Page 53 of Fated or Knot (UnseelieVerse: The Omega Masquerade #1)

53

TORMUND

“ I s everything to your liking, Prince?” squeaked one of Lark’s handmaidens as I inspected the spread of spices and raw ingredients on the kitchen counter. I’d had both her house moths fly ahead of us with a parcel of these items, for this moment. They’d stayed here waiting for us to arrive, standing out in their palace uniforms amongst the more subdued hunter green Wirr preferred for his eclipse—as any large group of mothkin were called.

“Aye, thank you. You may go. I thought I told you to take the rest of the day off?”

The handmaidens exchanged a glance. The one with streaks of white in her antennae said, “We can help. We were in the Red Eclipse before the queen reassigned us.”

Lark probably didn’t realize there were several subgroups of mothkin servants within the palace, color coded to their tasks and which alpha mothkin they reported to. The kitchen moths from the Red Eclipse had taught me how to cook…so it was a tempting offer. But I didn’t want my mate to walk in and think I was taking credit for their efforts.

“I appreciate it, but the whole point for tonight is me showing off my skills to my mate,” I said. “You really can go and relax.”

After a few more moments to consider me, they shifted with nerves. The handmaiden with a brown pattern inside her wings said, “Okay, Prince. Before you get started, will you please introduce us to Head Moth Wirr?”

“Did you want to be reassigned again?” I asked in surprise.

“No way! We love serving the princess.”

What they were asking really sank in. “Oh, you want to be introduced .”

Their fuzzy antennae shot straight up in either shock or embarrassment. “No, Prince!” they squeaked about the same time.

“I want to learn how to be a head moth,” one squeaked.

“No, I’m going to be the head moth,” said the other.

I glanced between them, brow wrinkling in confusion. Wirr could figure this out. I took a moment to locate the big alpha to make the introduction. One of them whispered their names to me as I waved him over. “Wirr, this is Jani and Lon. They’re proven themselves to be hard workers and excellent handmaidens for my mate,” I said.

Rennyn had taught me that you always compliment a house moth’s work ethic, especially to an alpha mothkin, otherwise you’ve wounded their pride. They held grudges and their gossip spread like wildfire after a drought. But they were excellent allies for a spy wanting to know who was sleeping where and plotting with whom in as busy a place as the palace. He kept his thumb on everything going on just by listening to the head moths, who sorted through their eclipse’s gossip to offer him the juiciest details.

While the pair of betas peppered Wirr with questions, I headed back into the kitchen to start cooking. I got into a groove of chopping, slicing, and seasoning, only interrupted when Kauz tapped the pack bond to let me know he’d come inside. He’d remained at a polite distance behind us, but within range of our bond the whole day, just in case either of us spotted danger.

I sent him the equivalent of a thumbs up to ask if everything was still okay. He sent back a yes and I relaxed, getting back to work. I wasn’t a master chef by any means, but I enjoyed the tasks, especially the bespoke-level roasting I could offer with my fire. I’d packed enough food for everyone to eat well off my efforts.

Lark poked her head into the kitchen. Oddly, I smelled her coming. Her sweetness wafting ahead of her and arrowing straight into my nostrils. Her white hair still damp around her rosy-cheeked face fresh from a shower. Adorable, as always. Her chocolate-coated honey crackers scent wafted from her, pure and free of any contaminants. And wow, her scent would always be a more indulgent dessert than the one I had brought for her.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Tormund? Are you cooking ?” she asked.

I blocked her view of my work by covering her star-flecked eyes with one palm. “Aye, li’l bird. I’ll bring it out to you when it’s done.”

“It smells really good.”

“You smell really good.”

“Oh?” She tried to peek around my hand.

A flush of heat raced over my skin. I thought it was my rage, rekindling from its embers by the gentle warmth from her breath on my palm. “Go sit down, please,” I said.

