Page 12 of Fated or Knot (UnseelieVerse: The Omega Masquerade #1)

12

LARK

“ W eren’t you going to tell me a secret?” I asked Kauz once we left the omega store, our fingers now entwined. He’d held me for an extended period of time, yet I still mourned the loss of his wings when he decided we needed to go. We had to make it back to the inn in time to catch a train to Serian launching when the first stars appear in the sky.

“From my pack bond, yes,” he said. “Well, I bought this soap for a reason.”

He carried my fur-lined cloak and the bag of purchases from the omega store. In it was the fleece blanket I still wanted to wrap myself in and an additional pillow for the trip, but also several bars of scent-blocking soap. I’d figured those were to keep my scent contained if the pre-heat returned.

“It’s for my brothers. We share strong emotions over our pack bond. Over the last day, I’ve felt an echo of their attraction to you, and it is strong . I smelled our compatibility too…last night. Things are different in dreams.” He gave a vague wave. “In the enclosed space of a train, I believe my brothers will bend to their alpha instincts. The three of them won’t be able to keep their hands from roaming if you remain smelling so tempting.”

My cheeks grew rosy. That was how they already felt? I mean, the scent-led attraction was mutual, considering their pheromones had triggered the onset of my heat. It also helped that they were handsome, noble males. Maybe I was too easy to mislead, but the extended hug in Kauz’s wings had gone a long way to convincing me that them being Unseelie wasn’t so bad after all.

I wanted to ask if he meant to include Marius, but I didn’t dare. The kelpie thought I was a doormat . How mortifying. A burning sensation lingered in my belly every time I thought about it and acknowledged with shame that he was probably right.

“But our honor is on the line. If we don’t deliver you to the queen, our mother, untouched by us for her approval, we’re breaking a very long line of tradition. Forgive me, but we’ve assumed you are intact, considering the situation with your heat,” he added with a squeeze of my hand.

Stars, the late afternoon sun had just gotten so much hotter. I murmured, “I am.”

He chuckled. “It’s like asking foxes to guard a henhouse. If their scents prompt your heat’s return, you will not leave the train unclaimed. I’m going to touch up your heat suppressant daily, but given how powerful your body’s needs are…”

“Right. I’ll use the soap,” I promised.

I also didn’t want to tempt the alphas and end up in emotional agony later. As much as I wanted to be touched and held, I didn’t want to get too attached before their mother’s appraisal and potential rejection of me. Too many other things also stood in the way of me becoming their pack princess.

I should tell him about Pack Ellisar.

Later. I’d do it later, after we put a sea between us and them. I didn’t want to kill any potential interest because a pack back in Osme Fen had a piece of paper Cymora forced me to sign.

“In the meantime, let me tell you about my family,” he said, distracting me from that threat to my happiness.

We returned to the inn still hand in hand, laughing together as he finished telling a story about his big sisters. He talked like it’d be a finished deal soon and I’d soon call these people my family too. I didn’t dare allow myself to hold on to hope for it yet.

Before he told me their birth order, I hadn’t realized just how many siblings he had. After Fal and Marius were born thirty-some years ago, two nixie sisters came along and treated toddler Kauz, born fifth, like an accessory to tea parties and game nights before another sister was born. Tormund followed, but the Queen of Serian had since birthed a fourth daughter and was now about halfway through in her ninth pregnancy.

“She’s as clever as ever, our mother,” Kauz said fondly. “Our next sibling hasn’t slowed her down at all.”

This was the female I had to impress if I truly wanted to be a part of Pack Sorles. If I followed in the queen’s footsteps, I may also have to birth seven children before making the required four male heirs for the next generation. Maybe more, depending.

That was a hair-raising number of babies. More babies than I had ever imagined carrying, whether I had a pack of supportive males or not. My sight swam at the requirement.

But then I thought of Queen Alora and her single child. When placed under similar pressure, she’d given her country one fiery omega to inherit everything.

Maybe I could do that too.

Or maybe I could find my way to Zemosia after all and never have to worry about babies. I could have the freedom I’d planned to grab…only, my belly tugged with yearning for what I’d leave behind. I reminded myself yet again that I couldn’t have everything I wanted. I could leave for true freedom, or I could pick the princes.

