Page 118 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
I wasn’t ready to be in the same space as the journals, where Teddy’s scent lingered on every page.
“I’ll circle your region while you talk,”Nalari said.
I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to talk about Teddy or her journals, so I chose the least painful.
“There really wasn’t much in this journal,” I told her, frustrated with the time I’d wasted on details that weren’t important.
“Tell me anyway.”
“A whole lot of plotting her vengeance,”I told her on a growl.“The only thing of substance is that she’s been using the lirio to steal away fae that get close to the borders.”I ran a hand over my face.“I don’t remember my uncle saying anything about missing fae, though. Do you think he’d keep this from me or my parents?”
“From you, possibly, but not from your parents,”she said.“He wouldn’t be able to keep it from Sama, and if his Guardian knew, I should’ve heard about it as well.”
We were silent for a few beats.
“She used the fae taken by the lirio to absorb their magic, thesame way she did to Blaise and continues to do to her other brother.”
Nalari’s anger burned deep in my chest.
“What do you think this has to do with Teddy?”I asked.
“More importantly, what does this have to do with you, Elias?”
I recoiled at her words.
“As Everly already said, there’s a reason the mage is reaching out to your mate,”Nalari continued.“There’s a reason your mate was in the human realm in the first place.”
I felt the way the veins in my neck strained and popped while I tried to steady myself. I couldn’t lose myself. I needed to stay grounded. Needed to stay me.
“What do we do next?”I felt helpless and so damn ignorant.“When will the Elders allow us back into our realm to look for her?”
How could I help Teddy when I had no clue what was going on?
Just then, thunder clapped. My instincts flared with the familiar excitement of an upcoming battle. Again, I clamped it down, maintaining my focus. I could fight these birds and any other creature the way I’d always done, with my instinctive nature pushed down.
Nalari tipped her head higher and sniffed.“A small flock of three thunderbirds, all heading to our place.”
She circled, flapping her wings faster while I mulled everything over.
Soul-bound mates were supposed to be a gift from the Guardians, and make no mistake, Teddy was a gift. But giving me a mate in the human realm never made sense. Although the Guardians had never felt the bond between mates, they knew fae well enough to know how impossible it was to keep mates apart once the bond stirred. The longer a fae tried to ignore the call, the harder it became to do so.
What if it hadn’t been the dragons who’d bound our soul but the mages from long ago? Or Leanora through the living book she studied?
If she’d learn to manipulate fate. . .
But the connection I felt with Teddy was real. It wasn’t just the bond, though, but Teddy herself. She was kind and gentle; fierce and loyal. She made me laugh. Guardians help me, she was sexy and beautiful and absolutely adorable. She made me want to do and be better.
The bond simply magnified everything Teddy was.
“Elias,”Nalari called, ripping me from my thoughts.“I want to try something different with the female thunderbirds.”
She circled closer to the ground, and when she landed, I hopped off and called out my sword. My friends stood at the clearing, their weapons out and ready to fight.
“Talk fast,”I said.
“I’ll need your friends to help,”she continued.“It may drain them and leave them defenseless if it doesn’t work.”
“Spit it out.”
