Page 105 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
“Pull your magic back,” he said, his voice distorted and layered with something that felt old. It echoed inside me.
Wind erupted, pushing me back and hurling the female fae off her feet. She hit the ground hard but still, she sent her smoke magic at them. I rushed to the female.
My magic sputtered before I was able to wrap the threads of my magic around the female’s throat. She clawed at the threads, unable to grip it while Everly knelt with a blade at her side.
The air thinned as the temperature plunged, the cold biting sharper than the wind. Alastor’s shadows slid across the snow. Slow, deliberate, it curled toward the female with predatory patience.
Without glancing at her, his voice cut through the silence. “Strike a mage mid-spell,” he said, each word edged in lethal promise, “and the magic will remember you.”
The shadows paused at her feet, coiling tighter, waiting for his command. I kept my grip on the magic threads cinched around her throat, feeling her pulse stutter against them. Her breath hitched, too shallow, too fast.
Only then did Alastor’s shadows inch back. She croaked and clawed at the magic still binding her. I didn’t loosen it. Everly leaned in close, the steel of her blade sliding beneath the female’s chin, steady as a heart beat.
“You’re siding with mages when your people are dying.” Her voice rasped and she turned her face toward the burning dormitories. “My daughter lives in those dormitories.”
I leaned close, my voice like fire and ice. “Speak again,” I said tightening the threads around her neck until her eyes bulged, “and your daughter will not have a mother to go home to.”
I snarled at the spite that crossed her features.
Teddy’s and Alastor’s joined magic grew stronger, theirvoices echoing louder when a flash of their threaded magic broke across the grounds to the buildings we couldn’t enter.
Within a few beats, some of the fire eased, and through the haze of gray smoke, I saw the entrances clear.
“Don’t let anyone near Teddy or Alastor,” I told Everly, giving the other female a warning glare before I withdrew my magic.
Before either could reply, I ran into the dormitory where the cries had died off. Inside, I found younglings between the ages of thirteen to one hundred eighteen. They lay on the ground, their bodies unmoving and charred. I ran my dwindling magic through them, trying to find someone, anyone still alive.
I heard a thready heartbeat and followed it to a young male. He didn’t stir when I picked him up, and I did my best to support his head that lolled back. I called upon my magic, trying to force it forward so I could bend space and take him directly to Leah. When nothing happened, I ran out into the courtyard where other fallen fae awaited treatment.
For hours, the fae worked together. Despite Donnie’s anger with me, I wasn’t surprised to find him among the humans helping. Every fallen child I brought out of one of the buildings was another lash across my heart, and with my magic nothing more than tiny shreds, I couldn’t take them directly to the castle for Leah to tend.
We were losing an entire generation. For what? The children had done nothing to the vengeful humans who only knew of hate.
I only stopped when Teddy came up to me with a jug of water in her hands. I took it from her and drank greedily before I passed it to George. Rather than take it, he turned, angling his head to the side.
“Vith,”he growled, his canines pulling down further while his black eyes flared with rage.
“What is it?” I asked.
He snarled at me and rather than reply, he raced away from the military school. I tensed for a beat, wondering if I should chase whatever threat his seer magic had helped him see.
When Teddy wound her arms around my waist, I pressed my nose to her hair, desperate to take in her scent. Instead, I smelled her blood.
I drew her back and gaped at an open wound that sat across her right brow. While it no longer bled, it looked deep and was almost as bad as the pink beneath her eye, where a bruise was already forming.
“What happened?” I asked.
She took my hand when I went to heal her and held it against her chest.
“Save your magic for them.” She pointed her chin toward the injured fae waiting to be taken to Leah.
“You’re—”
“Fine. I’m fine,” she said.
“Who hurt you?” Brenton asked, his voice like steel.
Hurt her. Someone had hurt my mate and made her bleed.
