Page 7 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
Everly came beside me and placed a hand on my rigid shoulder. “What is it?” she whispered, her own attention sweeping the tavern in search of whatever threat had alarmed me.
The female in my head shuddered as a small gasp asking for help crashed into me. Her wary gaze seemed to slam against mine, pleading with me.
I held a hand to my stomach while George tried to ease meback to the stool. Only then did I hear the sudden stillness of the tavern where talk and music had ceased.
I lifted my hand and forced out a chuckle. “Indigestion,” I said, laughing.
If anyone laughed with me, I didn’t notice.
Sweat collected in my palms as I staggered out with my friends close behind me. Once outside, I sucked in a cold breath and held it in my lungs until it burned.
“What’s going on?” Brenton asked.
I pressed my fingers to my temple, where it began to throb. “The female,” I hissed out.
“The human female?” George lifted a brow in question.
I shook the sudden fog that filled my head and blinked, trying to refocus as my soul mate’s fear wrapped around me like a vise.
“She’s in danger,” I gritted out.
She needed me. Me, not my primal instincts that wanted to take over.
“Elias,”Nalari warned.
While her cave was far, it wouldn’t take her long to get here. If I wanted to get to the female, I couldn’t hesitate. Not like I’d done earlier.
“You can’t.”Her growled warning reverberated in my ears.
“Then we must go to her.” George clapped my back, smartly keeping some distance between us.
My friends, the fae I’d been counting on since youth, nodded. They were with me, and foolishly, I thought it was enough. That the warnings that had been drilled into my mind were nothing more than a tale.
And if they weren’t?
In the kingdom my ancestors and our Guardians built, the best of us, the most noble of fae, carried the weight of therealms on their shoulders. It was the only way to maintain peace among all the realms. And they were the ones who were crushed first as the weight of all the worlds caved in on them.
I wasn’t that selfless.
And what now seemed inevitable despite the terrifying repercussions was this.I’d damn the whole human race to save the girl.
Chapter
Three
TEDDY
Years ago,my best friend Ryenne had sent me a screenshot of a meme, which I saved under theQuotesphoto album of my phone. It said something about positions and ranks being temporary, but how people would always remember the way we treated them.
Ryenne insisted it was my mantra, and it was by far my favorite quote to read on bad days.
And oh boy, was today a bad day.
Not terrible, like the time I was sixteen and went to church with the back of my dress tucked into my underwear. I’m still not sure how I didn’t feel the draft, but the second my almost bare ass touched the wooden pew, I shot up and frantically pulled my dress down as Ryenne and her older brother, who happened to be my other best friend, snickered at me.
For a few hours that day, I made sure to let both Ryenne and Donnie know they were my least favorite people. At least until Donnie threatened to punch my ex and anyone else who laughed at me. Like true best friends, they were the only two allowed to make fun of me.
Although today wasn’t show-your-goods-to-church kind of bad, it still sucked. Not only had two clerks called in sick but we were only four days away from Easter. While it wasn’t as busy as Thanksgiving or Christmas, we still had people lined up all the way to the parking lot in the hopes of bringing home some donated food they could prepare for their families. These wives, dads, and grandparents all knew me and expected me to be kind and friendly despite the circumstances.
