Page 75 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“As cool as me fixing your pipes?” He quirked up a brow, offering me his hand when I started to stand. “That you keep distracting me from fixing.”
I shrugged. “What can I say? I have a thing for plumbers. Gets me all riled up.”
He growled. And damn, if that wasn’t the sexiest sound in the world.
Feeling lighter than I had in months, maybe years, I tugged on the hand I still held and took him the rest of the way to the well house, where the space heater Donnie had put there had stopped working at some point the previous night.
I waved toward it. “It’s all yours.” I leaned against one of the outside walls. “I’ll just watch you pretend to be a sexy plumber but instead use boring magic to fix it.”
Another smile, this one a bit shy.
When he went into the well house, he placed his hand on one of the pipes. The silver swirl of his magic spun around it and into the ground where I couldn’t see it anymore. Frozen water on the ground lifted as droplets that disappeared into the different pipes. Entranced, I watched him work.
His brows drew together in concentration. His beautiful lips moved as he muttered something under his breath, his eyes fixed on me.
He moved from one pipe to another, sending his magic beneath the ground. When he finished, he sent three tiny droplets of water to caress my cheek before they splattered on my chin.
He barked out a laugh at my narrowed eyes. The sound did something to me, making me want to hear it again.
I pointed at him. “Your days are numbered,” I warned.
That only made him laugh harder and my smile widen.
“You’re a menace,” I told him.
He gripped my waist and leaned against me to kiss the top of my head. “I don’t think I mind as long as I can beyourmenace.”
I tilted my face up to bite his chin. Something rumbled in his chest, so I peppered kisses along his jaw. Without himrealizing, I grabbed snow that had collected on top of a tall chair in the well house and dropped it into his pants again.
He howled and did this funny dance to get the snow out while I bent over laughing.
From a distance, a stream of thunder clapped. Elias stilled and cocked his head to the side. His hand cupped my elbow, and eyes wide and alert, he ushered us away and toward the food bank.
More thunder, this time closer.
Without saying a word, he picked me up and lifted me over his shoulder while he ran us much faster than I could.
“What’s going on?” I asked, fear making me grip the back of his shirt.
“Thunderbirds,” he said. “Nalari said there are thirteen heading our way.”
Before I could ask what they were, we were inside the store, where George knelt in front of Victoria and squeezed her shoulders. Other people from our town were there too. Wide-eyed and scared, and just as confused as I was.
“What’s going on?” Donnie asked.
“Creatures from our realm are coming,” George answered.
“Everyone, stay in here,” Elias ordered.
Everly stepped forward but George stopped her. They seemed to have a quiet conversation before she nodded and came to stand beside me. Donnie went to her other side while Victoria hugged my legs.
George brushed his long fingers over Victoria’s thick braid, careful not to move the flowers still in her hair. “You’ll be okay,” he told her. “We’ll make sure of it.”
Elias nodded at both of his friends, who ran outside with swords drawn. I wasn’t sure where they’d gotten their swords since I’d never seen either of them with one.
“Stay,” Elias told me.
I nodded, and he ran out to meet Brenton, George, and the other fae in our region.