I was a little disappointed when she left and took her sweet pheromones with her, just as I requested. Maybe expelling some of my fire was stirring the rage, as I hadn’t felt it at all since Lark took my knot like a champion. I hadn’t missed it.

My cock jumped to full life the moment I thought about our last encounter. I scowled down at the tent in my pants. That’s not very chivalrous, I chided it and thought about unpleasant things until it relented.

I needed to make sure the meat didn’t burn and that I finished roasting the potatoes properly, one long exhale of flame at a time across their metal pan.

I peeked into the common area before doing my final plating. Kauz was sprawled in the middle of a couch with a stack of books on the table in front of him. One of his wings was curled over Lark. Our mate rested her head on his shoulder, gazing up at him adoringly as she giggled at something my brother said.

A spike of jealousy skewered me. Kauz glanced up looking straight at me with his unusual eyes, brows raising in surprise. His expression smoothed out to his usual knowing look. I scowled back, disliking the touch of smugness that overgrown bat wore so well.

I went back into the kitchen to split the food fairly and cut the bread. I covered the main course and loaded it all on a platter to carry it out with me. “Dinner’s ready,” I announced with my usual cheer. “Good news. Kauz and the li’l moths aren’t going to starve today!”

Jani and Lon’s restlessly wiggling antennae showed their obvious confusion when I slid a covered plate toward them. “You’re feeding us, Prince?” Lon, I think, asked. Her sister framed her fuzzy face with her hands in glee.

“It might not be as good as something from the palace kitchens, but I made it with love,” I said, grinning. “Lark, I was thinking we could eat in my room.”

“Okay.” Beaming, she turned to kiss Kauz—briefly, I noted with some satisfaction—and stood as I slid him some dinner too.

“Be careful,” my brother murmured in an undertone as Lark headed for the staircase.

“ Ach .” I followed her without another glance at him, though I knew exactly what he was talking about. I had plenty of practice with my self-control. I’d gotten through the train ride here, and my rage’s worst spikes for years. Two days of being by Lark’s side without mating with her would be a cake walk compared to that kind of torture.

Stars, cake . I could’ve baked a cake and prepared the other layers of a berry trifle for her, if we hadn’t been rushed. Something so delicious, she’d moan over it, just like the last one. Hopefully she’d love what I’d made for her instead.

“Um, small problem,” she said once we were both in my room and I’d kicked the door closed behind me. “Your desk only has one chair.”

The desk was a scarred thing in one corner, with a handful of slim poetry books lined up against the wall and the remnants of a wood carving project lying forgotten in the center under a thin layer of dust. I’d tried more than once to take up carving—it was a nice masculine activity I could do at clan meetings, if I were good at it—but all I usually got for the experience was splinters and cuts on my fingers.

I should’ve probably tidied up in here before rushing off to make dinner, but I’d been so excited for this meal. The fact there was one chair, a blocky fireproof monstrosity I’d sat in so much, the wood was soft and pitted to the touch, was something I’d already been aware of.

With a thrill up my spine, I said what I’d been daydreaming about since I’d first come up with the idea for this date, “I was thinking you could sit in my lap, and I’ll feed you.”

I took great joy in feeding my li’l bird, in general. Providing for her every need was a delight and the role in life that I’d embraced since I started training as the next queen’s comfort. But I wanted to go further still; have my omega sit in my lap and accept bits of food from my hand.

She nibbled on her lower lip as she considered the tiny room. The winter lodge didn’t have any spacious suites. It was built to house as many travelers as necessary during busy hunting seasons and also the coldest days of the year, when our more hapless citizens sometimes needed rescued from Serian’s unforgiving weather and warmed up in a safe place. This room was only really big enough for one of us, so if she didn’t want to sit in my lap…I guess we’d need to go back downstairs.

“It’s not a bother?” she asked.

“Nay,” I said, probably too quickly. “I mean, I would love to share this moment with you. If you’re okay with it.”

