Page 42 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

“If this Leanora is real, I need to be around to protect you.” He hesitated, seeming to regret the words he was about to say. “Are you using soul magic, Teddy?”

“What?” I screeched. “Am I. . .?” What? “What the hell are you talking about?”

Anger roared in my veins. He had the nerve to ask me— me— if I was using magic.

“If I had magic, do you think I’d rely on you or any other fae?” I seethed. “I’d take care of my people by myself. We wouldn’t need you or your kind.”

My voice sounded so ugly and bitter and hateful.

It was my heart that clamored and shattered at his betrayal.

“It’s not that kind of magic,” he explained, holding his hands up.

“If you say you’re not using it, then you’re not using it.

I believe you, but with the journal and all, Nalari wanted me to ask.

” He spoke slowly, weighing each word while he studied my face.

“Nalari believes you’re in danger, Teddy.

You can hate me as much as you want. . . ”

As if he had a choice in how much I despised him.

Lie.

As if I had a choice in how much I didn’t despise him.

“But I can’t leave you,” he continued. “At least not until we figure out who Leanora is.”

From above, Nalari beat her wings and roared. Quiet, he looked up, and I realized he was having another silent conversation with his Guardian.

He sighed, his eyes looking even more tired and his shoulders more rigid. Despite everything, a part of me still felt bad for him and everything he carried. He deserved it, though. Earned it for what he did to us.

“We have to go back to my place,” he said, his tone resigned.

“There’s some sort of trouble. I know you don’t trust me anymore.

” He paused. “I know I ruined what we could’ve been, but I need to go back before things get any more heated.

Can I touch your hand so I can bend us there?

I’d rather you not walk the woods at night by yourself, so if you don’t want me to touch you, I’ll stay with you, but we must hurry back. ”

Unsure of what was going on, I didn’t have much time to weigh my options. While I didn’t want to touch him, mostly because I still yearned for his touch, I didn’t want to hike the woods alone either. Nor did I want to run through the snow.

With my nerves rattled, I reached for him. He hesitated before his hands captured mine. They were soft and warm and held me perfectly. In a blink, we were by the barbecue pit he’d grilled on earlier.

Elias shoved through the shouting crowd, and although he’d dropped my hand, I followed close.

At the edge of the crowd, Javier knelt much like the way he’d been kneeling the night Commander Hudson called us downtown.

While I didn’t think he’d been struck with the whip yet, his mouth was swollen and bleeding.

A fae I didn’t recognize paced around him with a whip while Donnie shouted at him.

He struck the whip close enough to Donnie that he retreated.

Everyone stilled, and the woods grew silent while Javier cowered.

I rushed toward him, but Elias stopped me with a hissed no.

He nodded toward someone, and it was George who gripped my arms. Growling, I shoved the murderous fae off me, but Elias was quick to grab me again.

“I need to know you’re safe so I can handle whatever’s going on here,” he whispered in my ear.

I rejected the shiver his breath caused when it hit my skin.

“I was safe before you,” I whispered back.

His wince was noticeable, but he still gave Everly a grateful smile when she put her arm over my shoulders.

Elias stalked toward the other fae like a beast approaching its prey. Javier went with George when the fae reached him and together they edged toward us. I grabbed Javier’s hand, positioning myself between him and George. I glared at George until he took a retreating step back.

I looked around the hushed crowd for Victoria, and when I couldn’t find her, I asked Everly if she knew where she was.

“Ryenne took her inside when this male arrived.” She sneered toward the fae. “She’s with Javier’s sisters.”

My shoulders relaxed, but only a fraction.

When the fae struck the whip again, this time toward Elias, Elias wrapped the end around his arm and pulled hard enough the fae stumbled forward.

Before he had a chance to right himself, Elias kicked his stomach, and he fell to the ground.

Elias jerked the whip away from the fae and incinerated it in his bare hands.

“Huh,” Everly said.

Brenton, who was also next to us, nodded. “That’s new.”

“What?” I asked.

“Never seen him burn something with magic before,” he answered .

“He’s never been a rejected mate before,” Nalari said in my head. “Makes it harder for him to subdue his primal instincts.”

