Page 137 of Fated or Knot

Thalas glanced in my direction and smiled. In his packmates’ absence, he coordinated where we sat. The seat facing the painting was for Elion, as I suspected.

“I made that,” Thalas told me when I took another glance at it. Well, that was no wonder. He’d clearly put a lot of time and effort into capturing her beauty.

“You did? Wow. You’re so talented!”

The king took a playful bow in his seat. “What can I say? She’s my muse. She was pregnant with Ambriel, and I had to capture how glowing she was. At the time, we thought she was our last child.”

I was about to ask what’d changed when the door blew open. “Kauzden!” Nemensia exclaimed.

Elion leaned in on the other side of the threshold. “She means Marius. Come here for a moment,” he said, beckoning.

Both males took this in stride, and the kelpie got up while Kauz relaxed with a little sigh. “She only had two options that time and still mixed us up,” he remarked.

“Pregnancy brain,” Thalas said.

Well, that was terrifying. I hoped I didn’t start scrambling names when and if I had more than one kid. Kauz held my hand while we waited for the other half of our group to return. I got lost for a few moments in his sparkling eyes and kind smile.Such a handsome male.

He and his father told me of the art tradition their dream warden line had passed down. Though the talent skipped the occasional generation, the original dream warden king had been an artist as well as an essence spinner and had created most of the art that survived to this day of the first Queen of Serian. Any art I saw of past queens was likely also made by a loving mate, though less talented kings hired artists to contribute in their stead.

It seemed Kauz was more than happy to tell me about this. Stars knew he was also skilled in making art. I still missed the scene he’d painted on me with temporary ink. “I wish I had that kind of talent,” I said, mostly to myself.

Their excellent hearing picked it up anyway, and they exchanged a quick glance. Thalas lit up. “I hear yet another reason you should visit my workshop. I doubt you’ve had a chance to try your hand at it. Plus, us dream wardens have to stick together. Wait until I tell you about the library nest…”

Warmth danced in my chest to be included so casually. “Oh, I’ve been!”

They were discussing which of them would get my essence added to the magical lock in the library nest when Nemensia re-entered the room. She was beaming. Elion followed, a thoughtfulquirk to his lips. And finally, Marius claimed the seat on my other side, his eyes averted in his usual tell of embarrassment.

Lunch itself was fairly uneventful, though Marius ignored Kauz and me trying to get his attention. We ate little medallions of fish and vegetables wrapped tight in seaweed, which were more delicious than I expected. Better than the usual raw meat and sadness that made up a kelpie’s diet.

Before I’d cleared my plate, there was a knock at the door. A house moth let in Fal, who’d somehow escaped his earlier wrestling match with only a couple wrinkles on his fine clothes. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said, bowing. “If I may borrow Lark for a moment?”

Nemensia nodded, eyeing him curiously. I stepped into the hall, surprised to see Tormund standing right outside, his head lowered dejectedly. “Is everything okay?” My stomach filled the rest of the way with queasy nerves to see him like that.

“Aye, li’l bird. I just wanted to say goodbye.” His sad tone suggested that this was a more final kind of goodbye. My wings flicked in distress. “My dad is stealing me away on one of his bonding trips,” he added with a hefty sigh.

“It seems akin to torture,” Fal added more lightly. “They catch and kill poor woodland creatures to eat and then sit in silence together, as far as I understand it.”

Oh, stars. Just a temporary goodbye.He’d given me a scare there.

“We roast and season the meat now, at least.” Tormund loosened some but started rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t know how long this one’s going to be, but I assume you’ll be on your date with Marius or Kauz by the time I get back. So, um, goodbye.”

“What’s wrong?” I blurted. I couldn’t take the awkwardness anymore, especially if I wasn’t going to see him for a while.

He mumbled something. I inched forward, trying to get him to meet my gaze. “Did I do something wrong?” I asked with a soft whine.

“Ach. Nay, li’l bird. It’s me.” He scooted backward when I got with a couple paces of him.

I glanced over at Fal, hoping for some help. “Communication, Tormund,” he said.

“You’re one to talk.”

“Tell her what’s wrong, you stubborn oaf, or I will.”

Tormund’s big hands descended, blocking my ears to muffle his reply. I think it was simply “Don’t you fucking dare.” But he was trying to be a chivalrous male, so I pretended I didn’t hear him curse.

He then tilted my chin up and let me see that his eyes were glowing orange behind his spectacles. Twitches spasmed through his arms until he released me, then they stopped, and the claws that’d been growing in his nail beds receded. “I can’t control myself,” he said miserably. “They say a mate’s touch soothes the rage, but it’s been harder to control than ever since…since we…”

My heartbeat quickened, though I wasn’t afraid, just repeating the last few days to myself now that I knew why he’d avoided me. “I’mtriggering your rage?” Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. Why hadn’t he just told me that? I could’ve… Actually, I didn’t know what I could do to help him. Maybe see him through a complete rage, whatever that entailed, rather than having him bottle it up further.

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