Page 182 of Fated or Knot

My stepmother was free once more.

Rennyn had been in serious danger.

And Laurel saved him? I had Kauz repeat that part of his story again, blinking slowly in disbelief. It seemed unlike her. She was selfish at best, most likely to complain about somethingif it inconvenienced her, but otherwise wouldn’t go against a group decision. If a consequence could hurt her, she stepped aside for another fae—me, usually—to take the fall for it. That she’d acted decisively for another fae and put herself at risk to do so…wow.

And that didn’t even break the surface of the huge revelation that she could sing the siren’s song. She’d been wise to keep that detail a secret from Cymora, but stars, now my stepmother knew about it anyway.

I sat in silence, tearing a scone into itty bitty crumbs, as I struggled to understand this version of Laurel that Kauz claimed to have seen. It wasn’t that I thought he was lying…

No, this is so petty.I just couldn’t help but think of all the good my stepsister could’ve done with the siren’s song back in Osme Fen. Couldn’t she have sang a kinder Cymora into existence? She could’ve at least told me that she had made a vow to my stepmother too.

She had to know about my vow. The way I folded to Cymora’s whims with a “yes, Stepmother” was the most obvious thing, since we lived together. Yet, somehow I didn’t know about her vow. We could’ve teamed up to make life better, but neither of us had tried.

I must’ve been too perfect a scapegoat for her to confide in me. Just as she’d been the ideal daughter in Cymora’s eyes, and thus someone I’d never considered trusting.

“I’m going to go see the metalarks,” I murmured, taking my plate of scone crumbs with me. Kauz and Tormund followed as I left the inn and picked the most efficient path out of Once Else and found a nice clearing to sit and think some more.

How could I bring myself to trust Laurel, when I never could before?

Yet how could I afford not to?

She was alone in the world, for all intents. Kauz had been right to offer her a hand up and a way out of her situation. We couldallbe rid of the scourge that was Pack Ellisar…and Cymora too. She was “an ally” and not necessarily, well, family.

And no matter who she was, I wouldn’t leave her to take the fate originally meant for me. If Laurel was meant for a pack, fate would bring her one. There were plenty of betas who ended up matches for alphas and omegas and bitten into packs as loving mates. And if she didn’t have a pack, she could romance a nice beta male, or something.

I’d help her. I’d go home, help her, and then she could leave to go find her own way in the world. It was only right. The matter of the siren’s song, though…that was dicey. But we had more pressing problems to consider first, namely that said song was Cymora’s to command right now.

I tossed scone crumbs into the grass and held my breath as a tiny, winged shape swooped down and started pecking at the ground. I released a sigh of quiet awe. It was a metalark, at last. The feathers coating its back and wings were the darkest of indigos, perfect for blending into the night sky, and its belly was soft with white down. It whistled birdsong and a few more of the birds popped out of the undergrowth to eat too.

As they hopped around, their feathers glittered with stardust. They were truly dreamland creatures, just like me. I cleared my throat and scattered them when I started singing a shy rendition of “Hello Starlight” to an audience of two, plus the li’l birds. They came back when they realized I wasn’t going to try to grab for them.

Just like any other birds, they were gone once the food was thoroughly picked off the grass. But they left a few sparkling feathers behind that I took, to admire on the train ride home.

We arrived in Neslune’s train station by midday. Kauz strode over to talk to a beta dreamlander standing toward the back of a crowd of fae waiting for a train to arrive. She had bat wings and skin so dark an indigo, it was nearly black in the shade. When she bowed deeply to Kauz and bared her throat in apology, I figured this had to be his spy friend.

“…Not so bad a punishment,” she was saying as I drifted over to join their conversation. She nodded toward me with a low murmur of, “Princess.”

“You’ve done your job well. Thank you for helping me at such short notice. The mistake was not your fault, either,” he said.

Her lips twitched. “Joyous news. In the meantime, the Clever King wished to be made aware of your arrival. You’re a day earlier than expected, so it may take a bit for him to send a carriage.”

“We’ll wait.”

As soon as she flew off, Kauz glanced at me with an odd twist to his mouth. “What?” I asked.

“He’s sending a carriage.” He said it like I should know what that meant.

Tormund came to my rescue, whispering behind his hand, “That means he’s coming in person to talk to us.”

Oh, stars. It was serious for a busy king to take that much time out of his schedule. We settled on a bench right outside the train station to wait, while I fidgeted with my fingertips. What did Rennyn want to tell us directly?

Kauz threaded his fingers through mine and Tormund caught my other hand. Together they tugged my sharp nails away from my cuticles before I could hurt myself fretting. With Kauz rubbing my arm and Tormund purring a bit to provide comfort, I let myself stop worrying so hard and waited. Before long, a team of beautiful dappled horses pulled a carriage to a stop right in front of us.

I supposed the carriage was pretty, too. It was well varnished, the ebony wood gleaming in the sunlight without being too flashy. The door opened and out popped Eletha. “Hi!” she exclaimed.

I blinked in surprise, not expecting the librarian nixie out in the light of day. Which was silly. She had other things to do besides work and write her manuscript. “Hi, Eletha,” I said.

Kauz reached out and ruffled her hair, ruining her ponytail. “Hey,” she giggled, ducking back into the carriage. The rest of us followed her in.

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