Page 47 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

Chapter

Nineteen

TEDDY

Frigid wind and snow whipped around my face as Victoria and I flew down a small hill on the sled Elias had given her. Hee-haw ran beside us, kicking up snow as he tried to keep up.

Victoria’s thin frame shook with laughter, and I nestled my nose to the back of her neck and let the sound settle my rattled mind.

It’d been a couple of weeks since I last saw Elias the night of his barbecue.

And in that time, everyone’s food rations had gotten smaller.

The snowstorm had either gotten worse or the fae had stopped using their magic to help melt the snow outside of Colina Verde.

It’d gotten so bad, many of the people from out of town had to move into our schools while I’d convinced Javier to move him and his sisters in with me.

It made my small house a bit cramped, with Javier sleeping on a futon in my tiny office while the girls shared my old bedroom. But it also felt more like a home with all the girls’ near constant giggles.

“Again,” Javier’s sister Juanita shouted when Victoria and I reached the bottom of the hill .

Hee-haw jumped in reply.

“Again?” I asked Victoria, a little out of breath.

Okay, a lot out of breath. But I was determined to give all the kids a day of fun, where they could just play.

Elias had done that for the kids in our town when he’d brought a few sleds for Victoria and others to play with.

He’d done that for the adults too, when he’d invited us all to his place for a barbecue.

And for several wonderful hours, I’d felt joy.

Of course, of course, it’d all gone to shit.

And now, no one but Donnie had seen him. According to Donnie, Elias looked different. Feral, with his eyes a constant pit of black and his fangs out. But Donnie said it was more than that. It was as if Elias had lost himself.

I’d tried to reach out to ask Nalari if he was okay, but aside from asking me if Leanora had spoken to me again, she never replied. Maybe I s hould’ve worried more about Leanora and her sudden silence, but I trusted Elias to figure it out.

Every night I saw Nalari in my yard. Sometimes she slept there.

And after I’d tuck the girls into bed, I’d sneak outside to offer Nalari raw meat I’d put aside from whatever we were eating for dinner.

I knew it wasn’t enough to keep her satisfied, and she insisted she’d rather hunt, but she looked thinner these days too.

More tired. The angles of her face were sharper, the ridges of her backbone more pronounced.

And the golden hue of her eyes was dimmer.

Every night, she fell asleep quicker than the night before.

It was enough to make me worry. Was her sudden weight loss because of the emotional connection between herself and Elias, or was she going hungry like the rest of us ?

Brenton spoke to me honestly, though, telling me how he worried about Elias. How withdrawn he seemed. How sometimes he wasn’t sure Elias would be able to return but seemed to clear his mind when they spoke about the journals they’d read.

Javier reached for the rope in front of Victoria’s sled. “I can pull her up too,” he offered, holding the rope for his sisters’ sled.

“One more time,” I huffed out. “Then Javier’s on sled duty.”

I was more tired than I probably should have been, but as promised, Everly didn’t take it easy on me when we trained.

Neither did Brenton when he joined us most mornings.

In fact, our sessions became more grueling every day.

My legs shook as I climbed up the hill again while Hee-haw pushed his head against my butt.

I swatted at him, and I swear he ran away laughing.

Silly ass.

“Is Elias going to play with us today?” Victoria asked, peering at me over her shoulder.

My heart gave a painful pinch, and I shook my head.

She frowned. “He doesn’t like me anymore,” she said, looking away. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, baby girl, you didn’t do anything wrong,” I told her. That blame sat firmly on my shoulders.

“I thought I was protecting you.”

“You were protecting yourself. You didn’t want me to know the truth because then I’d see you for the monster you are.

“I rejected you. That’s the only good that came from that night. I rejected you, Elias.”

“I still reject you.”

I wasn’t sure if it hurt more that he’d taken me at my words and abandoned us, or if the words were true and he was a coward.

“He’s just been super busy.”

Javier kept pace along with me although I was sure he could hike his way up the hill faster.

I appreciated it, though. It showed how well he was raised, so I didn’t urge him to go ahead.

Besides, I liked having someone at my side, even if it was a sixteen-year-old kid.

It wasn’t simply that he helped around the house and with Victoria, or that his rations were a bit bigger than others because of his work with Elias’s livestock.

There was an understanding between us. Two orphans who had to keep going regardless of how much it hurt.

