Page 74 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

Chapter

Thirty

TEDDY

“No,” I shouted, pushing Elias hard enough that he fell to the ground.

I grabbed the orb from him, staring at the crack he’d made. Terror surged through me and made my blood writhe. But he hadn’t destroyed it. The orb still spoke to me, whispered and sang in my ears.

Broken but not destroyed.

As Alastor charged toward Leanora, I dropped to the ground where Elias lay, the snow wetting through my pants.

From my periphery, I saw Leanora vanish into a plume of smoke.

I ignored the dread of where she had disappeared to and instead stretched out my hand to Elias.

He blinked, those black eyes taking me in as if considering who I was.

But he’d remembered. I’d felt it as soon as our magic touched.

He pulled himself up to sit on the ground. Watching me, he dug his hands into the snow as he seemed to wait for me to move. I touched his cheek, and my breath hitched when he leaned against my palm.

“You’re okay,” I sighed out .

Before he could answer, my vision blurred. That blurriness grew to an overwhelming darkness until all I saw was the depthless black of my surroundings. My breaths came out faster as I blinked and blinked, but nothing came back into focus.

Anguish hit me, and I spiraled with all that I’d lost. No, not me, I realized as a small village came into focus.

Houses were destroyed with an endless fire that wouldn’t cease.

Death was written across every face I saw.

Oh, how these mages had suffered. How they’d cried out in pain to a king and queen who showed them no mercy.

These mages, whose only sin had been rivaling the fae in magic. A threat neither King Thierry nor Commander Hudson could tolerate.

Rather than snow, ash flurried and covered the streets and once green fields.

Life in the village had been snuffed out so quickly, so ruthlessly, the earth trembled from its force.

The sky darkened, and although a chill ran across my skin, I welcomed the rain, hoping it would wash away the ash, which was the evidence of this brutality.

The fae king stood before the destruction, his features void of any emotion, his face so much like Elias’s but harder. Blood coated his armor, his hands and face. An ancient embodiment of hatred lined his features when he turned to two towering dragons.

“It is done.” The dragon who spoke was an endless sea of black with clear, blue eyes that were filled with hate.

“It is done,” the king replied, bowing his head at the dragon. He sheathed his bloody sword to his waist while making his shield disappear. “Our pact?”

“You and your mate will rule your kingdom for eternity, with Hudson as your second,” the dragon reassured him .

“You will never grow older than you are now . Your people’s memories will be wiped of everything, believing the dragons as their salvation.

They will bow to us and only know the mages as the evil we put in their minds without ever knowing the truth. ”

The fae queen approached, her eyes the same beautiful violet as my mate’s. Her face was solemn. Sad maybe but it was triumph that spread her lips into a smile that revealed twin dimples.

With armor covered in blood, Commander Hudson stood at the queen’s side. That same sense of victory thrummed through him, making him more vicious than I remembered.

“What will our people think when we do not age?” she asked the dragon.

“Our magic will keep them blind,” the dragon said.

“We will show them the natural course of life and death without death ever coming for you.” A puff of smoke blew from the dragon’s nostrils.

“The pact remains as long as you keep true to the terms. You and your people will learn to suppress your primal instincts. It is your duty to make them fear it. And you, Queen Renee, can never bear children. Should you come to be with child, the pact becomes void, leaving you mortal and without our protection.”

Along with the ash, snow began to fall. Large drops, neither cold nor warm, fell on me like giant tears tumbling from the gloomy sky. The queen lifted her face, her delicate features open with curiosity and worry.

The king lifted his hand so that the snowflakes landed on his palm. “Snow?” he questioned.

The snow plunged down faster, thus beginning the first day of their realm’s endless winter—a punishment and curse for what they’d done.

The vision or memory blurred so that I was again standing in a black abyss .

The king and queen, Elias’s parents, had been there. They’d massacred an entire race and betrayed their own people. The dragons had become the true rulers while the royals had become immortal. At least until they’d conceived Elias and broken their end of the pact.

It wasn’t just the people his parents had betrayed, but the commander, who’d become mortal because of Elias.

