Page 25 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

I knew that—saw it in the way he’d approached Javier. In the way he’d spoken softly to the boy and the way he’d willingly taken Javier’s punishment.

No, no. I shook my head and willed any benevolent thoughts of our region leader out. He took the punishment because of guilt. Because he’d caused our demise.

“He’ll do it, though,” Donnie countered. “He’s afraid of the commander.”

Everly scoffed but didn’t add anything further.

“We hold each other accountable,” I offered, my voice low with the worry my idea would be laughed at. “We help each other with what the other is lacking?—”

“We’re all lacking the same things: food and heat,” an elderly man bellowed as I continued talking.

“. . .and if we see someone stealing, we hold them accountable.”

“Accountable, how?”

“You bring them to me or one of the other officers,” Donnie said. “It’s how we’ve always done it, folks. The law is the law. That doesn’t have to change.”

“Are you gonna dish out lashings now, Donnie?” someone sneered.

“I know we’re all hungry and scared,” Donnie said, ignoring the taunt. “But we must uphold some sort of justice. You can’t just steal because you need something when we’re all in need.”

Hungry and scared like the rest of the world, except we hadn’t succumbed so much to the fear that we’d become violent with one another.

Sure, there was the occasional fight, which was already happening before the fae came.

More people were carrying their handguns, but violence that ended in death?

We hadn’t fallen that far down like so many others around the world.

Murmurs from all sides of the room echoed around me but stilled when Donnie held up a hand.

“There’s something else we have to talk about,” Donnie said.

When the room fell silent, he continued.

“One of the fae and I have been taking food out to Dawn,” he said, talking about the elderly widow who lived on the outskirts of town.

“The snow’s deep out there, mostly untouched, so I need the fae’s magic to reach her.

” He rubbed a hand over the fuzz on his chin that he’d shave away before the night was over.

He drew his attention to me, his eyes meeting mine, and a chill of worry ran up my spine.

“On the past few trips, there’ve been some strange tracks.

Huge prints I’ve only ever seen once by the woods near the creek. ”

I balked but tried to keep my expression otherwise emotionless. He was talking about my woods, my creek, and the prints I’d shown him. Everly looked back at me curiously before she drew her attention back to Donnie.

Eyes on me, Donnie tipped his head down slightly. It was such a small movement others would’ve missed, but I noticed, just as he meant for me to.

Shit.

“When I showed it to the fae, he seemed scared but tried to assure me it was Elias’s dragon,” he continued, drawing his attention to the others in the room.

“Maybe it is, and maybe all this craziness is making me irrational, but I swear I saw something. Swear I’ve been seeing something since the beginning.

Something”—he shook his head in disbelief—“that can’t be real, but what do I know?

” He let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Dragons and fae shouldn’t be real either. ”

Everly stood and, as if in a trance, went to him, walking around the crowd as her long steps reached him quickly. “What did you see?” she whispered.

He raked a hand over his face and shook his head again. “A three-headed dragon?” he said, laughing in embarrassment before he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And a very tall, gangly tree running.”

Chaos ensued. Mostly in disbelief while Everly stood there motionless. Color drained from her already pale complexion.

“Show me,” she whispered.

But me, I couldn’t take any more mythical, supernatural anything. Quietly, I stood from my chair, and carrying Victoria close to my chest, I left.

On foot, it took close to an hour to reach the address Dr. Daniels gave me for Javier and his sisters. Several times, I had to stop to rest and shift Victoria’s sleeping body from one position to another while I made sure my blanket stayed wrapped around her to keep her warm.

At least Victoria was easy to carry. It was one of the very few times I was grateful she was small for her age and all too thin.

Even so, too many times, I thought about going back home.

The hike in the thick snow was too hard, too cold.

Yet Javier did it two to three times a week when he went to the food bank to get food for his family.

I could do it this once. Maybe again in a few weeks but without Victoria.

If the snow that seemed to be falling upward from the ground didn’t bury me on my way back home.

Because I would make it to Javier’s to give him and his family some extra food.

Not even death could stop me. Unless death came as a three-headed dragon or a large, running tree.

My heart hammered as I scanned the surrounding woods, and I wondered if I should’ve waited until the following day.

