Page 34 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

Chapter

Thirteen

ELIAS

Guardians, this female was a force beyond nature.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to throttle her for going out to get me.

Or kiss her endlessly for being such a fearless warrior.

The way she commanded me not to die was breathtaking. The way she held her own and killed two thunderbirds with such a tiny weapon was inspiring. The way she ran her fingers through my hair was everything.

She was incredible. And she was mine.

And the people, her people, made me proud.

While I finished healing myself, many of the men had run outside with their small guns and fought alongside my fae warriors as equals.

Together, they’d brought down thirteen thunderbirds and ten nyxx without a single casualty on our end—several injuries, but nothing fatal.

The cheers that rose when the rest of the flock flew away was a thing of beauty. It made me appreciate them. Their spirit, their bravery. They were hopelessly human, and I respected them for it .

After the battle, Dr. Daniels, Teddy, and I tended to the wounded.

Dr. Daniels stayed away from the fae while I healed those who couldn’t heal themselves and any humans whose injuries were beyond what Dr. Daniels could treat.

All the while, Teddy cared for any we hadn’t gotten to—sometimes with kind, reassuring words and other times with gentle hands that wound bandages to stop bleeding. Such a gentle, fearless spirit.

The exhaustion I felt was the good, productive kind. Yet I felt as if something inside me was missing. I couldn’t quite place it, but as I’d lain on the ground, I’d felt the tendrils of my magic and soul stripped from me. And even hours later, it hadn’t returned. Wouldn’t return.

I tried to ignore it and instead focus on Teddy as we stood in her backyard with Nalari napping and Victoria lying beside her.

It was such a rare sight I couldn’t bring myself to warn Teddy against the picture she took on her phone—a unique piece of technology, doing just about anything and everything one could think of.

I hoped one day I could bring it back to Niev, where one of our scholars could study it and maybe replicate it for my people.

While I wanted to do this for everyone in Niev, I mainly thought of my mother and how much she’d love the device.

“Feet apart,” Teddy instructed, her fiery hair blowing with the light breeze.

I did as she instructed, squaring my shoulders and extending my arms as I held the gun before me. Like I did the last six times, I hit the target right in the center.

“This is such bullshit,” she griped. “Can you not be good at one thing?”

The teasing lilt of her voice was adorable. As was the way she held her hands at her waist, pretending to be frustrated .

With a grin, I lowered the gun and handed it to Teddy. “How’s it my fault that I’m naturally good at everything?”

She took the bullets out of the gun and placed it in its case.

“Naturally good at everything, huh?” she said with a mischievous grin, sending her brows up to her hairline.

I scratched my chin. “Yes,” I said slowly. “It helps that my teacher was okay.”

“Okay?” She widened those pretty eyes.

“Mediocre, at best.” I dodged the snowball she flung at me. “She could use a little work on her aim, though.”

I let the next snowball hit my chest, right where the thunderbird had struck.

The memory of it flashed in my mind. The way my veins burned and my heart stalled.

Had it not been for Nalari’s magic swimming through me and forcing my heart to beat again.

. . Had it not been for Teddy’s command compelling me to take a lungful of air so I could live. . .

The pain had been too much. Everything inside me burned in an endless inferno. It was nothing like the Elder breathing fire on me. Nothing like the beating I’d taken from my uncle.

The bird had fried me. It had fatally wounded me until Nalari’s magic had brought me back and Teddy’s words had kept me alive.

“Hey.” Teddy rested a hand at the center of my chest, right where the bird had burned a hole in my previous shirt. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

Her worry shook me.

I cupped my hand over hers, where she held my heart in her palm, and leaned forward, locking my lips on her mouth.

I couldn’t resist her, and thank the Guardians, she was willing.

She desired me, it seemed, as much as I desired her.

It was bliss to be able to finally touch her .

An incredible gift. I hadn’t believed we’d ever get here, that she’d ever stop loathing me .

When I slipped my tongue over the seam of her lips in a gentle request, she let me in. Her body went taut when I skimmed a hand beneath her clothes to brush my fingers across her side. She dug her fingers into my arm and went molten when I ran lazy circles over her stomach and ribs, but no higher.

She let out a small sound, something like a whimper as she leaned into my touch.

That sound undid me.

