Page 61 of Masked Fate

“Well, I think I’m still drunk,” he replies, laughing without humor. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t win in this situation.She hates me. She’s our enemy’s daughter. Our enemy we’re about to kill.”

He heads back into his room, leaving the door open, so we take that as an invitation and follow him inside, sitting on a leather couch opposite his bed.

August lays back on his bed, stares up at the ceiling, and mutters, “With you both in here, I’ll probably be dead soon, so none of this will matter anyway.”

“She will come around,” I tell him, trying to make him feel better. “You’re a good man, August. And once she gets to know you, she will see that.”

He turns on his side to face us. “She won’t even look at me.”

“Give her time,” Astrid adds, glancing around his room. “And maybe, I don’t know, get her out of the cell.”

“She’ll zip away the second she’s out of there,” he grumbles, raking a hand through his curly brown mop of hair. “If I let her go, she will join their army to fight against us. I don’t want her getting hurt. I don’t want to have to fight against my own mate.”

He raises good points.

“At least make sure she’s comfortable then,” I suggest.

“She’s being looked after,” he replies, sitting up on the edge of the mattress. “And kept away from Declan.”

“Good,” Astrid replies, moving to sit next to him and touching his shoulder. “I’m sorry this is the hand fate has dealt you, August. But it will be okay in the end.”

“Promise?” he asks, resting his head on her shoulder.

“Promise,” she replies, kissing his cheek. “Whatever you need, we are here for you.”

Moving to the other side of him, he casually wraps his arm around my shoulder. “And how are you doing with everything, Pandora?”

I shrug. “I can’t really complain, I suppose. Being mates with the Master manwhore isn’t so bad.”

At least he doesn’t have me in a dungeon.

And if he did, it would be a sex one.

August laughs a deep, rough sound that makes me smile. “He’s a strong warrior with a good heart. He’ll look after you.”

“You only have good things to say about him even after he tried to kill you?” I tease.

“I would have done the same,” he replies, smirking.

It hits me then that Milana will probably hate Astrid and me one day, considering we both have a history with August.

“You still might,” Astrid adds, nudging him with her shoulder, which makes him bump into me. “Depending on Milana’s history.”

“She has a history of child kidnapping,” he grumbles, looking down at his hands. Milana once tried to kidnap Vale from Rave, and none of us have forgotten about it. “I just hope the fates know what they are doing.”

Don’t we all!

“They do,” Astrid promises, standing up. “Now come down for dinner. We will handle Soren.”

August suddenly turns his head, studying me. “You knew he was your mate when you gave yourself to me?”

I slowly nod. “Yeah. I never thought he would find out the truth about us.”

Or that Soren would want me.

He dips his head. “Dangerous game you were playing.”

I touch his shoulder. “I don’t regret it. Soren has slept with half the kingdom, so he can deal with me sleeping with one other male.”

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