Page 54 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

“Can you teach me?”

“After you fix all that.” She pointed at my face. “Your nose is broken.”

If I were fae, I would’ve growled. Instead, I sent a resentful glare toward Austin, silently promising myself I’d get better at fighting and defending myself.

From behind me, Donnie cursed, pushing his way past the crowd that had gathered. A crowd I hadn’t realized had formed until now.

Nate went to Ryenne and looked as if he was ready to avenge her, ready to wrap her in his arms and cart her away.

“Elias,” I whispered, but he heard me all the same.

He turned to me and was by my side. With his knuckles, he moved to caress my jaw but pulled back before he touched me. Disappointment settled in my stomach.

“Ry thinks she dislocated her shoulder,” I told him. “Do you think you could heal her? And then maybe fix my nose? I’ve never broken anything before, but Everly said it’s broken. It sure as shit feels like it’s broken. ”

Yep, that was me back to rambling. If Elias noticed, he didn’t say.

While he tended to Ryenne’s shoulder and the cuts and bruises on her face, Donnie spoke to the onlookers, doing his police thing and gathering information. George remained by Austin, who still hadn’t stirred.

While Everly plucked pieces of tomato from my hair, Leanora’s unwelcome voice slithered through my mind. Like a snake coiled to strike, her tone was lethal. I shuddered at the sound of it.

Her cackling raked over my skin, and I stumbled back a step when her black magic wrapped around George.

“You don’t like him much,” she purred in my ear. “Would it be so horrible if I killed him?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“You really are an ungrateful thing,” she scolded. “After all I’ve shown you, all I’ve taught you, you still side with the fae. This one killed an innocent man. Why shouldn’t he die too?”

“Please,” I whispered, hoping Nalari could hear me. “Don’t kill him. Don’t kill any of them.”

Her tendril of magic turned into a sword.

As it swung at George, I threw myself on him, knocking him to the floor with me on top of him.

I barely registered the surprised look on his face, focusing all my attention on the hot sting of her magic slicing my back.

I yelled in pain, collapsing on top of George when my back burned.

Leanora’s tsk sounded distant as her magic pulsed, trying to reform before it disappeared.

In an instant, Elias and Everly were at our side with Ryenne and Nate close behind.

Elias helped me up, hissing at the cut on my back that burned in a way I wasn’t sure was normal.

Elias tugged the layers of clothes I wore over my head, leaving me in nothing but my bra, the back having been sliced in half.

Taking my clothes from him, I held them over my chest to cover my breasts as Elias drew his face close to my back and sniffed.

“Fae root.” Elias snarled the two words.

George and Everly growled in response.

I looked at him over my shoulder. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a deadly plant that once grew outside the borders of my kingdom,” Elias explained, his eyes turning to onyx. “All the plants were burned and outlawed years ago because it kills fae the instant it makes contact with our blood.”

I swallowed hard. “Am I going to die?”

“No,” he growled. “The herb I have at home will help you. Will you come with me? Brenton can treat you if you prefer.”

A little dizzy, I slid my hand in his. “I trust you,” I whispered.

Before he bent space, Everly and George touched his shoulders, and as I stepped into his home, they followed. I swayed, my vision going spotty. I blinked a few times, and when my surroundings remained unclear, I licked my lips.

“It’s okay.” His voice was calm and reassuring. “I have to touch you to heal you. Are you okay with me touching you, Teddy?”

“Yes.” I swallowed. More than anything, I want you to touch me.

His hand trembled when he touched my face, and his magic swam over my cheek in a delicate stroke.

I gasped in surprise when warmth spread inside my nose and suddenly something crunched, making me wince with the quick, sharp pain.

He continued skimming his magic across my face to my jaw, where the throbbing relented.

At that moment, beyond the pain of my back, all I felt was the gentle hue of his magic, the essence of his soul. Each stroke of his magic was like a whispered promise.

I tried to look at him, but all I saw in front of me was a blur. I went to reach for him but only caught air. He held on to my elbow, steadying me.

“I’m dizzy,” I told him, taking in the panic in my tone. “Everything’s hazy.”

When he scooped me in his arms, I screamed as the pain in my back flared at the contact.

He brushed his lips across my forehead, silently whispering apology after apology. When he settled me on his couch, I gripped the edge and leaned forward, letting my head droop. After several breaths, I shifted my body to lay on my stomach.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” I took in a slow inhale that I let out just as slowly.

Elias’s hand stroked the back of my head. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Vomit if you need to. Everly’s preparing your herb. You’ll feel better once I put it on your wound.”

I nodded. Or I thought I did. But everything was a blur, except for the wild beat of my heart that drummed in my ears.

I heard a door open and close, and Brenton asked, “What’s going on?”

I couldn’t hear if anyone answered him, but I recognized him when he took my hand in his.

“I’m going to put a paste-like substance on the wound,” Elias said. “It will help me pull the fae root out, but it will hurt.”

With my eyes still closed, I nodded and squeezed Brenton’s hand. Elias whispered another apology before he kissed the top of my head.

While he applied it softly, my whole back writhed in pain. I bit back my cry, trying so hard to be strong and brave the way Elias had been when I’d tended to his back.

“When I was younger,” Elias said, his voice tender, “I wanted to have wings like a dragon’s so I could fly.

I knew I wouldn’t be granted a Guardian until I reached maturity, so George and I made a set of wings.

The first pair we made was made of any feather we could find—from birds to chickens.

Since you already know what an excellent seamstress I am”—he paused when I snorted—“you won’t be surprised to know I sewed those feathers together with string, and then George and I glued them to large tree limbs. ”

I winced when I felt his magic coat through the cut, seeming to tug and pull at me.

“I’m removing the poison,” Elias whispered.

“Tell me more about your wings,” I gritted out, trying and failing to ignore the burning pain on my back.

