Page 19 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

Images flicked through her mind and into mine rapidly.

The melting shelter.

The demon destroying the walls.

The gargoyle carrying her.

Her fire burning as they caged her.

The bars of the cage melting.

Her being dragged back out—and chained with metal that was melting over her wrists, burning her skin with every damn drop.

My breathing grew ragged. Not because of the running, but because of what had been done to her.

“They will all die,” I snarled at her.

She didn’t respond—and I felt her pulling away.

“Tell me what your male did in the cellar when your fire grew uncontrollable,” I demanded.

“I told you, he’s not mine.”

“Laeli,” I rumbled angrily.

“Jern and Gora would read to me,” she whispered. “Tell me stories. Recite poetry from books.”

I couldn’t read to her—and I couldn’t have thought up a poem to save my damn life.

But I had stories.

Veil, I had more stories than most people could imagine. It was rare for me to share one, preferring privacy over friendship outside of a few people I trusted, but if it would help her, I’d give her as many stories as she wanted.

“Gleam and I went foraging out on the glacier Loire is built upon,” I began.

“Loire is the kingdom we’re going to?” Laeli interrupted. Though her voice was still soft, her interruption told me she was going to be alright.

“Yes. All of the city’s buildings and many of the decorations are ice,” I confirmed. “The glacier it’s built on is massive, with many, many miles of peaks and valleys. There’s ocean around the outer edges, where some fae fish for sport. We release the fish to avoid angering the sea dragons below, but there’s still sport in trying to catch them. Laeli?” I hadn’t heard her in a moment, and it worried me.

“I’m listening.”

“We weren’t looking for anything in particular, just a moment away from everyone, to breathe,” I explained. “Gleam was distracted by a flying critter as she ran. You may not have realized it yet, but she can be very distractable—it worries Coarse constantly. She started following the critter, and managed to fall into a crevasse. My heart about broke through my chest as we plummeted.” I paused, waiting for confirmation that she was there.

“I’m listening,” she said quickly.

“I managed to morph one of the walls as she fell, so the fall became a slide. I nearly lost my head when we finally reached the bottom of the crevasse and the slide flung Gleam across the space. Rather than colliding with more ice, we slowed, and then stopped.”

“There was a room inside the crevasse?” Laeli asked, her voice much more alert than it had been a few minutes earlier.

Though my fear still blazed brightly, satisfaction melded with it. “Not just a room, but another city. We’d known one existed beneath the surface of the glacier but had never seen it until then. We found ourselves at a pair of gates made of ice, but the guards in front of them refused us entry seeing that I wasn’t mated.”

“They only let mated people in?”

“Yes. It’s a haven for the mated. In Loire, mated fae are often killed, so the city was established to protect them.”

“Veil. So you’re taking me there when you get me out of here?” Laeli was coming back to life in my mind, which gave me immense relief.

“No. We’ll have to keep our bond a secret until it breaks with the eclipse.”

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