Page 26 of Fated or Knot

LARK

“Who are they?” Fal whispered in my ear.

I met his gaze, torn. Who could I trust more, the Unseelie I’d just met or my stepfamily?

He was putting me down. My right foot twinged upon coming in contact with the ground. Just another dose of reality as the surge of panic in my chest settled into resignation. It was over. Already.

I came to a decision and hoped, somehow, Fal could become the unlikely ally I needed. “The clue you wanted to see me,” I mumbled back.

Stars, they’d found me so fast. I’d thought they wouldn’t bother to search Ilysnor all that hard, and that was my fatal mistake. A keening tone rose in my head, screaming out a silent denial. I couldn’t go back to Osme Fen. I would rather die than have Pack Ellisar touch me, even more so now that I’d met my scent matches, Unseelie or not.

My hand covered the new tattoos on my opposite wrist, hiding them under an illusion with a bit of essence. I stoodin a servant’s obedient pose with my face inclined toward the ground, bracing for whatever was to come next.

“Lark, who is this handsome male?” Cymora practically simpered.

It wasn’t a direct order, but I responded like it was so Fal could hear who she was. “Yes, Stepmother. This is Prince Fal…uh.” I’d forgotten his full name.

“Crown Prince Falindel of Sorles, second only to Pack Serian,” he supplied, picking up seamlessly from where I’d left off. I felt his attention on me and dared a peek through my lashes. His gaze was probing as it flashed from me to my stepfamily and back. Practically demanding an explanation. “Lord heir and leader of Pack Sorles.”

Cymora rushed to curtsy, stomping on Laurel’s foot until she stopped gaping and did the same. “It’s an honor to meet you, Prince Falindel. I am Cymora, Lady of Osme Fen. And this is my daughter, Lady Laurel. Thank you for finding Lark for us. We lost her after the Omega Masquerade.”

“Indeed,” Fal said. I must’ve been imagining the suspicion in that single word, as he sounded warm afterward as he gestured to the taproom. “How lovely it is to meet you both. Let us have a seat. I will call my brothers to join us through our pack bond. We have something to discuss.”

“We do?” Laurel asked. She made a soft yelp as Cymora must’ve dug her heel in.

“We certainly do,” he said cheerfully, sweeping me in that direction with his arm around my shoulders. I tried not to despair as I watched him haul two tables together, moving chairs so there was enough room for all of us. This was about to be humiliating. I didn’t want the princes to see me under Cymora’s thumb, but I didn’t have a choice.

I glanced her way, and my heart sank further at what I saw. My stepmother was scheming so hard it was a wonder she wasn’tblowing hot steam from her finned ears. “Please, sit,” Fal said, drawing the first chair on one side. “I have joyous news to share once we’re all here.”

Cymora eased into the second chair, gesturing for me to sit across from Fal and for Laurel to flank her other side. “I am quite eager to hear it, especially if it concerns my dear Lark.”

I hid any sign of a flinch under a practiced mask, going as blank as possible. She had a habit of punishing me for any public reactions later, in private, and I didn’t need to make her wrath any worse than it already was.

A barmaid came by, and Fal politely had her leave, passing her a coin. He wasn’t planning on this being a long conversation, it seemed. Kauz was the first of his pack to arrive, keeping the chair beside Fal empty and turning around the next one in line to account for his wings. “Prince Kauzden of Sorles, magician heir,” Fal supplied while introducing my stepfamily to him.

Laurel murmured in awe when Kauz smiled and offered his hand to each of them. The sunlight leaking into the taproom caught his unusual eyes to make them shine with purple nebulae. I wanted to gaze into them to see more, and so did my stepsister, it seemed. A flash of jealousy hit me that she was the one across from him, able to gaze at her leisure.

Whoa, there.What was that? I’d rarely cared so much about such a small thing before.

“A pleasure to meet Lark’s family,” he said.

“The pleasure is ours,” Cymora replied.

Next to arrive was Marius, who exchanged a brief word with Fal in Serian before shrugging off his half cloak. The magic making him appear as a merman faded, changing his facial structure and unveiling his Unseelie animal feature. He had fins from his wrists to his elbows, folded close to his skin with multiple sharp-looking points at the ends.

His nose flattened from a blade to a more subtle ridge with a thick golden ring glinting on his right nostril. Two pairs of emerald studs lined the end of his right eyebrow. A long scar bisected his face at an angle, lending him a look more roguish than handsome. It was a thick and silvery, crossing over the bridge of his nose and cutting through his brow close to his pack mark and the top of the opposite cheek. His eyes gained a kind of predatory glow, while his ears reshaped from fins into fae points and grew half an inch.

He reminded me even more of a horse than our earlier introduction.Kelpie,my mind supplied. A breed of aquatic Unseelie shifter known for feasting on flesh and having loyalty only to their nixie mates. Marius was short with my stepfamily, practically grunting his way through introductions and keeping his gaze off me.

“Marius is a male of few words,” Fal added, earning a nod from the kelpie. “It comes with his role as protector heir.”

“Where’s Tormund?” Marius asked. His ear flicked in an impatient gesture.

“Enjoying Ilysnor, I’m sure,” Kauz answered.

The longer it took for the last prince to arrive, the more time Cymora had to scheme. I fidgeted with my fingers under the table, picking at the skin around my fingernails until it hurt, as I wondered what new terrors she was coming up with. My belly was full to the brim with queasy nerves. No matter what she decided to do, I had no power to stop her. And she was sure to try to ruin how the princes saw me.

It was almost comedic how when the illusion of choice was taken away, I realized what I wanted. With the exception of Marius, who had caught me in such an embarrassing moment, Ilikedwhat I’d seen of the Unseelie princes. If I ended up stolen away to Serian…

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