Page 158 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
Squeezing our hands in answer, he nodded.
“That’s actually not why we’re here,” Teddy said. “Good guess and all, but. . .”
While she kept her voice steady, I sensed her rising nerves.Were those nerves because she thought Brenton would refuse her offer?
“Eiran told Teddy something interesting,” I said, bristling at the wordinteresting. “About Teddy giving you her blood.”
His throat bobbed when he swallowed, his hand in mine becoming clammy.
“Apparently, you drinking my blood makes me your sister, which is cool for you.” Her smile was tentative and nervous as she bobbed her foot up and down. She tried to say it as if it didn’t matter, but she kept glancing at me with a wary expression.
“Who wouldn’t want Teddy as a sister?” I said, hoping my tease would ease some of her nerves.
He shifted on his chair. “That’s what I feel?” he asked. “I couldn’t place it, but. . .” He shook his head. “I thought it was because of what you did for me, but what? You’re like my sister now?”
“Yeah.” Teddy tapped her unused hand on her lap. “But because you fae have this weird rule about two-sided bonds, I have to take in your blood because I’d really like to have you as my brother.” She paused, chewing on her bottom lip. “If you want to, I mean.”
He turned in his chair to face her fully, his face tilted up to where she continued to watch him nervously. I heard the way their hearts sprinted, one in sync with the other.
“You would?” he asked.
He looked so hopeful, and it made my own heart clamor. I was a selfish fool for even considering denying either of them this bond.
“I would,” she whispered, her foot bobbing faster. “If you’re okay with that. After my mom passed”—she shrugged—“I didn’t have any family left. I made my own family withmy best friends, but if you’re okay with it, I’d like to have you as my brother.”
He let go of my hand to put it on top of their joined hands. At that moment, their emotions overwhelmed me. How much they each needed the other, as if that need were a live thing between them.
“I couldn’t ask for a better sister,” he said softly.
“Yeah?” she asked, her tone questioning as if she didn’t believe him.
My chest ached at the sound of it, and all I wanted was to wrap her in my arms and hold her until all that doubt melted away from her.
“Yeah.”
She kissed the top of his head, and he wrapped his arms around her waist.
Brenton turned to me with his brows drawn together. “Are you okay with this? I mean, she’d be taking my blood and . . .”
I was trying to be okay with it. “It’s fine.” I cleared my throat as if it would also clear the half-truth I’d said. “I trust both of you.”
He stared at me for a long time. I wasn’t sure what he saw before he nodded.
“Eiran never said how much blood,” Teddy said. “What if I vomit? Does that kill my end of the bond? Do we have to say something, like some weird spell? Do I have to go back to Eiran and fight him to get my end back up and running?”
“You don’t have to?—”
“You’re not getting out of this,” she said, her tease trying to hide her anxiety. “You have no idea the ways I’ve always wanted to torment a brother.”
With his attention bouncing from me to Teddy, Brentonpulled out his dagger. He waited for my reaction, seeming to weigh each breath I took.
“I can slice my hand and let my blood drip into your mouth,” he suggested.
“Okay.” Teddy shook out her hands as if she was ridding herself of her nerves before sitting back on her chair. “You have no idea how disgusting this sounds to my poor human brain.”
I huffed out a laugh.
Teddy tilted her head back, and Brenton gripped the dagger in his hand.
