Page 173 of Fated or Knot

Kauz had started this process by mixing his essence into a large bottle of ink. By the time he was finished with it, it glowed white with starry sparkles like he’d trapped starlight inside the glass. “I’m going to teach you how to do this, someday,” he’d said while I’d admired the liquid, tipping it back and forth inside the bottle. “So you can paint my wings with your magic, too.”

I’d stilled, flushing with embarrassment. “I can barely hold a pencil properly.” There was no way I’d put a sloppy attempt at art on the upper half of his wings for the whole kingdom to see.

He’d kissed me, though not as deeply as I craved, and promised to teach me. But he wanted to wear my art and magic however it turned out, marked as my mate just like he marked me. I melted and vowed to do my best to learn. Since he was a beta, he couldn’t just bite my omega mark when it manifested to leave his scent on me for life.

And though I had small fangs to bite his beta mark—which was just below his shoulder blade, hidden from easy view—it wouldn’t be the same. Especially because his magic made the ink smell like Always, and I caught hints of it lingering on me after it soaked into my wings and colored my dust in shades of indigo, lavender, and silver. I wanted him to smell Always trailing behind him, too.

The ink was so potent, it soaked through the thin skin of my wings to show through to the other side, ruining our original notion that I would have a different pattern on them front and back. He adapted the artwork and was due to finish by the end of the second day of working on it.

He urged Tormund to talk about the one thing that effectively knocked me out of my needy mood: how Pack Ellisar had gotten off a train while he and Fal were standing at the station, waiting for them.

“Go over it again. Spare no detail,” Kauz said.

I was on my front, my chin resting on Tormund’s thigh. He was still holding my neck, so I was perfectly still as Kauz, who straddled my knees, could paint the edges of my lower set of wings.

The giant breathed a sigh, but nodded. “Rennyn gave word to Fal late that Pack Ellisar was on the way to Neslune. We were talking about the fish, which made me remember that we hadn’t sent off the fishling yet. So we gathered her up and went to the station.”

“Mmhmm.”

“While we were waiting, the fishling asked if we’d killed the fish yet.” He scratched behind his horn, brows furrowing. “She seemed… disappointed when we said not yet. Then she started stumbling over her sentences.”

“Stumbling how?” This wasn’t the first time Kauz had tried to narrow in on this part of Tormund’s story.

The giant shook his head slowly. “I can’t really remember. I was worried about her for a minute there, though.”

“That reminds me of when we first met you, Lark,” the winged fae remarked. He paused to focus, the wet brush painting a delicate curlicue in a ticklish spot. I bit my lip, trying not to giggle. “You would stop short mid-sentence if it was something you couldn’t say. Or if the conversation led to something you were forced to forget, you’d completely blank.”

I nodded, grimacing. It did sound awfully similar, but I wasn’t all that suspicious. My stepmother loved her daughter and hated me. She wouldn’t manipulate her into the samekind of vow that’d leave Laurel tongue tied. My stepsister was probably fine.

“It was more like stopping short. She tried to tell us something. And then, the next thing I know, a dreamlander was standing in front of us and apologizing for losing Pack Ellisar.”

A troubled silence hung over all of us for several moments.

“Cymora didn’t order Laurel around like she did to me,” I said finally. “And she loves her mother. I can’t imagine her being disappointed that she’s still alive.”

“I’m more concerned about the gap in time between talking to Laurel and receiving the spy’s apology. You said Fal has the same memory loss?” Kauz put in.

“Aye. He also said he had the sense he was wrong about something, but can’t remember what.”

“And what happened to Laurel?”

“She got on the train to Thelis.”

“You’resure? You saw her walk onto the train?”

Tormund bit his lower lip. “Well, nay. I can’t remember her doing it, but I know she did.”

I wanted to turn around and exchange a glance with Kauz, wondering if he was thinking what I was.

“She’s still in the city,” I said.

“I’m going to visit her mind tonight,” Kauz said at about the same time.

“What?” Now it was Tormund and I speaking at once.

“This is the dreamlands. I can access her dreams, no matter where she is. For some peace of mind, why not see if I can find her memory of that day?” he reasoned. “Something obviously does not add up here. If it doesn’t reveal anything, I’ll see about infiltrating one of Pack Ellisar’s dreams instead. I’ve seen enough of them from your memories, Lark, that I could find them.”

“I could visit Ellisar or one of his brothers while you’re with Laurel,” I ventured. Not that that would be anything other than a complete nightmare.

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