“You see now?” Leanora’s voice asked, echoing in the chamber of the black void. “It was your mate’s parents who annihilated my people. Our people,” she corrected. “It was because of their jealousy of the magic we possessed—the magic you possess—that our people suffered and died.”

Our people who gifted me with the magic that lived in my soul.

“And the dragons helped them so that they may live as gods, with the fae worshipping and answering to them.”

“The mages were blameless in this slaughter?” I asked, the smell of burning flesh still filling my nose.

“No one is ever blameless, Theodora,” Leanora answered. “But nothing they had done justified the ruin of an entire race.”

“You mean to kill Elias’s parents, then?” My voice shook with the tremors that threatened to take over my body.

“I mean to kill them all,” she answered.

“Elias,” I whispered. My friends. My brother.

“I mean to conquer and rule every realm so that the earth quakes when it learns of mages. You could rule with me.” She paused, seeming to consider.

“You’re nothing like the fae, though, are you?

You won’t betray your mate or the male you now call your brother.

An exchange of blood does not make that fae your brother.

He is nothing more than a mere pet who will do your bidding.

Alastor and I are all that remain of your bloodline. ”

“We may share a lineage, but you are nothing to me,” I hissed back.

“Pity, really. I hoped all these years together would help you see.” She hummed, a soft sound that chilled me to my bones.

“I can understand, though. You were raised a human and are only now learning of your true heritage. It’s easier to allow fate to dictate and manipulate you.

Fate gave you Elias, so Elias you’ll have.

” Her taunting laugh seemed to crack through the darkness.

At my sides, I fisted my hands and blinked into the ensuing black. “How is that any different from what you’re doing?” I countered. “Fate dictated you’d try to avenge the mages, and here you are doing exactly that.”

She tsked. “I deviated from my family’s plans and paved my own way.

While my mother wanted vengeance, she would’ve killed me as a newborn if she’d known what I’d do to my brothers.

This”—she paused—“this is all my orchestration. From Elias leaving this realm to his return. I thought I was clever in giving your mate the orb,” she continued, her tone nonchalant.

“I knew he’d break from my spell when he tasted you and would break the orb.

But you saw it, didn’t you? You cunning little girl. Does the orb speak to your mage blood?”

“The orb told me it kills whoever destroys it.”

If she’d succeeded, with Elias gone, the fate Eiran had told me about would never come to pass while Leanora still got her vengeance. We had a choice, though. Different routes led us to different destinations.

“Elias is innocent in all this,” I said. “The other fae are innocent. My world and people are innocent. ”

The black surroundings ebbed to show the courtyard, where my body rested on the ground.

Elias shook my shoulders, frantic and shouting as Brenton paced in front of us.

Nalari crowded around me while the other three dragons lay next to their fallen friend.

I wasn’t sure where Alastor had gone, maybe disappeared with his sister to whatever realm to which she’d fled.

“The other fae may not have spilled our people’s blood, but they are not innocent,” Leanora said.

“Let’s see how your manipulations work out then,” I said, still watching the fae realm. “Stop hiding, and let’s see if the road you believe you’ve paved yourself ends the same way destiny says it will.”

Brenton paused and stared at me just before he hurried to my side. Kneeling, he grabbed the orb. Elias whipped his head toward Brenton and took the orb.

“No,” I whispered.

I reached for him but stayed in place, stuck in whatever realm Leanora had forced me to.

“No more hiding,” Leanora said. “When you go back to the human realm, bring my sweet brother with you. I believe I’ll enjoy his death most of all. You should probably hurry before there’s nothing left of the world and people you love.”

With a final laugh, her voice trailed away while I stayed there. Unmoving and watching as Elias clutched the orb and squeezed.

Just as I had twined my magic around Elias when he’d bitten me, I flung it toward him, seeking out his soul's beautiful silver threads. Like a beacon, they called to me. Summoned me home.

Elias stilled when I braided my magic with his, and it was his face I peered up to when I settled back in my body .

“Don’t destroy it,” I rushed out, my voice panicked.

The orb trembled in his hand and began whispering in my ear once again.

I shifted to my feet, taking Brenton’s offered help.

“The orb kills whoever destroys it,” I told my mate.

“It must be destroyed,” Alastor argued from behind us.