Page 140 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“You’re not dying,” Teddy told him.
She ran her fingers through his hair, and he blinked a few times before he closed his eyes with that grin still on his face.
“Sorry, Elias.” He licked his lips. “Your lady likes me more.”
Beside me, Donnie removed his long-sleeved shirt and pressed it harder against his wound. Went as far as kneeling on it, making Brenton groan.
“Of course, I like you more,” Teddy told him softly, still playing with his hair. “After all, you are the ugliest in your group.”
“You remember our first date?” Brenton licked his lips again.
“How could I forget?” While she said it teasingly, two tears fell down her cheeks.
I hated the sight of her tears. Hated that I didn’t know how to make this right.
“I. . .” I looked around at my friends. Defeated, I pulled at the ends of my hair, my hands soaked in his blood now covering my hair. “I don’t know what to do.”
George and Everly knelt on Brenton’s other side. While Everly hid her fear well, there were streaks across her cheeks where tears had already fallen.
“What do you need from me?” George asked Brenton.
George took Brenton’s hand, and Brenton turned his head to look at him. He looked at Everly before he turned those dimming eyes on me.
“I’m glad to have known you all,” Brenton said. “To have been part of your family.”
“You’re not dying,” I gritted out. Or tried to but it came out desperate and gravelly.
“Your mate”—he said looking up at Teddy—“and her friends are good people. Treat her right or I’ll come back to haunt you.”
Teddy let out a watery laugh, and she rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. But I rejected his words, his easy acceptance of his pending death, and went back to work. Trying to mend what was beyond repair. Fighting for Brenton’s life.
So involved in what I did that I didn’t hear Teddy until she shouted my name.
“Nalari said he needs blood,” she said. “I’m O negative.”
I continued working on him, losing every inch of this battle his body waged against him.
“Elias,” Teddy said firmly.
I looked up at her, feeling helpless. Useless. My best friend, my brother, was dying, and I couldn’t stop it.
“Nalari’s on her way back, but she said Brent would respond to my blood,” she said.
She could be right, but I wasn’t sure. While a fae’s body would reject any fae’s blood that wasn’t their mate’s, a human’s blood might work.
“How can I give it to him?”
Everly took out her dagger, and when Teddy reached out her hand, Everly sliced Teddy’s palm open. Everly said something I couldn’t hear with the ringing in my ears growing louder. Teddy squeezed her hand into a fist, and when George opened Brenton’s mouth, Teddy guided her blood to spill into his mouth.
I turned my attention back to Brenton. To the way his chest barely moved with the shallow breaths he took. The way his eyes remained shut. The way his pallor had turned a mute gray.
He was dying and so close to death, I didn’t know how to fight it.
“The herb,” I pushed out. “He needs one of our herbs.”
“It’s gone,” George said.
“What?” I gasped out.
