Page 190 of Fated or Knot

“Tormund,” I sighed.

“What?”

“Did you shield your pack bond?”

“Oh! Aye, of course I did.” He hesitated, parting his lips, before closing his mouth. Then he drew a breath to add, “We talked about your heat. He was happy to hear you’re saving yourself for him. You are still doing that, right? I assumed, even with the new suppressant tattoo…”

I hadn’t exactly flaunted the tattoo, but I figured Rennyn had mentioned it to one of them. “It’s a good idea.” I said it gently, worried it would upset him since our time together would have to remain chaste. “I don’t want to go into heat if it leads to a grievance. I’m sorry, the timing…my body won’t let us delay much longer.”

When I glanced up, it was to see him beaming with his usual cheer. “We have plenty of other things to do. Just you wait.”

Stars, I loved this gentle giant. I returned his smile, knowing my eyes gleamed with admiring stars by how I seemed to dazzle him.

There weren’t any other quiet pauses between us. Tormund mostly filled the air, gladly telling me stories. He had no qualms about sharing embarrassing information about my other mates, and I tried not to bend over giggling too much. Stella tilted her ears back to listen.

We rode until sundown, arriving at a massive hunting lodge just as the shadowy shapes of flying house moths were lighting the essence lamps lining its eaves. It was three stories by the pattern of small windows lining its sides. “I’m here so often, it’s like my second home,” Tormund said with a grand gesture of his arm. “The winter lodge.”

“Oh?” I asked curiously.

“Managing the hunters, mostly,” he explained. “Something always goes wrong with them, no matter the season. This is one of the hubs that serves the hunters that keep us city-folk fed, so you may see a few of them around. I’ve got two permanent rooms here.”

I admired it as we approached. The first level was built with decorative stonework, while the upper levels were wood paneled. A pair of satyrs came to take our mounts, and Tormund led me up the front steps, happily chattering about dinner. My belly rumbled, reminding me abruptly that I hadn’t had much more than tea and some trail rations today. That scone I’d fed to Once Else’s metalarks felt like a wasted opportunity now.

An alpha mothkin bowed deeply by the door. He was a hulking male, his sheer size and prominent fangs seeming an exaggeration from the little house moths I knew, though he had the same oversized red eyes and fuzzy antennae naturally curved backward over his head. He wore a dark green tunic and pants that strained to hold his muscles and midnight black fur.“Good evening, Prince Tormund. We have the kitchen and your quarters prepared for you,” he said.

My mate thanked him and introduced us. This was Head Moth Wirr—his name was more of a mouth noise than I was familiar with—the steward of the lodge. Wirr puffed with pride and bowed to me as well. “Welcome, Princess. We aim to deliver the best hospitality this side of Neslune.”

I smiled back, sure I would see more of him and his staff’s hospitality. The lodge was familiar in a way the palace couldn’t match…it was just a little earthy. Even with a house moth staff, hunters, their kills, and their trophies had a particular smell and it lingered. I’d scented it plenty in Osme Fen and come to terms with the necessity of hunting for survival.

Plus, there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of fae around. The common area had two in total, a beta dark elf with an unstrung bow and a quiver resting at her feet, and a grimalkin alpha hunched over a bloody meal. He glanced up and his eyes dilated in a telltale way, before he released a chuff in our direction and went back to tearing into his undercooked food.Feral.A hunting job would be perfect for a male like him.

Tormund greeted both the dark elf and grimalkin by name as we walked to the stairs, passing under the glassy stare of dozens of mounted heads of various impressive beasts. They lined the second story railing from the entranceway all the way to the stone hearth crackling away to ward off the lingering chill of evening.

Tormund took me up to the third floor, slowing his stride as I climbed the stairs stiffly, feeling my hours on Stella’s back.Fucking stairs…

He let me into his room, a corner suite overlooking the forest. It was sure to be a beautiful view, come morning. “Feel free to use the rain room. I’m going to get dinner started,” he saidcheerfully. After stealing a quick peck on my cheek, he ducked out of the room.

I poked through his room, sniffing around to little avail. His room had been thoroughly cleaned of his scent, and it was a small space by the standards of a prince, with enough room for a bed big enough for him, a dresser full of clothes, and a couple boxes of brightly colored toys that looked like they were for pet cats or dogs.

It was only when I was gratefully standing under a weak stream of water in the adjoining rain room that I wondered,did he mean he was going to make dinner himself?

53

TORMUND

“Is everything to your liking, Prince?” squeaked one of Lark’s handmaidens as I inspected the spread of spices and raw ingredients on the kitchen counter. I’d had both her house moths fly ahead of us with a parcel of these items, for this moment. They’d stayed here waiting for us to arrive, standing out in their palace uniforms amongst the more subdued hunter green Wirr preferred for his eclipse—as any large group of mothkin were called.

“Aye, thank you. You may go. I thought I told you to take the rest of the day off?”

The handmaidens exchanged a glance. The one with streaks of white in her antennae said, “We can help. We were in the Red Eclipse before the queen reassigned us.”

Lark probably didn’t realize there were several subgroups of mothkin servants within the palace, color coded to their tasks and which alpha mothkin they reported to. The kitchen moths from the Red Eclipse had taught me how to cook…so it was a tempting offer. But I didn’t want my mate to walk in and think I was taking credit for their efforts.

“I appreciate it, but the whole point for tonight is me showing off my skills to my mate,” I said. “You really can go and relax.”

After a few more moments to consider me, they shifted with nerves. The handmaiden with a brown pattern inside her wings said, “Okay, Prince. Before you get started, will you please introduce us to Head Moth Wirr?”

“Did you want to be reassigned again?” I asked in surprise.

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