Page 109 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“You will teach me to fight,” I told her. “Elias promised to teach me how to kill your kind. He said I’d never be stronger or faster than fae, but he’d teach me where to strike to kill. You’re going to teach me instead.”
Her smile was cautious with a hint of pride.
“You want to start now?” she asked.
Taken aback by how quickly she agreed, I asked, “How are you so eager to teach me to kill you when I’m this pissed at you?”
“It’ll take you a while to get to the point where you could kill any of us,” she said, her brows drawn together. “I’m hoping you don’t hate us as much by then.”
That was the thing, though. I didn’t hate them. I wasn’t even pissed at them.
It was just easier to pretend I was than admit to the pain they’d caused me.
“If you’ll let me, I can help train you too,” Brenton offered with a sheepish grin. “We’re still friends, right?”
A part of me wanted to be spiteful and refuse him, but he’d come last night to check on me. Had stayed and offered quiet comfort. So I nodded to him, and his smile grew.
When I spoke, I directed my words to Everly. “This doesn’t make us friends.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to take it easy on me,” she said. “Don’t expect me to take it easy on you either.”
She gave me a careful smile, and I could’ve sworn I saw vengeance there. A promise for punishment. Maybe it was for what I’d said to George. Maybe for the way I’d hurt Elias.
Either way, I’d take it. I’d learn so I’d never be helpless again. So no one would ever kill another in the name of protecting me. My heart was broken—crumpled beyond recognition—but I’d rise again despite that writhing pain.
Chapter
Eighteen
ELIAS
I fought now without hope.
I fought with Nalari about how she’d invaded Teddy’s mind at the worst possible time. I fought with Everly, who trained Teddy when it should’ve been me. I fought with Brenton, who had been the only one forgiven for some unknown reason and able to maintain a friendship with Teddy. And I fought with George, who insisted on babysitting me.
My favorite fights were with the hydras Nalari and I had hunted down two days ago. Finding four of their nests and killing them had brought me more satisfaction than using my magic to help feed the people of this realm ever had.
Since my youth, my hands were trained for fighting, not tending. Not for gentle caresses or?—
Not even for the sewing or whittling that brought me peace.
I caged those thoughts in the deep abyss of my mind, where I didn’t care. Didn’t want to care.
I hadn’t yet rejected Teddy as my mate the way Nalari keptdemanding I do. Maybe I would, but I probably wouldn’t. I quietly liked that tiny spark of connection that remained between us. No, not between us. She’d rejected me again. There was no tether on her end, only mine. While my end of the bond wasn’t as strong as it once was, it was still there. Small and insignificant, but enough to keep me from losing myself entirely to the darkness.
Without it, I was certain I’d plummet. Maybe after I’d killed off all the hydras, I’d let myself go. But there were still nyxx, lirio, and thunderbirds to deal with.
Nalari pitched toward a thick forest, where the trees shifted unnaturally. My heart raced in anticipation of the upcoming battle.
“I don’t remember you ever being this excited over a fight,”Nalari said.
I grunted.
It wasn’t like I had to send her my thoughts for her to hear me.
Nalari circled over the trees and banked hard to the left when she saw one of the hydras. All three of its heads glared back at us and spit out streams of fire. Nalari roared, breathing fire back. When she circled back around it, this time lower to the ground, I jumped off her back and landed on my feet hard enough to turn my ankle.
“Elias,”she roared out.
