Page 80 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

“But how can you even… Aren’t you, uh, allergic to iron and metal magic?”

“If iron magic hurt me, I wouldn’t be able to get close to your sister, would I?”

“Maybe it depends how close.” And this was not something he wanted to imagine.

The fae shook his head. “Iron doesn’t hurt me.”

“Oh.” Fel had always thought that the metal hurt the fae, then he remembered what he had just done. “But it makes sense, otherwise your blood—”

“Blood is different. When iron is dissolved into something living, like a green leaf or earth, it’s different, it doesn’t hurt us.”

“So does iron hurt you or not?”

The fae shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt me.”

He probably meant that it hurt other fae but not him, and that was quite useful information. “Great. Go get a shovel, then.”

River sneered. “You dare give me an order?”

“You’re the one who said you were here to help. Well, then help.”

The fae stared at him for a long while, then disappeared. Fel wasn’t sure if he was going to return, didn’t understand why he was here, and was still rattled because of the attack—and what his magic had done.

“Here,” the fae said, now standing behind Fel—with an iron shovel.

“Thanks.”

River’s eyes glinted. “Your thankfulness is appreciated.”

“It’s always good to have help offered freely,” Fel said, before the fae got any ideas about some debt or another insanity. He then moved the shovel with his magic and started digging a grave. So many questions going through his mind. “If blood is different, and I know it is, how did my magic affect it?”

“Magic is not precise. It’s living, breathing, evolving. It grows with you and changes.”

Fel glanced at the two men he had killed with their blood, but then glanced back, still horrified, and turned to River. “Since you’re so helpful today, and since you watched the fight, do you have any idea where they are from?”

The fae shrugged. “One of them is an ironbringer. What’s to wonder?”

“A lot. I mean, he’s not part of the royal family, and yet… He could be from anywhere, like me and my sister.”

River shook his head. “They’re from Ironhold, and it’s not hard to guess why they want you dead, is it?”

“So many possibilities. I have to pick one?”

“Imagine if you were counting on your unique magic to bend other kingdoms into submission. Having someone else out there with the same magic would be a problem, wouldn’t it? Not to mention that an ironbringer could cause serious damage to their castle, for example. They can’t have that.”

It made sense. A lot of sense. “But then… Naia would also be a target.”

“Exactly.” River smirked. “And this is the part where you should realize what a genius I am, making sure your sister is safe at a time like this. Aren’t you happy about that?”

“They can’t get to where she is?”

The fae shook his head. “No. She’s completely safe.”

“Well, knowing we would be targets implies previous knowledge, which doesn’t improve my trust in you.”

The fae shrugged. “I’m not big on trust anyway. That’s why we make deals—and don’t lie.”

“So you say. Is your name even River?”

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