Page 28 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“Why would—”I started before Nalari interrupted.
“Shut up.”Her sharp tone was demanding. Gone was the patient, caring dragon of mere seconds ago.
“My father speaks for our family,”I argued.
“Fine, keep talking and get yourself and your family killed,”she said, patronizing me as if I were an ignorant child.“I’m growing tired of fighting your immaturity.”
“Elder Guardian,” Uncle Hudson began again, “as your loyal servant, I apologize for our disrespect.”
“You’re wasting my time.”A sense of revulsion crept through the joined connection.
The magnitude of it grew. It surprised me that whoever’s emotion I was feeling didn’t try to hide or mask it. Nausea rolled as the feeling strengthened.
“I’m disgusted by you right now,”Nalari seethed, still keeping my thoughts boxed in so only she could hear me.
“It’s not your disgust I’m feeling, though, is it?”I countered.
“Keep your head down and mouth shut, Elias,”she growled.
Maybe she was right in the way she was treating me. Maybe I was acting like a petulant child, but I knew it wasn’t Nalari who was disgusted. She was more annoyed than anything. Annoyed with me and annoyed with her fear for my safety.
“Although deserved, death would be a mercy to the young prince,” Uncle Hudson continued. “His human mate rejected him, and I’ve erased her memory, per his highness’s request.”
I held back a snort. Not once in my 127 years had my uncle ever called me by my title or done anything I requested because of that title. But he knew how to play the game and strategize to win. I couldn’t fault him for that. And if I survived this, I’d have him and Nalari to thank for it.
“If you send him back to the human realm, back to the female to live a life where the female does not recognize him as his mate, that, Elder Guardian, will be a far greater punishment than mere death,” Uncle Hudson said.
The Elder hummed in what I thought was contemplation.
Time stretched with nothing but the sound of snow falling. It did little to cool my heated skin.
“Strip him of his magic,” Uncle Hudson added roughly.
Strip me of my magic?
My uncle eyed me, a sad smile on his weathered face. “Make him helpless in helping the female through the chaos he caused.”
Defeated, my posture deflated.
Helpless to help her? How could I live with myself? But I suppose that was the point.
“Elias of Thierry, only son of the reigning king and queen and heir to the Niev throne.”The Elder stood before me.
I looked up and up and up until I reached his black and gray head. Reptilian yellow eyes stared down at me, and saliva dripped from his open mouth.
“You are stripped of your title as heir to the crown...”
My chest heaved, but it was the glimpse of my mother’s anguish that I fought to ignore.
“.. .and sentenced to live in exile in the human realm with your companions,”he snarled. “Commander Hudson will lead an army of his choosing in teaching the humans how to survive their new reality and fight against any of our darker creatures that make their way to the human realm. You, Elias, will oversee the female’s region. You will live out your sentence dictating her and her people, enforcing our rules and punishing any who step out of line. She will never come to see you as more than the fae who lords over her. While I will relieve your friends of most of their magic, yours will remain intact. Where others will suffer, you will not. That is your punishment.”He paused.“And should our creatures cross into the human realm, know their demise was your selfish doing.”
Heat rose over my throat and face as I balked at his words. I couldn’t let my friends suffer. Couldn’t let Teddy or her people suffer. While I’d hoped I still had a couple of hundred years before I ruled, if I had to lead Teddy’s region, I would do everything in my power to ensure she didn’t suffer.
My friends, though. . . A fae without magic was unfathomable. It was an emptying of one’s soul. A silent torment that few were strong enough to carry. Worse even than my fate as a rejected mate.
“Elder Guardian,”I protested, bowing my head at the giant beast.
Smoke fumed from his nostrils.“Your refusal is not up for consideration.”
