Page 31 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

“I’ll watch her,” Everly said, offering her hand to Victoria, who took it with a look of mischief in her eyes. “If you don’t need me here?”

“Go.” I waved her away. “Have fun. Tori, listen to Everly.”

She peered back at me over her shoulder, and I could already see the trouble she’d cause me when she was a teenager.

Assuming she was still around. Her mother had never been gone this long, and given our circumstances, I no longer wondered if she would show up again.

“It’s a lot more fun when I listen to Uncle George,” Victoria said.

“He likes my ideas that you say are crazy.”

Elias barked out a laugh while I shook my head.

Uncle George. She called the fae, man, whatever that I still distrusted her uncle.

“I’ll make sure Uncle George behaves himself.” Everly’s smirk made Victoria grumble.

Once they left, Elias seemed to pace in place, putting his hands in his pocket only to take them out while watching me with a small smile on his handsome face.

“Have you had lunch?” I asked him, pointing toward our small spread.

While Victoria had finished her food, neither Everly nor I had touched ours.

“Not yet. ”

“Come.” I patted the empty spot next to me. “I’ll share some of my food with you.”

“Actually, I came to fix your pipes,” he said. “Donnie said they froze, and you’re not getting any water.”

Looking up at him from where I sat on the floor, I put my hands on my waist. “You’re telling me you’re a plumber too?”

One side of his lips ticked up. “I don’t know what a plumber is, but I have magic.” A spark of silver shot from the palm of his hand.

“Show-off,” I muttered.

His laugh was rich, and I took a moment to absorb it.

When I shifted to stand, he offered me his hand, and it quickly swallowed mine.

Together, we picked up the uneaten food, and when he followed me to the back room, where we put the plates on an empty table, I grabbed a strip of deer meat and held it out to him.

“If you’re gonna go do magical shit, you need energy.” I brought it to his lips. “This gives you energy.”

His eyes blackened, and when he bit into the meat, his wet lips grazed my fingertips.

I gasped, a knot growing in my stomach. Mesmerized, I watched his face when he ate another piece of meat from me, his dark eyes never leaving mine.

Swallowing hard, I looked for the smallest cube of cheese, and when I offered it to him, his throat bobbed.

He circled his hand around my wrist, and when he took the piece, he swirled his tongue over the tips of my fingers and moaned.

His sturdy hand reached the base of my neck, and I inched closer to him so that our chests were flush against each other.

He reached for the plate and ran a red grape over my lips.

When I took it, I brushed my lips over his fingers.

I licked my lips, trying to taste him, and he let out another feral moan.

One by one, we fed each other. Neither of us talked, and his eyes remained intent on me.

It was a dangerous game I very much wanted to play.

When we finished, I went on my tiptoes and brushed my lips over his.

He let out an unsteady breath and slowly, so achingly slow, traced his lips across mine.

He seemed to take his time, exploring and savoring.

I opened my mouth for him, and his tongue tangled with mine in a tentative sweep that grew more confident.

His hand went to the nape of my neck and down to my back.

Sighing, I arched into his touch, but he kept his kisses soft, his touches featherlight. Patient, tender, sweet.

Everything I never knew I wanted in a kiss.

I drew in a deep breath when he inched his face away to rest his temple against mine. When he traced his thumb over the back of my hand, it sent a hot blaze of goosebumps everywhere.

“Thank you for lunch,” he said, his voice husky and slightly breathless.

I kissed the center of his chest, where I knew a massive wall of muscles quivered at the gesture. His expression was open and bewildered when he cupped my face before his lips spread into one of his beautiful smiles and he kissed the tip of my nose.

“I should go do some magical shit on your pipes.” His now violet eyes danced when he awkwardly repeated my words back to me. “Now that I have my energy up.”

Heat bloomed on my cheeks, but I ignored it and grabbed his hand to lead him outside. He followed without question, his grip tightening on me when Brenton’s eyes widened when he saw us holding hands. Snow crunched under our boots, and for once, the snow fell slowly with the wind a mere whisper.

From a distance, Victoria’s squeals rang out along with the sound of other children of our town, while George pulled her sled faster than any human could run.

When they reached Everly, George offered her his hand, but she brushed past it to sit on the sled with Victoria between her legs.

George shook his head in either amusement or disappointment, before he took off in a steady run that outpaced every other adult playing in the snow with their children.

