Page 75 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
“Do you want me to stay or go?” the lirio, Agthor, asked.
Guardians, I hadn’t even known he was there. Were there others trailing us as well?
“The choice is yours, brother,” Koa replied.
“You say this male is her brother?” Agthor tipped his head toward Brenton.
“He is.”
“I will see the prince to his home and return before we rescue the imprisoned fae,” Agthor said.
Cold wind skirted around my face, making the snowflakes that fell cut into my skin. Bewildered, I stared at the two fae whose loyalty Teddy had earned.
I ran a hand over my throat, rubbing at the thickness thatgrew inside. “Agthor,” I said, “you needn’t see me to my home.”
The lirio narrowed his black eyes at me.
“I’m grateful if you wish to,” I added quickly, my fingers tapping nervously on my leg. I wasn’t nervous about Agthor but eager to get home. “I appreciate either of you being here at all. I simply meant you shouldn’t tire yourself needlessly.”
Already, my warriors were tired, with Brenton inching his way toward exhaustion. A part of me wanted to use Teddy as an excuse to force him back with me, knowing the familial bond they shared was already urging him to see her and make sure she was safe and unharmed.
“Alastor said you should stay, Agthor, if that is what you wish,” Koa said. When Agthor nodded, Koa turned to me. “He will meet you at the tear.”
I shook my head. “Alastor should stay with Teddy.”
Agthor bared his sharp teeth at me, a guttural snarl ripping from his throat as his open mouth flooded with light. I glanced at the guards and was relieved to see none of them had noticed.
“You shouldn’t think to command ourcapaduci,”Agthor said.
I nodded at our shared term for leader. I took a few beats to pray for my warriors’ protection and without saying anything else, I bent space so that I stepped into the woods of Colina, where the cold was more forgiving.
It felt wrong to leave them, and that should’ve been warning enough to postpone the mission. But I bulldozed forward with only thoughts of reaching Teddy on my mind.
Alastor waited for me before the tear, and quietly, I followed him through it and back to Niev. On the castle grounds, the mage gripped my arm, and I bent space so wewere standing in my yard. So close to her, my anxiety mounted with the need to see her and the younglings. I rushed up the patio steps. Just as I was about to throw open the door, Alastor stopped me with a hand to my shoulder.
“They’re all sleeping in the living room,” he said quietly. “While the girls don’t quite understand what happened, they’re all frightened. If you barge in there, you’ll only scare them further.”
I rested my head on the doorframe, trying to calm my racing heart. It wouldn’t quiet, though, until I had my mate in my arms. As if sensing me, Teddy opened the door and peeked outside. She smiled when she saw me, and was in my arms before I took my next breath. I picked her up, her legs wrapping around my waist while I held her close.
“You’re here.” She pressed her lips against mine, and my heart finally began to settle.
I let her tongue explore my mouth before I took charge. I kept the kiss tender but fierce. Calm yet hurried. A frenzy of two lips dancing together. I kissed her with the sole wish of imprinting the memory of us forever on her lips.
Drawing back, I kissed the arch of her brow. She nuzzled her face against my neck, where a shuddered breath tickled, and her lashes fluttered against my skin. The quiet click of the door sounded when Alastor went inside. I sat on the porch swing, keeping Teddy wrapped around me while I pulled her face away so I could look at her. I ran my palm over her cheek and through her hair until I rested it on the back of her neck. She flinched at the final contact, and I sent my healing magic to her neck where a bump surfaced at the bottom of her head.
“Did Leah not come to see you?” I asked.
“I only asked her to heal Kieren and check on the babies,” Teddy answered. “I wanted you to be the one to heal me.”
She didn’t know what her words did to me. How they both filled and devastated. She wanted me to heal her.Mewhen I wasn’t here. I would’ve torn the realms apart if only to get to her. And now, I’d stitch together every piece.
My attention dropped to her stomach.
“They’re fine,” she told me. “Leah didn’t see any problems, but she gave me an herb to boil every morning to help them grow strong.”
“What form of healing did Kieren need?” I asked.
“He’s sick,” she answered. “Fever, nausea, that kind of thing.”