She smiled up at me, her eyes twinkling with many sparkling reflections from the essence lamp overhead. The sight always made my heart skip a beat. She was straight from the dreamlands. A gift from the stars that smelled like one of my favorite things in life, a sweet dessert, who’d given me back my control and loved me despite the monstrous form lurking under my skin.

She said, “Yes, I think I’d like that.”

Me too, li’l bird.

I set the platter down at the foot of my bed and swiped aside the failed wood carving and the knife that went with it. “Okay, I saved us some of the best stuff,” I told her as I arranged all of it on the desk. The main dish and dessert, I kept covered under appropriately sized cloches, but now the goblets for wine and water, the bread and butter, and the salad were in plain view. I’d prepared a lot more salad than necessary, just in case she didn’t actually like my cooking.

I stashed the wine bottle under the desk for now and sat, patting my lap with excitement kindling within me. She sat across my thighs and rested her slight weight on my chest. “This looks really nice,” she murmured. “You’re helping me eat all that salad, right?”

“We don’t have to eat all the salad.” I’d heard plenty about “overfeeding” her by now. Like having a round and happy mate was a bad thing!

I dished some up for both of us and speared a few bits of lettuce on the fork I guided to her mouth, my other hand under the tines to catch any spillage. She chewed demurely, crunching into the fresh greens. “Bread? Water?” I asked.

“I want you to feed yourself too.”

“I will, li’l bird. Just tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you first.”

“More salad. All of this was here at the lodge?”

“Your house moths delivered the ingredients fresh from the palace. I prepared it from there.”

She nodded and munched through another forkful of salad, and I ate some as well. The tart lemon vinaigrette really added a good zing to such a meal staple.

I watched her expressions for the little hints as to what she’d want next. I told her about my wood carving experiments at this desk, explaining the many scars it’d received from my frustration while she listened attentively.

She ducked down to pick up my failed carving and inspected it. “Oh, that’s the problem. This isn’t the right wood for carving.”

I blinked in surprise. “Huh?”

“See the grains? They’re too far apart, and that’s why they’re splintering,” she explained. She pointed at the offending split in the wood, where I’d given up in frustration. “You need wood with a tighter grain and then you’ll get further.”

“You’re so smart, li’l bird,” I said cheerfully.

We ate buttered bread, and soon it was time for me to reveal the main course. Palms tingling with some mixture of excitement and nerves, I pulled up the bigger cloche to reveal my handiwork in a cloud of fragrant steam. I’d prepared boar with an apple reduction, served with caramelized onions. To the side were hills of roasted potatoes and root veggies, dusted in rosemary and thyme.

She inhaled and a purr thrummed through her. I drank in her expression and the feeling of her delight vibrating my heart at just the right frequency. The best sound, and feeling, in the world had to be my mate’s purr.

I traded plates around and poured the red wine that paired with the meal. “This is a good old berry wine, no fae fruit involved,” I told her.

“Thank the stars for that,” she giggled. “This looks amazing. Let’s try it.”

“First, wine.” I give her a sip from her goblet and tried it too. Oh aye, that was going to be perfect. Now for the moment of truth…cutting into the meat. Nothing would ruin this meal faster than if I cooked the boar too much or too little, and I was nervous. With my dad, cooking over a fire, it didn’t matter either way. Too little and we could just bathe it in flame on the way down. Too much and it just received an ach and some extra fire anyway.

Lark deserved a perfectly cooked, juicy boar. I cut into one and… phew . It was the correct color inside. I fed her a cut of meat with some of the apple reduction dabbed on top and waited breathlessly for her reaction as she tasted it.

Her face was a moment I’d picture forever. She chewed and the flavors hit her tongue, earning a soft sound of delight. Her expression lit up and her eyelids lowered from the simple pleasure of good food. There really was nothing like the first bite of any meal. I’d argue that there were few experiences better than that opening bite, as anticipation met satisfaction.

