Page 178 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
“We trust you,” I said.
“I know.” His throat bobbed. “Without having Teddy as a sort of anchor, I lost control of the spell and saw things I shouldn’t have seen. I apologize for that.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He watched me, assessing me in that way that always made me want to squirm.
“I will be the head adviser for your council,” he finally said.
“If all I needed was to bare my soul to you foryou to accept the position, you should’ve told me,” I joked. “I would’ve done it the same day I offered it to you.”
Teddy smacked my shoulder, but Alastor laughed.
“You should know that while Aidas was uncertain of both of you, he still respected you. While he never needed to come to your defense because Javier has never uttered a bad word about either of you, he has been quick to speak well of you whenever the chance arose.” Alastor paused as he rose in one swift movement I was jealous of. “Yesterday, you told Kieren what happened.”
I nodded while Teddy eyed me curiously.
“Kieren told Aidas, and earlier today, while I was playing with the girls, Aidas explained to Javier the way a fae’s primal instincts work. I don’t know how much of it Javier really absorbed or listened to, but Aidas is trying to help him understand why you did what you did.”
I was grateful to Aidas for it, for the good male he was becoming.
Brenton leaned over Teddy to slap my leg. “So maybe go easy on the youngling and stop scaring him.”
“I’m just having fun with him.” When Brenton huffed, I asked, “Are you saying you didn’t find it fun when my father teased you?”
“I was on the verge of buying very, very large diapers to wear in case he made me wet myself from fear one day,” Brenton answered.
Teddy pushed her head back on the sofa and laughed.
“You think that’s funny?” He fake-glared at her. “His father’s sole goal in life was to terrorize me.”
“He only did it because my mother liked you so much, and it would rile her up,” I said.
“Of course she liked me.” My idiot friend grinned. “Who wouldn’t?”
“I really should go,” Alastor said, interrupting our banter.
Teddy stood, and when he held out his arms to her, she hugged his waist. “Is everything okay?”
To my surprise, he kissed the top of her head. “Everything’s fine. I’m meeting someone.”
Teddy grinned. “Who?”
“No one if you don’t allow me to leave,” he teased.
“Whatever.” She waved him away. “Do you need any more flowers from our herbal plant?”
“If you don’t mind.”
When Teddy moved to go to the kitchen, I stopped her with a hand to her arm and went instead.
“Why don’t I give you one of our plants?” I asked.
“Because the mage doesn’t know how tonotkill plants,” Teddy said with a smile.
Alastor put her in the same gentle headlock I’d seen him do to one of Bon’s younglings. When he released her, he rested his arm on her head while he grinned down at her.
His playfulness caught me by surprise, but I supposed whatever he’d seen in our memories seemed to eliminate any reservations he had left with me. Perhaps it was a good thing he’d lost control of his magic and seen more than he was supposed to.
