Now, on top of that, Everly allowed me to take her magic so she could pretend to be human and work at Teddy’s store.

Everything they did was for me. Everything I did was for Teddy.

They suffered— we all were suffering— while all I dealt with was rejection.

It wasn’t fair. I hadn’t been fair.

But I could fix that.

I stopped my trek toward the carts and turned back to the cottage.

“Elias,” Nalari growled in warning.

From the distance, I heard the thunderous flap of her wings. She was in the air within seconds, so I ran back to the cottage and slammed the door shut while Nalari roared from above.

Brenton and George threw wary looks at the ceiling before they drew their attention back to me.

“I think I’ve angered my Guardian,” I said with a sheepish shrug.

That made Brenton grin.

“What’d you do?” George asked.

“Call her majestic again?” Brenton joked.

I winced, remembering how angry she’d been. How she’d reminded me she was lethal, powerful, dangerous. How I’d worried she’d hear my thoughts when I realized the angrier she got, the more majestic she looked. I was pretty sure she would’ve eaten me whole if she wasn’t my Guardian.

“I’m going to let you absorb my magic for the rest of the day,” I said.

George’s eyebrows went up in shock while Brenton drew his down in confusion. Then with a grin, George slapped my back.

He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Your Guardian’s going to kill us, but let’s do this.”

“Why are you giving us your magic?” Brenton asked, his words slow and thoughtful.

“One, so you can heal yourself,” I said.

“And two, so you can feel it coursing through you. I. . .” I hung my head in resignation and shoved my hands into the pocket of the pants I’d gotten from a human store.

“I can’t imagine being stripped of my magic.

Not feeling it coursing through my veins or being able to turn to it just because.

I can give you this. I want to give you this at least for the day. ”

“Elias!” This time, her roar shook the roof of the cottage. “I will burn this cottage down to get you. ”

“Nalari,” I sighed. “It’s no different from me depleting my magic every night.”

“Except you’re gifting it in the middle of the day when a flock of thunderbirds could attack your region,” she argued. “You’ll be vulnerable until it’s restored.”

George stepped back as my friends watched me silently argue with Nalari. Despite their trepidation, amusement flickered across both their faces. I was grateful to see it there rather than the pain I knew Brenton still felt.

“I’m kinda glad I don’t have a Guardian,” George whispered.

I shot him an annoyed look that only made his grin grow.

“My friends are vulnerable every day because of me,” I insisted. “ Let me do this for them. I’ll have my magic restored by tomorrow morning.”

Aside from the flapping of her wings overhead, she stayed quiet. Waiting, I pressed my lips together. I didn’t doubt she’d burn our cottage down, but I also knew she wouldn’t harm any of us. Still, I didn’t want to sleep outdoors that night, especially once I depleted all my magic.

“Will doing this ease your guilt?” she asked.

From outside, I heard her land on the clearing by our front door.

No. “Yes.”

“Liar,” she grumbled. “You can do it outside where I can watch you.”

I raised a hand in silent triumph and motioned for Brenton and George to follow me outside. George ran out while Brenton leaned on my shoulder to keep weight off his injured foot.

He squeezed my shoulder when we made it outside. “Thanks for doing this,” he said .

I jutted my chin toward the barn and paddocks he’d made. “Thanks for doing all this.”

George clapped and kind of hopped from one foot to the other, reminding me of when we were young and would carve time out of our schedules to play. “I can’t wait to rid myself of these blisters. I swear I’ll never take smooth hands for granted again.”

Nalari huffed out a laugh.

When I peered up at her golden eyes, she dipped her head in a single nod.

“This one time,” she said.

“Thank you,” I replied.

Taking in their eager, almost youthful expressions, I went to my friends and grasped their shoulders.

With my eyes closed, I pushed my magic to them.

As the first bit of magic left me, some inner fae instinct reared up and crushed the connection I’d made with George and Brenton.

I squeezed my eyes tighter, forcing the connection back open as I drove my magic to them again.

A warm sensation I recognized as Nalari’s magic coursed through me, helping me dig deep as I gave my magic away.

Doing this went against every instinct, and the more of my magic I gave, the sharper the pain in the center of my chest grew.

When I felt the last bit of my magic drain, I stepped back and opened my eyes.

My vision blurred as it normally did when I depleted my magic into the dirt to maintain Teddy’s grounds and her path to the store.