Page 36 of Fated or Knot

Stars, I needed to do that too. I wanted to have at least an idea of what the princes were saying to one another during their asides in Serian.

“I’m sure we’ll get by,” she said dismissively.

“Hmm.” He kept smiling. “Well, hold tight. I will buy our tickets, as promised.” He strode ahead of the group to speak to a sylph on one side of the counter in front of the station. The travelers behind us headed to the other side, where they flashed tickets and were waved on.

Call me a brat, but I wondered if we could buy more space. How popular could a train between capital cities be? Maybe spread us out more and put Cymora in her own room.

Fal gestured for us to follow, fanning out our newly acquired tickets. I had my answer pretty soon as we wove between platforms, heading for a sleek silver train at the back of the station. It was shorter than the others by a few cars, with a nose shaped more like a needle point than a blunt triangle.

I was being stolen away by the Unseelie after all, and a little flowering bud of awe bloomed in my chest as Tormund ducked inside with me still in his arms. This was all a new experience. I kept looking around, taking in the details. “Latecomers get the end of the train, I’m afraid,” Fal said, leading us to our rooms.

The front car, right behind the closed door leading inside the nose of the train, had several tables on either side of the main row, with a savory scent lingering in the air. We went outside onto a metal railing wide enough for two fae standing next to one another. The next four cars were for passengers, with six rooms per car, three to either side.

Slowly, we made our way to the fourth car, where our rooms were. Other travelers were arranging their bags and rooms around us, more fae than I’d expected and only about half of them Unseelie. Once we reached our car, Laurel, Marius, Tormund, and I in were in the first room on the left, and Kauz, Fal, and Cymora were in the last room on the right.

“I’ll get our stuff into storage,” Marius announced. “Grab what you want now.”

He passed me the bag containing my old clothes and the pouch of money he’d snuck inside it. Tormund put me down to take a bag for himself and picked out one at seemingly random for me. He checked its contents before nodding in approval.

Kauz passed me the strap to the bag he’d been carrying for me, from the omega store. We stepped aside for a semiprivate moment in front of the door to my room. He unfurled the fur-lined cloak and wrapped it around my shoulders, securing it with a twist of his fingers. “There. The evenings get chilly once we’re out over the sea. Use this, and Tormund, to warm you up.”

The starry galaxy in his eyes glittered as he took the edge of the cloak and brushed its softness over my cheek, resting it there with the edges of his fingertips. I tilted my head into his touch, smiling for an unguarded moment. “See you tonight, okay?” he murmured.

“Okay,” I agreed, hoping he meant in my dreams. Maybe then he’d tell me how he could appear in them.

His expression softened, and he ran his thumb ran down the curve of my cheek ever so slowly as he eased forward until I felt the heat of his chest nearly pressed to mine. My breath caught when I realized what he was about to do.

“Hey, are you two kissing?” Laurel asked loudly. “I don’t think Mother would be very happy about that.”

He and I startled apart, and his wings shifted with a rustling sound. My heart still beat at twice its usual pace as I looked past her to Cymora, but my stepmother wasn’t looking our way as she lugged a pair of bags into her room.

“Certainly not, Lady Laurel,” he answered, a hint of a flush darkening his purple cheeks. “It will simply be a while until I see Lark again.”

She wrinkled her nose and pointed to the other room. “You’re just going to be right over there.”

“Indeed. Farewell for now.” He nodded and headed in that direction.

I sighed and turned to my bags, just to notice their absence. They were already in my room, delivered to one corner courtesy of either Tormund or Marius. The kelpie stood by the doorway, arms crossed and brow furrowed as he took in the setup of the furniture.

There was a small desk between two couches that had sheets peeking out from under the cushions. A wooden ladder was flat against the wall above each couch, attached to a metal mechanism that would fold down a second bed also pressed to the wall when the ladder was pulled out. A dimly glowing essence lamp was placed in the ceiling.

Laurel brushed past me, and I teetered, nearly losing my balance. “I call this bed!” she exclaimed, heading for one of the couches.

Marius stuck out his arm to stop her, the razor edges of his fin causing her to rear backward. “No,” he stated shortly, then started pointing and naming who would be going to which bed. He and Tormund would be on bottom, while I’d be above Marius and she’d be in the other bunk.

“I guess,” she said, deflating a bit.

“For now, sit. We have to secure our things for the launch,” he said. He then left to store our extra bags.

While he was gone, I rifled through one of my bags, making sure I still had Fal’s mask, Tormund’s cloak piece, and Marius’s kerchief. My fingers brushed the coin purse the kelpie had passed me, and it slumped over oddly. I glanced up at Laurel, who was attempting to make small talk with a disinterested Tormund, and decided she was suitably distracted. I peeked in the purse and found a squashed box underneath the weight of all the full moon coins.

I kept my hands in the bag as I pulled the top off the box and held in a gasp. There was a pair of hoop earrings inside, silver with tiny white crystals along their loops. They were no bigger around than my fingertip, but I immediately wanted to put them on. They were so dainty and pretty.

I closed the box and picked up the slip of paper that’d escaped when I’d lifted the lid. It had to be Marius’s handwriting. Each word was a slanted slash in bold ink.

Saw this and thought of you.He hadn’t signed his name.

I tucked it into the bag for now, not sure what to make of it. Marius didn’t strike me as a male who apologized for anything, and as far as apologies go…it was a cute pair of earrings. Only the second pair I could call mine, other than the tarnished silver studs I’d worn since my ears were first pierced under my dad’s watchful eye.

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