Page 70 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“Some hydra tracks,”she said.“There were more lirio tracks, though.”
A roar built and died in my throat. But I wouldn’t be defeated or let these creatures harm Teddy or any of the people in my region. I just wasn’t sure how to keep them safe, especially from the lirio, who could camouflage against trees and run faster than any creature in our realm.
“They lead to a cave deep in the forest on the north side of our region. It’s strange, though, Elias. Their prints are everywhere. I saw them around the woods that surround Teddy’s house. A few others outside of Colina. Some more, close to Javier’s place. But they aren’t attacking.”
“That’s a good thing, Nalari.”
“It isn’t,”she argued.“Think about it. Hydras are brutal. They kill not for survival but for sport. If they’ve been roaming these territories for a while now, why haven’t they killed anyone yet?”
Not to mention the lirio, a breed of faerie like the nyxx who hated us light fae and would kill us for no other reason than that hatred. What would they do if they heard who the prince of Niev loved?
My breath caught in my throat.“Someone’s controlling the hydras. The nyxx aren’t smart enough to learn mind control. The lirio, maybe. It’s said mages could, but no, mages have been dead for years. No one else has the kind of magic needed to control them.”
Her deep sigh made her body vibrate.“That’s the otherthing. Every time we’ve flown by Teddy’s house, I feel something. Like a pull to protect her. It was stronger when I was right outside her house. It feels like—like she’s in some sort of danger.”
My blood ran cold, and the need to go to Teddy to make sure she was okay rushed through me.“Nalari, we have to?—”
“We’re going to speak to Donnie about the stolen cattle and the danger the idiot thieves put themselves in,”she interrupted with a snap of her jaws.
“Teddy. . .”I could bend space and transport myself to her, but I’d never done it while flying.
“You will trust me on this, Elias,”she demanded.“Teddy doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve opened myself to her the same as I did with you when I was first made your Guardian.”
Confusion warred with the dread that filled my icy veins.“You’re Teddy’s Guardian now, too?”
“I am.”
“How?”
“Need I remind you, I am a dragon. I am magic. I do because I can.”
“She’s safe, then?”I asked.“You’ve spoken to her?”
“I won’t speak to her or let her know of our connection until I’m ready.”She growled, and a plume of white smoke shot from her nostrils.“I trust her, Elias, but your female either has possession of something that holds soul magic or she herself is practicing it.”
“She can’t practice soul magic,”I argued.
Teddy was good. She was kind. She wasn’t from our realm, and she wouldn’t have knowledge of it. Besides, it wasn’t like Teddy was a mage.
Right?
Chapter
Twelve
TEDDY
It wasstrange how things could change in an instant.
While I still believed Elias was part of whatever happened to bring our endless winter, I no longer thought him to be the villain of our story.
Unless making sure the people who stole from him didn’t end up sick with whatever magic the commander had placed on the livestock in case they were stolen was considered nefarious. Not that Vance or Heath wanted Elias probing them with his magic or drinking the tea he’d made with the herbal plant he’d brought from his realm. While I didn’t like the magic Elias used to subdue them, I saw the necessity in it when they started vomiting black bile. It was either that or the morons would end up dead.
“Do you think the commander put magic on other things to keep us from stealing anything else?” I asked Everly.
It’d been a little over a week since Elias had told Donnie about the infected cattle that’d been stolen. Nine days since Donnie figured out our local troublemaking morons did it. After throwing them in a jail cell, Elias forced them intoallowing him to heal them. Seven days since Donnie and our chief of police held a private lashing. Elias used magic to brand them with whip marks that would fool the fae patrolling our area into believing Elias had punished them. It wasn’t just the fae they’d fooled but everyone in Colina and the neighboring towns. Again, he’d used magic to keep Chief Fort, Vance, Heath, and Dr. Daniels, who was supposedly tending to them, from telling others the truth while Elias willingly told me everything. He trusted me enough not to force magic on me.
Everly put a heavy basket of butchered meat on the floor and placed a hand on her hip. “Did Elias tell you it was Commander Hudson who’d used magic on the stolen cattle?”
