Page 20 of Fated or Knot

Thelis and Serian hadn’t been at war even in my parents’ generation, and it seemed more than a handful of Unseelie had made their way across the sea to the Seelie capital. Just seeing a curvy scaled naga slithering along with a basket of eggs and a pair of dark elf alphas laughing together arm-in-arm nearly had me tripping over my own feet, though.

This was definitely not Osme Fen.

I still liked the anonymity of the crowd and the sight of so many varied shopfronts. I walked several blocks and lingered to look at jeweled bags and elaborate garments positioned by the windows of stores for the wealthy. Restaurants wedged in between them, using their window space to host elaborate banners illusioned to look like freshly prepared meals sizzling enticingly.

The costliness of the displayed items diminished in the direction I walked, until I happened upon my first pawn shop. It was a small box, full of display cases lit by specialized essence lamps to cause their contents to sparkle. I caught the attention of a dryad alpha who looked to be an honored elder, if his seven-foot-tall stature and the thickness of the mossy greenery and blooming flowers coating his shoulders and scalp were any indication. Many members of the Seelie had plant features or power over the natural world, more traits that set us apart from our Unseelie cousins.

He hulked behind the counter, narrowing his pupil-less green eyes at me. “See something you want, kid?” he grunted.

“I wanted to sell something, actually,” I said, feeling shy and small under his suspicious gaze. The fingers I had in my smock shook as I took out a few items. It would seem rather farfetched if I tried to offload twenty-one timepieces sized for males at the same shop, so I put two timepieces in front of him, along with three jeweled bracelets and the pair of amethyst studs I’d stolen from Laurel.

The dryad didn’t say anything for several seconds. I was already sweating from my pre-heat, but he was making my anxiety so much worse. A justification for why I had these items perched on my tongue before he lifted the first bracelet and ran it through his bark-like fingers.

“Fourteen fulls for this,” he rumbled.

He worked methodically through the items, naming a price for each. Given that I could see a timepiece for sale at two hundred and ninety-nine full moon coins in his case, I knew I was getting a raw deal when he said fifty each for the two I was offering him. But I nodded at all of his named prices, pretty sure a magirail ticket couldn’t cost more than five hundred full moons. That price would be outrageous anyway.

I might’ve stolen a lot more than I needed to. I picked at my fingernails, overcome with a rush of guilt. It wasn’t like I could return the excess items I’d taken.

After counting out the money and handing it to me in a small sack, the dryad alpha gestured toward my front pocket, which was still full of lumps. “Got anything else?”

I opened my mouth to respond, just to sneeze into my elbow. “Sorry,” I said with a fluttery smile. This persistently unamused male wouldn’t appreciate me mentioning being a little allergic to the pollen he was putting off.

The bell on the door jingled behind me as someone else walked into the store. I was weighing my options before saying, “I do have more.” I started lining up more items of value, rings and bracelets and a third timepiece.

“That’s clearly not all,” the dryad said, circling his hand. I hesitated before stacking up a couple more of my ill-gotten gains onto the counter.

He picked up one of the rings, tilting it so it sparkled under the essence lamps. “Hmm. Did you steal all this from somewhere, kid?”

My wings flicked before flattening to my back in a defensive posture as the dryad fixed me with a steely green stare.

“Every time there’s a big event, the thieves come out the next day with goods they shouldn’t?—”

“If you don’t buy her things, I will,” interrupted a deep and annoyed voice.

I whipped around, having missed someone else entering the shop. He loomed behind me, scowling at the dryad. My eyes rounded to the size of saucers as the lilt this stranger spoke with hit me at the same time his scent did.Water. Danger.Cymora and Laurel’s domain.

He smelled of waterlilies and the kind of wild mint that grew close to the lake and streams around Osme Fen. And he was the alpha who’d watched me leave the inn, but now that I saw the rest of him, I noticed the signs that he was only a merman as an illusioned disguise. He wore fashionable clothes, cut and dyed in what appeared to be an expensive style. They hugged his muscular torso in a way that left little of his sizable strength to the imagination.

Unlike Tormund, who’d been husky as well as naturally large, this alpha looked like he’d never tasted a sweet in his life. The frizzy waves of blue and green hair hanging to just past his jaw may have been the only thing soft about him. That jawlinewas chiseled perfection and coated in the cerulean shadow of an unshaved beard. Though one of his arms was covered by a half cloak that draped over one shoulder, the other that he placed on the counter around me had large, contoured muscles.

He met my eyes for a moment before staring at the dryad, and a shiver went down my spine. That yellow gaze was not particularly friendly. But at least it was leveled at the shopkeeper for now in some alpha dominance match.

“I could take them somewhere else,” I suggested to keep the peace.

“No,” they both said at the same time.

“How much are you going to pay her?” the prince, I assumed, asked. His Serian accent was mild yet present.

“How many items does she have?” the shopkeeper countered. Both of them were still locked in their staring match.

The prince gestured at me impatiently, and I set out another, single timepiece. “All of it,” he ordered. My knees got a little weak. I didn’t think he’d put the full force of his alpha’s presence into the order to bark at me, but he might’ve been close. I started lining up each and every item I stole from yesterday’s masquerade.

Bowing his head slightly to the prince, the dryad began rifling through the goods. “I wasn’t going to report her, for the record,” he grumbled. “Thieves are good for my business. There’s always some put-out noble male sauntering around, looking to replace what they lost.”

The prince merely growled. His gaze slid back to me, flicking up and down in a perusal so fast I could’ve blinked and missed it. I crossed my arms over my belly, turning partially away from him. I suspected this was the maw of some Unseelie trap swinging closed around me, and even if I could bolt with most of my stolen valuables laid out, one of the other males from his pack could be waiting to intercept me.

“Five hundred thirty-two fulls,” the shopkeeper said.

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