“Wow, Tormund. This is delicious.” Absolute music to my ears, and not just because of her naturally melodic voice. After I fed her a potato and carrot, plus another sip of wine, I tried my own handiwork and nodded in approval.

“How did you get the apples so concentrated? I never thought to pair fruit and meat quite like this,” she said. I paused my chewing to adjust my spectacles, though I squinted at her anyway. “You know I made the meals for my stepfamily before we met, right?”

Reality swept in for a moment as I remembered what her life before had been like. My pack had immediately taken away any need for her to prepare food or do the other menial tasks her stepmother assigned her, something I noted with pride.

Still, I told her about how I’d made the reduction and she nodded along without needing much clarification.

“You know what this means, right?” she asked. “I’m going to make dinner tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to,” I said immediately.

The twinkles in the whites of her eyes danced with her amusement. “No, I want to. You already learned the secret. Cooking can be fun, and I bet we have access to much better ingredients than I’m used to.” When I opened my mouth to protest, she added, “We could cook together.”

“Okay, li’l bird,” I relented. That could be a lot of fun, but I still wanted to hand feed her whatever we made.

Call it alpha instincts, or just a me thing, but it was immensely satisfying to feed her everything she wanted. Especially food I’d made for her. I was the one completing her needs; hers to command for the reward of watching her chew and enjoy.

I looked forward to having more dates like this. Without there being a rush to hustle Lark out of the city, I could catch her a protein of choice and make something more elaborate, start to finish, from my labor. Now that would sustain my pride for months. I’d suggest it as soon as she finally had the crown of Pack Sorles nestled between her brows, where it belonged.

She filled up before me, and settled her head on my chest close to my alpha mark. It tingled with awareness. A simple touch there was electric, far more than she probably realized. All marks, regardless of designation, were a manifestation of our souls, and mine resonated just from having her close. She traced idle patterns on my belly as I ate, something innocent enough that still had fire pooling toward my groin.

No. Think chivalrous thoughts.

My member stirred anyway, tapping her hip as it plumped up. “Sorry,” I said, a little embarrassed even though it was involuntary. With my mate in my lap, smelling so much like a treat, it was also inevitable.

“I want to. So badly,” she murmured. “You deserve something for this lovely dinner.”

“Just being with you is plenty reward, li’l bird.”

As was the expression she made, looking up at me with love in her expressive omega eyes. I’d do just about anything to earn that look every night, even if she’d just been looking at Kauz the same way. Starsdamned bat, why did he need to be here too? I was plenty worthy of defending my mate on my own and…

Wow, where did all this jealousy come from? It wasn’t like I was uninformed about sharing my perfect female with the rest of my pack.

“I love you, my gentle giant,” she said, effectively waving away my negative feelings.

“Love you too.” I kissed her hair and decided I’d had enough to eat. Gentle giant was a nickname with its own kind of magic, putting my oddities as an admittedly weak redcap under a different lens. It was my identity now, something Lark loved. Everything about me she approved of and adored, I meant to keep.

She leaned up to get a real kiss. Her concentrated chocolate and honey crackers taste lingered on my tongue and definitely didn’t help my self-control. Be careful , indeed. The next logical step would be to strip off her clothes and make love on the bed until sunrise. But I did have one distraction left.

I broke our kiss and asked huskily, “Are you ready for dessert?”

“Oh, there’s dessert?” She sounded a little throaty too. I offered her a sip of wine.

“Of course!” I pulled the smaller cloche, revealing a ceramic bowl of custard still chilled from its time in the lodge’s cold storage. She perked up. As an omega, she could eat her weight in sugar daily. I’d tried to observe what sweets she liked best, just to discover she liked every single dessert placed in front of her.

“I love custard. Thank you, Tormund!”

“Ah, it’s not done,” I said playfully. “Close your eyes for a moment.”

