Page 124 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
She snorted but winced. “You look worse than I do.” Her smile was wobbly, and when I went to hug her, she shook her head. “Pretty sure I dislocated my shoulder.”
“What the hell?” It came out loud and squeaky.
“Riot at the coffee shop,” Ryenne replied with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “What happened here?”
I shrugged and pointed at Austin, who still grumbled on the floor. George loomed over him, menace written all over his face. When he pulled Austin up by the collar of his shirt, he lifted him high enough so that his feet no longer reached the floor.
“He wanted more potatoes than his rations allowed, and like the genius he is”—I glared at the man—“he threw a tantrum and ruined good food.”
“No one gets to dictate how much food I can have,” Austin said, his tiptoes barely brushing the floor.
“No?” The single word sent a shiver down my spine.
Elias prowled toward Austin, an apex predator stalking its prey. With his feet back on the floor, Austin had the good sense to try to shrink away, his pallor turning white. George’s grasp on him was firm and unmoving.
With his fangs out, Elias circled Austin and George. Slowly. Menacingly. He pulled a dagger from around his waist and traced it over Austin’s cheek.
“Shall I make you bleed too?” he asked, his voice smooth like a lover’s caress.
It felt as though everyone in the store was holding their breath, waiting to see what Elias did next.
Although Ryenne held her injured arm with her other hand, she nudged me and then mouthed, “That’s hot.”
Which, okay, yeah, it was kind of hot. Or a lot hot. Especially when I imagined that silken voice saying all sorts of dirty things as he brushed his lips over my heated skin.
Everly came beside me with gauze for my nose and an ice pack for my jaw. I flinched in pain but held the ice pack in place while I ignored the dried blood beneath my nose.
Elias drew the dagger down to cut through the front of Austin’s shirt. Austin’s whole body shook, and a small, petty part of me delighted at the sight. Not that I wanted Elias to hurt him. But this, making him suffer and humiliating him after how he’d destroyed so much food? I could live with that.
Elias looked up at me, his gaze expectant.
“How much do you want this male to bleed?”Nalari asked me.
On a swallow, I held Elias’s eyes, which flashed between a dark violet and deep black.
“He destroyed so much food,”I said in answer.
“He also made you bleed,”Nalari snarled.
Her fury raged through our connection, and I wondered if what I felt was her anger or Elias’s.
“I trust Elias,”I said honestly. Because I did trust him despite his manipulations and lies. Trusted him to be in my corner and want what was best for me.“Whatever he thinks is fair so others at least think twice before they try something like this again.”
His eyes softened, flashing to their vibrant color as he dipped his head in acknowledgment. Then he drew the dagger lower, using it to press threateningly against Austin’s groin.
“Teddy did a good job making sure you won’t be able towalk for a few days.” Elias’s voice was nothing more than a taunt.
I bit my lower lip before I said, “Everly and Brenton have been teaching me how to disembowel a man, but I figured I’d go easy on him.”
Not a complete lie but not the truth either. We mainly focused on core work so my fighting stance was strong. Usually, they ended our session with ways to bring down a fae to give me a chance to either run or go in for debilitating blows.
Everly clasped my arm and squeezed before letting me go.
“Shall I let her finish you off?” Elias smiled, making his fangs look longer, sharper. “Or see what I can do with a dagger?”
“I. . .” Austin started, but to my horror, the front of his pants became wet as he pissed himself.
Elias drew back his dagger, and George let him go, so that Austin fell to the floor and knelt on his own urine.