If I went with the route of claiming my scent matches, it would be a fight. Cymora was scheming, and I had to outmaneuver her this time with a foolproof plan. Else I’d lose everything.

She was there in the inn as we breezed in, watching us with narrowed eyes. My laughter cut short, the joy fading under her judgment. The stars in Kauz’s eyes dimmed as he noticed, and I gave him an apologetic look. I still have to protect myself, I wished I could tell him.

Cymora stood with Fal and Laurel to one side of the inn’s front hall, with Tormund, Marius, and a cart loaded with several bags on the other side. To my relief, the three belonging to my stepfamily and me were in the pile.

Fal said something in Serian, which Kauz responded to. He lifted our twined fingers and brushed a kiss over my knuckles before we parted, with him going to the dark elf, leaving me to be enveloped by Tormund’s warmth for a quick hug. “He took his time returning you, li’l bird,” he grumbled.

I savored his toasted mallows scent, lamenting that he needed to cover it up soon. “We made the most of the time,” I said.

Tormund glanced up and said something in Serian to Fal. The brothers smiled, except for Marius, who stood with his back to a wall, as serious-faced as ever.

“He said well done to Kauz and that you look adorable. I agreed,” Tormund said to me in a loud whisper. My wings gave a little flutter at the unexpected compliment. “Though he also used a word that’s not for delicate omega ears.”

Oh? I considered what word that could be and came to only one conclusion. “I’ve heard profanity before, Tormund,” I whispered back.

“It’s not right for a noble male to swear in front of a lady,” he answered.

“Before she gets the whole chivalry lesson, we should go,” Marius put in.

Tormund cleared his throat. His gaze flashed to Fal and back to me. “May I assist you to the train station?” he asked with stiff formality.

I considered my aching feet and the throbbing pain up my right leg that seemed so much worse when I stood still and acknowledged it. I hoped he meant that he wanted to carry me. Even if it made me spoiled to nod and release a soft sound of delight when he scooped me into his arms.

By the sneer Cymora shot in my direction, I knew there would be another thing for her to chastise me about when we next spoke in private. I could practically hear it already. “Pretending to be weak so an alpha carries you. Do you know how pathetic you look?”

Fal herded my stepfamily out of the inn first. Tormund and I were last out, and Marius snatched the bag with my old clothes that I’d been carrying and balanced it atop the pile on the cart. Before he placed it down, he pulled a coin purse off his belt and dropped it inside with a heavy thud. “All nine hundred fulls,” he said.

I thanked him with a sigh of relief. He’d taken care of returning to the pawn shop after all, and the money could still be useful later.

Tormund fit in between Kauz and Marius while we watched Fal coax my stepfamily into an animated conversation ahead of us. “They told me that all your new things arrived ahead of us,” Kauz told me.

“We put it all in four luggage bags for you,” Tormund said.

“Four,” I echoed.

“That’s right. All for you.” The giant sounded gleeful.

“Not all of it,” Marius said before I could start to protest. “We filled at least one with new books and other entertainment for the trip.”

As we walked down the market road, faces turned toward us. The reaction I’d expected when it came to spotting an Unseelie in Ilysnor but only made when there was a whole pack of them moving toward the magirail station.

“How long will it be?” In retrospect, I should’ve asked earlier. All I knew was that we’d be heading north, crossing the sea between the Seelie and Unseelie island nations. It’d once been called the Sea of Strife, as the first meetings between our people were the merfolk and undines warring with the nixies and kelpies.

Now that we’d met humans and allied briefly to fight them, in our truce with everyone, the sea was renamed the Doras Sea for the short-lived King Doras. The human monarch had brokered the sometimes-uneasy three-way peace we all maintained to this day.

Marius released a weary sigh. “Eight days. But it will feel like an eternity.”

“We will be in the same room. It is already agreed,” Tormund said.

Raising a brow, Kauz asked something in Serian. The three of them had a short conversation as I reeled. Eight days in a compact space with both my scent matches and my stepfamily. That would be an eternity.

