Page 26 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
Uncle Hudson stepped forward. Once he was at my side, he dropped to a single knee. “Elder Guardian,” he began, “I understand your disappointment in the young prince. Believe me, we feel the same?—”
“I feel no disappointment,” my mother said, one hand cusped to her chest.
With my parents’ hands linked, my father nodded as he and my mother moved forward.
“It was the Elders who bound him to a human, knowing he couldn’t resist going to her,” my father said.
“Father,” I warned, shooting my parents a desperate look.
The Elder growled in warning, his lips curling back to show his deadly teeth.
My father simply shook his head. Uncle Hudson got to his feet beside me and put a heavy hand on my shoulder, keeping me in place. I resisted squirming at the pressure he put on an open wound that shrieked in pain.
“My son’s death may very well be in your hands, but he is still my son,” my mother argued.
“Our son,” my father corrected.
I watched them, stunned, with my breath suspended in my lungs.
“Was this a joke?” my mother questioned. “A test?”
The large Elder moved forward, his enormous legs crushing fallen trunks while his tail slashed away brushes. “If this were a test, would you say he passed?”
“I’d say everyone failed.” My mother tipped her chin up in challenge.
Guardians help her. She was going to get herself killed.
“I failed,” I said.
I failed at keeping Teddy safe, and I’d be damned if I failed at keeping my parents safe now too.
“You followed your heart the way your mother and I taught you to.” My father’s eyes grazed over me in what I thought was pride. “You went to your mate when she was in danger. I would’ve done the same.” My father pulled my mother closer to his side and pressed a quick kiss on her head. “Allow my son to live in exile alongside George in the human realm,” he offered, his tone that of a ruling king.
My mother turned toward my father and gripped his arm as she shook her head, rejecting his idea.
“They should all live in exile in the human realm they damned,” he continued, his attention on the Elder while I gasped in surprise. “Or do you know of a better punishmentthan him watching over the female’s region and her, knowing she will never be his?”
His words were torture, forcing my friends to live in a realm I’d damned. But also a gift, allowing me to be close to Teddy and watch over her. I wanted to hug him, thank him, beg him to take back his punishment.
“Do you command us now, King Thierry?”the Elder asked.
Black magic swirled around us. It swam over my skin and into my mouth and nostrils, then down my throat, where it gripped my lungs. I hacked a cough and stuttered down to my hands and feet when the Elder’s magic squeezed my heart.
“Breathe through it,”Nalari demanded.
As if it were that easy. I tried to suck in a breath, but his magic restricted the oxygen, so all I could muster was a shallow gasp.
“Or maybe Queen Renee believes she can dictate the Guardians now,”he continued.
“No,” my mother rasped out.
Through the dark smoke, I found her on her knees with her hands frantically scratching at her throat.
“No,” she coughed out again.
Slowly, the Elder withdrew his magic. I sucked in a greedy breath of air and heard everyone around me do the same. Still by the cave, Brenton vomited while George leaned on his knees and coughed. Everly was the only one who seemed okay.
“This was my doing,” I whispered, my throat raw and painful. “The punishment should be mine, not theirs.”
