Page 55 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
“What will happen to us once you leave?” a woman asked, clutching a swaddled babe against her chest.
“Where I once made it my duty to ensure your survival, I no longer care what happens to you.” Pain edged toward my temple, and I held my hands rigid so I wouldn’t massage it. “Live, die, it makes no difference to me. However, I suggest you avoid visiting any other compounds. My warriors and I will get each missing fae back and destroy every human standing in our way.”
“We’ll die without your magic,” Dr. Daniels said.
“Then you die.”
With Sebastian’s instructions,we found the missing fae deep beneath the ground in a bunker behind a door made of iron. Coupled with the iron shackles and how they’d been forced to give of their magic, it was a wonder any of them had survived.
Alastor and I didn’t have time to heal the sickest of my people. There were far too many whose pallor had turned a sallow gray, whose breaths came in wheezy fits, and whose legs shook and knees buckled.
I needed to take those back home first, hoping beyond hope that none of the humans had called for reinforcements.
With only three fae and Brenton grasping me, I bent space from the compound to the hidden tear. Brenton and I shouldered them beneath their underarms, with their arms across our shoulders as we took on most of their weight. Wehalf carried, half dragged them through the tear while their heads hung forward.
Once we stepped through the tear to the castle grounds, I bent space again so that we stood outside Leah’s clinic.
The male on my right groaned, and I firmed my hold of him when his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body slackened.
“Leah.” My sense of urgency hung in the air with nowhere to go.
When Brenton took on the full weight of the female we carried between us, I scooped up the male who’d fainted and carried him to the closest examining table, where Teddy and I had heard our babes’ heartbeats only a few days ago.
“What?” Leah breathed out, her tone uncertain as she looked at the fae we’d brought in without notice.
Thankfully, she didn’t need or ask for directions but immediately rushed to the fae I’d laid across the table. Her magic came to life, jetting from her fingers into the unconscious male.
I hurried to help Brenton hoist the two remaining fae onto the other tables in the clinic. His expression grave, he shook his head, and his eyes widened with worry as they bounced across the room.
His throat bobbed. “There isn’t enough room in here for the rest of them.”
“How many more?” Leah asked, her attention fully on the male she tended.
“At least one hundred in dire need of healing,” I answered.
“What rooms on the second and third floor can you spare to serve as infirmaries?”
“All of them,” I answered without haste. “Whatever you need, Leah.”
“I’ve already summoned more healers.” She rushed to a nearby icebox, where she retrieved a clear bag containing liquid. After rummaging through a drawer, she pulled out an IV. “I’ll have them set up the rooms with everything we need.”
I turned away when she dug a needle into the male’s arm and hooked the bag to the other end of the IV.
“Will this help him?” I asked.
“He’s severely dehydrated and malnourished, Your Highness,” she replied, her brows drawn together. “Whoever held him captive depleted his magic entirely. I don’t know that it’ll return.” She frowned, the lines on either side of her mouth deepening. She ran a hand over the burn marks on his wrists caused by the iron shackles I removed only a few short hours ago. “These marks should heal. The rest . . . it’s up to the Guardians.”
Her words, what they implied, stung the backs of my eyes and made a lump form deep in my throat. This male and many others like him may not survive. And if he did, he could lose his magic permanently.
Just how depraved were these humans, using a living creature so heinously? If I could bring the soldiers back to life and kill them again, this time slowly, I would.
I lowered my head to rub the bridge of my nose. On a hard swallow, I tried to slow my breathing before my gaze inched back up toward the male.
“Send word that we need any fae who can bend space at the castle,” I told Brenton while I stared at the male. “I can’t bring them all back on my own.”
From my periphery, I saw him nod. When he reached the door, he looked at me over his shoulder. “Do I tell Teddy to come?”
I ran a hand over my face and squeezed my chin. “No.” Shewould just be rising to get the younglings ready for school. If she came, she’d want to help, and I didn’t want to cause her any unnecessary stress.
