Page 182 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“It wasn’t destroyed?” I asked.
Someone, one of my fae friends, used their magic to remove the blood from our shirts and skin, including my mother’s.
“No,” Ryenne answered. “Whatever magic destroyed everything here never made it to our neighborhood.”
I nodded, sending a silent prayer of thanks to whoever our gods were.
“She can stay with Grandma Richter,” Donnie told me. “While we. . .” His shoulders lifted and fell in a defeated shrug. “I need to get back. Help whoever I can.”
“I’ll go with you,” Alastor offered.
Not knowing who he was, except for what he’d seen on the field, Donnie eyed him warily but then nodded in agreement. Nate followed them.
“There are fae in the cells of our dungeon.” I swallowed hard as I told George and Everly. “I left them there. I”—I cleared my throat—“I don’t know about the rest of Niev, but the mage destroyed everything in Somnio and Reignom, aside from the castle.”
When George threaded his fingers with Everly’s, she leaned against him.
“We’ll go back,” George said. “Get everyone out of the cells and?—”
“They can live in the castle while we fix the cities,” I finished for him.
I felt my mother’s eyes on me while her cries grew quieter.
“There have to be more than those who are in the cells,” I said. “Unless she killed the rest.” I shook my head.
“Dead or alive, we’ll find them,” Everly said.
“What..” Brenton sighed. “What do you want to do with your father and uncle?” he asked softly.
Those broken shards of my heart pierced through me so that I wheezed out a painful breath. Teddy was there, though, her hand still on my arm, her eyes pleading with me to tell her how to help. I shifted my mother in my arms, kissing the top of her head when she cried into my shirt.
“Take them to Niev,” I said, my voice far calmer than I actually felt. “Ask any fae who can to help you take our dead home. We’ll honor each of them when I can go back.”
“I think any fae who wants to go back home should be able to do so,” Teddy said, her tone quiet. “Any fae in all the regions, Elias. They shouldn’t be forced to live here if they don’t want to.”
“I can’t harvest enough food for everyone on my own,” I told her. “I can’t keep the electricity or water or any of it going without the fae who are here.”
“Then we figure out something else,” she said.
“Your mate is right,” my mother said, sniffling. “No one else should be punished for what we did.” She closed her eyes and rested her head against my chest. “I want to go home too.”
“You will,” I told her. “As soon as I can get away, we’ll go home. We’ll lay Father to rest.”
With her eyes still closed, she nodded.
“Ask fae from other regions to come here,” I told Everlyand George. “We can divide them into those who stay and those who go back to help. But we need to rebuild here and back in Niev before anyone can settle anywhere.”
George nodded before he and Everly headed back to the square.
“I need you here,” I told Brenton. “After everything settles, you can go back to Niev if that’s what you want, but I need your help here for now.”
With that, he also left for the square while I bent space so that Teddy, Ryenne, my mother, and I could step into Ryenne’s home. Although she and Donnie had said their home hadn’t been touched, I was still surprised to see it standing.
Teddy led me through the halls to the room she and I had shared while Ryenne went to speak to her grandmother. Teddy pulled the covers back so I could lay my mother on the bed. When I sat beside her, Teddy covered my mother up to her chin.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked my mother. “Tea, water? Ms.—Your Majesty?” Panicked, she stared at me through wide eyes while her cheeks flared with a blush.
Despite myself, I smiled. “Mother, is it okay if Teddy calls you Renee?” I asked.
