Page 90 of Fated or Knot

“She’s here, she’s here!” an unexpected, squeaky voice sounded behind me in accented Theli. I turned to see an unusual Unseelie fae beckoning to another, the two of them lining up and curtsying to the queen.

“I didn’t realize you were already here,” Nemensia said. “Metalark, these are your handmaidens, Jani and Lon.”

They were dressed identically in the palace uniform of sorts, dark blue dresses trimmed in silver. And considering they looked the same too, I was worried I’d end up switching their names immediately. They were betas, some kind of moth fae, and didn’t even scrape five feet tall, with huge red eyes and rounded, fuzzy bodies. Their black fluff poked out from the cuffs of their dresses and tested the seams in certain places from the pressed-down bulk.

“I’m Jani,” announced the female on the left. Her antennae had streaks of white through them.

“And I’m Lon,” said the other female cheerfully. I tried to find an identifying feature about her and ended up noticing the brown leaf-like patterns on the inside of her moth wings.

“We’re here to help you with anything you need, Princess!”

“A pleasure to meet you both,” I said, a little bemused. After so long being a servant, I guess I wasn’t expecting to be assigned anyone to help me. Especially Unseelie I immediately found adorable. Though I didn’t dare say anything about it. I’d made the mistake of trying to pet a shifted grimalkin the last time I’d been in Serian Palace, and that hadn’t ended wellat all.

The moth betas stayed behind to talk with Nemensia and Thalas while I toured the rest of the suite. There was a study in the next room that I could see myself spending a lot of time in. Its bookshelves were empty for now, but that could be fixed. It had comfortable armchairs and a writing desk stacked with neat rows of paper and writing utensils.

Next was the bedroom. I flopped face-first on the mattress, as was apparently customary for me now. It wasverynice. I could see myself sleeping here even without covers. “Where are the things to start a nest?” I asked Tormund.

“Oh, this isn’t your nest,” he said with a grin. He pointed to the bathroom in one direction and encouraged me to go through a little alcove in the opposite wall. The males stopped when I discovered a dark privacy curtain covering the entrance to another room. I drew it aside and entered, making a soft gasp when I realized the scope of the nesting space built into the back of this princess suite.

The bottom floor was dark and enclosed, with an even larger mattress set in an alcove out of sight from the threshold of the privacy curtain. On it rested a note and five different things already smelling of other omegas: two blankets, a pillow, what looked to be an essence lamp, and a stuffed toy. I purred softly with delight, leaving those things for when I had a moment to inspect them without the princes waiting for me. They wouldn’t enter unless invited, and I wanted to set things up first.

There was a plush rug underfoot that I did my best not to slide on, as I didn’t want to fall in the privacy of my nest. Stars, I had a nest, and it had my nemesis,stairs. The beginning of the staircase was on the other side of this floor, and from the ground, I had the sense that it opened into quite a large space on the second floor, complete with the waning light leaking in from some windows.

I weighed my options and decided to leave exploring the upper level for later. My omega instincts wanted dark and enclosed right now anyway, with my pre-heat looming over my shoulder like always.

I checked my wrist to see how my heat suppressant tattoo was doing, lifting my long sleeve to reveal two circular tattoos on my inner wrist and nothing else. I emerged from the nest upset, and Tormund was building to echo that energy when he saw my face.

“The nest is great!” I blurted. “I just noticed the art Kauz gave me is gone.” I awkwardly pointed at my arm and its slightly rolled cuff.

It was Marius that answered. “Thalas can explain it better, but it was all ruined by the amount of magic released when your silencing band was removed.”

“Oh. I wanted to see the metalark,” I mumbled to myself.

“You’re going to see plenty of metalarks soon,mo stór,” Fal answered.

But they wouldn’t be Kauz’s art, nor the phrase he’d left on a ribbon in the bird’s claws. Now I’d wouldn’t know what it said, even with my improved understanding of Serian.So unfair.

“Speaking of which, do you want us to call you that?” he added. “Metalark?”

“Probably as much as you want to be called Falindel,” I answered honestly. “Maybe less. It doesn’t sound like my name.”

“Lark it is, then,” he purred. “Do you know what else is calling your name right now?”

“A bath,” I said longingly.

“No, that one’s for Marius,” he deadpanned. The kelpie slanted a dirty look at him. “I was going to say dinner.”

“Oh, I’ll have it delivered!” Tormund exclaimed, cutting into the more flirtatious tone his brother was trying to take. Now Fal was the one shooting over an annoyed look at the redcap. “They say the first custom meal from one of our chefs is earth-shattering. Are you ready to have your life changed, li’l bird?”

“Only for the better,” I said with a hint of a tired sigh.

Tormund offered to carry me again and looked fit to burst when I told him I was okay. We returned to the front room, where my handmaidens waited attentively by the door and nodded along with the giant when he approached with instructions about dinner.

Nemensia and Thalas were still here, and the queen beckoned us over with a big smile. “Well, what do you think?” Since she couldn’t take my hands so easily, she rested hers on my shoulders instead.

“Everything is incredible. I can hardly believe it,” I said honestly. I was used to a fraction of this amount of space and no nest. If I wasn’t careful, Iwouldbecome quite spoiled.

“It is all yours. We’ll start your training once you settle in and—oh, goodness, I didn’t tell you. Falindel and Tormund already know, but you and Marius have been asleep.” She gave my shoulders an affectionate squeeze. “I’ve approved you to be my sons’ mate. You’re going to be my heir, Metalark.”

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