I dug my fingers against her flesh and roved them over the soft skin of her stomach, desperate to touch her, all while our tongues danced. She met each of my strokes with her own demanding strokes.

And I wished time would stop. Right here, right now—with my mate in my arms—where I could taste her, touch her, lose myself in her.

Her hand slid beneath my shirt, and I hissed in a breath as she ran her fingernails over the still tender skin of my chest. I slanted my lips to deepen the kiss.

My knees quaked at the unrelenting desire that tore through me.

Another soft noise as her nails dug into my flesh.

I brushed my tongue over hers one more time before I started to sprinkle kisses across her jaw to her neck and shoulder.

With my canines I scratched her throat where I longed to bite her.

Her hands pressed the back of my head as if to hold me in place, as if she wanted me to bite her too.

She whispered my name, and in all the times I’d heard my name, I’d never heard it sound so real or so cherished as that moment when it slipped through her pretty lips.

I ached to pierce her skin and claim her as mine. I couldn’t, though. I wouldn’t until she knew what biting her meant, and she wanted it as much as I did. Not until I lifted the enchantment of our first encounter so there’d be no secrets or deceptions between us.

Instead, I kissed her throat down to her collarbone. Humming, she bared her throat to me. I couldn’t help the way I ran the tips of my canines along her soft skin or the feral growl that escaped me.

“Children are watching.” Nalari’s voice made me jolt.

Teddy pressed her lips together and tilted her head in question.

“Tori,” I whispered.

“Shit.” She took a step away from me and smoothed her first layer of clothes down.

“Well, only one child, but she’s very inquisitive.”

I grumbled but forced a smile when I heard her small footsteps approach us hesitantly.

“Food!” Teddy whirled around and rushed the two steps to Victoria, who she scooped up in her arms. “I’ll make us some dinner.”

I snapped my fingers. “Cooking.” I tore the gravelly word from my throat. “I’m the worst at cooking.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and cocked a hip in my direction. “Are you really? Or do you use that to get out of cooking?”

“Definitely the first.” I winked.

“Whatever you say, Your Highness.”

I gaped at her departing form and grabbed the gun case before following her into the house. I rushed to the door to hold it open for her, and she curtsied.

Full-on curtsied with Victoria in her arms.

“Did you just make fun of me?” I asked. “Twice?”

She set Victoria down on the floor and pressed her palm to her chest. “No, my liege. I would never.” And then she fluttered her lashes.

I gripped the doorframe hard to keep myself from scooping this female up and kissing her.

She was adorable in her teasing. Irresistible.

“You think I’m a menace? You...you’re trouble, is what you are.”

“That was a terrible comeback.” She patted my shoulder. “Maybe you should work on that.” She leaned into the hallway where Victoria had wandered off to. “Tor! Take a quick shower while I make us dinner.”

Victoria grumbled something back, but in the time it took Teddy to put away her gun, I heard the shower start.

In the kitchen, Teddy hesitated. She looked in her pantry and fridge, sighed, then started working. Despite her pantry having so little, she somehow found spices that after she’d prepped the meat and started cooking, added to the enticing scents of the kitchen.

“I. . .” I started, not sure how to ask. “Should I leave?”

Her back jolted, and she turned to shoot me an inquisitive, almost hurtful look over her shoulder.

“I want to stay. I mean, you said it yourself, I’m not subtle about how I feel about you, so of course I want to stay,” I said. Rambling, I was rambling like some inexperienced youngling. “But is it okay? Do you have enough food? I mean, if you ever need more, tell me and?—”

“Too many words.” Teddy laughed. “Yes, I want you to stay. Yes, we have enough. Yes, I’ll let you know if we need more, which I don’t see happening with how much you and Nalari bring us. I don’t know how you do it all.”

I do it for you , I almost said. I did it all for her and would continue to do more to make sure she was safe. To make sure she didn’t go without.

With her hair a wet tangled mess, Victoria ran into the kitchen, where she ripped a piece of bread from the loaf on the countertop and shoved it in her mouth.

I pulled the girl to me and after reaching in the inner pocket of my magic, I pulled out a comb.

Starting at the bottom of Victoria’s long hair, I began combing out her knots.

I wasn’t even sure why this felt so natural to me.

While I made the time to go to the orphanage with my friends, something that was important to Brenton, I’d never felt this comfortable with a child.

I’d never wanted to tend to one the way I did now with Victoria.