Page 22 of Fated or Knot (UnseelieVerse: The Omega Masquerade #1)

22

LARK

I came back to the waking world to completely different surroundings. My cheek was pressed into Kauz’s padded vest, my body swaying as he carried me at a fast walk through a corridor. I shut my eyes again with a groan. It felt like someone had buried an iron spike in my head. It hurt to even think.

“Welcome back,” Kauz whispered.

“What happened?” I croaked.

He hesitated. In the meantime, we passed by several fae that greeted him in Serian. It sounded like he was asked several questions, none of which he responded to.

I viewed the world through a crack in my lids, slowly sliding them open more as the pain receded. The hallway he strode down was more open than the former fortress, lined with windows that let in cold light to play across the purple reflections in Kauz’s eyes. His brow was drawn and his teeth slightly bared, giving him as unapproachable a visage as he could make.

I whined. Was he unhappy with me? I couldn’t remember what I’d done to upset the calm prince.

“I’m taking you to someone who is going to help you, sweetheart,” he murmured.

Hopefully someone who could heal away the headache threatening to split my skull.

“Wait…the queen?” I asked. I’d just met her, right? The more I tried to recall what she looked like, the worse the pain behind my eyes became.

“Don’t worry about her right now.”

I sighed and bared my throat in a sign of trust. Though it probably looked like my head was lolling. Kauz would talk to me about what’d happened when he was ready.

He stopped before an ornate pair of doors with no visible handles. There was a pattern in raised gold swirls and lettering written across it, though it was cut through by a circle over both doors that was several feet long. The pattern was shifted upside-down inside of the circle.

Kauz set me on my feet and supported me with a wing around my back as he started making gestures with both hands. Essence wove though his fingers and into the circle, which jerked with the squeal of metal brushing metal. It stuck, and he cursed under his breath, jabbing his right hand forward.

The circle jerked again before righting itself with the ticking of rotating gears. A heavy lock slid open, and the double doors parted for us. Kauz shifted, peeling the cloak from his wings and offering it to me. I wrapped it around my body with an appreciative smile, and it only grew when he picked me up again and we slid together into the room he’d opened.

He closed it behind him with a kick of his heel, and the lock reengaged with a brief squeal. “He never remembers to oil that thing,” he muttered.

I was too busy gaping at our surroundings to reply. The room was an observatory of some kind, dominated by a giant telescope in the center of everything. It was two stories at least, built with an open concept. Painted canvases covered most of the wall space, some faded with age. There were several balconies lining the walls too and tools and items scattered everywhere .

“Who’s there?” a male called from somewhere above us in Serian.

Kauz called his name back, and a face leaned over the side of one of the top balconies. “Kauzden!” he echoed with a big smile.

He took a leap down to us, spreading a huge pair of bat wings at the last minute to break his fall with a few careless flaps. The markings on the inside of his wings were unique, black where Kauz wore silver, a jumble of abstract lines that looked like they were designed by a distracted mind.

He was a little taller and slimmer than the prince holding me, with a heavy pair of glasses hanging on a chain around his neck, forgotten or dropped from his face. Though his clothes were dark and nondescript, if he wasn’t Kauz’s father and one of the kings, I’d be shocked. His pack mark was similar to that of Pack Sorles, painted over with small, ornate details. He also had starry night eyes and carried the same type of calming presence with him. His face was a little older, with smile lines starting to make their mark, and while he was clean-shaven like Kauz, he kept his white hair long and drawn back in a thin tail.

“Dad, this is my mate, Lark,” Kauz said in Theli.

The king glanced at me, and his excited expression faded to concern. He cleared his throat and switched languages too, though his was marked by an accent nearly as thick as Tormund’s. “I’m not supposed to meet her until later. Though.” He smiled and dipped his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I am glad to make your acquaintance. Call me Thalas.”

I managed a pinched smile, while Kauz held me to him a little tighter. “It’s an emergency,” he stated.

“It is?” I murmured.

He squeezed me but didn’t answer. They switched languages again, and Thalas gestured for Kauz to follow. He unfurled his wings and took flight with a leap and heavy flap, heading for one of the larger balconies overhead. Kauz waited until he’d landed before crouching. My heart lurched at the weightless feeling that followed as he carried me into the air.

I’d never gotten around to asking whether Kauz could fly. With the size of his wings and the strength of his upper body, at some point, I figured it was a stupid question. He powered through the observatory with ease to take me to the balcony his father had picked out. It had an extra-large upholstered chair built for a winged dreamlander and a table covered with various tools and implements, none of which I recognized. The tiled floor was a maze of more tools, and many of them looked sharp.

Kauz picked his way through them with care and set me in the chair with a brush of his lips over my forehead. “What’s the emergency?” I asked.

He replied with only a look, tightened lips, and eyes more night than stars. He wasn’t going to tell me. I just had to trust him, even though I was becoming increasingly nervous.

