Page 131 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
I pressed up to my tiptoes to kiss his lips once—a featherlight touch. He stilled, his features crumpling as he inhaled a quick breath.
“You came for me,” I said again, my heart both cracking and mending. “Even after I rejected you, you kept coming back for me.”
“I’ll always come for you.” His voice broke as his eyes watched me. “You’re my soul-bound mate.”
I held myself open for him, let him see what I couldn’t yet say. Pretending my heart wasn’t in my outstretched hands, I waited to see if he still wanted it.
“You respected every boundary I set and still found ways to take care of me.” I swallowed past the emotions lodged in my throat. I rested my hand against his wet cheek, stroking the stubble on his chin with my pinky. “This guilt you carry, it isn’t yours to carry alone. Not anymore. I know you, Elias. You did what you did because you thought he was hurting me,killingme. You would never harm someone out of malice.”
He leaned against my palm, eyes closed and nuzzling my hand. His hands circled my waist, and I went to him, my arms looping around his midsection while he pulled me to his chest. His heart thundered beneath my ear, and his hand cupped the back of my head when I kissed his chest.
I peered up at him, watching each expression cross his features. Noting the hesitant tenderness as if he’d built a wall to protect himself. From me.
I deserved it. Would fight my way over it.
Still, I wasn’t sure how I felt about our bond.
“Can I ask you something?” I nibbled on my bottom lip.When he nodded, I asked, “What does soul-bound mate mean? Do you only like me or want me because of some manipulation of the bond?”
“No,” he said. “The bond brings two fae or individuals together. It manipulates feelings to an extent. When we first met, you trusted me. You were comfortable with me. That was the bond telling you that you were safe with me. It’s like our souls recognize each other and bind us while we get to know each other. Everything I feel for you, everything you make me feel is because of you. Because of who you are. I’m in awe of you, Teddy, and I don’t need a bond to tell me that you’re my future.”
Too scared to hurt him again, I didn’t ask if there was a way to fix the bond. If I really wanted to know, I’d find out from Nalari or Brenton.
“Why don’t you come to town with me?” I asked, changing the subject.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said.
“Everyone’s enjoying the market except you. The one who set it up for us.”
He ran a hand across my back, and I arched into it, wanting his touch more than I wanted my next breath.
“There are sweets and all sorts of food,” I said, trying to entice him. “There’s even some clothes from my favorite seamstress.”
He chuckled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Things have been harder with less food. I hope the market will help bring everyone’s spirits up and forge these trades I’ve been working on with other regions. I don’t want to dampen everyone’s mood.”
Because everyone had become wary of him since the nightof his barbecue. Then they’d come to dislike him more since he halved our rations.
All those months he’d worked and helped us, all the goodwill he’d earned had fallen away. My neighbors’ hate toward the fae felt insurmountable, but I knew that underneath all that hate was fear. Unyielding fear.
Fear of Elias and who he’d become. Fear of other fae pretending to be human.
“Come with me,” I said again. “Show everyone you’re still the same Elias who has provided us with food and snow-melting magic.” I grinned. “The guy they fought beside and helped take care of when the thunderbirds and nyxx attacked.”
“They’re afraid of me.”
His words cut through me, and just as he’d done countless times before, I wanted to be there for him.
I curled my fingers around the back of his shirt. “I see you, Elias. I’m not afraid of you. Never you. Please come with me.”
He sighed.
“I don’t have any right to ask anything of you, but I’m doing it anyway.”
He brushed a kiss against my temple. It’d been over a week since he’d held me in his living room after Leanora had struck me. A week since I felt his lips on me.
“Do it again.” It came out raw and hoarse.
He tilted my chin up, and when our lips met, it was soft and almost lazy. Slow, so slow as if he’d spend the rest of the day simply tasting me.
