Page 32 of Entwined

“What the fuck is that?” I breathe out, a mixture of mystification and horror filling me.

“Your claiming marks,” Vaelor says succinctly.Connor crouches down, resting his heavy hands on my knees, his eyes shrewd as he looks over my chest.

“They’re healing a little slowly. Human,” he mutters, and then glances up at Vaelor. “Have you got a poultice or something to put on them?”

Vaelor tilts his head to the side, swirling eyes narrowed in thought. “I think so…” He turns and heads into the bathroom.

Connor returns his focus to me, his finger touching the skin to the side of the bite. “They hurt?”

I shoot him a dark glare becauseobviouslythey fucking hurt, and he gives me a self-repentant smile. “I would say I’m sorry, but I won’t lie to you.”

“You’vebeenlying to me,” I counter. Connor doesn’t argue with me, but I carry on like he did. “You obviously knew we were mates these last few weeks. You knew when you broke into my room with Dizzy.” His expression tightens at the name, but he still doesn’t say anything. “Longer,” I realize, and then demand, “When did you know?”

He rests back on his haunches, looking away from me, a little shamefaced. “When you arrived at Bartholomew.”

There’s a stilted pause as I process that, but even after several minutes, it doesn’t make sense. “What?”

Vaelor returns, looking at the small container in his hand. “We knew from the beginning, Princess.”

I swallow thickly. “Why?” A small voice inside me wonders if they realized, but didn’t want me. I tell that voice to take a hike because it sounds like my mother, and she has no say over my self-worth.

“Our families,” Vaelor says into the quiet when Connor still won’t look at me. “Your grandfather was playing hardball. He was in talks with several other possible suitors foryour hand, brokering deals that would give him the most power.”

Connor’s voice is gravelly when he says, “Shifters weren’t his first choice, especially when he realized it was me and Vaelor.”

That wasn’t a surprise because, although Connor’s family was a prestigious one, a warlock and a shifter were an unnatural pairing that most people weren’t willing to look past, especially considering Vaelor’s penchant for forbidden magic.

My lip twitches as I realize. “A warlock, a shifter, and a human.”

Connor looks at me then, his mouth twitching up at the corners. “It’ll get people talking.”

He looks hopeful, and I shake my head. “I don’t forgive you.”

His eyes dim, but he nods. “Okay.”

My eyes lift to Vaelor’s. “Or you.”

He lifts a shoulder in a casual shrug, shoving Connor out of the way with his hip. He ignores the disgruntled mutters coming from the wolf, uncapping the brown tub in his hand. I watch curiously as he dips his fingers into the greenish substance, spices and something bitter wafting up to my nose.

He leans over and delicately rubs the poultice into my ravaged flesh, starting with the rune and then shifting to the bite. Every time I wince, he shoots me an apologetic look, a grimace twisting his lips like the idea that he’s hurting me is just as painful for him.

When Vaelor is done, he recaps the tub, his eyes on mine. “You don’t need to forgive us,” he says quietly, firmly. “We have time to win you over.” His eyesdrop to his branded rune, possessiveness and pride swimming through his preternatural eyes. “Forever, in fact.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

felicity

Connor apparently knows someone who’s good with technology. So, once he’s satisfied that my injuries have been tended to, he disappears with a promise that he’ll be back soon.

Vaelor goes into the bathroom, putting the poultice away, the tap coming on as he washes his hands. I struggle back into the borrowed shirt, unwilling to sit here half naked, already feeling too vulnerable and unsure around them.

Mates.I scoff, disbelief still clutching at me, even with the ache still lingering on my chest and the pungent aroma of the poultice wafting up into my nose.

“You okay?”

I look up, watching as Vaelor leans against the doorframe, shimmering eyes locked on me. “What do you think?” I ask archly. “The two of you have fucked up my entire life, and now there’s sex tape just, you know…floatingaround. And it’s sex I don’t even remember having because you drugged me.” They are the right words, but they’re missing sincerity. I just feel so removed from it all, like ithappened to someone else. Like it’sstillhappening to someone else.

Amusement glints back at me as Vaelor rolls his lips between his teeth, completely remorseless. “Not in the human sense,” he says. I gape at him.