Page 157 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
After she put away the uneaten fruit bomb, she sat on the couch with her legs sandwiching me. I leaned my head back to gaze up at her and rested my head on her leg after a kiss to the side of her knee.
“I have an extra box of fruit bombs in the fridge,” Teddy told Delaney. “Would you mind giving them to the boys if you see them?”
“Sure.” Delaney’s smile was as sad as the one Teddy gave her.
I squeezed her ankle; the only way I could think to offer any comfort.
“I summoned Leah,”Alastor said into my mind.“She should be here shortly.”
“You needn’t have done that.”Even in my own mind, I sounded tired.“But you have my thanks,”I added when he scowled.
Teddy leaned down to kiss the back of my head, and the featherlight weight of her hair on my charred neck sent a shotof pain. I chewed my inner cheek to keep myself from groaning.
“What’s wrong?” Teddy whispered.
Our fae friends turned to look at me, but it was Alastor who spoke.
“Why don’t we eat outside?” he asked.
From the way Teddy gave her cousin a slight smile, I knew they’d spoken privately in their minds.
“That’s a great idea.” George stood, scooping up Jasmine and Juanita, nestling his face close to theirs while his hold tightened as if he feared someone would rip them from his arms.
I sighed in resignation because maybe someone would.
While everyone filed outside, Teddy and I stayed where we were but Victoria rushed to her room. A couple of beats later, she returned with a dragon plushie.
“You can sleep with her until you feel better.”
I took the offered plushie and held it against my chest. I swallowed past the sudden thickness in my throat. “What’s her name?”
She cocked her hip to the side. “Nalari.”
I chuckled, petting the dragon’s gray head. “It’s a perfect name. I’ll take good care of her while I heal.”
“She’ll take care of you.” She looked around before she leaned into me and whispered, “She has magic.”
I stared at the dragon’s black eyes, trying to find if it actually possessed magic. “Good magic, I hope.”
Her nod was serious. When she wound her arms around my neck, I didn’t have it in me to ask her to stop. Despite the way my wounds screamed in anguish, I held her tightly to me.
It was Teddy who ushered her away with a quick pat onher head. “You better go outside and eat before the others devour the fruit bombs.”
Victoria rushed outside, shouting threats as she opened and slammed the front door.
I turned the toy dragon over before I leaned my head against the side of Teddy’s leg again. A relieved sigh fell from my lips. Not because the pain had lessened, at least not the physical pain, but because my closest friends were here. Despite the differences between George and me, he was here for me and for Teddy. As was Alastor, who I’d wronged significantly in the past few months. Then there were the girls, who missed Javier and questioned his disappearance, but they were in our home. Safe.
It was the closest to normal that we’d trekked in so long, and all it’d taken was my near death.
“Alastor said Leah will be here soon,” I said, closing my eyes.
“You don’t look comfortable. Why don’t we wait for Leah on our bed?”
I wasn’t comfortable, but I also didn’t want to move. It wasn’t just the burns or the stab wounds that, although healed, still throbbed. It was more this bone-weary fatigue that nipped at my heels ever since the adrenaline of fucking Teddy had worn off.
One of my people, a guard and messenger I’d trusted, had aligned himself with our enemies to remove me from the throne. He’d murdered hundreds, all while believing he was saving them from me. He’d wanted to kill Teddy and had almost killed me. Splattered visions of him holding Teddy against him with a blade over her stomach made that ever-present anger rise.
It wasn’t only him, but fae, some of them warriors I’d fought alongside, others my parents had housed in our home as younglings. It was like a nightmare that wouldn’t dissolve, making my heart thump faster.
