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I swallowed, feeling like someone who’d been shipwrecked on a beach without a drop of water. “I mean, maybe? What does it entail, exactly?”

It was too late. She was already launching into gear, my words having set off a chain of events that would probably bring another unpleasant outcome.

She was standing and waving at Tiber, who’d just come back up onto the bank of the lake. I reached out, trying to grab the arm that was still waving to him but unable to latch on.

“You know, we haven’t had a very traditional relationship,” I said. “I’m not sure…”

Tiber was already on his way over. I dropped my arm, giving up my fight.

“Billie told me they haven’t had an esposmata,” Luisca said, getting to her feet.

“How long has it been since you’ve been mated?” Tiber asked, staring at me as if every minute were going to count. I was still sitting on the blanket, shading my eyes from the sun as I pretended I had to think about it.

“Uh, I don’t know exactly. I’m really bad with time.”

They looked at me, and then each other. I didn’t need flashcards to tell me they weren’t buying my lack of memory.

Tiber turned toward the lake and yelled, “Kaden.”

Kaden headed over, glancing my way, as if silently asking what trouble there was now. He was already grabbing every dirtbag from the community to fight me. This would surely make things nosedive, even if it were his fault too. He hadn’t said one word in warning about an esposmata. If this was going to be an issue, he should’ve told me, like he had with undoing the mating.

“You didn’t have an esposmata?” Luisca asked as soon as he was within hearing distance.

“We left in a rush. We haven’t had a chance to make anything official, but I figured we’d do something after everything was settled.” He shrugged, as if it were no problem.

Maybe this wasn’t as bad as I’d thought? Just some stupid little thing of no consequence?

“You have to have one soon! You risk all sorts of ill will until you do it,” Luisca said.

I stood, not wanting to be the only one sitting while they discussed my esposmata, whatever that entailed.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. That bad luck is an old wives’ tale,” Kaden said.

Tiber was shaking his head and putting his hands up. “No, no, my friend. You can’t do it later. Old wives’ tales or not, we can’t risk it. This is the first time in centuries that a marking has taken so well and resulted in a mating. No corners can be cut.”

“If it’ll make you feel better, sure,” Kaden said, and shrugged again.

“Billie, you’re good with that, right?” Luisca asked.

The way Tiber and Luisca stared at me, it didn’t appear as if I were even allowed to say no.

I glanced at Kaden, who was already looking elsewhere, maybe sizing up the next bully for me to fight tomorrow. Yeah, I was truly on my own with this one. That shouldn’t have been a surprise. I didn’t care what he said to Tiber about helping me, when he was dragging lunatics out into a field to punch me.

“I mean, I guess, if you want…” I couldn’t quite bring myself to say yes, but it didn’t seem to matter. They were looking as if I’d agreed.

“We’ll do it tomorrow,” Luisca said to Tiber. “It’s too important to let it go another day.”

“Tomorrow? Are you sure we can do it that fast?” he asked, the two of them having taken over.

“We started early on the preparations for the fall festival. We’ll use some of that stash,” she said.

“Yeah, you’re right. I wasn’t even thinking of that. It should work,” Tiber said, nodding.

“It will.” Her expression already looked distant, as if this esposmata was taking up all her thoughts. She started pointing into the air. “Tiber, you need to go and get the roasting pit set up, then head over to Sam and tell him we’ll need all the stores of ale, then…”

I didn’t hear whatever other instructions she was rattling off as I stared at Kaden. Did he really care so little about what was going on?

I felt Luisca pull me to her side a few moments later, urging me to walk with her. “I know you’re worried, but don’t be. I’ve thrown these before. I’ll handle everything, and it will be beautiful, a fitting esposmata to start off your new life.”