Page 45 of Fated or Knot (UnseelieVerse: The Omega Masquerade #1)

45

LARK

W e arrived before dark on the outskirts of a city lit thoroughly with essence lamps and fluttering faelights, like those who lived there wanted to mirror the stars. My ears popped as we came in for a landing and passed an invisible barrier spell of some kind.

I’d started noticing an increasing number of dreaming minds soaring around us, which looked like little orbs of multicolored light. According to Kauz, they usually posed no harm to dream wardens, but if they gathered in a large number, they could warp reality erratically. “The dreamlands’ thin barrier between reality and dreaming works both ways. Our people gather in settlements under special enchantments to keep us safe at night,” he’d said.

The city was built with short, closely packed buildings and no two were alike. Serian’s usual A-frames and pointed roofs sat next to the flat structures more common in Thelis or combined the two to make a hybrid. There was more whimsy in how they were made, with some ordinary brick, timber, and stone constructions intermingled with what looked like straw for one house, and a construction of many thousands of multicolored pebbles for another.

Kauz held my hand and let me look my fill. “This is the city of Once Else,” he said when I turned back to him to share this moment.

“Where have I heard that name before?” I wracked my tired brain for it. Every passing mention of the dreamlands included names like Ever Borough or After All that could slip into a conversation unnoticed unless it was obvious there was a place being referred to.

He gave my hand a squeeze. “I asked Mother if there was any family I could take you to meet on your Unseelie side. She shared that Dorei was a foundling surrendered to the Once Else orphanage.”

My mouth formed a soft “o” as I looked around again. “This was her home,” I gasped.

“Aye, and I did find a few folks here that you should meet. How does tomorrow sound for that, though?” He tipped a tender smile my way. “I’m feeling a little selfish with your time.”

“Tomorrow,” I agreed quickly. “I probably smell like the sea and…” I muffled a yawn that’s taken hold when I was about to suggest how tired I was.

“You smell like Always, as always,” he teased. “I have an inn room with human plumbing, and a nice change of clothes ready for you.”

“And a big bed? With a handsome, naked dream warden in it?” I asked, dropping my voice not to let any passersby happen upon our conversation. There weren’t as many fae walking the streets as I’d have expected for a city this size. There were other dream wardens like us, and also a handful of other native dreamland races like lycans and kitsune strolling casually.

“That can be arranged,” Kauz said, though he made a pained face. “However, perhaps we shouldn’t go too far tonight.”

“Why not?” I practically whined. After enjoying the journey here and having his hands on me for our dance, I was eager and slick for him.

“Your heat. I don’t want to trigger it without one of my alpha brothers present. I could add to the suppressant tattoo…”

I shook my head, though reluctantly. I was ready to be done with suppressants and claimed by his pack, even if the incoming heat promised to burn me from the inside out.

“You’re right,” I said, longing coating each word.

“Don’t worry, we still have dreams. And Marius will get here sometime tomorrow. Maybe his rut will be finished by then, otherwise I’ll make sure to lock him out of the room so I have at least one opportunity to make love to you first in reality.”

I covered my mouth so I didn’t burst out laughing as hard as I wanted to in public. He tugged me toward the inn where we were staying, constructed of river stones and contained to one story, so it’d spread to be the size of a city block on its own. We retired together for a quiet date night over a meal and fae fruit wine. He only ordered one bottle, so the walls were quite stationary even by the time I was down to nursing my last glass.

He pulled out a sketchpad and a charcoal pencil and started working. I snuggled against his chest to watch him. He drew two sets of my wings, brainstorming what his mist and stardust tattoos might look like with me wearing them, front or back. Just watching him form art from nothing was quite satisfying.

It was only while tipsy and dosing did I realize something. “Kauz,” I murmured.

“Hmm?”

“Wouldn’t you just be painting over my wing scales?”

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Not with magic, sweetheart.”

“Being observant isn’t magic,” I said sleepily. “But art is.”

“When words on a page or paint on a canvas can make you feel , what could it be but magic?” he reasoned.

“That is very wise.” I nodded in agreement a few extra times. “Have I told you how pretty your eyes are today? They’re so extra sparkly. I just want to watch them rather than the night sky.”

He abandoned his sketches to wrap his arms around me, nuzzling my neck. “That’s enough wine for today.” He stole my glass while I purred, distracted.

“Hey! I meant that.” I pouted and giggled at the same time. “I like your eyes.”

“Oh, thank you. I’m rather taken by your gaze, as well. Still, too much wine,” he said.

When it was clear I wasn’t getting the rest of my drink back, I took his encouragement to head to the bathroom to see myself in the mirror. The same dreamlands mystique that’d magnified the size and amount of stars in his eyes was doing the same to mine, though I still had my blue irises while his were obscured by his fancy magic. It was still pretty, though.

I paid the rain room a visit, happy to have a shower again, and settled into bed with Kauz. “Fun fact,” he said after we’d turned off the essence lamps. I was snuggled into his side, my eyes already closed. “You can reach pretty much anyone’s dream from the dreamlands, without a token of something they own. You just have to fall asleep with one fae in mind.”

