Page 142 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
I ran my hand over my throat. “What happened, Elias?”
“Someone gutted and strung up three humans just outside the tavern.” His voice was low and tremored around each word. “Pietro is out there with George, trying to get them down before anyone else sees them.” Running a hand across his face, he snapped his attention toward the girls. “I don’t want them to see this.”
“I’ll take them to your home now,” Hayden said.
“Could you take Ryenne and Nate with you?” Donnie asked.
I opened my mouth to ask him to go with them, but his glare stopped me.
“I’m staying,” Donnie said.
“So am I,” I told Elias.
Elias drew in a deep breath that he held in his chest for long seconds. “Promise me you won’t go outside.” Although his attention spanned the tavern, he cradled my cheek against his palm.
“I won’t,” I said. “Be careful.”
“I’ll start questioning the patrons,” Donnie offered.
Already moving toward the exit, Elias said, “That would be wise. See if any truth-tellers can question them with you.”
But Kieren had already told us how people could learn to lie without detection. What other option was there?
Cierra walked with Donnie while Hayden took my friends and the girls home.
And me, I waited. Waited and waited and waited for an answer. A culprit. Someone we could pin this on. Some way to make this realm safe again.
I waited, hope dying in my chest with every hour that passed by without an answer.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
ELIAS
Every day,George, Donnie, and I searched my kingdom. We questioned the same people over and over again. We tortured our prisoners for answers they couldn’t give us.
And every day, we came back empty while the magic that had once been a vital part of the fae continued to malfunction, causing even more distress.
With hundreds of people displaced after the attacks, the school for the younger children had to cancel classes so the rooms could serve as temporary homes while several other fae left for other cities in our kingdom to seek refuge. The school for the older children still worked as a temporary hospital for the injured.
In the two weeks that had passed, I’d had to address my people—acknowledging their worries along with their despair. It was like an endless avalanche of questions and complaints that I couldn’t rid myself of. With my magic gone . . . far too many times, I felt useless to my people. Teddy had become an expert at excusing us from the growing number of people who wanted an audiencewith us.
I felt bad turning my people away or cutting their time short, but I wasn’t sure how much more I could take of this mounting guilt, especially with everyone’s magic being so temperamental. We still didn’t have answers as to why it happened or where the orb could possibly be.
With Alastor’s living book not giving us any answers, I didn’t know where to look. It was why I'd agreed so eagerly when Teddy mentioned staying home this morning. Then I wouldn’t have to face anyone’s questions or their judgment.
At least the third raid that George had led had been successful. Several fae, including Everly and Finley, had come together with the shifters, and from what George had reported back, the humans had given up their compound easily, with even the soldiers asking for mercy and asylum. While many of the imprisoned fae had been weak or ill, no one had died. It was the only good news I’d had.
With Hayden's advice, George was planning his raid on the final compound. I was glad Hayden still had a place among the warriors. George didn’t simply have Hayden at his side, but also the shifters and several dragons, including Nalari, aiding and advising him.
It made it easier to leave the task outside of my hands.
With the girls, Bon, and her oldest children in the girls’ playroom, I had Teddy to myself. Well, as long as Bon kept the younglings entertained and away from the living room. Thankfully, Etienne and Finley had moved into Leah’s home almost two weeks ago once she found a way to treat him from the book Brenton had brought.
When Teddy stood in front of the couch I lounged on, I took her plate of fruits and cheese and set it on the table beside me. My hands found her waist, and when I tugged her to me, she came willingly. Spreading her legs so she straddledmy lap, she settled just over my hardening length that twitched at the contact.
I hissed in a breath, filling my nostrils with her scent while I nuzzled against her neck. I inched the fabric of her soft sweater over her shoulder while her head fell back with a satisfied hum.
