Page 112 of Fated or Knot

Tanith’s receiving room was built similarly to mine. A merry fire crackled in her fireplace, and most of the furniture was arranged to shelter a block of space in the center of the room, where the joint nest was. Eletha tucked my things into the empty section left for me, on top of a mound of cushions.

“Right, now you’re suitably pried away from our brothers,” the redhead said, tilting her head as she looked me over. She was tall and elegant, even in sleepwear embroidered with fluffy sheep, somehow possessing that same kind of magnetism that made Nemensia the center of any room. Her fins swished behind her as she considered, flashing red and gold coloring. “You’re cute. I’m Tanith. Half redcap, if you couldn’t guess. C’mon.”

She jerked her chin, and I followed her, settling as cross-legged as I could manage in my corner of the joint nest. “You’ve met Eletha,” she said, nodding to the bespectacled purple nixie. She’d settled on a dotted blanket next to mine and wore similarly patterned pajamas. “And…Siora? Where’d you go?”

“Getting the snacks,” the other nixie called from beyond the joint nest.

My belly took that moment to sound off, and I covered it while we all giggled. “Siora’s somehow Fal’s full-blooded sister, though knowing their personalities, we don’t know how that happened,” Tanith said.

“He’s adopted,” Eletha said in a clearly joking tone.

“Possibly,” Tanith agreed. Before I could ask what they meant, she interrupted my train of thought. “So, Lark, I have to ask. Mothkin talk, and your house moths have suggested you know Serian better than you let on.”

“Oh, uh…” I should’ve realized Jani and Lon were gossips. I’d been a servant. I knew everyone talked to everyone else except the lord or lady in charge.

“And we’ll keep your secret if you’d switch over to talk to Happy Fins,” Tanith continued, gesturing to the small nixie, who quivered with excitement from her corner of the nest as she waited to be introduced. “This is Ambriel, and she doesn’t speak Theli yet.”

I nodded in agreement and cleared my throat, making the switch with a flutter of nerves. To my relief, I didn’t butcher my second language, though I spoke with slow care compared to the native speakers I’d met in the palace. The occasional Theli word wove into the cracks of what I hadn’t learned yet, and I barely noticed it when it happened. “Hello, Ambriel. I’m Lark, your new sister,” I said.

“I’ve been waiting so long to meet you,” the little nixie squeaked. “Mom said I had a new sister, but then you were sick for a while, and my brothers tried to keep you all to themselves and…” She took a gasp of breath.

“It’s nice to meet you. How old are you?” I asked her curiously.

“Five and a half,” the girl said. She sounded rather proud about the half.

“Incoming,” announced the last nixie, Siora, as she stepped into the nest holding some goblets and a bottle of wine. She tunneled out a space in the center of our blankets for the half dozen house moths following her with food, more drinks, and a large, unmarked box. Everything except the box went on a platter in the center of nest.

“We can handle it from here. Have a nice evening, ladies,” Siora said, waving to the gaggle of mothkin as they bowed and left.

She was a voluptuous nixie, curvy even in thick pajamas, with extra-long, showy fins that flashed gray, red, and teal as they settled around her body. I could see how she was Fal’s sister when she was the same gray-blue hue as him and Nemensia, though the aquamarine hair that framed her delicate features was an unexpected pop of color.

We made introductions while Siora poured the wine and started passing around goblets. “Juice or water for you tonight, Happy Fins?” she asked Ambriel.

“Juice!” the little nixie exclaimed.

“Aww, a little grownup today,” she teased, reaching for the carafe of reddish juice amongst the platter of snacks and pouring it into the last goblet.

In the meantime, Eletha passed me a cup of wine, and I sniffed it, picking out sweet and dry notes. Tanith was already drinking deep of hers, so I went for it, taking a cautious sip. The drink was more akin to fruit juice on my tongue, though it became the familiar dry burn of wine as it slipped down my throat.

Wow, that’s really good.I nursed it as Ambriel bounced over to the unmarked box, rummaging through it.

“Feel free to get cozy, Lark,” Tanith said, gesturing to the food. Eletha had picked up a plate from the piles of stuff, mostlydelicious-looking sweets, and was loading it up. “We just wanted to get to know you as our new sister.”

“Our brothers can’t hog upallyour time,” Siora agreed with a roll of her eyes.

“Though they’re sure to be part of the conversation. They always are,” Eletha added.

Knowing their big personalities, that wasn’t a surprise. “I’m sure,” I said, giggling.

Ambriel popped her head and arms out of the box, holding a folded board game. “Let’s play this one!” she exclaimed.

The other nixies smiled fondly as she returned to the nest and began setting it up. I watched with a few curious glances while retrieving a plate’s worth of food. The board would need to travel a bit to make this work, but it seemed we would all have a single token to move around it, so that was doable.

I also wasn’t the full center of attention, which was a relief. Tanith and Siora chatted about work while we ate. Tanith didn’t say what she did, exactly, only shared idle gossip she’d overheard while working for Rennyn around the palace.

Siora, on the other hand, told me she traveled and modeled clothes for a few designers and occasionally posed as an artist’s muse. “Still no scent matches from my last trip,” she sighed. “I wish a pack would swoop in and woo me out of nowhere. Steal me away! Like, hello. I’m so available for that.”

Tanith shrugged. “All in good time. Males are more trouble than they’re worth anyway.”

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