Page 79 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
She was incredible. And she was mine.
And the people, her people, made me proud. While I finished healing myself, many of the men had run outside with their small guns and fought alongside my fae warriors as equals. Together, they’d brought down thirteen thunderbirds and ten nyxx without a single casualty on our end—several injuries, but nothing fatal.
The cheers that rose when the rest of the flock flew away was a thing of beauty. It made me appreciate them. Their spirit, their bravery. They were hopelessly human, and I respected them for it.
After the battle, Dr. Daniels, Teddy, and I tended to the wounded. Dr. Daniels stayed away from the fae while I healed those who couldn’t heal themselves and any humans whose injuries were beyond what Dr. Daniels could treat. All the while, Teddy cared for any we hadn’t gotten to—sometimes with kind, reassuring words and other times with gentle hands that wound bandages to stop bleeding.Such a gentle, fearless spirit.
The exhaustion I felt was the good, productive kind. Yet I felt as if something inside me was missing. I couldn’t quite place it, but as I’d lain on the ground, I’d felt the tendrils of my magic and soul stripped from me. And even hours later, it hadn’t returned. Wouldn’t return.
I tried to ignore it and instead focus on Teddy as we stood in her backyard with Nalari napping and Victoria lying beside her. It was such a rare sight I couldn’t bring myself to warn Teddy against the picture she took on her phone—a unique piece of technology, doing just about anything and everything one could think of. I hoped one day I could bring it back to Niev, where one of our scholars could study it and maybe replicate it for my people. While I wanted to do this for everyone in Niev, I mainly thought of my mother and how much she’d love the device.
“Feet apart,” Teddy instructed, her fiery hair blowing with the light breeze.
I did as she instructed, squaring my shoulders and extending my arms as I held the gun before me. Like I did the last six times, I hit the target right in the center.
“This is such bullshit,” she griped. “Can you not be good at one thing?”
The teasing lilt of her voice was adorable. As was the way she held her hands at her waist, pretending to be frustrated.
With a grin, I lowered the gun and handed it to Teddy. “How’s it my fault that I’m naturally good at everything?”
She took the bullets out of the gun and placed it in its case.
“Naturally good at everything, huh?” she said with a mischievous grin, sending her brows up to her hairline.
I scratched my chin. “Yes,” I said slowly. “It helps that my teacher was okay.”
“Okay?” She widened those pretty eyes.
“Mediocre, at best.” I dodged the snowball she flung at me. “She could use a little work on her aim, though.”
I let the next snowball hit my chest, right where the thunderbird had struck. The memory of it flashed in my mind. The way my veins burned and my heart stalled. Had it not been for Nalari’s magic swimming through me and forcing my heart to beat again. . . Had it not been for Teddy’s command compelling me to take a lungful of air so I could live. . .
The pain had been too much. Everything inside me burned in an endless inferno. It was nothing like the Elder breathing fire on me. Nothing like the beating I’d taken from my uncle.
The bird had fried me. It had fatally wounded me until Nalari’s magic had brought me back and Teddy’s words had kept me alive.
“Hey.” Teddy rested a hand at the center of my chest, right where the bird had burned a hole in my previous shirt. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
Her worry shook me.
I cupped my hand over hers, where she held my heart in her palm, and leaned forward, locking my lips on her mouth. I couldn’t resist her, and thank the Guardians, she was willing. She desired me, it seemed, as much as I desired her. It was bliss to be able to finally touch her.An incredible gift. I hadn’t believed we’d ever get here, that she’d ever stop loathing me.
When I slipped my tongue over the seam of her lips in a gentle request, she let me in. Her body went taut when I skimmed a hand beneath her clothes to brush my fingers across her side. She dug her fingers into my arm and went molten when I ran lazy circles over her stomach and ribs, but no higher.
She let out a small sound, something like a whimper as she leaned into my touch.
That sound undid me.
I dug my fingers against her flesh and roved them over the soft skin of her stomach, desperate to touch her, all while our tongues danced. She met each of my strokes with her own demanding strokes.
And I wished time would stop. Right here, right now—with my mate in my arms—where I could taste her, touch her, lose myself in her.
Her hand slid beneath my shirt, and I hissed in a breath as she ran her fingernails over the still tender skin of my chest. I slanted my lips to deepen the kiss.
My knees quaked at the unrelenting desire that tore through me.
Another soft noise as her nails dug into my flesh. I brushed my tongue over hers one more time before I started to sprinkle kisses across her jaw to her neck and shoulder. With my canines I scratched her throat where I longed to bite her. Her hands pressed the back of my head as if to hold me in place, as if she wanted me to bite her too.