I leaned away from her with the bowl in hand, breathing a superheated burst of flame over the custard. The top caramelized, bubbling into a perfect crust of dark brown. Lark startled with a yelp, though by the time she peeked between her fingers, it was done. “There, now it’s a crème br?lée.”

“Whoa,” she murmured.

I placed it down and handed her the spoon. “Here, give it a tap. It’s the best part.”

“Not the taste?” she teased, tentatively tapping it until the caramelized shell cracked. Then she scooped up a modest amount and held it up to my lips.

“It’s for you,” I protested.

“That’s sweet, but it smells too delicious not to share!”

She didn’t really have to work all that hard to convince me. I loved crème br?lée and happened to be perfectly suited to making it. I was glad to share the flavorful dessert and this moment with her. It was the best part of a very eventful day.

I woke to a feeling of flames under my skin. The rage really was back, as was my need for Lark. I was harder than a metal bar, pressing into her belly while she woke groggily with the rising of the sun. Her scent and its intoxicating sweetness was branded on the inside of my nostrils.

We laid entwined in my bed. She’d arranged the furs like a female possessed before she would let me lay down, and at some point in the night had kicked off most of the layers she’d settled under to reveal her curvy body and a tempting triangle of skin where her sleepwear had twisted askew. My mouth watered to taste the soft swell of her breasts, but my fangs…

I had a mouth full of regular, flat teeth, other than my alpha fangs. I probed them with my tongue, snapped out of my thoughts. Lark nuzzled my neck as I laid there puzzled, taking in a deep inhale in my beard. “Your scent is changing,” she murmured.

She laved an approving lick on my neck. It felt like she’d licked my cock directly and I rumbled with interest. I took her soft curves in hand and pulled her up and into my waiting mouth to kiss the breath from her lips. She mewled just right as I ground against her, pressing my hardness to the damp fabric over the apex of her thighs.

Wait, no. What am I doing?

Releasing her, I startled away. Heat pulsed under my skin just behind the frantic beat of my heart. I couldn’t draw my gaze away from her kiss swollen lips and the way they parted with realization.

“You are going into rut,” she said.

I sucked in a breath to keep from cursing aloud in her presence. Aw, fuck, I thought in my head instead as I got out of bed and backed away from her. This wasn’t happening. It was my only full day with her before we had to return to Serian Palace and I didn’t want to spend it staring longingly at her ass.

“I’m going to take a shower. Why don’t you head downstairs…get some tea. Or something. Wirr’s staff will help you.”

She nodded slowly. “Okay. Sure. Tea.”

She dressed and left while I took a shower under a tepid stream of the coldest water the lodge could provide. The scent of the soap and the shock of cold helped give me my senses back. I must’ve gotten lucky to endure a whole train ride with Marius without catching the rut.

Fal must’ve given it to me instead when he was bringing me up to date with the plan for Pack Ellisar and Cymora. While he’d spoken to me with most of his usual polish, he was not as perfect in his physical appearance as he usually was. He must’ve been using scent-blocking soap, because he hadn’t been surrounded by a cloud of pheromones.

But the biggest sign he couldn’t hide were his eyes, which had started to emit the rut “glow” where they reflected facets of light, not too unlike dreamlander stars. Females were apparently entranced by it, especially omegas in heat. I should’ve known he’d succumbed and was able to pass it on to me despite us shielding our sides of the pack bond.

Good thing we hadn’t had sex last night, else I would already be succumbing to the pressure to mate nonstop until my alpha needs were satiated. I’d never been in rut before. I knew what to expect in theory, yet it’d still hit me hard and fast. It hadn’t even been a day!

But I did know I had my self-control. Regardless of anything else, I had held my rage at bay fairly successfully for years and regulated my emotions so I didn’t erupt into flame as often as I wanted to. I would bend this to my will, too, and only let it out once it was time to claim my mate’s heat.

I owed her a nice, angst-free day and that was what I was going to give her. Not my knot.

