Page 114 of Fated or Knot

I was past a space of worry as I showed them the heat suppressant tattoo on my wrist. It seemed to curl and loop in on itself, changing colors as I watched. Odd. A lot of patterns, like the ones on our blankets, were starting to do that. “Yeah, it’s been four years. There weren’t heat helpers in my farm town. Just a disgusting pack that bought the rights to my first heat.”

Siora hugged me, and I hugged her back. “Ohgiiiirl. Your heat is going to set your nest on fire.”

I took a messy sip of my wine. “Iknooow. I’m scared.”

“Don’t be. It’s going to be amazing, even if you’ll barely remember more than half of it.”

“About that other thing you just said,” Tanith put in.

She only asked a couple questions, and I spilled the whole sordid truth about what my stepmother had done. Pack Ellisar and the silencing band were behind me, but it still felt like a relief not to let them lurk in my shadow, unspoken of, like they were still a threat.

My new sisters were a sympathetic audience, throwing in the occasional insult at my past enemies. We were all way too drunk for most of this to be remembered tomorrow, especially as Istarted in on a new pour of wine and watched the walls pulse around us as if they had their own heartbeat.

“Say, what’s in this?” I finally thought to ask, voice slurring, as I raised my goblet.

“Only the finest fae fruit wine. Are you seeing colors yet?” Siora giggled.

I was seeingalotmore than that, but I just said, “Yeah!” since they didn’t realize this was the first time I’d drunk any fae fruit wine. It was a hallucinogenic, and the rest of the night fragmented as the wine soaked into my head.

I had a great time in a surreal reality as we talked and laughed and slowly formed a purring pile until we passed out one after the other.

Tomorrow came with unrelenting force when I woke. The light of day was too bright, sounds too loud, and the lingering smell of fae fruit wine unpleasantly saccharine.

I reclaimed my arm, which had been dangling, and covered my face with my hand as I groaned in agony.Too much wine… Never again…

“What the fuck did you do to my mate?” Fal hissed from somewhere below me.

Wait, below?

I peeked around a slit between my fingers to find the joint nest from last night several yards under me, since I was floating at the top of Tanith’s vaulted entryway. A pastry drifted past myline of sight while my heart doubled the speed of its pattering as I, too, wondered what the fuck was going on.

Fal stood next to a disheveled Tanith, both of their faces turned up to look at me. Though their hair stirred from some unseen, indoor wind, he looked as impeccable as ever in one of his dark blue outfits, while she was groggy, her sleepwear lumpy and askew.

“I don’t know,” she grumbled. “She hasn’t done this before?”

“No!” he exclaimed in disbelief.

“Could you keep it down?” Eletha’s sweet voice requested from somewhere in the mound of blankets I thought I’d fallen asleep in.

The dark elf pinched his brow but lowered his voice. “All right. It’s magic of some kind, and uncontrolled at that. We need an essence spinner.”

Tanith put her hands together. “Don’t call Dad. Please keep our parent pack out of this. Can’t you just climb up and get her?”

“Yes, that worked so well for Jani,” he said dryly.

I peered around in confusion before spotting my handmaiden soaring a couple feet below me. Her wings were spread, and she seemed content amidst a mass of floating food, plates, and dripping goblets slowly circling below me. Occasionally, her hand darted out to catch and eat something sweet. By the items—and house moth—it seemed like the disturbance of air was about a ten foot diameter of…whatever this was.

“Help,” I whined. Somehow, I knew I was responsible for this by the tug of essence within me, but I didn’t know how to stop it.

“Try flapping your wings,” Tanith called to me in an urgent whisper.

I did, and I made it far enough down to collide with a floating confection that felt cold and slimy against my wing before thewind pushed me back up to the ceiling. My head tapped the hard surface, sending another spike of pain shooting behind my eyes.

“We may have to…” Fal drew off and tilted his head, brows furrowing. “Kauz is awake.”

“Thank the stars,” Tanith said with a sigh of relief, which I echoed. He’d know what to do. And…I’d get to see him again. I couldn’t even remember if I’d tried to enter his dreams again last night through the fog in my mind.

“We’ll see if he can help. Otherwise, it’s time for a ladder.”

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