Page 177 of Fated or Knot

We walked my old path of self-discovery together, starting from my childhood. “As a boy, I’d spent more than my share of time learning the dances expected of a prince, plus extras it felt that my father invented to trip me up. He had the kind of moves that seemed impossible for me to match, though inevitably the solution waspractice,” I narrated.

I remembered strict tutors, long evenings, and my father pressuring me to learn better, faster. No son of his would be a graceless fool. I’d practiced until the strains of music and the ticking of the metronome were embedded in the back of my mind, invading quiet time and my dreams.

“And I didn’t enjoy it until later. I asked Father if these songs we danced to had actual words. That kind of kicked off my passions, since it led me to musical theater.”

It'd been a stuffy operatic soprano that’d started it all. Father had dug up an essence orb with the song saved, and laughed at the way I’d scrunched my face and winced at the highest notes. Lark made a similar expression as my memory replayed that soprano’s solo, while I nodded in agreement, nudging her shoulder with mine.

“I said to myself, after hearing that, that there had to beothersongs out there,” I whispered to her. “That’s what I want to give to you,mo stór. All the music you’ve forgotten and then some. If we don’t get through it all tonight…you’ll just have to come back, hmm?”

And I hoped Kauz didn’t exaggerate about how amazing his magic was. Allegedly, he remembered everything he saw in another fae’s dream with perfect clarity, so hopefully she was the same way. Lark regarded me with wide eyes and the beginnings of a hopeful smile.She’s so cute.“Okay. I think I would really like that,” she said.

We walked through paths of memory with songs along the way. I gave her the most popular ones, trying to fill her head with music and color. We traveled past buskers strumming their instruments, crooning about love and loss on street corners. Catchy tunes sung a little off key in taverns. Drunken revelers swaying and mumbling those same songs.

Lark caught snatches of tunes and hummed along, just as I suspected she would. I gave her the words when she seemed to take a shine to a song.Sing, my love. I know you were meant to sing.She kept shutting her mouth and glancing shyly up at me, too self-conscious to try. I needed to coax it out of her. A duet, perhaps.

We eventually entered a memory of the rundown theater where I used to hide from my duties and needy younger siblings. The managers and director would pretend they had no idea the crown prince was the kid underfoot, visiting whenever possibleand watching with absolute fascination as they shaped a crew of strangers into more seasoned actors, just to lose most of them to more prestigious troupes. They told stories with song and dance, moving my heart to join them.

Lark and I sat on the threadbare seats in the front row. I itched to pull her into my lap, but if I did that, I’d lose my focus on what I wanted to show her. My favorite play,A Duel of Hearts. I’d seen it enough as a boy that it played out flawlessly onstage.

It was difficult enough to make sure the memory didn’t waver when Lark rested her head on my shoulder, laughing along and sighing with the romantic overtures. During the interlude, I told her how I’d come to find this theater and watch the production as it was rehearsed. “This play woke my love for the theater. The visuals, the dancing, the music…” I affected a dramatic swoon.

She giggled along. “I can see why. How old were you?”

“Thirteen or so. If you watch closely, I might actually be in this version.” I winked, though I wasn’t sure. Mother had paid handsomely for an essence orb to record the cameo appearance I’d made toward the end, which she still let me watch occasionally. She’d been so proud of me and I’d basked in the radiance of her approval.

“This play became a fresh start for the Fifth Wheel Troupe. The director eventually gave me a chance to audition,” I added. “He made me really work for it, even though me just existing onstage gave us enough prestige to build up a following and move out of this run-down place.”

“No wonder you’re so confident,” she said, mostly to herself.

“I’m confident because I’m irreplaceable,mo stór.” I flipped my hair and rattled my earrings just so.

My brothers would’ve probably smacked some of the ego out of me for saying that, but Lark smiled with open fondness,admiring me for who I was. She was winding my willpower around her littlest finger as she did it, too. A first for me.

I was no stranger tothatlook. As a prince and a performer I’d had no lack of female attention, but it was always as superficial and fleeting as possible. I could tease and pleasure my lovers, but as a general rule I could never return the affections they heaped upon me. That was how I was used to interacting with females. I’d never invested myself in a loverlong term.

I’d known I would have to find my scent match and mate her along with my brothers. It was my duty to find and elevate her as the next queen and the mother to continue the royal line. She had to be a lot of things before she joined Pack Sorles, though. Resilient, determined, and loving would make for a strong start. Sweet and mild mannered, even better, for her to get along with all four of us.

She’d be the omega of my pack, which was still to this day the biggest responsibility I maintained. Deep down, I was afraid I’d see her in the same lens of duty and sacrifice. In a void, I thought I would find it difficult to love her, especially someone I was expected to share with Marius, Kauz, and Tormund.

Lark had destroyed all those doubts, seemingly overnight. She was my omega, my mate. Everything my pack needed in one petite package. She fit in perfectly in with the four of us.Ouromega. She’d gathered us around her to make us a true pack. We might even,gasp, enjoy one another’s company more now. Even if our love for each other, and her, was clumsy. Well-meaning, even with our various disagreements, and always enthusiastic.

She was already ours, heat or not. I hadn’t missed the elegant art Kauz must’ve painted on her wings, or the faint lingering scent of Marius coming from some kind of claiming bite on her shoulder. The lack of Tormund’s claim was no concern, when I knew he’d sand down his own fangs rather than put a mark on his beloved li’l bird.

Soon it would be my turn to make her mine, and it would be the soul-bonding bite that put my pack mark on her brow. My expression became a mirror of hers as I admired her back. It wasthatlook. I knew I wouldn’t tire of looking at that face even if we lived to a thousand years together.

When we weren’t in a dream, I’d tell her how I felt.Anticipation will make this sweeter, as well.

I gazed into her star-flecked eyes for quite some time. We both stirred as I added to the mostly forgotten conversation, “You are irreplaceable too. Never forget that.”

Her lips framed a shy smile. It was the face of,“Really? You think so?”It was a travesty that I didn’t kiss her then and there. But I knew my limits, and why I’d brought her to this memory.

I put on my memory of the second act ofA Duel of Heartsbefore I got any more distracted. She snuggled closer, practically wrapping herself around my arm and purring with increasing delight toward the end of the play.Fucking adorable.The music and choreography only went from great to even better, and by the finale, she drew up with a gasp and pointed.

There I was in the background, a lanky elf teen dancing my absolute heart out with the rest of the cast while the main couple had their closing duet. “I snuck on the set,” I whispered. “I’d convinced my mother to come to this backwater theater, stole a costume, and stuck myself in the back for the final song before I could be chased off the stage. A humble debut, but it worked out.”

The memory faded out, but I had one take its place. The sound of an upbeat string quartet, playing the opening notes to the starting duet for the play. I crooned the lines of the male role and then made my voice a little higher to add in the chorus too. Then I gestured to her dramatically to take over.

She thought for a beat too long, but that was all right. My heart soared as she sang back to me, her sweet voice crystal-clear as it soared through the acoustics of the theater.

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