And his heart must have been completely ravaged.

To lose both parents so soon after the other was beyond harrowing, yet he kept smiling for his little sisters. He stayed strong. He was remarkable.

Every time I opened my mouth to tell him the truth about how his father had died, I couldn’t do it. I could actually understand why Elias had kept it from me.

It was a burden I didn’t want him to carry, not when he relied on Elias and his friends to offer him work for extra food.

“Race you down?” I asked him when we finally— finally reached the top.

He grinned back in answer.

I gripped Victoria’s shoulder. “Ready? Go!” I pushed us off and jumped behind Victoria.

Snow whipped against my face and into my eyes and mouth. Victoria and the other two girls screamed and laughed the entire way down. Once we reached the bottom, I tilted our sled to the side, making us fall. I whooshed out a breath as I lay on the cold ground.

Victoria jumped on me. “Again!” she demanded .

I grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at her. She ran away in a peel of laughter, and Javier grabbed her by the waist and spun her twice.

From the bookbag I’d brought, I took out two of the blankets Elias had made for us. I dropped one on the ground to keep myself dry when I sat on it and the other around my huddled shoulders.

I missed him in a way that made breathing difficult. I wanted to see him, to talk to him, but I was scared that the changes Donnie had seen in him were irreversible. Scared he’d hurt me. Not physically, but in the same manner I’d hurt him.

Yeah, I was a coward of the worst kind.

I watched Javier pull both sleds up the hill.

When they got to the top, all three girls jumped out of their sleds and with a handful of snow in their small hands, they threw snowballs at Javier.

He ducked and dodged, threw his own snowballs back at them, and then tossed the girls gently onto the fluffy snow.

This was what I wanted. Moments of happiness, away from the hundreds of worries awaiting me back home.

Just above them, several feet away, a large creature inched toward them. I blinked and then blinked again when it didn’t disappear.

I jumped to my feet, calling for Nalari as I ran toward them.

Seeing my panic, Javier turned and faced the monster.

It lifted its tree-like head to the sky and on a roar, bared its sharp teeth.

Just behind it lingered another monster that very much looked like a tree too.

The second one didn’t move but stared and stared.

I couldn’t speak or scream, and it felt like my running footfalls barely took me anywhere.

Javier grabbed each of the girls and tossed them on a sled that he pushed down the hill. When he turned to jump in the other sled, it slid down without him.

The monster took another menacing step toward him, its long legs lined with what looked like moss, eating the distance between him and Javier. Razor-like claws grew from its hands, and he slashed them toward Javier. He stumbled back a step and fell while I continued trying to make my way to him.

“Javier!” I yelled.

When I finally reached him, I gripped Javier’s arm and did my best to drag him away from the monster while he scrambled to his feet.

The creature angled its head to the side as if it were curious about me. I pulled out the dagger Everly had given me, then held my position the way she taught me.

“Come, Theodora, meet my pet,” that same female voice that belonged to Leanora floated in my mind.

I whimpered. “Nalari?”

“Almost there,” she replied.

From my mind’s eye, I could see us as if I were the one flying toward us. She wouldn’t make it in time.

Still, that tree-like monster watched me curiously while the second one lingered behind. Both of them watching. Waiting.

“Who am I?” the voice spoke again.

The question—it was familiar. A dream. The same dream I’d been having since my mom died.

Javier tugged on my arm, but I stayed rooted in place, the dagger hanging uselessly in my hand.

I drew my brows together. “Leanora,” I answered automatically.

“What am I?” she prompted .

“Tenebris, first of your kind.”

Nalari’s roar was like a clap of thunder. Her wings flapped harder as she angled her body toward us.

The monster sliced my shoulder with one of its razor-like claws. Fire erupted where I bled from the deep gash. Still, I didn’t move, couldn’t move despite the way Javier tugged on my hand.

It was like I was rooted in place. Leanora. Leanora held me there. Leanora, who I waited for.

From behind us, I heard Victoria cry out my name. I should go to her. I wanted to go to her, but I couldn’t move.

I turned to face Javier, and nothing came out when I opened my mouth to speak. My throat closed as if someone strangled me, and all I managed was a low squeak. I widened my eyes, pushing Javier away, hoping he understood I wanted him to leave. To get himself and the girls to safety.