Page 201 of Fated or Knot

His ear flicked a couple times. “Don’t mention me at all,” he grumbled.

I bit my lip on saying that Fal would figure it out. “Okay. Lean down so I can kiss you goodbye?” I was going a little crazy without kisses from my alpha mates. And all three of them were a good head taller than me. More, in Tormund’s case. We’d had an unspoken agreement that kisses, and the blast of pheromones that came with them, would help no one’s self-control. But I wanted them anyway.

“That is a terrible idea, p’nixie.”

“On thecheek.”

He gave me a knowing look, but still bent his knees and tilted his unscarred cheek in my direction. I gave him a kiss there and he nuzzled my neck in return. “You should go, sweet prey. You smell too tempting.”

I thought this meant goodbye, but after I gathered up the crystal in its box and placed an illusion over it—shockingly easy to weave, compared to the amount of effort I used to have to put into such basic magic—Marius trailed at the end of my shadow. I acquired Tormund, waiting in an armchair in my study, who followed behind me as well.

As I crossed the hall toward Fal’s suite of rooms, I thought of Tanith and her snark right before nixie night.“Did it really require two of you to escort her over here?”

Kauz was out in the hall too, standing sentinel with a pair of guards in the entrance to the royal wing. He didn’t turn around to acknowledge us.

I knocked on Fal’s door and a house moth answered. “Princess!” he exclaimed. “Come in.”

The small eclipse of house moths had apparently moved here, as there were several of the fuzzy betas cleaning the receiving room as I stepped inside. I’d been in Fal’s rooms before, but I’d been rather drunk on fae fruit wine, so I took in the area with new eyes. The front was very…princely, I supposed, all dark colors and orderly lines. A gigantic painting of some kind of outdoor scene, with a handful of unknown fae posing on it, hung within line of sight of the door.

“I’ll tell the prince you’ve arrived,” the house moth squeaked.

I nodded and tiptoed toward a nicely carved coffee table, situated between several comfortable-looking seats for guests. I slid the box with its crystal underneath it, changing the illusion on it so it better resembled part of the furniture.

After I straightened, Fal emerged from the next room over. He wasn’t dressed up for a formal date either, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and pants tight enough to frame the graceful lines of his legs. Shadows lined the hollows under his eyes, like he hadn’t been sleeping well. His nostrils flared and he gave me a smile full of Unseelie mischief. “Mo stór, you’re here. And early. Eager to see me, hmm?”

“Always.” The answer tumbled from me before I’d given it a second’s worth of thought. The full truth. He could tease me if he wanted, but I was always at least a little giddy to see him. My inner omega would giggle and kick her feet, saying,“That’s my mate!”

And his scent…oh, stars. I was in trouble. His scent was strong with sunlight, male musk, and something more, somethingcompelling. I went weak at the knees from the moment it threaded through my nostrils and took me to another place entirely. Breathing in deep as I crossed the room toward him, I felt like I was skipping through a field of wildflowers.

I was a kid again, laughing, carefree, rolling through the greenery until I had smears of pollen and crushed grass on mydress. My father would put me in white to see how many colors my clothes would be once I was done playing. Those were the best days of spring, by far.

Strong hands framed my hips, and in a blink my memory was gone, replaced by Fal’s curious face. “Where’d you go?” he asked.

I gazed up at him, mute. His feline gaze sparkled like sapphires in this well-lit room. I stood entranced by the flashes of blue light that danced with every movement of his eyes. After each blink, they’d reform to dazzle me again.

He covered his eyes with one hand and I startled. “Sorry,” he and I said at the same time.

Good going, Lark.

“A great start, I know. I’ll blindfold myself.” He sounded like he wasn’t joking.

“I’ll just look somewhere else. Like, um, this big painting you have.”

He uncovered his face and rolled his eyes as he glanced at it. “Ah, aye,The Knighting of Sir Rennick of Daraleth. A classic. You can justsmellthe history.”

All I could scent right now was Fal. If he didn’t have a hold on my waist, I’d probably be pressed all the way against him for more, too.

“I don’t prefer this room,” he added. “Come on, it’s more comfortable in here. Maybe a bit sparser than it used to be. My mothkin have already moved a lot of things into your rooms.”

He took me back the way he’d come, into a room with multiple, varied seats around the perimeter and a few cabinets nestled in the corners. The walls were full, mostly of drawn posters advertising various plays, and the center was empty except for the rug underfoot. “A bit sparser,” I echoed. While he could easily have a dozen fae in here, seated, it did seem rather empty.

“Aye, the middle is by design. Get a bunch of performers together and drunk, and this becomes a stage.” He pointed at the rug and nudged me playfully. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Something without fae fruit, please.”

He went rummaging through one of the cabinets, clinking bottles as he went. “Siora ruined fae fruit wine for you, huh.”

“I just don’t want to hallucinate again.”

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