Before I went downstairs, I checked the room at the end of the hall. Technically, it was mine, since I paid an annual fee for its upkeep. It’d been an unused broom closet, too small to house most fae, with its slanted roof. I had to stoop to fit inside. The staff here kept it running, but I didn’t think there would be any occupants with how long I’d been away.

It was my critter room. Wirr’s house moth staff cared for the wee woodland creatures when I wasn’t around to do so. The occasional hunter brought in an animal that needed care, though, and they received it in this wee room that was probably a palace for a wee creature anyway. I’d fit in a cat tower, a scattering of small toys, bowls for food and water, and a box of medical supplies. I checked the supplies, noting what needed to be restocked.

Then I found the critters hunkering down in a section of the cat tower, as we’d never met before. I held in an unmasculine sound of delight with considerable effort. “My mate has to see you. Later,” I whispered to them, letting them rest for now. Lark was definitely going to make the noise I’d just barely suppressed when she did.

In the meantime, I headed downstairs and held in another growl next. Kauz was already awake and held Lark as she nursed a steaming mug. At least now I knew where these negative emotions were coming from, though my packmate shouldn’t have been such a target for them.

He glanced over his shoulder. Over the pack bond, he asked if I was all right. I signaled back a yes and forced myself to relax. He was still my brother. We’d been close enough in age to grow up together; even if we had next to nothing in common, we still shared the most important interest of all…our mate.

“Good morning,” I said.

Lark made a groggy noise into her tea and Kauz shuffled and folded in his wings so I could sit on her other side. One of her handmaidens brought me a mug of snownettle tea. I took a sip and shuddered. That sour-sweet tang was stimulating , to say the least. “Wait. Why are you still here? You have time off,” I said to the house moth.

“Always happy to help the princess and the princes. Jani went up to clean your room. We thought you wouldn’t mind,” she answered cheerfully.

I nodded, still a little confused. House moth work ethic was something else. “Thank you. We did leave a mess last night.”

Lon glanced left and right before gesturing for me to come with her. I got to my feet and followed as she led me into the kitchen. “We also heard about the basket you wanted from Wirr’s eclipse and made it better for you,” she whispered, pointing to a wooden basket with a telltale white and red checkered cloth sticking out from one side. “Do you want me to sneak it into your horse’s saddlebags?”

She regarded me with an earnest smile, hands clasped before her.

There was only one appropriate response to the two handmaidens going above and beyond. I scooped her up into a hug, squeezing delicately since she was such a little thing. “Aye. Thank you.”

“Thank you for dinner, Prince. It was very nice!”

Oh. Stars, I should’ve realized what was going on earlier. I was so addled by Lark and thoughts of mating, I’d forgotten I’d given Jani and Lon part of last night’s meal. Serving a house moth was an overture of friendship in their culture and they’d obviously accepted it.

I trotted Lon back over to Lark and Kauz to see what they wanted for dinner, only putting the mothkin down in front of them after she wiggled with excitement to hear we were preparing something else tonight. She promised to fly to the palace to get the ingredients.

“Don’t you want breakfast, Princess?” Lon asked.

She shook her head with a giggle. “I know Tormund’s going to feed me.” And she was very right about that.

But in the meantime, we had to wake the li’l bird up more, as she went back to dosing against Kauz’s side when the house moth fluttered away. I ended up searching up a deck of cards for us to start fulfilling yesterday’s deal and roped my brother into helping.

I, of course, knew that Kauz was an absolutely shameless cheater. Since he used illusion magic instead of sleight of hand like Fal, I could never quite prove it. But I squinted at him suspiciously after he won most of our games, while Lark learned and winced over every sip of her snownettle tea.

While she went to go use the restroom in preparation for us leaving for the day, he said, “So, your scent has changed, hmm?”

“I’m trying not to think about it.”

