Page 27 of Fated or Knot

Well, if my stepfamily hadn’t been standing in the way, I’d have let Fal carry me to the magirail station. I’d never see Pack Ellisar again, not even spare their breeding contract a second thought if I were soul-bonded into a nicer pack.Amazing. What happened to wicked tricksters and vile malcontents? It hasn’t even been a day.

The four princes weren’t like the stories. They’d been kind to me, despite my lower station. They were simply…people, just like any other fae I’d met. Maybe I was wrong, and maybe it was too soon to write off Fal’s mischievous face, Marius’s clear dismissiveness, and Kauz’s unreadable starry eyes. They could’ve already misled me about their intents or any evil plots they had until I was shut inside a train with them.

But Tormund, I thought of him as having the purest intentions of the four of them. We all knew when he arrived, as he exclaimed, “Hello again, li’l bird!” He came into the taproom from behind me, announced by the inn’s door closing.

He’d changed cloaks, wearing an intact one that was orange and edged in gold embroidery. “I bought you something,” he said as he bent down and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek.

My face warmed, and I blinked up at him in surprise. He’d really kissed me, no hesitation, and I’d released a giddy laugh in response. Tormund wore a big smile as he whispered behind his hand, “I’ll give it to you later.”

The table had gone silent during this exchange. I was aware of Cymora’s focus next to me, watching with a hawk’s unerring gaze.

“Okay,” I said, wondering what he’d gotten me. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too nice, or my stepfamily would take it away.

Fal came to my rescue again, introducing Tormund as he took the last seat, next to Kauz. The brothers edged out to give him room. After a murmur from Kauz, Tormund took off the ruby and gold armband he wore, revealing his Unseelie horns.All four males had the same pack mark, a three-pointed crown between their brows.

“As you may be aware, every royal pack has a member that sees to the queen’s household. Tormund is the heir to her needs,” the dark elf explained. “Now that we’re all here, let’s cut to the chase. Lark is the scent match of Pack Sorles.”

“Yes,” Cymora breathed. “What great news indeed.”

I didn’t like the sound ofthatat all. Nor her hand coming down on my knee and holding it firmly under the table. “You met at the Omega Masquerade, then?” she added.

Laurel stirred. “But Unseelie—” she began to whisper before Cymora elbowed her.

Fal nodded. “As my brothers will tell you, we’ve met every eligible nixie in Serian. We’ve taken our duty to find our princess quite seriously. I suspected our mate would be a pixie instead, and I was rewarded last night after crossing paths with Lark.”

“You are certain?” my stepmother asked with a dry chuckle.

The only reaction on their side of the table came from Tormund, whose brow knitted.

“She is our scent match. Our fated mate,” Fal stated.

“Well, how interesting. I’m not sure I can approve of such a match. Lark is a wallflower, I’m afraid. And untrained for a princess’s duties. Perhaps another can fulfill that role for you,” Cymora said.

My cheeks burned, and I clamped down on a whine of denial. Stars, this was exactly what I was expecting. The next thing in her book of tricks was to recommend that Laurel take my place because she wasso superior.

She wasn’t going to give me a direct order in front of the princes, but she did squeeze my knee with a vicelike grip until I winced and ducked my head again without a word. A growl rose from Tormund’s direction. “You can’t fault me for telling thetruth to spare us some trouble,” she said toward him. “I’m not sure she will be a good princess for you, fated or not.”

“We are not ones to judge her lacking in any regard, Lady Cymora,” Fal said. “There is protocol to observe before she joins our pack officially, but we’ve already recognized her as our princess and intend to begin fitting into her life with the roles we’ve been raised in since birth.”

My eyes widened with shock. My stepmother wasn’t wrong. How, exactly, did they expect me to perform as a princess—no, a future queen—of a country I’d never even visited? This went beyond scent matching. They needed someone to fulfill a specialized role other omegas were trained to step into.

But he’d saidrecognized her as our princesswith that confidence I’d been admiring in him earlier.

Cymora reacted quickly, patting my knee as permission to stop stooping. The princes had to be looking at us with suspicion, which was why I didn’t straighten or speak up yet. It was the only thing I could do to signal that there was something off about the situation.

“Princess Lark. I like the sound of it.” The gruff comment came from Marius. Something nice from him too? Stars, I was going to faint.

“Ourprincess. Even better,” Tormund said.

They waited, probably expecting me to say something.

“Let’s give her a moment. This must be quite overwhelming,” Kauz suggested.

Cymora cleared her throat, maybe reeling from my sudden change in fortune. I sure hoped so. “Well, in the meantime, if you don’t mind me asking… Prince Kauzden, I couldn’t help but notice…”

“That I’m a beta?” Kauz supplied wryly.

“Only a curiosity for the other betas in the room,” she said.

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