Page 179 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
Too much.
Iturned from the choking mage, whose breaths wheezed from her in painful spasms. I felt her life as it was dragged from this life to another, where Eiran waited for her. My only hope was whatever her afterlife looked like, she’d suffer. At the thought, the tattoo Eiran had gifted me on my shoulder tingled in acknowledgment.
Around us, the fae still fought the lirio and nyxx. Whether they knew their queen was dead or simply didn’t care, the fight went on mercilessly. Blood bathed the once pristine snow where George and Brenton had run sleds for the kids of my town.
With his head angled to the side, Elias stalked toward me. I stilled as he sniffed my face and across my neck. When he stared back at me, his black eyes taking me in, I cupped his face, but he pulled away with a guttural snarl. I stepped closer to him, and despite his warning growl, I took his hand and placed it against my chest, where fear ravaged my heart.
He let out another low growl. I tapped the back of his hand before I bit into my finger. Once I drew blood, I brought my finger to him while he kept his palm against my chest. He clasped my wrist with his other hand and brought my finger to his mouth.
“I’m yours,” I said, keeping my eyes on his. “You’re mine.”
He drew my finger from his mouth to circle his tongue around it. This growl was that of pleasure, and his eyes returned to their beautiful violet color for an instant.
“Elias,” I said his name, wanting to hear him say mine.
Although he remained quiet, he tucked my hand in his.
Exhausted, I somehow managed to keep the barriers around us and Elias’s mom safe for now while our friends fought. I whirled around when I heard a gunshot behind me, then gripped Elias’s arm when I saw the people, the humansof my town, rushing toward us. Ready to fight these creatures and get our home back.
“They’re not frozen.” I pushed the words out with a single breath, both surprised and relieved.
“The mage is dead,” he said, sounding distant as if his very soul was holed up in some hidden spot I couldn’t find. “Her magic no longer holds them.”
I touched his face again, needing to know he was still there, and sighed in relief when he pushed his face against my palm.
“Stay with me,” I whispered. “Okay?”
His black eyes searched my face, and he nodded. “Always,” he replied, just as low.
His fingers twined with mine, and I let the barrier fall only to lift another around Everly and George as two lirio bound toward them. The lirio bounced off the barrier and shook their head at the impact. Sluggishly, Everly lowered her sword and turned to find me watching her. She nodded at me before dropping to her knees beside George, who leaned back and rested on the ground.
I joined my magic with Elias and felt a push I recognized as Alastor’s connect within me. I used it to thrust our magic toward the creatures. Watching as we created spears from the fallen snow that Elias flung at the nyxx and lirio.
Gunshots echoed around us, the shouts of the fae and humans just as loud. From above, the dragons roared, breathing fire that consumed any creature it touched.
I pitched forward, letting go of Elias’s hand when something pushed me from behind. That same something, a lirio that towered over me, picked me up with two of its gaunt fingers around my midsection.
I shoved my magic toward it, panic making me stumblewith my power. My magic swam around it uselessly while I hit the large fingers that held me. Then Elias used his magic to throw spears of ice at it, so I used my own to create the same. I sent those spears through its wrist, and it bellowed out in pain but didn’t let me go. Brenton’s smoke magic trailed around it, toward its face where his magic swept through the lirio’s nose and mouth. The creature tore at his throat with its unused hand, but Brenton’s magic was relentless.
More and more flooded its mouth, and it hurled me toward the ground while it hacked out a cough.
Elias’s magic caught me on a cloud of snow that he brought down gently. Close enough to the ground, I jumped off it, and pain shot through my foot when I landed wrong and turned my ankle.
Elias grabbed my waist and bent space to take us away when the creature fell to the ground.
I winced in pain when I put weight on my foot and then shook my head when Elias looked at me questioningly.
I felt it when Alastor withdrew his magic. Felt it when he crossed the veil to my realm.
The nyxx and lirio stopped while the fae and humans continued their attack. Still, the creatures didn’t move, and I saw Alastor’s approach from the distance.
A flash of various colors came from him in threads that seemed to lead him toward the fighting grounds. It was vibrant and shuddered with every step he took toward us. When he neared us, the lights flared, with the yellows, oranges, and blues dimming and fading. The greens and blacks did the same so that all that remained was a blinding white that shimmered with a deep indigo.
He held his hands out, and the noise of the fightcalmed to nothing.
“I do not wish to kill you,” he told the creatures who hung on to his words. “My sister lied to you. She was never going to set you free to any realm.”
Elias growled.