Thalas rummaged through the things on the table, muttering under his breath. He’d donned his glasses, magnifying and blurring the stars in his eyes, and eventually picked out what he was looking for. It looked like a wooden stick, which he held out to me. “Put this under your tongue,” he said.

I loosened Kauz’s cloak and took the stick, turning it over.

“It’s an essence meter. I just want a quick reading,” he explained.

I took in his encouraging smile and echoed it shyly. The stick had a flattened end, which I pushed under my tongue. Symbols and lines lit up its length, which he read upside-down with a concerned hum.

“All right, then. A couple more tests while I confer with my son. Nothing to worry about,” he said, patting my shoulder and plucking the stick out of my mouth. He handed it to Kauz, the two of them chatting away in Serian. Just like earlier, with the queen…they naturally spoke too quickly for me to follow.

And trying to remember what’d happened earlier today was bringing my headache back to full blast. I bit my lip to suppress a whine.

The king’s next test involved getting a different reading by tying a leather strap around my wrist. He’d produced a sheaf of loose paper and a clipboard from somewhere in the clutter of items on the floor and noted down the reading the strap took.

“Did you know butterfly wings have scales?” he asked me while searching for a third tool. “They are wee flecks of color to our eyes, but they help the little bugs stay dry and fly properly.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said, wondering why he mentioned it.

“Did you know your wings have the same property? Though pixies are much larger than butterflies, so your scales are also bigger and mostly made of essence.”

Oh, that was interesting. “Is that what pixie dust is?” I asked.

“That’s right. We’re going to inspect your wings to find a loose scale for a test.”

“I don’t really shed dust,” I said, feeling an embarrassed blush coming on when he looked up and tilted his head. He was writing with one hand and handing Kauz a magnifying glass with the other.

He started asking questions rapidly. “Do you have trouble flying? Do they get cold quicker than you do when you’re outside? Do they soak through quickly in the rain?”

I nodded along.

“Were they once a different?—”

“Dad,” Kauz interrupted, giving him a little nudge.

“Right, right. I just don’t get to study pixies very often.” Thalas straightened. “Well, there’s got to be a speck of dust on you somewhere. If you would stand for a moment, please.”

I eased to my feet and left Kauz’s cloak behind on the chair, immediately shivering. The observatory wasn’t as cold as outside, but it was drafty. I was covered in chill bumps under my long-sleeved blouse.

The males stood behind me with magnifying glasses, inspecting my wings while I tried not to flutter them anxiously. They were deep in discussion over something they didn’t want me to understand while they looked. Thalas repeated “need one” more than once as they moved to my sides and looked at the front of my wings instead.

“Ah-ha,” Thalas said. “I see a scale. Get me the…” He made a pinching motion with his fingers.

“Where?” Kauz asked.

“ Ach , boy. Over there.”

Kauz went over to the table to start looking. “When’s the last time you organized this part of the workshop?”

“I know where everything is. Organizing only ruins it,” Thalas answered.

Kauz rolled his eyes and returned with a pair of tweezers.

“This may sting, Lark. The scale is in a sensitive spot.” He pulled it free before he was even done explaining, catching me by surprise when the pinch came from the tender inner curve of my lower wing.

I whined, and Kauz growled, showing his teeth for a moment. Thalas glanced around me. “Did that come from you?” he laughed.

Kauz drew his brow in. “Is this the last test?”

“It should be before we view… Let’s call it the item . And look how pretty this is.” He showed Kauz the scale and tilted it toward the overhead essence lamp. I lifted my head to look at it too, but all I saw was a faint shimmer of gray before he placed it on a metal disc.

I sat and bundled myself in the cloak again, watching them pour over the magical reading. Thalas wrote and wrote, soon setting aside a page to start fresh with the next. A magical formula covered the bottom half of the first page, full of unfamiliar symbols and mathematical equations. He spoke to himself all the while.

“It seems the item has ninety percent, while she has ten,” he was muttering to Kauz, who had his pointed ears perked. “Give or take a margin of error of less than point one percent. She’s holding this many units right now. To keep her stable, we want her at about fifty percent, and that’s an easy enough equation…”

“I’ll donate,” Kauz murmured back.

Thalas hummed and handed over the same leather strap and wooden stick he’d tested me with. Kauz noted down his own results on a separate sheet of paper.

“What in the stars required so much magic, boy?” Thalas grumbled. “You have just enough.”

“She can have it all, as far as I’m concerned…”

Thalas glanced over at me, lips twisted with worry. “Be right back,” he announced.

After he launched himself off the balcony to circle around to a different part of the workshop with a few flaps, Kauz came around the table to take my hand between both of his. I looked up at him, hopeful he’d give me some kind of answer for what was going on.

“We’re going to fix a problem you didn’t know you had,” he said, picking his words with care. “It’s related to your foot, and it’s going to hurt. But you will feel a lot better once it’s done.”

