Page 87 of Fated or Knot

It was such welcome news that I wept with relief and clung to him between memories. I peppered him with questions, and yes, his brothers knew already and none of them considered Pack Ellisar even a remote threat. Kauz had even sent off a spy to be sure they wouldn’t meddle with me joining Pack Sorles.

Stars, Kauz was incredible. I… needed him. Like a caged lark yearning for its song or a night sky awaiting its stars, Iwantedhim. Even without a hint of my heat here, I wanted him to lay me down and help me forget the clarity of some of the things we had just witnessed. And while he’d be a willing partner, by the end of our time together, he was so exhausted he could barely speak.

He’d pushed the end of his limits for me. And I was hopelessly in love with him for it.

Thalas arrived to send us away from this corner of my mind yet glanced aside to give us a bit of privacy when Kauz cupped my face. We kissed for the last time before we’d go our separateways. I’d go up to wakefulness and he’d go down into rest to recover his essence.

“Come visit me,” he murmured.

“I will,” I promised.

“Visit my dreams,” he clarified, tapping me lightly on the nose.

I hesitated. It wasn’t like I had any practice or control over any dream warden magic I’d inherited from my mother, but… “I’ll try. And Kauz?”

“Mmm?” He was losing definition, fading out of my mind.

I should’ve told him how I felt. I had the opportunity, but it didn’t feel like the right time. Not with his father crammed into our little alcove, his hearing still bat-sharp even with his head turned.

I settled for saying, “Thank you for setting me free.” I put as much affection into those words as they could hold.

He attempted a knowing smile and dipped his chin. The next moment, he was gone, dropping into a much-needed rest. And the heartbeat after that, I was opening my eyes to the start of my new life.

26

LARK

The ceiling was gray. At some point, it may have been white, but that’d been a long time ago. I smelled the mingling scents of several alphas and a couple omegas all at once, though I picked out my scent matches from the mix and focused on those. To my surprise, waterlilies and wild mint were the strongest fragrance.

“Kauz will need up to an additional week to rest, but Metalark should wake any minute now.” This was from Thalas, speaking Serian. I didn’t understand him in perfect clarity, but my memories had advanced my knowledge of the Unseelie language quite a bit from my inconsistent week of study on the way here.

“And she’s healed?” Fal asked. He sounded worried. “Her mind is okay?”

I stirred, slowly stretching muscles gone stiff from my long rest. I’d barely pushed myself to sit up before Nemensia was by my bedside, fingers laced over her belly bump. Hope glittered in her blue eyes, but all she said was, “Metalark.”

She was still the pretty omega that’d adopted me immediately and fit as much love as possible into my visit here. As an adult with restored memories of that distant time, it was clear to me that she’d wanted to be the mother I’d lost. The old Lark would’ve asked her if it was all right to do this, but I was confident I wasn’t about to make a misstep as I said, “Hi, Mom.”

“My baby girl,” she said in Theli. She pulled me into a hug, and it was everything I imagined a mother’s warmth to be, including the soothing but complex scent of her and the not unwelcome sensation of her soft purr. I purred back, relaxing into the embrace. She still had that milky note that’d first drawn me to her.

As a mated omega, she represented her pack by carrying the smells of her scent matches with her, and the combination tugged on my memories of being warm and safe. Her nest had smelled like this. What wasn’t an echo of my past was the sob that wracked her as she clutched me harder.

“I didn’t know you were still alive, Metalark,” she sniffed. “Had I known, we would’ve rescued you long before now. Your fathers would’ve burned that cursed farm town to the ground.”

I tried to rub her back, pausing when my hand ruffled her silky fins. That was going to take some getting used to. “It’s okay. Osme Fen isn’t worth your time.”

“Blasted place,” she muttered.

“Besides, I’m here now,” I said, and grateful for it too. “By some miracle.”

“Aye, my sons. Who I’ve forgiven for disappearing since they brought you back.” She released me and straightened, stepping aside.

The first thing I noticed was Marius out cold in a chair close to my bedside, his muscular bulk half leaned on the wall. Black and silver magic glimmered on his forehead and over the scarredridge of his nose. I wondered what that was about, but with him asleep, I turned my attention to the others in this space.

Fal and Tormund waited at the foot of my bed. The dark elf was uncharacteristically disheveled and had a new bandage wrapped around his palm and thumb, while the redcap just looked excited to see me.

I smiled and lifted the covers piled on me to be sure I was decent, and Thalas rustled from where he stood off to the side, closer to the other bed in this space. “Don’t stand just yet, Metalark,” he instructed.

My right leg felt like it weighed double what it should anyway, so I stayed where I was and let the princes come to me. Fal bent down and looped an arm between my wings, using his free hand to catch my chin between his clawed fingers.

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