Page 105 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
Because it wasn’thers.
I dipped my head low so I was a breath away from his ear.
“You will stay out of my region,” I said, my voice low and lethal. “I will rule my people the way I see fit.”
I pinned him down and waited for his reply.
On a hard swallow, he nodded.
It wasn’t enough.
“Do I make myself clear, Commander?” I demanded.
I pulled from the power I was born into and had been my right since birth. I let him feel that power, enjoying the way it made him shiver. Just before I forced his head down to a bow, something like hate swam behind his eyes.
Good, let him hate me.
“Yes, Your Highness,” he said, low and full of contempt.
Let them all hate me.
Chapter
Seventeen
TEDDY
I hurt.Deep inside, my heart hurt. My soul hurt. I felt lonely.
That feeling only grew with each friend who came by my little cabin near the woods.
I loved Ryenne for fleeing with me without question.
Loved Donnie for coming by and checking on me.
Loved Nate for the way he came for Ryenne.
Loved each of them for staying when I couldn’t muster out more than a few words.
I didn’t tell them. I couldn’t tell them about the first time I’d met Elias. About everything he’d willingly hidden from me. Instead, I spent my night outside with Nalari. At some point during the night, Brenton showed up too. Neither he nor Nalari talked, which was fine with me. I had enough trouble listening to the ruckus in my head.
Nalari kept the ground around me dry and warm. Sometimes I’d feel her sift through my mind. While I didn’t like the invasion of privacy, there wasn’t really anything there that my expression hadn’t already revealed.
Sometime after I’d left, Elias had left too. Just disappeared. I wasn’t sure where he was, how he was, and despite staying with me, I could feel Nalari’s anger with me. Her disappointment.
Which I understood, but Elias had disappointed me too. He’d hurt me too.
Watching the twinkling stars was soothing, though. It reminded me how small and insignificant I was. While I was the main character of my story and my pain was at the forefront of my mind, I was a speck of dust in this grand world. My worries were minuscule compared to the world we shared with so many different creatures.
Knowing that made my worries feel smaller. Made me feel lighter.
Still, I fretted over where Elias was. How he was.
It was a little after five in the morning when Nalari stood, her mighty muscles stretching with each movement, and glanced in the direction of Elias’s home.
“Elias is back.”She blinked before she lifted her snout into the air.
Brenton stood from where he’d spent most of the night and brushed the snow off his pants. Not knowing if he heard her, I told him what she’d said.