“The only way Fal could get Cymora to agree to the arrangement we had in mind was for her to have extra room,” Marius said, switching languages and lowering his voice. “There are four fae to a room, so one will be Fal, Cymora, and Kauz. The rest of us to another.”

Stars, they’d made special arrangements and split us up? They could have easily put Laurel and me with Cymora and had a room to themselves. This was such a huge and unexpected kindness that my lip wobbled with emotion.

“Trade you,” Kauz remarked.

“No,” both Marius and Tormund said at the same time. The latter snuggled me tighter to his chest.

“We’ll rotate places during the day. Give us all some respite from one annoyance or another,” Marius added in a mutter.

He didn’t look my way, but for a sensitive moment, I figured I was one of the annoyances to dodge. Given that I was a doormat and all.

Kauz tilted a smile toward me. “Now that, I insist on. I’m going to need more time with Lark.”

My lips tilted up in a shy echo. “I would like that,” I said.

“You’ve had your time with her. Now it’s my turn,” Tormund groused. “I have your gift ready once we’re settled, li’l bird. You can have it after the launch.”

I shifted in his hold, looking over at the pile of bags. They’d already bought me so much. What could possibly be in the four bags in this mix that were now mine? Tormund’s nostrils flared, and his maroon brows drew in to form a line through his pack mark. “Your smell changed. No feeling guilty. We all wanted to buy you things. Kauz just got to buy you the most.”

I covered my face. That was definitely not helping. “It’s just—I don’t know if I can?—”

“Accept that we’re going to spoil you?” Kauz interrupted.

“Just wait until we’re home and build your permanent nest together, li’l bird. You’re going to be the happiest omega in Serian.” Tormund ran his hand down my back, teasing the sensitive membranes of my wings with his broad palm. They wiggled at the stimulation, fluttering to give away my reaction. What omega in her right mind turned down being spoiled?

The giant watched my wings as they opened and closed slowly, tilting his head. “You don’t sparkle much,” he commented. “Don’t pixies have sparkle dust?”

“Pixie dust, yes. I just don’t have much,” I said carefully, hoping he wasn’t about to ask why my wings weren’t also a gemstone color. Most pixies were dazzling from the diamond-like powder they shed from their wings. It was made of spare essence, and I rarely had enough to shed more than a mote here and there. I saw it as a blessing in disguise, since the sparkles got over everything.

Tormund quizzed me about pixie dust while we slowed and joined a line of fae catching the evening trains out of the city. I quieted down to nothing, since we naturally formed a cluster with Fal and my stepfamily. From my vantage in the big alpha’s arms, I watched one of the trains launch along a magirail with a deep, vibrating hum of essence.

Magirails weren’t physical. They were thick rails of mostly transparent essence, twisting and weaving off from the straight lines in and out of the massive stone platform ahead of us. The trains floated over the rails they were on, and the one that’d launched had lifted another foot off it and coasted like it was repelling the rail by magnetic force. With a big push of essence behind it, it launched into a speeding blur.

“Do close your mouth, dear stepdaughter. You don’t want to catch flies.” Cymora hadn’t quite wedged herself between our cart and Tormund, but she was trying.

“Yes, Stepmother,” I muttered, closing off the awed expression I had. Our group inched forward.

Tormund breathed a low growl I felt more than heard. Cymora’s tone softened, as if she’d felt it too. “And perhaps you would spare this poor male’s arms and walk on your own,” she suggested.

“ Ach . She weighs nothing,” he practically rumbled. “I could carry her anywhere.”

“Carry her to my arms?” Fal suggested.

He shook his head. “It’s my turn with her.”

Fal flashed a cheeky grin and responded in Serian. Tormund leaned down and whispered, “He called me greedy, li’l bird.” He nuzzled into my neck and scented my skin. “He’s right. I am very greedy for more of you.”

Face flaming, I opened my mouth to reply, only to be spoken over.

“I’m sure we’re all going to spend plenty of time together,” Cymora interjected.

“I can’t wait to get to know you all as my new family,” Laurel added.

