Page 4 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
My body jerked at his implication. While he’d meant to put me at ease with his words, they’d only made me angrier. Lonelier.
I gave him a polite bow before I left the room and the palace to make my way back to Somnio.
Once I stepped outside the castle walls, the frigid wind welcomed me like an embrace. For a few beats, I lifted my face to the sky and let the snow fall on me before I used my magic to bend the folds between space. I left Reignom behind to step onto the streets of Somnio, the city I called home. My trek to the tavern I frequented most evenings was short, and by the time I reached my destination, my gloominess remained.
I didn’t want another soul mate. I wanted her. From themoment I saw her image in my mind’s eye, her hands held my soul. I belonged to her—my heart stolen from my own realm to hers with the beauty of her soft smile.
All the while knowing that as fae I could never cross to her world or see her in person. Still the wonder of her enraptured me, leaving me a lovesick idiot overfilled with emotion. Longing, yes, but joy was also mixed in with the sadness. All while anger fought for space over the injustice of it all.
Missing her was akin to missing a limb. I’d learned how to move forward and even ignore the phantom pain of a love I’d never see to fruition. It was the cruelty of my fate, but at least I could hear the pretty ring of her voice and could visit her each time I closed my eyes.
It didn’t matter that my soul was torn in two completely different places. She in her human home, and me in my realm—never to cross paths.
Tearing through the veil wasn’t just forbidden but punishable by death. All because of the mages that no longer existed. Mages had been magical beings who were similar to fae, but not fae. They had not only been gifted with long lifespans and magic but also experimented with spells, using their blood to bind the spells. Their greed for more power sent them to other realms, seeking to conquer and destroy any beings who wouldn’t bow to them. They’d corrupted our realm with soul magic that blackened and killed the very essence where magic lived inside each of us.
Where before, we’d cross through the veil—and some of us even lived among the humans in their realm—the Guardians had had to close it. They’d had to enforce brutal punishments for anyone who sought their way through. It had ripped families apart when fae were forced to leave their intended as well as the children they had created together.
It was as much for the protection of humans as it was for the beings in other realms.
On an inhale, I snapped myself out of my melancholy thoughts and reveled in the cold that carved deep into my flesh and straight to my bones. Wind and snow lashed across the skin exposed from my short-sleeved tunic. I hesitated at the entrance of the old tavern, taking one last deep breath of the chilly, crisp air before pulling open the hard wood door.
Loud chatter, laughter, and music greeted me as I stepped into the tavern, where I could no longer taste our endless winter on my tongue. Smells from the kitchen wafted in the air, making my stomach rumble. Always eager for a meal, I lifted a single finger to the male standing behind the bar, indicating I’d like whatever the cook of the day was preparing.
“Want me to bring it to you?” Goeffrey asked, his toothy grin exposing his straight, smooth teeth common for his species of fae.
With a quick shake of my head, I ran my tongue over my two sharp canines. They could cut through an enemy as easily as it could bring pleasure to a mate. For my species of faerie, biting was as intimate as sex, both in battle and in pleasure. It was why I rarely bit when fighting unless I needed to force my opponent into submission. Our body rejected blood that didn’t belong to our mate and could make us sick to our stomach for hours. But drinking from our mate—while I’d never get the opportunity—could be intoxicating and pleasurable.
“I’ll come back for it when it’s done,” I told Goeffrey.
“And his highness will be paying our tabs again tonight.” Amil, a familiar drunk male, slapped my shoulder with a good-natured laugh.
I grinned back, making his rosy cheeks lift higher. “Whatever it takes so I don’t have to serve meals to the lot of you.”
That earned me a boisterous laugh from the other patrons, who had no idea how close they’d come to death mere hours ago. Had Nalari not gotten there in time. . .
“Not gotten there in time?”She scoffed.“Don’t insult me.”
“Don’t make me block you,”I warned her, slightly lifting my mental shields.
A thrill ran through me at the idea of taunting her in such a way.
“You mean like you did when you asked your parents to let you go to the human realm?”She huffed.
I stumbled at her words.
“You’re fae,”she reminded me.“I’m a dragon and a Guardian. Your shields can’t block me, Elias.”
I grumbled before I tuned back in to the conversation directed at me.
“So long as you stay out of the kitchen, we’ll pick up your slack,” an older female named Edwina tossed back.
With another chuckle, I made my way to the back of the tavern. My closest friends, who were more like my siblings, sat beside the hearth where a fire blazed behind them. Or maybe not blazed, as the fire we kept in our kingdom never ran hot. Either we had become accustomed to the constant snow that fell year-round, aside from the three months of sunshine, without any snowfall, or our snow wasn’t very cold.
A fishing rod and net lay across the mantel as a memorial to the tavern’s father, Timothee, who’d passed away two seasons ago while on one of his many fishing expeditions. He was one of the lucky few the Elder Guardians had chosen for such expeditions. We’d learned a lot from his talks with thosesacred dragons and longed for the Elders to choose another worthy fae to speak and walk among them.
Below the picture of Timothee’s proud face, a calligrapher had inscribed:
By order of the Guardians, protectors of those who pledge their lives to the revered king and queen, the kingdom of Niev is a peaceful realm with peaceful beings. Any fae found in misdeeds or misgivings will be judged by the Guardians. Be warned and remain in the favor of the Guardians.
