Page 82 of Threaded

But it was only behind closed doors. He’d kept his word to her on that.

Before now, the only other times she’d left Andrian’s room and her wing of the palace were to join her Armature for training in the game park. Despite the … activities with Andrian, she still craved that training—it brought her a feeling of safety and strength, a stability she desperately needed to find again for herself.

Her Armature knew about her and Andrian; it wasn’t a secret that could possibly be kept from them. But while those training sessions were just with them, Andrian had still been his usual cold, aloof self, choosing to train on his own each morning. He refused to interact with her in any way outside their wing in the palace.

It pissed her off.

But she understood.

It wasn’t as if she was interested in anything more, anyway. He was great in bed, a fine distraction, but that was it.

Love was, after all, a weakness.

Mariah continued to lose herself in her thoughts, the movement of her hand over Kodie’s nose meditative.

Suddenly, she saw Kodie’s ears twitch forward, his nostrils flaring ever so slightly. In that same moment, she spotted something move out of the corner of her eye, pulling her from the depths of her thoughts.

Her senses instantly reacted, her magic unraveling into wakefulness. She knew Feran still stood at the entrance to the stables.

Feran, however, wasn’t yet bonded to her. And because of that, she couldn’t link to his mind. She cursed herself for bringing him, but … he, of all her Armature, understood the most about why she’d needed to come here. She’d often seen him stop by the stables after their training, wandering the hallways and greeting each horse like an old friend.

Sometimes, the companionship of animals felt more genuine than the friendship of people.

The shadow at the edge of her vision moved again, snagging her attention from her thoughts. Slowly, the silver and gold threads within her spooling out of where they normally dwelt, she turned to face the source of that movement in the darkness.

“I know you’re there.”

Her voice sounded weak to her own ears, shrill with foreign fear.

Shehatedit.

The shadow stilled and then moved toward her out of the darkness. Slowly, the shadow began to take shape.

And then a second shape morphed out of the first.

As she watched, two female figures emerged from the shadows of the stable, coming to stand before Mariah.

Both females were tall and lithe, with the same rich chocolate skin and jet-black hair. Their profiles were much the same, too—sisters,Mariah thought. Maybe even twins, identical but for the dark brown eyes of one and the gleaming hazel eyes of the other. They both wore short black shorts, barely visible under the panels of white cloth pinned at their shoulders and draped down around their bodies, one panel falling between their legs, the other at their backs. They each also wore a golden breastplate over the white cloth, the metal adorned with intricate designs and foreign runes. On their feet were golden sandals with long straps that wrapped up their calves, nearly to their knees.

They were Kreah.

“We’re sorry if we surprised you. We didn’t expect there to be others in the stables today.” The one with dark brown eyes spoke, her accent strong, head tilting slightly to the side as her eyes darted past Mariah to Kodie before returning to hold her gaze.

“Neither had I. Are you looking for something?” Mariah was still wary, alert, but her magic no longer roiled through her, her senses shifting into confused curiosity.

“We were only ensuring our mounts were settled nicely. Which, it seems, we’re not the only ones in this palace with such priorities.” This time, it was the hazel-eyed sister to speak, her eyes glinting.

There was a moment of silence that passed between the three women, each taking the time to observe and read the others.

Mariah felt her question bubbling out of her before she could stop it.

“You’re Kreah, aren’t you?”

The hazel-eyed sister’s lips twitched up. “We are, yes. It has been many years since the Onitan border was tentatively opened, since any of our people were invited to the capital. We could not pass the opportunity to visit this city for ourselves. Who are you?”

Mariah tilted her head, weighing for a moment how much she should tell these women, before she settled on the truth. “My name is Mariah. Mariah Salis.”

The eyes of the Kreah women widened slightly, each stealing a quick glance at the other before looking back at Mariah.

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