Page 62 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
No, I hadn’t died, although a few times last night I’d wished I had. But then I remembered her.
Teddy. My soul-bound mate.
The way she looked at me. Touched me. Kissed me. Took care of me.
And she did it with our bond broken. She did it for me because maybe—just maybe she liked me.
I was foolish to hope, but Guardians help me, I’d take a thousand lashings to feel her hands on me again.
“You are foolish.”Nalari’s voice raked through my aching head.
“Do you ever not listen in?”I retorted.
She huffed out a laugh.
On a quiet groan, I looked behind me to find Teddy’s donkey sleeping on my feet. The movement shot a burst of pain throughout my back, enough that all I wanted to do was rest my head back on the pillow Teddy had given me last night.
She’d tended to my various wounds gently, so gently her touch was like a whisper. Still it hurt, although I did my best to keep myself from flinching so she wouldn’t shy away from me.
She hadn’t just taken care of me but cared for me. It was obvious in the way her bottom lip had wobbled, in the way her eyes had watered, and her breath had shook.
I told myself not to get too excited about it because Teddy was the type of person to care for someone without actually liking or even knowing them. It was why she looked after Victoria, who wasn’t her own. Why she went to her store every day, even before we had arrived, and started providing food. Why she went to Javier’s the previous night with food she probably couldn’t spare.
She gave of herself and, from what I’d witnessed, never asked for anything in return. As if the giving were reward enough.
Needing some more pain medicine, I eased one foot out from under Hee-haw and placed it on the floor. The strange pet opened one eye to watch me. When I took out my other foot and knelt on the warm tile, I sent a silent thank you to my friends who’d remembered to make sure Teddy stayed warm for the night.
On shaky legs, I stood as quietly as I could so as not to wake Teddy from wherever she slept. The blasted donkey broke that silence with a loud bellow, that oddly sounded like his name.
I ran a hand over my face in amused disbelief.
“You’re awake,” a man said from behind me. “And naked.”
Pain slashed over my back when I whirled around and glared at Donnie, about to argue I wasn’t naked. I had a pair of human shorts on, which was far more comfortable than the trousers from my realm, but the divine smell of whatever liquid steamed from his cup distracted me. I clenched my jaw, wanting to ask what he was doing here or if I could have a cup of whatever he drank, but then I saw Teddy. She slept upright on a chair facing her front door with a long, slender, metal stick of sorts on her lap.
Her red hair fell over her shoulders while her pretty face tipped forward. She was compassion, yes, but also passion and fire. She was love. And at that moment, that was what I saw. What I didn’t dare blink away from.
“She’ll be up soon enough,” Donnie told me.
I nodded but didn’t look away from her. Without having met her, I’d once compared her to a siren without knowing how accurate that was. She called to me, and if she willed it, I’d gladly follow her to my own end.
“So will the others,” he continued.
“Others?” I asked.
I forced my attention away from her to find Ryenne and a male I’d seen but never spoken to, curled up together on the floor by Teddy’s feet.
“Come,” Donnie urged.
I followed him to the small kitchen, and when I took a seat similar to the one Teddy slept on, Donnie handed me the same three painkillers I’d taken last night. On a hard swallow, I took them with the glass of water he offered. When I set the glass down, I was careful to move a white book out of the way.
Curious, I picked up the book without a title and soaked in Teddy’s scent that emanated from it.
“I wouldn’t go through that if I were you,” Donnie warned, jutting his square jaw toward the book. More scruff than I’d seen on him lined his jaw and upper lip.
I arched a single brow in question.
“It started off as Teddy’s dream journal for dreams she kept having.” I set it back down on the table. “But she’s turning it into a story. I used to think her imagination was crazy until you showed up with other fae and dragons.”
