Page 68 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“Allow me to show you.” He slapped my shoulder across an open wound.
I hissed and bared my growing canines at him.
He held his hands up and gave me a grim smile. “Apologies, Elias.”
But that smell of his pleasure emanated from him. Inarrowed my eyes at the remorseful expression he wore. I didn’t trust it. For the first time in my life, I didn’t trust my uncle.
I walked with him through the pens. As I did every time I walked the grounds, I kept a mental tally of the livestock and vegetation. I noted who was near giving birth, how the young were growing, what they required, and how I could continue to feed them without taking away from the people.
I stalled. “We’re missing two cattle.” I rushed through the other pens and noted we were also missing a horse. Betrayal boiled through my veins, and I turned to my uncle, ready to fight the male I’d once held in the highest esteem. “Did you take them?”
His canines grew, ready to fight me.
I stood before the male who’d trained me. Who, despite my greatest efforts, I’d never been able to beat. Where he had once been bulkier than me, his stomach now rounded. He was still tall, but his trunk-like arms and legs had lost much of their muscle.
“You would blame me for stealing from you before the people of your region?” he hissed out.
His words clashed against me, and I reeled.
The people. Just because they’d never stolen from me didn’t mean they wouldn’t. And last night, they’d have had the perfect opportunity with me sick at Teddy’s and Nalari far from our home.
“Now what do you think of your mate and her friends?” Uncle Hudson sneered. “Still think she was looking after you because she cared?”
With my eyes narrowed, I worked my jaw back and forth. “Why don’t you tell me what you think?”
“Don’t let this female make a fool of you,” he chided,pulling back his canines while his posture loosened. “She and her friends kept watch over you simply so they could ensure whoever stole from you could get away with it.”
No. She’d let me stay with her because I was too weak to bend space or fly on Nalari. She’d taken care of me because she cared for me. She and her friends had protected me.
That was the truth. Not this ugly lie my uncle wanted me to believe.
Still. ..it was convenient, wasn’t it? Whoever had stolen from me had done so when neither Nalari nor I were around.
“Don’t,”Nalari said.“You know the truth. You and I both felt how Teddy cares for you. She protected you last night.”
“The others?”
“The others stayed as much to protect Teddy as they did you.”
Somehow that made me feel better. Knowing her friends would protect her was like a balm to my soul.
George, Brenton, and Everly rushed to me. Their faces were a mixture of anger and pity. They knew what my uncle expected of me. How I’d have to find the thieves and punish them.
“Where you thought you showed mercy last night by taking the boy’s punishment, you showed weakness,” Uncle Hudson said. “This is as much my fault as it is yours. We must fix this, Elias, before they get any more ideas about stealing from you. You will find out who stole from you and bring them to justice.”
Already knowing this, I didn’t flinch. Instead, I showed him a resolve I didn’t feel. “Yes, Uncle.”
“Good.” He cupped the back of my head, so I lowered my forehead to meet his. “We will make things right in this realm again.”
“Of course,” I grunted.
With that, he disappeared, bending space to whatever other region he deemed needed his attention.
I stared at our livestock. Although we still had many left, if they’d stolen from us once, they’d do it again. For Teddy’s sake, for her survival, I couldn’t allow it.
“Nalari and I will put an alarm around the pens and vegetation,” I told my friends. “If someone tries to steal from us again, we’ll know it.”
“I did you one better.” George grinned. “See, I had a feeling something would happen last night, so I used some of my magic on the livestock so that if anyone stole or harmed the beasts, they’d get sick.”
