Page 67 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

“Please understand I don’t want Brenton. I don’t even want to take his blood,” she said. “But my actions caused this. I can fix it with a tiny drop of blood. And for the first time in three years, I’ll have someone who my soul recognizes as family. I haven’t had that since Mom died.”

I drew back to look at her. When I cupped her cheek, she leaned into my touch.

“This isn’t going to change us in any way,” she said. “I’m your mate, and you are mine. Our souls recognize each other.” She shrugged.

“You truly want to accept this bond with Brenton?” Because if she did, I couldn’t ask her to deny it.

“You and I are a family,” she said, taking both my hands in hers. “We kind of got an instant family with Javier and the girls, but one day we’ll grow our family, and our sweet, little babies will have us as parents and a crazy, silly uncle in Brenton. That’s what I want.”

“Okay,” I said on an exhale.

Her smile grew slowly. “Really?”

“If magic will gift you a brother, I can’t think of a better male than Brenton.”

She threw her arms around my neck, and I couldn’t help the laugh that burst out. With my arms wound around her waist, she pulled back to squish my cheeks between her palms.

“I’m really going to have a brother?” Her excitement was contagious. “Could we do it tonight? Because I’d love to have my big brother’s opinion on something that I’m pretty sure will make you happy.”

She pursed her lips as she waited for me.

Guardians, this was hard. It’d be even harder to watch her drink his blood. But I could do it. I would do it for Teddy.

“Yeah, let’s do it tonight,” I said.

She peered up at the starless sky. “I’m going to have a family again.”

Hope seemed to bleed from her, and I knew, despite my own jealousy, I’d do whatever she needed to keep that hope burning within her. I ran my hand through the long tendrils of her hair. She kissed my chest and ran inside to get Brenton.

I tried to contain my feelings. Tried to reason with them. Teddy was getting a brother and Brenton a sister. This was a good thing for both of them.

“Ry said we could crash at their place until my place is rebuilt,” Teddy said, a hint of sadness tinting her voice as she closed the coffee shop’s door.

Brenton’s worried gaze scanned her face.

“It’s big enough to fit all of us. Not sure what Grandma Richter will have to say when she sees us all in the morning. ”

She held Brenton’s arm as she made her way to me and took my hand.

“Where to?” she asked.

Brenton looked back at us, his brows pulled together in confusion.

“Back to your place?” I asked.

Grief washed over her, and I wanted to kick myself for mentioning it. Of course, she wouldn’t want to go back to the ruin that was her home.

“We can go somewhere else,” I said quickly.

“No, no,” she said. “My place is good. Even if the house isn’t standing anymore, it’s where I’ve always felt closest to my mom. I still have my yard and the spot around the firepit.”

“What’s going on?” Brenton asked.

Teddy pinched his cheek. “Tell you when we get there?”

Before he had the chance to reply, I took hold of Teddy’s and Brenton’s hands and bent space so that we were in her yard. I followed her as she made her way to the firepit, where we’d played music a night ago. A night ago, that seemed so far away.

Nalari arrived as we each took a chair situated around her firepit.

“Listen, if you want to talk about what happened, about me dying and all, I’m okay,” Brenton said, his words so fast they seemed to be streamed together. “I mean, dying hasn’t been my favorite experience, but I’m alive, and I’m grateful for that.”

“We absolutely want to talk about that whenever you want to talk about it,” Teddy said.

She stood from her chair to sit on the arm of his chair, keeping the blanket tucked tightly around her. When he fidgeted with his fingers on his lap, she took his hand. I leaned closer to him and grabbed his other hand.

“It’s not something we’re going to rush you into talking about,” I added because despite the emotions warring inside me, Brenton was one of my best friends, and had it not been for Teddy, we would’ve lost him. “But we’re here whenever you choose to talk about it.”

“Okay?” Teddy asked.

Squeezing our hands in answer, he nodded.

“That’s actually not why we’re here,” Teddy said. “Good guess and all, but. . .”

While she kept her voice steady, I sensed her rising nerves. Were those nerves because she thought Brenton would refuse her offer?

“Eiran told Teddy something interesting,” I said, bristling at the word interesting . “About Teddy giving you her blood.”

His throat bobbed when he swallowed, his hand in mine becoming clammy.

“Apparently, you drinking my blood makes me your sister, which is cool for you.” Her smile was tentative and nervous as she bobbed her foot up and down. She tried to say it as if it didn’t matter, but she kept glancing at me with a wary expression.