I remembered the first day of our endless winter when I’d peered out my window and could’ve sworn I’d seen a monster that very much looked like a tree.

So sure it was my own imagination, I hadn’t told anyone, yet Donnie now claimed to have seen the same.

It was bizarre. So bizarre I was considering not writing in my journal anymore so I wouldn’t confuse real life with fiction. But if fae were real, then running trees and three-headed dragons weren’t that huge of a stretch.

I sighed the happiest sigh of my life when I saw the trailer home Dr. Daniels described as Javier’s place.

With my muscles aching and tired and my breathing labored, I hefted myself up the tiny step to knock on his door. I took an instinctive step back when George opened the door to a house that was almost as cold as the outdoors.

He frowned when he saw my reaction but ticked his lips up into a friendly smile as he opened the door wider to let me in. I turned my face to the night sky when I heard a deep growl from above and rushed through the door, shoving my way past George in the process.

“Sorry,” I said quickly, my fear of this fae growing as he studied me.

I cradled Victoria’s head closer to me, moving away as he watched me. What looked like hurt flashed across his expression, and I couldn’t help the guilt that rose at seeing it.

Still, he winked, giving me that friendly smile that should’ve put me at ease. “No harm done.” He shifted his attention upward when another growl made me jump. “It’s past Nalari’s bedtime,” he teased. “It makes her. . . testy.”

“Stop provoking my Guardian.” Elias’s voice came from across the tiny living room. While clean, it was dreary with only one small lamp lit. He looked exhausted, and his tone had held a twinge of desperation I’d never heard in him before.

He was always busy, rushing from one place to another. Always helping someone with something, but he’d never sounded desperate before.

In front of a sunken couch, Elias sat on the floor, holding a sleeping girl on his lap.

He shifted uncomfortably and leaned as far forward as he could.

Javier paced in front of them, his long strides carrying from one side of the small room to the other.

He didn’t seem to notice me as he stole glances at his little sister who lay motionless aside from her chest rising and falling in rapid succession.

Dropping the bag of food, I hurried to where Elias held the girl and rested the back of my hand to the girl’s forehead.

Although she kept her eyes closed, she angled her head toward my touch, and I took in her sunken cheeks and cracked lips.

Her frame was as thin and frail as her brother’s, and I knew I hadn’t brought enough food.

“She has a fever,” I told Elias.

“She won’t in a minute.” He drew a shaky breath before his tired gaze lifted to my face.

Shame flooded me as I finally took in the scene I’d walked into. After his beating, no one had assisted Elias, but regardless of that, he’d come to help Javier and his sister. Even though he himself was the one who needed medical attention the most.

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

Worry lines marred his forehead as he took me in. When he grabbed a blanket that draped over the edge of the couch, he handed it to me. I did my best to wrap the scratchy blanket around my shoulders with my unused hand.

“Sit by the space heater.” He jutted his chin toward the heater Javier paced in front of.

“Come on, Teddy,” Brenton said, cupping my elbow.

Elias growled, his eyes shimmering between his usual violet and a few shades darker.

Brenton held his hands up in a sign of surrender, which was odd but not too odd for Brenton since he seemed to be the jokester in their little group. “The girl needs the magic more than you do.”

“Magic?” I asked, taking the few steps to where Brenton guided me.

I held a hand over the space heater and inched my feet closer to it. It looked familiar, like one of the old heaters Donnie kept as a spare. Unsurprised, my chest warmed at the thought, at how lucky I was to have him as a best friend.

“Elias said he can heal Jasmine.” Javier massaged the base of his neck as he watched Elias with his little sister. The movement was familiar in a way I couldn’t quite remember.

“Is that a good idea?” I asked.

Elias’s shoulders slumped further as if he couldn’t bear Jasmine’s weight any longer. “I won’t harm her,” he promised me, his tone soft and tired.

It was my turn to shake my head while my fingers itched to touch his tense shoulders.

“You look tired, Elias,” I said. “Before the commander beat you, you looked tired. You could barely stand after,” I continued, ignoring Javier’s wince beside me.

“Are you sure it’s wise to heal someone when you.

. . I mean, I don’t know how magic works, but shouldn’t you rest? Gather your strength or something?”