Fal, who had his back to them for the moment, let his smile become brittle. His sapphire cat’s eyes fixed on me, and he mouthed save me before putting on his polite face again. “Of course! What better time than on a magirail over the Doras Sea? You haven’t lived until you’ve felt the saltwater breeze between cars?—”

Marius coughed and cleared his throat over the sound of him possibly saying, “Avoiding others.”

“—and seen the sun rise and set over the waterline,” the dark elf finished.

“It sounds quite lovely. I am looking forward to the trip, and seeing Serian, of course,” my stepmother said.

Fal nodded. “I suggest you brush up on your Serian. Many in our capital, Neslune, do not bother to learn the tongue of the Seelie.”

Stars, I needed to do that too. I wanted to have at least an idea of what the princes were saying to one another during their asides in Serian.

“I’m sure we’ll get by,” she said dismissively.

“Hmm.” He kept smiling. “Well, hold tight. I will buy our tickets, as promised.” He strode ahead of the group to speak to a sylph on one side of the counter in front of the station. The travelers behind us headed to the other side, where they flashed tickets and were waved on.

Call me a brat, but I wondered if we could buy more space. How popular could a train between capital cities be? Maybe spread us out more and put Cymora in her own room.

Fal gestured for us to follow, fanning out our newly acquired tickets. I had my answer pretty soon as we wove between platforms, heading for a sleek silver train at the back of the station. It was shorter than the others by a few cars, with a nose shaped more like a needle point than a blunt triangle.

I was being stolen away by the Unseelie after all, and a little flowering bud of awe bloomed in my chest as Tormund ducked inside with me still in his arms. This was all a new experience. I kept looking around, taking in the details. “Latecomers get the end of the train, I’m afraid,” Fal said, leading us to our rooms.

The front car, right behind the closed door leading inside the nose of the train, had several tables on either side of the main row, with a savory scent lingering in the air. We went outside onto a metal railing wide enough for two fae standing next to one another. The next four cars were for passengers, with six rooms per car, three to either side.

Slowly, we made our way to the fourth car, where our rooms were. Other travelers were arranging their bags and rooms around us, more fae than I’d expected and only about half of them Unseelie. Once we reached our car, Laurel, Marius, Tormund, and I in were in the first room on the left, and Kauz, Fal, and Cymora were in the last room on the right.

“I’ll get our stuff into storage,” Marius announced. “Grab what you want now.”

He passed me the bag containing my old clothes and the pouch of money he’d snuck inside it. Tormund put me down to take a bag for himself and picked out one at seemingly random for me. He checked its contents before nodding in approval.

Kauz passed me the strap to the bag he’d been carrying for me, from the omega store. We stepped aside for a semiprivate moment in front of the door to my room. He unfurled the fur-lined cloak and wrapped it around my shoulders, securing it with a twist of his fingers. “There. The evenings get chilly once we’re out over the sea. Use this, and Tormund, to warm you up.”

The starry galaxy in his eyes glittered as he took the edge of the cloak and brushed its softness over my cheek, resting it there with the edges of his fingertips. I tilted my head into his touch, smiling for an unguarded moment. “See you tonight, okay?” he murmured.

“Okay,” I agreed, hoping he meant in my dreams. Maybe then he’d tell me how he could appear in them.

His expression softened, and he ran his thumb ran down the curve of my cheek ever so slowly as he eased forward until I felt the heat of his chest nearly pressed to mine. My breath caught when I realized what he was about to do.

“Hey, are you two kissing?” Laurel asked loudly. “I don’t think Mother would be very happy about that.”

He and I startled apart, and his wings shifted with a rustling sound. My heart still beat at twice its usual pace as I looked past her to Cymora, but my stepmother wasn’t looking our way as she lugged a pair of bags into her room.

“Certainly not, Lady Laurel,” he answered, a hint of a flush darkening his purple cheeks. “It will simply be a while until I see Lark again.”

She wrinkled her nose and pointed to the other room. “You’re just going to be right over there.”

“Indeed. Farewell for now.” He nodded and headed in that direction.

