Page 198 of Fated or Knot

“Will this person talk to me soon?” I asked.

“Aye.”

“I trust you.”

He stopped walking abruptly. We’d entered the palace through a less-used hallway, so no one bumped into us as he swung to face me. “Your trust is not misplaced. Always.”

“My Always.” I reached for him and he obliged, leaning down to meet my lips. He drew me into the embrace of his arms and wings, wrapping me in the comfort of him. He rested his forehead against mine, our breaths mingling.

The uncertainty creasing the planes of his face was an upsetting change for my inner omega.My mate is in distress,it whispered.

“I’ll be okay,” I assured him.

His breath hitched and he hugged me tighter. The set to his mouth and brow shifted, determination hardening his expression. “You need to sleep, sweetheart. It’s going to be a long night.”

I didn’t doubt it. We eventually let one another go and completed the trek to the royal wing. My nostrils flared in the hall leading up to my room. Notes of sunshine and wild mint twined in the air and lingered. The ache in my belly only grewmore pronounced, like I was about to have the worst cramp of my life if I didn’t dosomethingabout it soon.

I said goodbye to Kauz at the door of my suite, hunching over my middle as soon as I was inside and the door was closed behind me.

“It’s the princess!”

“Princess!”

I startled and straightened. My receiving room seemed to be swarming with house moths, though as they gathered and bowed or curtsied, it was just eight males, plus Jani and Lon, who happily made introductions. The males were the moths assigned to the princes, relocated to serve us all here. “We’re cleaning everything in preparation for your heat, Princess,” Jani reported.

“That includes everything in your nest. Please don’t be upset,” Lon added. “Most omegas want to re-do their nest right before their heat anyway.”

It was impossible to look at this flock—eclipse?—of earnest house moths and be angry. However, I’d wanted to lay down in my nest, and the idea of re-doing it just made me feel more tired.

“Don’t let me interrupt your work. I’m going to the rain room,” I said.

“I’ll get your favorite soap!”

“I’ll get your robe!”

Jani and Lon bumped into one another in their haste to do as they’d said. I scrunched my nose and giggled, fluttering by them. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine. Thank you, ladies.”

The rest of the moths split up to return to what they were doing. When they said they were cleaningeverything, they meant it. Yet I still picked up a strong whiff of Fal’s grassy sunshine in the study and noticed my old journal was upside down on the desk. I flipped it open, noticing the sheer amount of scribble marks on the pages before any other details.

I picked it up and flipped through it while standing, as one of the male house moths was wiping down the study’s armchairs behind me. This was Fal’s handwriting in the back of the journal. I’d recognize the elegant, looping script anywhere, even though most of it was unreadable for me since it was written in Serian. Still, it was a rare peek into his mind and apparently it was chaos in there. There were so many things crossed out on the first page alone.

Deeper into the journal, there were arrows pointing every which way. Then he’d started doodling in the middle of an idea or a thought. He wasn’t half bad at drawing, either. When I saw the barkfolk shape surrounded by a plume of fire, I had the idea of what I was holding. Plans. Brainstorming. Fruitless, since his frustration was evident.

I turned one more page and my breath caught. He’d taken some kind of break to sketch a full page spread of, well, versions of me. “Mo stór” was written at the top next to a heart. I knew those particular Serian words very well and blushed. There had to be a couple dozen doodles and they were increasingly naughty and detailed.

I could see the progression from him getting my face, body, and wing proportions right, to sketches of a few expressions. Excited, blushing and shy, annoyed, embarrassed, and coy seemed to be his favorites. Then there were full-body doodles. Me wearing outfits I knew he liked, and then just without clothes at all, posing in bold and sexy ways I’d never had the confidence for.

I flipped through the other pages. More plotting and scribbling, until he seemed to give up mid-thought. I turned back to the sketches of me and studied the poses carefully. For reasons.

A tickle of static began at the back of my head. I paused and glanced up, like I would meet Marius’s predatory eyes themoment the kelpie bond fell back into place. His voice was a deep growl in my mind.“Mate.”

I got a little slick.Just from that? C’mon. Bad Lark.To be fair, I was already stirred up from the peek into Fal’s mind, and my body was reacting accordingly.

All I could sense from Marius was a tangle of alpha instinct and pressing, urgent need.“Where are you?”I asked.

“I came running. Almost there.”

I tingled with anticipation. The door into my suite slammed a room over. I put the journal down as he rushed into the study and over to me in a few long strides. He crushed me into a hug, burying his nose in my hair, and I sighed happily as his scent hit me. His fertile waterlilies and mint was enough to make me weak at the knees.

---