I tried to push her out, but she stayed, making my brain feel heavy.

“I rejected him before,” I countered.

“Before, he’d compelled you to reject him, which broke the bond on your end, although not on his,” she explained. “While that rejection hurt him, this is different. This time, you rejected him of your own free will. This time, you rejected him after giving him hope,” she snarled.

It wasn’t free will that made me reject him; it was the need to preserve what was left of my heart. He’d lied to me. Betrayed me. Had done everything to make me fall for him without letting me have the memory he’d stolen from me. Without giving me the truth.

I pressed my unused hand to my chest, wishing I had my blanket to wrap around me instead. “What happens if he can’t subdue his instincts?”

Nalari remained quiet.

“Will he be okay?”

“Do you care one way or another?”

I shouldn’t, but I did. I didn’t want him hurting because of me. “Do I care because we’re mates?”

“You rejected him,” she reminded me. “You’ll still feel a slight tug because he hasn’t rejected you, but how you feel for him are your own feelings and not some manipulation from your bond. He deserves every emotion you feel toward him.”

Which meant, I still liked him because I liked him. Was still attracted to him because I was attracted to him. Was still drawn to him because I was drawn to him.

But was what he felt a manipulation from the bond that still tethered him to me? Did he not actually like me for me ?

I hated how much those thoughts bothered me because I knew that he wouldn’t be attracted to me without the bond.

While I didn’t have poor self-esteem, I also knew I shouldn’t have been a blip on his radar.

Not just because he was stunning to look at or because he was royalty in his own realm, but because he was Elias.

Kind and tenderhearted. Compassionate. He was funny and responsible and loyal and protective.

I could call him a liar for hiding the truth, but he hadn’t lied earlier.

It would’ve been so easy for him to lie to me, but instead, he’d been honest and owned up to his mistakes.

Mistakes I couldn’t move past and forgive.

“He should reject me as his mate,” I told Nalari.

“He should,” she agreed.

Damn, that hurt. But despite the way my heart cleaved in two, it was the right thing to do. I would never be his, and I didn’t want him hurting over a bond that was forced upon him.

“Talk to him,” I pleaded with Nalari. “Convince him to reject me.”

When the fae moved, Elias growled. From where she flew in the night sky, Nalari growled too. The fae didn’t listen to either of their warnings and brushed himself off when he stood. Elias grabbed his throat and slammed him on the ground.

As Elias towered over the fae, his body rose and fell with each ragged breath he took.

“Have you forgotten who I am?” Elias asked, his body vibrating with barely restrained rage.

The fae spit up at him. “You’re no one here,” he replied. “I answer only to Commander Hudson. ”

Elias bent down and, gripping his shirt, tugged him up. “I am your prince,” he roared. “Heir to the throne. It is I who you answer to.” He threw him to the ground, and Elias pushed his knee against the fae’s neck.

My heart stopped. My breathing too.

Elias was going to kill this fae. Someone had to stop him. I had to stop him, but my feet were leaden while the hand that still held Javier’s shook.

Elias leaned down and bit the fae’s neck. Blood dripped from his chin as he spat the male’s blood out.

I stumbled back a step. Pretty sure everyone around me did the same.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt Everly’s hand on my shoulder. I wrapped my fingers around hers, offering as much comfort as she gave.

With a roar, the fae bucked, trying to get Elias off him. Something like a growl came from Elias when he bit the fae again. This time, the fae didn’t move, and I wondered if Elias had killed him.

“He’s still breathing,” Everly whispered.

I noticed the way his chest rose and fell. The way he turned his head to the side.

“Elias is only forcing him into submission,” she continued, keeping her tone low.

I stilled, suddenly wary of Everly. How does she know that?

Atop the fae, Elias spit again, leaving a trickle of blood from his mouth to his chin, and let out his own roar. When he turned to us, Elias glared at the crowd, his eyes black voids with his bloody fangs protruding through the slip of his lips. He pounded a fist to his chest hard.

“It is my demands and orders you obey!”

Nalari’s fire torched the sky, and around me every fae dropped to a single knee and bowed their heads for Elias.

Including Everly.