Page 32 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“Probably.”
“And yours?”I worried.
She blinked.“I’m a dragon.”
“And I’m a fae,”I argued.“We both possess magic, and both are stuck in a strange realm.”
She lifted her head arrogantly, but it somehow made her seem more majestic, not that I’d tell her that.
“You and I are not the same.”Her words took on a frustrated tone, something I felt in the sudden heat in my stomach.“You were gifted magic, while I?—”
“You are magic,”I said, rolling my eyes.“Careful, Nalari, your arrogance is showing, and it’s not a great look.”
“Arrogance and confidence are two different things entirely.”She sighed.“Are you really going to let what the Elder said about you being a lesser fae come between our relationship?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared. “Our relationship?” I asked aloud. “You mean, me being your ward and you being, my what exactly?”
“Your Guardian. I am duty-bound to protect you.”Her voice was clipped with impatience, and when she let out a breath, a long string of smoke flared from her nostrils.“You know this, Elias. You know the history. Why are you fighting this? Why are you fighting me?”
“Because.” Frustrated, I threw my hands in the air.
My breaths came out shallow, hefting my shoulders up and down. I stared at the frozen lake, at the frozen ground and trees. At the cave Nalari had landed us near with snow covering most of its entrance and icicles hanging precariously from the ceiling.
With my arms outstretched, I spun in a slow circle. “Look around you. Look at what I did to the human realm, to my closest friends, to my mate. The Elder, one of our oldest Guardians, made sure everyone would suffer except me, the one who caused all this. How is that a just punishment?”
She was quiet for a moment, studying me through her golden eyes.“I thought you’d been let off easily, but I see now that the Elder knew what he was doing. Your punishment is just.”
“Just?” Indignant, I shouted the word at her, listening to the way it filtered through the crisp air. “Would you say that if it were your friends suffering because of you?”
She blinked.“I have no friends.”
I rubbed a palm over my chest, where a small ache pierced at her words. But I already knew this. Nalari and I weren’t friends. If it weren’t for our connection that let me feel her worry for me, I wouldn’t think she cared much for me at all. I was fine with that. I preferred it actually.
Maybe after all our years together, I thought she’d come through the veil for me and not her sense of duty.
Knowing my voice would sound rough, I spoke to her through our mental connection.“Nalari.”I hesitated, both wondering if I wanted to know the answer to my question or stay ignorant.“There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”I looked around at the almost serene nothingness of our white landscape.
“There are a lot of things I don’t tell you.”Another long stream of hot smoke unfurled from her nostrils.
When she said nothing, I waited, turning back to the lake and wondering what it looked like before the freezing temperatures. Boats had tipped over along the far shore and laid on their sides.
If there had been any passengers on those boats, I hoped they’d made it to safety before the snow made it dangerous to pass.
“The Elders have been talking about the human realm for some time,”Nalari finally spoke.“I don’t know anything for sure, but I think they wanted a reason to come here.”
Alarmed, I gaped back at her.“Why?”I shook my head.“Why do you think that?”I asked when she remained quiet.
She turned her head, dismissing me.“I won’t discuss this further until I know something more. Just”—she paused, her huge body lifting when she took a steep inhale—“be careful with the Elders, Elias.”
“That’s it?”I clenched my fists at my side.“What about Teddy?”I asked, narrowing my eyes.
It was unprecedented for fae to find a mate outside of Niev. Yet I, the prince, had.Strange.
Or . . .
“Did they give me a mate in the human realm so I’d pass through the veil?”
That thought fought against everything I’d been taught, everything I’d been warned against. While going through the veil had been the norm thousands of years ago when mages were still alive, it was strictly forbidden since their annihilation.
