Page 15 of Fated or Knot

But for a skittish Seelie who’d already bolted once? Maybe not the best strategy to win her heart. “With a few extra steps,” I hedged, pulling out Lark’s mask from my pocket and sliding it across the table to Kauz.

He picked it up, spinning his starlight essence around it with a thoughtful hum. “This was hers?”

“Aye.”

His dark purple lips pinched into a line. “How unusual.” No one interrupted as he inspected the tarnishing surface and made a pinching motion above it. A misty layer of magic lifted from the mask, resembling a fold of the fake dress Lark had been wearing. “Creating something as easy as a layer of clothes shouldn’t have taken this much essence. Not to mention, illusion is an unusual skill for a Seelie to possess.” Kauz flipped the mask between his fingers, seeming troubled. “Did you want me to visit her dreams tonight?” he asked me.

I nodded. “Something is amiss with her.”

“Aye,” he murmured in agreement.

“Perhaps her subconscious will tell you her troubles. Imagine if we swept away her worries before we steal her to meet Mother. We can earn her trust quickly and elevate her to where she belongs,” I reasoned.

“Our pack princess,” Tormund said with a broad smile. He smacked the table and stood, trailing red fibers from his ruined cloak as he bid us good night and went to his room. I shook my head with a chuckle, now that I knew why he’d butchered the cloth. He’d give away the family fortune if given half a chance.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Marius said, “No Seelie will ever trust us. And our people will never accept a Seelie princess. Stars forbid, a Seelie queen.”

“There will certainly be consequences for Lark being our omega,” I said, putting on my practiced politician’s voice.

“We’ve met countless nixies that would fulfill the role beautifully withoutconsequences,” he argued, gesturing widely. Kauz leaned back to avoid being grazed by a flying fin. “And this female was disguising how she was dressed like a servant. She will have no idea what to do when tossed into the piranha pit Mother navigates with ease every day!”

“We will teach her,” I stated.

Marius turned to Kauz for help. “This is insane, right?” he demanded.

Kauz, as always, was the neutral arbiter of the pack. I could already tell that he hadn’t formed an opinion of Lark yet, as his side of the bond was placid. He had turned his gaze to the mask in his hands, starlight glittering over his fingers and along the patterns painted over his leathery wings as he spun essence for some unknown spell.

“We haven’t met her yet. But wehavemet every unmated nixie in Serian. Shaking the hand of one of the princes is practically a rite of passage for our country’s omegas,” he said, sounding distracted. “So, Fal guessed correctly that she had to bea pixie instead. Why is that such a problem? Our search is finally over.”

I let his reasoning sink in for a moment before adding, “Give her a chance. See if she’s so bad when she realizes you’re one of her scent matches and starts to consider you for a mate.”

Marius released a distinctively equine snort that matched his kelpie form. “Do we control fate, or does it control us?” he asked.

“Smarter minds than ours have been asking that since the dawn of Faerie,” Kauz remarked.

“All I’m asking is that youtrybefore you dismiss her,” I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “If not for your own happiness, then for Tormund. His rages have been getting worse.”

Marius stood with an irritable flick of his ear. “I know.”

“One day, our pack bond will not be enough to call back his sanity,” I pressed.

“Iknow,” he grunted.

“And,” I added, with the intentionality of a finishing blow. “His fated mate will always be able to soothe him.”

Marius scoffed and headed for the door as well. “Not fate. Some quirk of redcap biology at best.”

“He needs her.”

“Good night.” He slammed the door behind him.

Stubborn as a kelpiewasn’t a saying for nothing. He’d have fought this trip tooth and nail if he’d realized we’d really come here for his sake first and foremost, not for Tormund.

I sighed, waiting for Kauz to finish the intricate spell work he focused on now that there was quiet in the room.

“She sleeps,” he murmured eventually. “I must go do the same to dream with her. You only wish to know of her troubles?”

I itched to know a lot more about her. To turn her past out and shake all the skeletons loose with the dust, to learn why she limped—and if someone was to blame for her injury, their identity so I could ruin them utterly.

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