Page 34 of Fated or Knot

Maybe I could do that too.

Or maybe I could find my way to Zemosia after all and never have to worry about babies. I could have the freedom I’d planned to grab…only, my belly tugged with yearning for what I’d leave behind. I reminded myself yet again that I couldn’t haveeverything I wanted. I could leave for true freedom, or I could pick the princes.

If I went with the route of claiming my scent matches, it would be a fight. Cymora was scheming, and Ihadto outmaneuver her this time with a foolproof plan. Else I’d lose everything.

She was there in the inn as we breezed in, watching us with narrowed eyes. My laughter cut short, the joy fading under her judgment. The stars in Kauz’s eyes dimmed as he noticed, and I gave him an apologetic look.I still have to protect myself,I wished I could tell him.

Cymora stood with Fal and Laurel to one side of the inn’s front hall, with Tormund, Marius, and a cart loaded with several bags on the other side. To my relief, the three belonging to my stepfamily and me were in the pile.

Fal said something in Serian, which Kauz responded to. He lifted our twined fingers and brushed a kiss over my knuckles before we parted, with him going to the dark elf, leaving me to be enveloped by Tormund’s warmth for a quick hug. “He took his time returning you, li’l bird,” he grumbled.

I savored his toasted mallows scent, lamenting that he needed to cover it up soon. “We made the most of the time,” I said.

Tormund glanced up and said something in Serian to Fal. The brothers smiled, except for Marius, who stood with his back to a wall, as serious-faced as ever.

“He said well done to Kauz and that you look adorable. I agreed,” Tormund said to me in a loud whisper. My wings gave a little flutter at the unexpected compliment. “Though he also used a word that’s not for delicate omega ears.”

Oh? I considered what word that could be and came to only one conclusion. “I’ve heard profanity before, Tormund,” I whispered back.

“It’s not right for a noble male to swear in front of a lady,” he answered.

“Before she gets the whole chivalry lesson, we should go,” Marius put in.

Tormund cleared his throat. His gaze flashed to Fal and back to me. “May I assist you to the train station?” he asked with stiff formality.

I considered my aching feet and the throbbing pain up my right leg that seemed so much worse when I stood still and acknowledged it. I hoped he meant that he wanted to carry me. Even if it made me spoiled to nod and release a soft sound of delight when he scooped me into his arms.

By the sneer Cymora shot in my direction, I knew there would be another thing for her to chastise me about when we next spoke in private. I could practically hear it already.“Pretending to be weak so an alpha carries you. Do you know how pathetic you look?”

Fal herded my stepfamily out of the inn first. Tormund and I were last out, and Marius snatched the bag with my old clothes that I’d been carrying and balanced it atop the pile on the cart. Before he placed it down, he pulled a coin purse off his belt and dropped it inside with a heavy thud. “All nine hundred fulls,” he said.

I thanked him with a sigh of relief. He’d taken care of returning to the pawn shop after all, and the money could still be useful later.

Tormund fit in between Kauz and Marius while we watched Fal coax my stepfamily into an animated conversation ahead of us. “They told me that all your new things arrived ahead of us,” Kauz told me.

“We put it all in four luggage bags for you,” Tormund said.

“Four,” I echoed.

“That’s right. All for you.” The giant sounded gleeful.

“Notallof it,” Marius said before I could start to protest. “We filled at least one with new books and other entertainment for the trip.”

As we walked down the market road, faces turned toward us. The reaction I’d expected when it came to spotting an Unseelie in Ilysnor but only made when there was a whole pack of them moving toward the magirail station.

“How long will it be?” In retrospect, I should’ve asked earlier. All I knew was that we’d be heading north, crossing the sea between the Seelie and Unseelie island nations. It’d once been called the Sea of Strife, as the first meetings between our people were the merfolk and undines warring with the nixies and kelpies.

Now that we’d met humans and allied briefly to fight them, in our truce with everyone, the sea was renamed the Doras Sea for the short-lived King Doras. The human monarch had brokered the sometimes-uneasy three-way peace we all maintained to this day.

Marius released a weary sigh. “Eight days. But it will feel like an eternity.”

“We will be in the same room. It is already agreed,” Tormund said.

Raising a brow, Kauz asked something in Serian. The three of them had a short conversation as I reeled. Eight days in a compact space with both my scent matches and my stepfamily. Thatwouldbe an eternity.

“The only way Fal could get Cymora to agree to the arrangement we had in mind was for her to have extra room,” Marius said, switching languages and lowering his voice. “There are four fae to a room, so one will be Fal, Cymora, and Kauz. The rest of us to another.”

Stars, they’d made special arrangements and split us up? They could have easily put Laurel and me with Cymora and hada room to themselves. This was such a huge and unexpected kindness that my lip wobbled with emotion.

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