Page 108 of Until the Stars Fall

Something nudged my leg, and I glanced down to find Lieke had bumped me with her knee. Her face was alight with cautious hope. I offered her a tight-lipped smile and turned back as Griffin’s wife and brothers rose from their seats.

Renata nodded sharply. “Despite all that we’ve lost, we want peace as well. But this”—she waved a hand from me to Lieke and back—“is beyond difficult.” Her jaw tightened. Her eyes darkened. “She killed him, and I know; I’ve heard the excuses. My Griffin was no saint of a male, and maybe she did do it in self-defense, but…” Renata’s gaze dropped to the table between us.

I cleared my throat and addressed each of Griffin’s brothers in turn as I said, “It’s difficult and painful, I know. But hatred and revenge cannot dull that ache. Only peace can. Please, at least consider what I’ve said.”

Renata slowly lifted her chin and studied Lieke for a long, tense moment before finally focusing on me once more. “We will consider it, Your Highness. But that’s the most I can promise you now.”

It might not have been a declaration of trust, but it was more than I had expected from them.

“Thank you,” I said, nodding once. Before I could think to say more, Renata spun on her heel and exited the pub with the brothers close behind. As I stared after her, Matthias appeared beside me, leaning close.

“Do we believe her?” he asked.

Chewing on the inside of my lip, I pondered his question for a moment. I wanted to trust her, but was that merely my foolish hope blinding me from recognizing a disastrous truth?

“I don’t know,” I said finally, then lowered my voice. “Seemed too easy, didn’t it?”

Matthias shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe. Or maybe you’re just that good.”

We stayed at the Linley tavern for the remainder of the day, leaving just after supper. Although the rest of the crowd stayed longer than Renata had, they refused to speak to me or meet Lieke. With the next village being over a day’s ride away, it made little sense for us to leave yet, so we opted to stay for another night.

When we returned to the room, Lieke remained quiet for an abnormally long time. I almost would have preferred the teasing. This quiet Lieke put me on edge and made me worry about her more than I wanted to. But when I asked her if she was okay, she avoided the question and inquired about the last thing I had expected her to.

“How does the mate thing work anyway? Is there really only one mate for everyone?” She curled her legs up onto the bed as she had the night before.

“Why do you want to know?” I asked, stoking the fire.

She shrugged. “Just curious. Mrs. Bishop mentioned it once but never had time to explain it. I mean, how do you know when you’ve found them?”

As I watched the flames grow, I searched for the words my father had used to explain it to me. “According to my father, your mate—only one—was chosen for you when the stars were hung in the sky. But you don’t know who they are until the bond is physically formed.”

Lieke’s lips twisted comically. “Physically? So you have to sleep with them before you find out?”

Laughing, I sat down on my makeshift bed on the floor. “Maybe for some, I suppose. Though I’ve never met any who didn’t at least kiss before doing that.”

Her face flushed my favorite shade of pink.

Stop that.You’re supposed to try andavoidthat type of thinking!

“So a kiss then?” she asked, her eyes flitting to the ceiling as she pondered this information, but she was soon staring at me again, this time with humor filling her dark blue eyes. I got the distinct impression that I wasn’t going to like what she asked next.

“Is that why you said lips were too complicated? Are you worried we could be mates?”

I dropped my head, rubbing my fingers along my forehead to shield my warming cheeks, hoping I appeared more exasperated than embarrassed. I received enough grief from Matthias for believing in mates; I didn’t need to have her ridiculing me too.

“No,” I said, taking a deep breath. “That’s not why it’s complicated. You don’t need to be mates for kisses to cause problems. Just look at you and Brennan.”

Immediately I regretted mentioning my brother. I was supposed to be keeping them apart. Physically and mentally. Thankfully she ignored the comment.

“How do you know you’ve found your mate then? Is there some clap of thunder or burst of energy or something?”

At that, I laughed again, shaking my head. “When the bond forms, it’s different for everyone, from what I can gather. My father described it as being struck by lightning.”

“Lovely,” Lieke whispered as she wrinkled her nose.

“My mother, however, said it was like having her eyes truly opened for the first time in her life, as if the world had been nothing but a dull gray before him.”

This time Lieke reacted with a swoony sigh. “That’s rather poetic. My mother used to talk about Father as if he were the center of her world, and”—she choked up a bit and looked down to her lap—“I suppose he must have been, since there always seemed to be something missing in her life after he died.”

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