Page 165 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
The man’s throat bobbed in reply.
Elias threw him to the ground, close to where the bones and skulls had fallen. Elias squatted beside him, lifting another skull in his hand. He shifted it around his hand, seeming to examine it.
“You don’t have to reply now,” Elias continued. “We have other ways of making you talk.” He let the skull drop whenhe stood, but when the man went to stand back up, Elias kicked his shoulder, forcing him to stay down. “If you are missing someone in your family as of yesterday, you are welcome to look through these remains to see if they seem familiar.” His taunting smile held no sympathy. “There are also four bodies in the woods behindthe remnants ofTeddy’s home unless the hydras got to them.” He shrugged. “Unless Donnie gives you permission to search Teddy’s property, you will not go near her home.” He paused to look at the hushed crowd. “Those who sought to harm us didn’t just destroy our homes but also the livestock and vegetation I use to feed you. I hope whatever satisfaction they prized was worth the risk of starving everyone in this region. Our food supply is down to scraps. We have nothing but the vegetations the farmers tend to. We have nothing of worth to trade with other regions.”
Those words, the threat of us starving, seemed to break whatever stupor the people were in.
“What do we do if we know who else was responsible?” a woman about my age asked. “Or if we hear plans of another attack?”
I jolted, staring at these people who now seemed more foreign to me than the fae from a different realm.
“Speak to Donnie,” Elias said, his tone gentler before he hardened it again. “Teddy, Brenton, Everly, George, and I will be leaving for a few days. Commander Hudson will return with Everly and George. Acting as adults and not petulant children is in your best interest. I will not be here to stop the commander from punishing you, and if I’m being honest, if it came down to it, I may very well be the one wanting to use a whip against you.” He stared down at the man still kneeling on the ground and smiled. “While I’m away, Donnie and twofae of George’s choosing will be in charge. What they say is law.”
With that, he turned away, kicking the first bag enough so the rest of the bones fell out. While everyone stayed, watching Elias silently as if they were afraid to draw his attention, I went up to him, where he stood next to Donnie while George stayed close to the man still on the ground. While he kept his attention on the man, he wrapped me in his arms.
“Did your super-fae senses pick up any smell of urine?” I asked.
Donnie drew his brows together while Elias chuckled darkly.
“I can keep toying with them until someone does,” he offered.
I kissed his chest in reply and ran a finger over the arm that held me. All while keeping my attention on his eyes to watch them when they finally started lightening in color.
“Nalari said he knows something.” Elias jutted his chin toward the man.
Donnie nodded toward one of his men, who handcuffed him and guided him away with George close behind.
“Have George tell you which two fae to use,” Elias continued. “I’d like the fae to learn how you handle this situation. If he doesn’t talk, then the fae will teach you how we do things in our realm. Either way, I want answers by the time we come back.”
Donnie nodded.
“Does that mean we finally get to go to your world?” I asked, not trying to hide my excitement.
When he pulled down my beanie, I poked him in his side. I laughed when he jumped, shooting an annoyed glare my way, which wasn’t all that annoyed when his eyes slowly started tolighten. That raw power that quavered beneath his skin seemed to lessen as he reeled it back in until it vanished entirely. There, staring back at me with his dimples on display, was the man who owned my heart.
Having already said bye to my friends and the kids, I tucked my hand in Elias’s as he walked us to the tear he’d created inside the food bank. To where it all began.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
ELIAS
Fire cloudedthe sky with orange flames. Dust and debris coated the once pristine streets leading to my Somnio house. The crackling was much louder and worse than what I’d witnessed from Teddy’s home. Every crackle, every pop tore through me until I was certain my soul had splintered. What wasn’t in flames lay on the ground as snow-covered waste. Smoke filled my lungs as I took in the destruction that was once my home. My city and kingdom.
It was gone. All of it.
I’d left them vulnerable with Nalari and me in the human realm. With my uncle and many of our warriors ensuring the humans’ survival, that left my own home open to an attack.
So involved with my responsibilities in the human realm, I hadn’t given my people enough thought. Nor had I bothered to check on them.
The tavern I frequented with my friends lay as rubble while a fire raged in the boutique beside it. Row after row of ruins where shops and townhomes once were. The citizens, though, were missing from every place Teddy, Brenton, and Isearched. I was frantic to find them, dashing through the city and checking the destruction for some hint of life. My hands were dirty and bloody from the search, as were Brenton’s and Teddy’s. None of us worried about my healing magic.
“Maybe your parents evacuated everyone before this took place,” Teddy offered, her eyes wide as she continued to scan the area.
I was too afraid to hope. My breath caught in my burning lungs as wave after wave of shame washed over me. I’d left them. Abandoned and forgot them.
“You were banished,”Nalari reminded me, her voice distant as she neared the Elders’ cave.