“My lame foot?” I asked, more confused than soothed by this explanation.

“You’re going to understand so much better once it’s done. And you have to do it.” He squeezed my hand between his for emphasis.

“I trust you.” Though my voice shook with nerves as I spoke.

His expression softened. “What’d I do to earn such a sweet mate?” He let go of my hand to cup my face. I leaned up to meet his lips, sighing happily even from a tender, controlled kiss. His father could be returning any moment, after all.

Kauz pulled away first, though he didn’t go far, resting his forehead on mine. “Can you trust me to go a little further with one more thing?” he asked in a low voice. “You can’t watch what we’re about to do with your foot.”

“You’re not going to take it off, are you?” I asked with a jolt of fear.

His eyes widened in horror. “No! Most certainly not. It’s just…” He shrugged helplessly. “We’ll use my cloak’s hood. You could lift it if you feel unsafe, though I really don’t suggest it.”

I nodded. That didn’t sound so bad, though what in the stars was this all about?

The snap of Thalas’s wings warned us of his arrival, though Kauz barely stirred until I heard boots land on the floor. His father glanced between us, his eyes creasing at the corners. “Are we ready to begin?” he asked.

Kauz reached behind me and pulled the hood of his cloak free, lowering it over my face until all I saw was its fuzzy lining. This was fine. I could do this.

Probably.

“Let me lift it,” he said. Lift…what? Implements and tools clinked together as they were brushed out of the way. One of them took hold of my right leg and unlaced my shoe, working it carefully off my foot. It was impossible to remove it without hurting me a little, but it could’ve been much worse. A warm hand wrapped around my heel, offsetting the chill in the air.

The next thing I knew, a truly vile smell hit me straight in the nose. I gagged and pinched my nostrils closed, but it was too late. The stink, like rotten eggs and mold, was so strong I could practically taste it.

“ Olcanus ,” Thalas said grimly.

Kauz hushed him, though I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t know what that Serian word meant.

“I will keep this lifted. Go,” Thalas added.

More items were moved around, and someone took my hand, dangling it off the chair’s armrest. “I’m tying our wrists together, just in case,” Kauz told me. He laced his fingers with mine before he ran smooth leather around my wrist and a buckle clinked, synching us together tightly.

“Just in case of what?” I murmured, not expecting an answer. My hand trembled in his, even with the way he pressed his thumb in soothing circles over the skin between my thumb and forefinger.

Tingles ran over my palm, and the starry glow of his essence limned the side of the hood over my face. The fleeting, wonderful smell of Always pushed out the molding egg stink from my head. I relaxed as his magic started to weave into mine; his raw power pushed into my body in a trickle to wet the dried riverbeds of my essence channels.

“We’re ready, Father,” he said.

Kauz squeezed, pressing our palms together as tightly as possible. In the next moment, there was a clink like a key turning in a lock, followed by a metallic rattle.

Dozens of pain points erupted around my foot and ankle, but what felt worse was the draining sensation of my essence gushing out of me in the wake of what Thalas had done. I wavered at the edge of consciousness, gray oblivion leaching through the corners of my vision while he cursed viciously in Serian.

Kauz poured his essence into me through our connected palms. The trickle became a flood, our laced hands like a lifeline as everything I was shattered .

I felt the change top to bottom, my body mutating while I jerked and screamed. I thrashed, immediately feral from whatever was happening, clawing and screeching like a wild thing. I tried to fight, but all I ended up doing was kicking out at Thalas.

The king locked one of his arms around my knee, holding with bruising force. He pressed a finger into each individual hole in and around my ankle and twisted. At least, I thought that’s what he had to be doing, as they burned once he moved on to the next one. I hissed and tried to jerk away, but his grip was unforgiving.

“It’s okay, Lark. It’s going to be okay,” Kauz was saying, trying to call me back. I could barely hear him. In fact, the sudden burst of sensations was dying off and…

I was weightless. Free. Cut adrift from my body, my mind flexed mental muscles I’d long forgotten it had.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t pain. It was bliss .

“Lark, stop!” Kauz shouted.

The hood lifted from over my eyes. I was floating in a cloud of little gadgets and objects. The table followed suit, though its battered surface flickered with uncontrolled illusion magic. Confused colors and patterns fought to dominate it while it slowly tipped on its side. Was this my doing? I watched it happening with detached awe.

“She’s using up too much essence,” Thalas said urgently. “Knock her out.”

I turned my head. My body was tethered by two forces. Thalas, who had my ankle wrapped in his essence, like a black scarf threaded with silver stars, and Kauz, who tugged me downward toward him by our entwined hands.

His thumb landed in the middle of my forehead and left a glittering trail down my nose and over my parted lips. I dropped into sleep with the same lack of grace as all the tools that smashed to the floor with sudden gravity, followed by the table landing face down on top of them.