I sighed and turned to my bags, just to notice their absence. They were already in my room, delivered to one corner courtesy of either Tormund or Marius. The kelpie stood by the doorway, arms crossed and brow furrowed as he took in the setup of the furniture.

There was a small desk between two couches that had sheets peeking out from under the cushions. A wooden ladder was flat against the wall above each couch, attached to a metal mechanism that would fold down a second bed also pressed to the wall when the ladder was pulled out. A dimly glowing essence lamp was placed in the ceiling.

Laurel brushed past me, and I teetered, nearly losing my balance. “I call this bed!” she exclaimed, heading for one of the couches.

Marius stuck out his arm to stop her, the razor edges of his fin causing her to rear backward. “No,” he stated shortly, then started pointing and naming who would be going to which bed. He and Tormund would be on bottom, while I’d be above Marius and she’d be in the other bunk.

“I guess,” she said, deflating a bit.

“For now, sit. We have to secure our things for the launch,” he said. He then left to store our extra bags.

While he was gone, I rifled through one of my bags, making sure I still had Fal’s mask, Tormund’s cloak piece, and Marius’s kerchief. My fingers brushed the coin purse the kelpie had passed me, and it slumped over oddly. I glanced up at Laurel, who was attempting to make small talk with a disinterested Tormund, and decided she was suitably distracted. I peeked in the purse and found a squashed box underneath the weight of all the full moon coins.

I kept my hands in the bag as I pulled the top off the box and held in a gasp. There was a pair of hoop earrings inside, silver with tiny white crystals along their loops. They were no bigger around than my fingertip, but I immediately wanted to put them on. They were so dainty and pretty.

I closed the box and picked up the slip of paper that’d escaped when I’d lifted the lid. It had to be Marius’s handwriting. Each word was a slanted slash in bold ink.

Saw this and thought of you. He hadn’t signed his name.

I tucked it into the bag for now, not sure what to make of it. Marius didn’t strike me as a male who apologized for anything, and as far as apologies go…it was a cute pair of earrings. Only the second pair I could call mine, other than the tarnished silver studs I’d worn since my ears were first pierced under my dad’s watchful eye.

If I wore them, would that be a sign I’d forgiven him?

But what was he apologizing for? I was too nervous to ask him when he returned to the room. I assumed it was over the insult, but it could’ve also been for picking me up and practically throwing me at Kauz when I needed a new suppressant tattoo. But I appreciated that he’d done that.

I breathed a tired sigh, remembering that’d only just happened earlier today. What a long day this had been.

An attendant in a tight skirt tapped on our door, saying that the launch would be eminent and dinner would be served shortly afterward if we wanted to head to the dining car once the train was leveled out. She insisted we remained seated and hold on to our things for the duration of the launch.

Somehow, I ended up next to Marius on the couch, across from Tormund, while my stepsister pouted on the edge of her seat. My bags were wedged between my legs for now so they wouldn’t go flying.

Tormund revealed a rectangular window looking out at the station after drawing back the blind. “This is my favorite part,” the giant told us, smiling broadly.

A vibration began below our feet, resonating through the whole train. The table, bolted to the floor as it was, rattled, along with the rest of the furniture over our heads. It increased in frequency as the train car lurched, lifting off the magirail with a groan of metal. I tensed, wings flattening to my back. The launch I’d watched looked as effortless as a bird taking flight, but it was completely different inside this car, feeling the essence vibrate faster and harder.

Just as it reached a pitch I could barely hear, pressure jolted through the back of the train, and it tugged backward, just a little.

“Here we go!” Tormund whooped.

A magical force shot the train like a stone out of a slingshot, and we hit the portion of the magirail that twisted and turned, jostling us along with it. The car jerked around and jolted fast enough to give me whiplash, and I hunkered down with a fearful whimper, shutting my eyes tight.

Tormund and Laurel both laughed. A strong arm banded around my back, drawing me closer to the clean scent of waterlilies and mint. I hid my face in Marius’s chest, calming from his smell.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “You’re safe. Nothing will happen to you.” I heard the implied while you’re with me . His solid presence kept me from getting whipped around until the train leveled out, speeding us along on an ethereal rail of magic.