“Oh, okay.”

With countless possibilities, I still picked his dream to infiltrate. Or he picked mine. The details were a little fuzzy at first, but I knew some things for sure.

We made love until sunrise in a space without consequences, and he talked me into trying a few new things once I had two males in my bed tomorrow.

Kauz and I spent the better half of the next day wandering Once Else, shadowing the places my mother used to pass time in. Some of the fae who still lived here were as close to Dorei as family and they helped me piece together what her life had been like.

She’d been adopted by a potter and his pack, who’d raised her with the secrets of clay, paint, and glaze. One of her best works, a painted platter, was still displayed in the shop in a glass case, even though the shop was now under the ownership of a cousin who, while friendly, was a little distant as I asked questions and admired Dorei’s old work.

She’d painted a metalark over that platter, rendering every feather in meticulous detail. Light gleamed off its beady eye and the little clusters of blood red berries and springs that decorated the outside rim. A small sign was propped next to it, declaring it not for sale.

“You could fetch quite the sum for that,” Kauz said to the cousin, while I stood there admiring it. He offered a sum that had me twitching. Too much for something like this, and yet, it was possibly one of the only things of my mother’s that’d survived past Cymora’s hostile takeover of Osme Fen. It was priceless.

Kauz carried the platter out, padded and wrapped twice. He’d followed the breadcrumbs of Dorei’s life only so far, since she’d become a trader upon coming of age. Trading pottery to settlements outside of the dreamlands was how she’d met Nemensia, and they’d traveled together for years before the future queen crossed paths with her pack, and Dorei met Kellam to settle at last in a faraway farm town. The rest, as they say, was history.

After we dropped off the platter in our inn room, we went outside of Once Else’s magical barrier to sit in a patch of grassland together. Sunshine and wind stirred the long blades from the angle we sat at, while the ever-present purplish half-night hung overhead. It was odd, but beautiful, and I sat in silence just thinking of what I’d learned of my mother today.

I missed someone I’d never truly met, her loss still an echo in my soul that couldn’t fully heal. Kauz put an arm around me and didn’t say anything. As always, it seemed he understood exactly what I needed.

Eventually, I leaned my head on his shoulder and murmured, “Thank you.” He hadn’t had to share this time with Dorei, though I was beyond glad he had.

His expression and those glimmering eyes were gentle on mine. “Anything for you, my Always.”

“Consider me smitten,” I murmured, gazing at him adoringly.

We kissed for a long time under the dreamland stars. He’d mastered the perfect lip lock too, coaxing a soft purr of pleasure from me and a tender ache in my core. I didn’t want him to fall on me in animal passion, after all. If my heat wasn’t so close, he’d slowly strip our clothes off to lay skin to skin, heart to heart, the kind of love he filled my dreams with. I yearned for it now, even if there were consequences in how my body may react.

Kauz pulled away first, humming. I cracked open my eyes, catching the confusion in that sound. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s the pack bond. I’m being summoned,” he said dryly. “Oddly enough, by two brothers. They are rather insistently trying to get my attention.” He shared that it was about as annoying as being poked in either cheek. Whatever it was, both Marius and Tormund thought it was important enough to signal for Kauz to come to them.

“Tormund’s here?” I asked, confused but hopeful in the same breath. Hopefully he’d figured out what he needed to do to get his rage back under control. I missed him and his bear hugs quite fiercely.

He nodded and motioned for me to follow as he took flight, heading around the outskirts of Once Else toward the utilitarian train station that sat right on the edge of the city. It was like a dry gray fingernail when compared to the color and whimsy of the other buildings. There was one magirail in and two of them out of the station, at odds with the complicated tangles of magirails in stations like the ones in Neslune and Ilysnor.

“The trains don’t run at night in the dreamlands, so each line is a short jump,” Kauz explained while we waited amongst a small crowd for the next train to arrive. It would double back the way it’d come to a massive station called the Dreamlands Nexus.

Marius was definitely on that train. Our bond swiftly fixed back into place as the magirail began to vibrate and my kelpie was pissed . I felt his anger for a fleeting moment before he sent feelings of greeting and love down the bond.

“What’s going on?” I asked him, trusting that shift in emotion meant he wasn’t mad at me.

“I’m not mad at you,” he said in echo to my thoughts.

The train pulled into the station with a groan of settling metal and the hiss of steam. It was a short thing, only five cars, with the front and back mirrored in appearance and, presumably, function. Amongst the disembarking crowd were the two princes. A storm cloud seemed to follow Marius, who cast a glare at his brother as he strode ahead. Tormund ducked his shoulders sheepishly.

“Here we go,” Kauz muttered, straightening to brace himself as they headed our way.

Marius walked right past him to catch my face in his hands and kiss the breath right out of my lungs. He tasted strongly of fertile mint and waterlily, and my senses picked up rut and aggression from him in equal measure before we parted for air. Resting his forehead on mine, he murmured, “I have to get back on that train, p’nixie. But I needed to taste your lips again first.”