“Well, her upcoming heat is about all I’ve been focused on lately.” He nudged one of his stacks of books so I could read the spines. They were all related to unique heats and fae breeding habits. “I promised Lark I’d research long-suppressed heats.”

“Learn anything important?” I asked, sitting straighter.

He tilted his head back and forth. “Things we could’ve guessed. There’s evidence that she’s going to need constant care and will be unable to vocalize her needs. Her heat is going to be longer than the usual two days.”

A chill creeped down my back, winding around my vents. I was gladder than ever that we had found Lark before her heat arrived. It was rare, but omegas were known to die if they didn’t have assistance during a heat, and a lengthy one would only multiply the danger.

But she did have us, and once she was in the pack bond, we could care for her no matter how long she stayed in heat.

“Also, you can thank your impending rut on biological factors. Scent matched males go into rut to prepare for their omega’s suppressed heats and endure if it gets drawn-out,” Kauz continued. “And finally…if she were interested in having babies, she’s at her most likely to emerge from this heat with a litter.”

“ Terrible timing,” I exclaimed. Lark had barely started enjoying her freedom. The last thing she needed was to be weighed down by four babies, even though I thought she’d make for a great mother.

I also wasn’t sure any of my brothers were ready for kids. Well, except for Kauz, maybe. He had a little wistful look on his face before he nodded in agreement. Glancing up for a moment, he lowered his voice. “If you don’t want to test yourself tonight, have her rest in my bed. Once you succumb to rut fully, I’m going to be the last voice of reason in our pack.”

“Ready to go when you are,” Lark said a moment later, coming to stand behind the couch with an eager smile.

“Not until you kiss me goodbye, sweetheart,” he said.

As they took a moment to say farewell until this evening, I pushed the resulting jealousy away again. It was different this time. I was a little resentful that Kauz was “just” a beta—immune to the push-pull of instincts that the rest of us had to deal with. He was actually such a lucky bat…because I already recognized that Lark should sleep in his bed tonight. Just in case I was tempted to ruin the plan by pushing her into her heat early.

But until then, she was mine . To have a lovely date with, I mean.

We rode further afield on horseback. Stella had whinnied with excitement when she’d seen Lark again, and still seemed extra bouncy on the trail. I made a mental note to visit her old owners again and take a better look at their place. Though I completely understood wanting to prance around in my mate’s presence, something else could be amiss. Else the half-unicorn horse had simply chosen Lark, in the way some horses did.

I showed Lark my old haunts and finds from years of familiarity with this forest. She loved the wee animals we spotted as much as I did, which didn’t surprise me at all. I was all the more excited to show her the surprise in the critter room because of it.

By high noon, we approached the sound of rushing water. This was about as far from the lodge as I’d take her, and it was an important landmark for her to see. I slowed Rory as we reached a stone bridge arching over a relatively calm section of river, and stopped halfway across to dismount. Lark followed suit, the two of us holding our horses’ reins as we looked out over the rippling sheet of clear water.

“Do you know what this is?” I asked, grinning down at her.

She raised a brow, looking skeptical in that way that had to be her wondering if I was messing with her. “A river.”

“Aye, the Sorles. Surprise! Our pack is named after the largest river in Serian.”

“Oooh. But why?”

I shrugged. “Tradition. The Sorles River is the lifeblood of the country, just like the heirs of the royal pack are, if we want to be figurative, the blood of Serian.”

She nodded along, leaning over to take another peek into the depths of the water. “You know, I never thought to ask. I thought it was a family name. But, I like the symbolism so much more.”

Sunshine gilded her skin and drew out the silvery highlights in her hair. Instead of looking at the water, a sight that’d become quite mundane since I’d seen it my whole life, I drank her in instead. Her wings sparkled with shimmers, loosing purple and silver dust as the opened and shut contentedly behind her like she was an overgrown butterfly.

Stars, I could just live in this moment. She eventually turned her gaze up to meet mine, cocking her head thoughtfully at whatever she saw. “Sliver for your thoughts?” she murmured.