“We were quite proud of them, but George was too much of a wuss to try them out.”

“You mean he was smart.” Although Everly said it as a tease, I heard the worry she tried to hide.

“No, I mean wuss.” I could almost picture Elias’s smile and tried to focus on that while he continued talking. “I climbed to the highest part of the east tower and strapped it on my back. With all the confidence of a fifteen-year-old, I spread out my wings and jumped.” He chuckled.

I licked my lips, wishing away the nausea that roiled in my stomach.

“Did you fly?” I asked.

Brenton laughed. “No, but he did manage to break a few bones and scare the life out of his poor parents.”

“I learned a valuable lesson, though,” Elias said .

“You shouldn’t jump from the highest tower of your castle?” I questioned.

This time, the pain peaked, the nausea pitching so hard, I vomited, arching my head over the edge of the couch. And I kept vomiting as Elias’s magic continued to pull while his hand ran soothingly over the back of my head and Brenton squeezed my hand.

I opened my eyes to see where I’d vomited, but my vision was still spotty and only made the dizziness worse. Groaning, I closed my eyes again.

“What did you learn?” I whispered.

With a napkin, someone wiped the dribble from my mouth.

“I learned that I could heal myself,” Elias said.

I huffed out a laugh.

“Since my parents didn’t forbid me from trying again, George and I built another set of wings while Everly and Brenton supervised. This one was made of bed sheets and wire, which was Brenton’s idea.”

“I can’t imagine that worked,” I said.

“It didn’t,” he answered. “At least the second time, I wasn’t as high up and only broke two bones.”

With a final tug on my back, I felt it the moment Elias called back his magic. He poured a warm liquid over my back that trickled into the back of my pants.

I tried opening my eyes again, and although the dizziness had abated, my surroundings remained hazy.

“Did you try again?” I asked, licking my lips.

“Several times with the same result.” He patted my back with a cool cloth, which felt amazing on my heated skin. “My father felt bad for me and somehow convinced his Guardian to take me up with him. ”

I tipped my head to the side and tried to make out his features behind the haze.

“How was it?” I asked.

“Incredible,” he breathed out.

Although I couldn’t see him, I smiled at him. Slowly, my vision returned, and I reached a finger to Elias’s lips that were pulled down in concern. I ran my finger over them and felt the way his breath stammered. Clenching my hand, I pulled it away.

“I’m okay,” I told him when his frown remained. I arched my back to test it and sighed with relief when it no longer hurt. “Thank you.”

One side of his lips quirked up.

I sat up slowly, breathing through the remaining dizziness. When Everly handed me a shirt, I slid it on before I reached again for Brenton’s hand. I turned my attention to Brenton when he squeezed my hand, looking at the spot on the floor I must’ve vomited on but found it clean.

“Nalari cleared it up,” Brenton told me, wrinkling his nose. “Good thing too because some got on my nose.”

Stifling a laugh, I covered my mouth with my hand. “It didn’t.”

I looked at the four fae, who all wore small smiles.

I tried to apologize but instead barked out a laugh that made their smiles widen.

“I vomited on you?” I asked Brenton, and at the same time, their door swung open.

Ryenne rushed inside and straight up to Elias, who she pointed a finger at while Elias looked back at her in question.

“The next time my best friend is hurt, and you rush off with her, you take me with you.” She waggled that finger in his face.

He dipped his head down. “You’re right. I apologize. I wasn’t thinking and only wanted to get Teddy here to help her.”

Ryenne turned that pointed finger at Nate. “That’s how you apologize,” she told him.

Nate’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re right. I apologize?” he said, but it sounded more like a question.

“Anyone want to tell us what the hell’s going on?” Donnie asked. Pretty sure there was a hint of a growl in there.

When I stood from the couch, both Elias and Brenton followed. I dropped Brenton’s hand to hug Ryenne, needing her closeness. Or not really hers, but I wasn’t sure how to ask Elias to hold me.

“Leanora happened,” I told them. “I saw her magic around George. It turned into a sword that apparently only I can see, and when she attacked George, I jumped in the way, and she struck me instead.”

I shrugged when my friends gaped at me.

“You’re seeing invisible, magical shit?” Ryenne asked me.

“Guess so.”

“You took a hit that was meant for George?” Everly asked me, her eyes wide with shock.

I gave a hesitant shrug. “I didn’t know it was poisoned, but I knew she intended to kill him.”

Everly shook her head, taking tentative steps toward me. She was always confident and seemingly in control, so watching her chew her bottom lip was strange. Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she shook her head again.

“You hate us,” she whispered.

I found George’s eyes on me, his features something I couldn’t quite read.

“Maybe I don’t hate y’all after all,” I replied .

She simply nodded, her eyes steady as she studied my face.

Uncomfortable under her scrutiny, I turned to Ryenne and told everyone how Leanora’s magic seemed to dim before it disappeared.

Elias and Everly drew the same conclusion I did, figuring her show of magic had weakened her.

It made me wonder if she was testing her limits to see how far her magic took her while the fae questioned how they could weaken her further.

We talked for hours as George quietly made dinner for all of us. When Elias pulled out a chair at their dinner table for me, I patted the chair next to me for him to sit on. He did, angling those beautiful eyes toward me.

I think a part of me was still in shock about Leanora’s violent attack. And how Elias still came for me. Healed me. He’d respected my decisions. Maybe, just maybe, he still wanted me.

I wasn’t strong enough to resist.

I knew I’d fooled myself into believing I could live life without him.

I wanted him desperately, but more, I wanted to be someone he could count on the way I’d always been able to count on him.

I wanted to be worthy of this bond fate had bestowed upon us.

I wanted to know I wouldn’t balk and hurt him again.

Because this man’s love, his loyalty, was life itself.