Page 89 of Fated or Knot

“Cut it out, both of you,” Nemensia sighed. Even as their mother, she didn’t get too close to two pissed off alphas. I’d been considering crutching away and seeing how far I could get. It was the same omega instinct at work.

The kelpie rumbled an acknowledgment. “Let me seemymate…please,” he said through gritted teeth.

Fal and Tormund were still posed distrustfully. Neither of them budged at the request, and it was clear they probably wouldn’t with me taking shelter behind Tormund. I blew out another breath. I had to do something before they came to blows.

I crutched out from my hiding place and into full view. Marius immediately turned toward me as I said in Theli, “Here I am, mostly whole. No need to fight.”

Fal had saidferal,and I understood from there. I empathized after losing my mind in my feral moment on the train. After meeting his possessive beast, I knew Marius must have something more intense lurking under his skin. In fact, he worethe labelferalwith the ease of one of his fashionable cloaks. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it sooner.

He looked me over from my crown to the new cast, scenting the air with a flare of his nostrils. The fury visibly drained from his tense posture, his snarl relaxing, and for a moment, I saw a glimpse of something softer in him as he reached for me.

I still flinched and eased backward, not sure what side of Marius I would be getting if he put his hands on me now.

He winced, then shuttered his expression. His voice became just as impenetrable. “I’m glad you’re all right.” Under his breath, he muttered something that sounded an awful lot like, “P’nixie.”

Then he cast his gaze away from all of us pointedly, the Marius equivalent of saying the conversation was finished. Before it could get too awkward, I turned with a little hop on my crutches to be sure Tormund was okay. He wasn’t showing any signs of a rage and tilted a smile my way.

“I think I got the hang of this,” I said.

“Time to take you to your new rooms, then,” he said with a questioning glance at Nemensia.

She nodded. “Yes, let’s.”

We made our way slowly to this new destination, as I set the pace. Nemensia walked beside me, her hand on Thalas’s arm, chatting away about how much I’d love my rooms. Plural. They were moving me straight into a princess suite. A mix of hope and nerves danced in my belly as I wondered if that meant what I thought it did.

Tormund lumbered at my other side, while Fal and Marius hung back. They weren’t at each other’s throats again, but the tone of their heated whispering wasn’t much friendlier. When there was a lull in conversation, Tormund rushed to fill it. “And you have a few starting items for your nest. We’ll start filling it with things you like from there,” he promised.

“It’s customary for the new omega to receive an item from the nests of all the family’s omegas,” Nemensia said.

“That sounds great.” I yearned for the comfort of my new nest as my muscles tired quickly. I’d need to practice with the crutches more if I wanted to be ambulatory.

We passed out of the old fortress into one of the palace wings. The transition was obvious from the widening of the halls and the addition of windows overlooking a snowfall outside as the sun descended behind the cloud cover. The foot traffic around us decreased the further we walked, though most Unseelie saw the group around me and moved out of the way well in advance with bows or curtsys.

There was finally a stretch of hallway where we were quiet, other than the clacking of my crutches striking the marble floor. The broad caps at the end of them prevented me from slipping, though I saw the potential for it happening in my mind’s eye. Every new surface and movement I used to take for granted was another opportunity to fall.

This was the royal wing, where the royal pack’s children lived. There were a couple spacious suites on each floor, and they showed me to the last one of a row of rooms, after the four occupied by the four princesses. I’d need to re-meet them too, though I imagined, like their brothers, they wouldn’t remember me.

Well, except Marius. It seemed his beast remembered.

“Where have you been? I’ve waited for you.”

Stars. That whole conversation with his beast—his feral side—took on a whole new meaning now that I knew wehadmet. As I slowed to enter my new suite, I turned my head. He was stoically fixing his gaze on anything but me. We were back to business as usual.

Was there any hint of that wild boy still left in him? I doubted it. It had only been the start of our lives, after all.

My crutches hit the rug past the boundary of the door, and I nearly face-planted. Tormund caught me and laughed. “Clumsy li’l bird,” he teased.

“Yeah. Thanks, Tormund,” I said. This giant male was getting cuddled as soon as I took a bath. Thalas had assured me the cast was made with a waterproofing spell, so I could take it into…well, he’d called it a “rain room” and told me I was in for a treat if I didn’t know what that was.

Once I took my first glance around, I thought they were being too generous. Having one room to myself was my definition of a kindness, but this was a full-on receiving room. I stopped two crutch-lengths past the door, trying not to gape.

“Sorry it’s so plain,” Nemensia said. “If my sons had told me you were coming, we would have at least put some art up.”

I completely missed the brief change in tone aimed at the three males. “No need. It’s great,” I said in quiet awe.

The back wall had a lit fireplace crackling away, set with red brick. A princess of the past had removed any signs of wallpaper and left bold swirls of neutral colors swooping up the walls. There were two long and overstuffed couches set at an L shape just back from the fire. A coffee table the color of mocha fit between them, and a tea service rested on a platter atop it, awaiting use.

Nemensia urged me to explore, and the princes trailed me, perhaps watching my reactions. I pulled back a curtain on the left wall, just to uncover a private nook with tall windows and a well-varnished table set to serve six fae. The glass had a film on it, suggesting it was a one-way view. When it wasn’t wintertime, I hoped I got to see the gardens from here.

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