“He won’t hurt Victoria,” Elias told me.

“We don’t have very many young in my realm.

It’s rare for a coupling to result in pregnancy and even rarer for the female to be able to carry the babe full term.

We cherish our young more than anything.

” He paused. “And, George.. .you have my word, George is a good male.”

I scrunched up my nose, embarrassed he’d seen my trepidation with George. It wasn’t like I’d ever tried to hide it, though. I felt what I felt and hadn’t felt ashamed about it until now.

“I don’t know what my problem is with him.

He’s never been anything but kind to us.

Especially Tori. Everly said the same thing—that he’s a good male.

She said the same thing about you.” Elias stiffened and I squeezed his hand.

“She was right about you, which probably means you’re both right about George.

” I paused. “I promise I’ll try to stop being afraid of him. ”

He stopped, his brows drawing together, and he placed an open palm to my chest. “Trust your instincts over me, Teddy. Over anyone. If something inside you tells you someone or something is dangerous, listen to it. ”

“I trust you, though.” I brought his palm to my cheek and leaned into it to kiss his wrist.

He blinked, and his eyes turned a heated black. He rubbed his thumb over my cheek in a gentle, almost reverent caress.

“Thank you for giving me your trust.” The way he said it, so impassioned as if I was someone he treasured, made my heart hammer.

I gave him a sheepish smile. “You earned it.”

With a lick of his lips, he traced his fingers over my smile. “Will you allow me to kiss you again?”

I kissed the tip of his finger before I bit down gently.

His fangs extended, and he took a step closer to me. While his hands were on my waist, I peered up at him, a bit frightened but also eager to see what he did next.

“Why do you fear me?” His eyes dulled momentarily, and I missed the intensity of the black orbs that had held me captive seconds before.

I licked my lips and tilted my chin higher. “I’m not scared of you, Elias.” While not entirely a lie, it wasn’t the absolute truth either.

Shaking his head, he took a tentative step back but kept his hands on my waist. He ran his fingers over the layers of clothes I wore, but I felt it as if he’d touched my naked skin.

“I would never hurt you,” he said, his voice pained.

“I know,” I whispered back.

Just like I didn’t want him to hide the truth to spare my feelings, I’d do the same for him.

“It’s...this is different for me,” I said. “You’re not human which isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes when your fangs come out like that, it scares me even though everything inside me tells me you wouldn’t hurt me. ”

He nodded and when he opened his mouth to speak, I held up a hand.

“But it’s more than that.” I swallowed hard, determined to tell him how I felt before I wussed out. “How I feel about you, the way you look at me and make me feel. . . it’s intense. I like it,” I hurried on. “I like you. It’s just a lot.”

He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. When he opened them, they were the most brilliant shade of violet.

“I like you, too.” He licked his lips. “A lot.”

There went the butterflies again, flapping hard against the confines of my chest.

I smiled. “I couldn’t tell,” I teased. “You’ve been pretty subtle about it.” I waggled my brows at him.

On a chuckle, he peered down, his hand gripping the back of his neck. “I don’t think subtleties are one of my stronger qualities.”

I knocked my hip against his, except he was a lot taller than me so I ended up bumping his leg. “You mean you have other qualities?”

His smile grew, bringing out his dimples. Damn, I loved those dimples.

“My mother tells me I’m great at sewing.” A sense of sadness and longing gleamed behind his hypnotic eyes.

“Moms have to lie and say nice things to us,” I teased in the hopes of taking that sadness away. “Mine once told me I had a beautiful singing voice.”

“Are you saying my mother lied? Do you not like your hat?” He pulled my beanie down to cover my eyes.

I wrinkled my nose and lifted the beanie up to see his face alight with amusement. It made him look youthful and somehow more beautiful than usual. Not that he wasn’t beautiful when he was serious, but this was different. I enjoyed seeing a more carefree version of him.

“It’s hideous. So’s the blanket you left me when all this snow started.” I raised my brows in challenge, to see if he’d deny leaving me the blanket. Or the gloves I wore.

“You knew it was from me?” he asked.

“Not at first, but I don’t know any other seamstresses who use this fabric.”

“I’m hardly a seamstress.”

I was surprised he knew the term when others were foreign to him. It was strange and interesting.

Using his magic, he swirled snow from the ground and dropped it on my head.