Page 44 of Runaway Mate

13

LIAR, LIAR

ARIA

The conversation with Azazel and Tyler had left me rattled. On top of that, Tarragon spoke about the arrangement as though their protection would end as soon as we handed them our child.

And honestly, the more this hypothetical child was brought up, the more restless I was getting.

Sariel and I weren’t sexually active, but I was upset at the prospect of going through nine months of baby-growing, then enduring the birth, only to give it away. Even though it was irrational to be this angry about something out of my control for now, I couldn’t help it.

Blossom stared at me for a moment before speaking.

“We know you’re not having sex,” she announced.

Sariel froze next to me, his entire body going on high alert.

It honestly wasn’t much of a change compared to the tension he’d already had from his father being around, which was sad in and of itself, but now wasn’t the time for that.

I was suddenly glad the others hadn’t joined us.

“What are you talking about?” I tried, my eyes wide as I glanced between them. “We’ve been, um… trying. Like, every night.”

My skin flushed, and I stifled the urge to hide my face in my palms.

“Multiple times per night,” Sariel added. My stomach swooped low as I turned to find him smirking at me.

“You’ve done a good job atpretendingyou’ve been trying,” Tarragon snorted, propping his elbow on the armrest and resting his chin on his closed fist.

Sariel’s smirk morphed into a scowl. “Have you been spying on us or something?”

Blossom tilted her head. “I don’t sense you on each other,” she said.

“You’ve also not unlocked the other abilities a properly bonded pair should,” Tarragon added. “We don’t have to be spying on you to know that you’re lying. And itwasamusing to see the Guardians try to explain why it sounded like you were having vigorous sex in there when they couldn’t even smell it.”

I balked. “Oh, my God.”

“We assumed you were just nervous,” Blossom continued, “but as neither of you are untouched, we then thought that perhaps you were just awkward with each other.”

Tarragon laughed. “And yet, Sariel looks at Aria like she hung the moon and the stars themselves. He even has to be monitored at times whenever she’s in training because his angel is possessive and protective of her.”

I glanced at Sariel, who was glaring at them. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You knew from the start,” he said.

“Yes,” Blossom answered. “We were giving you time because we thought wehadtime. We’ve waited a few hundred years to find a couple capable of producing offspring that might pass as ours; we could wait for you two to fall into temptation and eventually into bed. We’ve already guaranteed that sex within the castle walls will produce offspring.”

“Yes,” Tarragon piped up, chuckling. “Courtesy of my beautiful wife and her gift, we should have a fresh batch of babies within the next year or so.”

The way he gazed at her adoringly made me sick. It was like he didn’t see anything wrong with what they were doing.

“What gift?” Sariel asked.

Tarragon turned slowly away from his wife and grinned wolfishly at us, all of his perfect white teeth on display. “She has the gift of fertility. It’s a result of our marriage—she drank from me, and I drank from her. Where I could only really manipulate plants, she can manipulate almost all living creatures, including all of their reproductive systems, making them fertile or barren … all except her own.”

He frowned at his own words.

The opposite of that would probably be the ability to manipulate the dead. Necromancy. Taking life and manipulating things that were once alive,I warned Sariel frantically.

“Are you saying she can… manipulate the fertility ofeveryonein this fucking castle?” Sariel’s words came out harsher than they had any right to. Hemlock and Foxglove shifted on their feet where they stood behind the King and Queen.

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