I searched his gaze. “What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling a whine coming on if he didn’t tell me.

He bundled me close, petting my hair before he shared the news mind to mind. “My incompetent brothers failed to apprehend Pack Ellisar when they arrived in Neslune a few days ago. They are loose in the city somewhere.”

I stiffened so hard, it was a wonder I didn’t snap like a brittle branch put under too much pressure. He held me tighter as I clutched his shirt and keened. Not Pack Ellisar. Not here , in Serian. How did they even know to come here?

Oh stars, they had to be here for me, contract in hand. They were going to try to steal me back to Osme Fen.

Whatever else he said was drowned out by the animal panic that threatened to choke me. He loosened his hold just as a sense of calm wrapped around my back; Kauz sandwiched me between them. Not to be left out, Tormund’s ever-present heat joined in as he hugged all three of us and ignored the feral snap of teeth Marius aimed in his direction.

“It’ll be all right, sweetheart. You’re ours. Nothing’s changed about that,” Kauz said.

“And you’re safe,” Tormund added. There was a low crackle of flames in his voice. Maybe he hadn’t gotten his rage under control while we were parted; this hug was feeling awfully hot all of a sudden.

“And you will remain that way.” Marius growled like a roll of thunder as the boarding announcement for the train, outbound to the Dreamlands Nexus, was announced around the station. He released me with slow reluctance, easing back. “I will ensure it.”

He was heading back to Neslune, then, to hunt the trio of barkfolk on my behalf. Everything they’d said soaked in as I regained my sanity and sucked in a grounding breath. I was theirs, I was safe, and I’d remain here, far from Pack Ellisar’s reach. “But…your rut,” I murmured.

“I will endure.” He left abruptly to buy passage before the train left without him. Kauz didn’t release me, but Tormund did, shaking his head sharply as smoke leaked from the corner of his mouth. I shifted to hold onto Kauz tightly and sank into him as he shrouded me in the privacy of his wings.

“I love you,” I thought to Marius. The words failed to encompass everything I was feeling as the shock continued to wear off and gratitude for my males swept in.

“Love you more.” As always, he delivered the same response with full devotion and it gave me an electric thrill.

He was gone again with the thrum and blast of air from the train launching back the way it’d come. I stirred when Tormund asked, “Is the li’l bird okay?” I realized I’d expected him to get back on the train with his brother.

“I’m okay.” A little shaken and a lot whiplashed, but fine for now. I was sure I’d worry over everything once I’d had time to really think about it.

“Good. I need to tell you both everything when we’re somewhere more private.”

“Aye, I want every detail,” Kauz grumbled. He withdrew his wings and scowled at the giant. “Can I trust you to keep it together around our mate?”

Tormund had one of his hopeful smiles fixed in place. “I learned how to get my rage under control,” he said in his too-gentle way. Stars, what a relief.

We started the trek back to our inn room. Tormund put Kauz between us, so I held my dream warden’s hand and leaned past him as I whispered, “So, are you going to tell me the solution?”

A blush darkened the redcap’s brassy cheeks. “Such things aren’t appropriate to talk about in public, li’l bird.”

Oh, now I really wanted to know. But I kept my questions contained until we reached the massive inn and showed Tormund into our room. Kauz cast a fireproofing spell over the couch in a whirl of starlight essence before letting his brother sit down. I dragged over a chair to sit at a safe distance, as it seemed Tormund’s monstrous form emerged more the closer I was to him.

“All right, the solution first. Sex is a known outlet for relieving the rage, but when we had sex, I didn’t do it right,” he told me.

I couldn’t help but giggle, despite the air of discomfort he had for even starting this conversation. “What do you mean?”

“I didn’t knot you, and…” he mumbled the rest.

Kauz’s sharp ears picked up what I didn’t. “The full rage form?” He turned an alarmed look my way.

“ Ach , aye. My dad said if I vent throughout, I won’t burn her.”

I put together what I’d missed from there. Stars, the heat wasn’t so much a problem as the size of him. Even partially shifted last time, his cock had been massive and his knot even more so. “Um, you’re not going to fit,” I ventured.

“I said that too, li’l bird, but if I accept the rage form as we get started, the growth should be steady enough that you adapt,” he explained.

I glanced at Kauz, who was still looking at me, though his expression was thoughtful now. “We did discuss sharing last night,” he said. Specifically, what kinds of fun things he as the pack beta could do while I was stuck on a knot. I rubbed my thighs together at the reminder.

“We did,” I agreed.

“Sharing what?” Tormund asked.

Kauz tipped his head. “He needs it. Why don’t we show him?”

I nodded in agreement and stood, crossing the room to ease into the space where my gentle giant had his legs spread. “Sharing me .” The temperature in the room spiked as I undid the buttons securing my shirt around my wings and slowly slid it up and off my body. Tormund’s eyes lit with tiny flames as they ran over my bare skin.