Page 216 of Fated or Knot

“I-I will,” I said faintly.

His lips pressed together as his nostrils flared. “Such a good omega. I still can hardly believe the stars blessed us so. And to—” He cut himself off, jaw tight. I whined, sensing the misery hiding just under his skin.

“I wish you hadn’t agreed to the plan,mo stór. Letting them think they’ve won you, even for a moment, is unbearable. That they even get to smell your heat…fuck. They don’t deserve it, nor a chance to get close to you.” His hold on me turned protective. “I know why you said yes, and I will honor it. But you aremine.”

“Yours,” I echoed, circling my fingertips on the back of his neck.

My alpha is in distress.

But what could I do to ease that until he laid me down to claim me by midnight?

My instincts were running the show in my head. I teared up, because I didn’t have anything better to say to reassure him. “I love you. I want you in my nest every night,” I said, sweet and lyrical.

He smiled sadly.Oh no. That’d just made it worse.

“I’d let you give me a baby?” I added. Maybe he wanted one of those.

“If you weren’t in heat, you would’ve never said that.” He stopped dancing with me to hug me tight, burying his face in my hair. He hid a small intake of breath in the white strands, and a couple of tears. I wouldn’t tell anyone they were there. “I love you too. So much it scares me.”

“Love’s not supposed to scare you,” I whispered.

“I suppose it’s not the emotion. It’s knowing I have to let you go.”

I whined, holding onto the front of his nice jacket. “Not yet.”

“Not yet,” he agreed. “I swear to you now, I will do everything in my power to ensure you come to no harm tonight.”

He held me until the end of the song, and didn’t go far as the music’s cues softened. His clawed fingers cupped my face, and the rut glow in his eyes seemed all the more dazzling with the lingering wetness filming them. This was the moment, the signal Rennyn was watching for. I wasn’t so far gone in my own instincts to miss why Fal hesitated.

He wasn’t supposed to tell me any of the plan. His role in said plan started in this moment, when he was meant to send me fully into heat and let me go for what came next. Thank the stars he’d loved me enough to warn me.

As the final bars of the slow song rang through the air, he swept me off my feet into a dramatic dip, and kissed the breathfrom my lungs. Our tongues twined in a desperate dance of their own as we swapped our real pheromones. My eyes rolled back as I tasted pure sunshine, floral sweetness, and the pollen-like way his fertility bloomed on my taste buds.

And he, in turn, knew that I wasn’t in heat yet, as he’d be able to taste such a change. I teetered on that edge, and while we’d talked, I’d leaned toward my instincts and needs. But the incredible taste of him reminded me that I couldn’t fully fall. Not yet. It would be so, so easy. But I didn’t want Pack Ellisar to know the scent of my full heat either, not after I’d fought to hold it back for four years.

What was one more hour if it meant I never had to suppress myself again?

Fal righted our balance and looked at me with his pupils blown as his tongue darted out to taste his lips. His brows rose in genuine shock. “You’re so strong,mo stór. I am in awe of you.” He bowed deeply before offering his arm. “Let’s find our way to our carriage. It’s time.”

58

LARK

We left the crowded ballroom and filtered past others leaving the revel early, all heading to their own carriages or inn rooms. Fal reached into his pocket and scratched his ear. He was quiet as we walked, gravely so, and had his arm around me protectively.

“Looks like your earring is loose. Let me fix that for you,” he said. We paused for a moment for him to sweep my hair away from the pointed shell and tug my earlobe long enough to sneak a plug inside my ear. It was made of essence and activated, creeping down my ear canal to expand and block out any sound. I twitched and whimpered. This was not a pleasant feeling. However, it would dissolve within an hour and give me my hearing back with no negative side effects.

There was one big unanswered question in the plan, and it concerned Cymora’s mental state. Rennyn had admitted to Fal that he’d tortured her to the brink of her sanity. She was a dangerous variable as long as she could command Laurel any way she liked. But we could reasonably assume she was weak, and afraid.

“When backed into a corner, all fae revert to their base instincts. They will either fight, flee, or freeze. Your stepsister’s job was to convince her mother not to run from Neslune until she used you for her benefit one last time,”Fal had explained to me earlier.

I had known, immediately, that Cymora would do it. She would hardly question how Laurel knew which carriage was ours: she would take the bait, and they would be waiting for us to finish our time at the revel to steal me away.

We stopped outside the carriage to signal to the chauffeur—one of Fal’s house moths, earning a generous bonus tonight—and to Kauz, who crouched on the rooftop of the nearest building. The winged fae saluted to show his readiness. Fal climbed the couple steps up the coach, deliberately rocking it, and opened the door.

A blast of wordless music escaped the threshold. It was beautiful, in a way that made my heart ache, but with one of my ears blocked I heard the melody and the mental command of the siren’s song as two separate things, rather than one ultra-compelling spell.

Put Lark in the carriage. Do not resist.The words filtered into my head, almost like my own thoughts, but they sounded like Laurel’s voice.

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