“Who wouldn’t want Teddy as a sister?” I said, hoping my tease would ease some of her nerves.

He shifted on his chair. “That’s what I feel?” he asked. “I couldn’t place it, but. . .” He shook his head. “I thought it was because of what you did for me, but what? You’re like my sister now?”

“Yeah.” Teddy tapped her unused hand on her lap. “But because you fae have this weird rule about two-sided bonds, I have to take in your blood because I’d really like to have you as my brother.” She paused, chewing on her bottom lip. “If you want to, I mean.”

He turned in his chair to face her fully, his face tilted up to where she continued to watch him nervously. I heard the way their hearts sprinted, one in sync with the other.

“You would?” he asked.

He looked so hopeful, and it made my own heart clamor. I was a selfish fool for even considering denying either of them this bond.

“I would,” she whispered, her foot bobbing faster. “If you’re okay with that. After my mom passed”—she shrugged—“I didn’t have any family left. I made my own family with my best friends, but if you’re okay with it, I’d like to have you as my brother.”

He let go of my hand to put it on top of their joined hands. At that moment, their emotions overwhelmed me. How much they each needed the other, as if that need were a live thing between them.

“I couldn’t ask for a better sister,” he said softly.

“Yeah?” she asked, her tone questioning as if she didn’t believe him.

My chest ached at the sound of it, and all I wanted was to wrap her in my arms and hold her until all that doubt melted away from her.

“Yeah.”

She kissed the top of his head, and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Brenton turned to me with his brows drawn together. “Are you okay with this? I mean, she’d be taking my blood and . . .”

I was trying to be okay with it. “It’s fine.” I cleared my throat as if it would also clear the half-truth I’d said. “I trust both of you.”

He stared at me for a long time. I wasn’t sure what he saw before he nodded.

“Eiran never said how much blood,” Teddy said. “What if I vomit? Does that kill my end of the bond? Do we have to say something, like some weird spell? Do I have to go back to Eiran and fight him to get my end back up and running?”

“You don’t have to?—”

“You’re not getting out of this,” she said, her tease trying to hide her anxiety. “You have no idea the ways I’ve always wanted to torment a brother.”

With his attention bouncing from me to Teddy, Brenton pulled out his dagger. He waited for my reaction, seeming to weigh each breath I took.

“I can slice my hand and let my blood drip into your mouth,” he suggested.

“Okay.” Teddy shook out her hands as if she was ridding herself of her nerves before sitting back on her chair. “You have no idea how disgusting this sounds to my poor human brain.”

I huffed out a laugh.

Teddy tilted her head back, and Brenton gripped the dagger in his hand.

“Are you sure about this, Teddy? I’m fine with the bond being one-sided.”

Except if Eiran's statement were true, he wouldn’t be okay.

“I want you as my brother, Brent.”

He turned to me, waiting for me to reply. “It’s okay. I’m fine with this.”

Not believing me, he arched a single brow in question.

She lowered her chin and held up a hand. “What if you just pricked your finger?”

“We can do it that way.”

She took a deep breath, pressing her lips together as she watched Brenton press the tip of his dagger to his thumb.

When he offered it to her, she guided his hand to her mouth.

I couldn’t help the unwanted jealousy that hit me at watching her take in another male’s blood.

My hands curled into trembling fists, and every instinct told me to rip Brenton away from my mate.

Yet somehow, beyond that, I was also happy for them both. Although much smaller than the frustration that burned inside me, a tiny glimmer of joy existed .

Done, she lowered his hand and grinned, raising her brows to her hairline.

“No vomiting on your nose this time,” she said.

He laughed, and when she stood, he enveloped her in a tight hug. That roaring jealousy simmered enough to be able to see them. Really see them. There was nothing romantic about their bond, and while Brenton now held a piece of her soul, it was in an innocent way that they both seemed to need.

“Sister,” he whispered.

“Brother,” she said just as quietly.

When she stepped back, they both had tears shimmering behind their eyes. Two fell in succession down Teddy’s cheeks. She brushed them away quickly and laughed, but shocked, she held out her hand in front of her. Squinted.

“Is that. . .?”

Brenton looked at her hand and then his own.

“We have matching tattoos,” Teddy said, tracing a hand over her palm.

Brenton traced his palm as well, and they grinned at each other.

“I’d bet a pot of coffee Eiran is somehow behind this,” she said.