“Do you ever want to take a memory and put it in a bottle? So you can look inside the glass and see it again whenever you want? I want to do that right now. To see a free, healthy Lark in the sun.” One just a little extra pink with pre-heat. “My sweet li’l bird where she belongs.”

She made a soft sound and slid forward, putting her free arm around me and purring. I was helpless except to do the same. “You have such a nice way with words.”

“Now, I’m not sure about that. Maybe only when I’m talking about you,” I teased. While I read plenty of poetry, not much of it seemed to stick. Unlike my brothers, who could recite songs and whole passages from the books they’d read. That was why I had one of my favorite poetry books secreted in Rory’s saddlebags, to get the words right. “Shall we have lunch and head back? I figured we could have a picnic…over there.”

I pointed back the way we’d come, toward a stand of trees and flowering bushes. There was a clearing in the shade where we could sit for a while and let the horses crop the grass and rest.

Lark agreed enthusiastically, and I had a moment of nerves as I checked to make sure her handmaidens had secured the picnic basket before they’d returned to the palace on an ingredients run. It was there, with its mysterious “improvements” made by the house moths. I unfurled the blanket and set out a light meal of bread, cheese, and fruit.

There were the improvements hidden to the side: napkins, sealed jars of lemonade, even more food, and a small ring toss game with neon-bright rings. The latter seemed like the kind of thing only a house moth would think of.

I dragged the blanket closer to a tree trunk and sat reclined against it. We ate to the soundtrack of nature, the whisper of wind through the leaves and branches above our heads, and the flow of water. “Do you ever want to go back to Thelis?” I asked her.

“Someday, maybe. I saw so little of it, but it was my home for most of my life. I can’t imagine going back without you and your brothers, though,” she said.

I smiled at the idea. “It’d be an adventure. I’d love to go with you. My Theli is getting better, aye?”

“Stars, yes,” she giggled. “You’re not overthinking it anymore. And your accent is cute.”

“Well, when you speak Serian, I think it’s cute you substitute in Theli words for what you don’t know.” She tended to switch to talk to me, specifically, when I was struggling with my Theli.

She covered her face with a groan. “I don’t even notice when I do that! It just happens .”

“It’s adorable,” I assured her.

“Ugh, sure, but it’s so embarrassing when Fal will cross his eyes and repeat back what I said word for word.” She scooted closer, laying down beside me, half in the grass, her hands folded over her middle. She rested her head in my lap.

“ Ach . He goes too far sometimes.” I stilled like an actual bird had alighted on my thigh, not my mate. She adjusted to get more comfortable and turned her eyes skyward. The branches above were still sparse enough to reveal the outlines of puffy clouds drifting by.

It was the perfect moment to pull out my poetry book. “Before we head back, I wanted to read to you, li’l bird. I haven’t been able to share my favorites with you.”

Back on the train, I’d considered trying to translate them for her, but my understanding of Theli hadn’t been sufficient to capture the deeper meaning behind specific word choices and rhymes.

“I’d love to hear them,” she said, turning an expectant look at me.

The poet had been a similar age to us when he’d penned these works. He wrote slice of life content that I tended to relate to. I’d grown into the works I started to read aloud, since at first I didn’t find that I could understand why he mused over whether or not he could live in his mate’s shadow. But I read that back to Lark and chuckled to myself. I would choose to live in her shadow in a heartbeat, if only to emerge at the first sign of potential danger to her.

And to love on her, of course. I tamped down the warmth threatening to heat my blood, too entranced by the way she soaked in every poem and gave it a minute or two of thought before voicing her opinions. It was the way I processed it too, lingering on the prettiest words and most insightful turns of phrase.

I would think relatable and uncover a tiny insight into my soul. And now, this moment with Lark, and how it felt to reveal bits of myself to her in every verse, would live on in my memories forever.