Chapter 29
Fern
For once, Darion was true to his word, and Fern joined the alphas at the head table again the following morning for the first meal.
Kyntha and Darion were already there, and Fern almost laughed when she saw that Kyntha was sitting in his lap like Fern had been the previous evening, her neckline pulled nearly halfway down her shoulders to showcase the numerous love marks she assumed Darion had given the previous night.
Made with the same mouth that brought her such pleasure…
And later been used to wound her.
Kyntha’s high-pitched giggles grated on her ears, her stomach twisting with the knowledge that Darion could forget her so easily and hop into another’s bed.
And then she wondered, if it were so common for Lurvekh to take Naravekh, then why did Kyntha fight it, doing everything in her power to keep Darion away from her?
Reinn and Eidan beckoned her to sit near them again, and she was happy for their company.
“Did you enjoy yourself last night?” Eidan asked, grabbing the honey pot and handing it to her as a Solvekh set a bowl of porridge in front of her.
Reinn took a few berries and placed them on top.
The attention was enough to make her blush.
“Better than the last ten or so,” she said, although a part of her considered if that were even true.
“I didn’t know you were such a marvelous dancer,” Reinn said, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.
She could have sworn she felt Darion’s burning gaze upon her, but when she glanced up, he was looking at his plate.
Fern turned back towards Reinn and smiled. “I wouldn’t say marvelous. I was just lucky it was a dance I knew.”
“You and the musician were lovely to watch,” Eidan replied. “I was sure most of the wolfkin couldn’t tell if they wanted to be you or be with you.”
“Or between you,” Reinn said with a wink.
Fern almost choked on her porridge, giving Reinn a reprimanding look. “You can’t say such things while I’m eating!”
“Oh?” he asked, his innocent tone belied by his sly grin. “So when can I say such things?”
She laughed, and this time she did see Darion staring at her, the coldness in his eyes sucking the mirth out of hers, and she quieted quickly.
“Omega,” he barked, a command that stiffened her spine straight. “You will sit next to your alpha.”
Reinn sighed. “Oh dear, it seems he doesn’t like it when poor little Fern actually has fun.”
“Reinn…” Eidan said, half in warning and half in exasperation. “She’s his Naravekh.”
The silver-haired alpha snorted, speaking into his cup just before taking a sip. “Does she count as a Naravekh if he never brings her to his bed?”
Fern’s skin burned with embarrassment. How did they even know whether they’d consummated or not? She picked up her bowl, ignoring the heat burning her hands as she shuffled towards the empty seat where Kyntha should have been.
Darion leaned over, and Fern’s body tensed, unsure of what to expect.
A kiss on the cheek was not it.
“Good morning,” he said quietly.
She barely whispered her response.
Kyntha yawned exaggeratedly. “Oh, excuse me! I hardly caught a wink. Darion’s appetite is so voracious, you see.”
Fern didn’t know how to reply, and Darion ignored her, eating while balancing Kyntha on his lap as Kyntha shifted closer to Fern
“I would ask if you slept well, sister, but the dark circles under your eyes are proof enough.” She tsked to herself. “Was something wrong with your bed?”
Nest, her wolf growled. Then she looked at Fern, snapping her teeth. Rip out her throat.
She ate another spoonful of her porridge. “I slept fine, thank you.”
“Hmm,” she intoned, tapping her chin. “If you say so.”
Fern continued to eat in silence, stifling a giggle when Reinn caught her eye from down the table, making a silly face.
“Your presence is required this afternoon,” Darion finally said.
“It is?”
He grunted, moving Kyntha on his leg as one might with a child they didn’t necessarily want to be holding.
“The Ironcoats are arriving today, and the families will meet to discuss the remaining rituals before the mating ceremony.”
Fern paused, the spoonful of porridge she’d just taken slipping off her spoon and landing back in her bowl. “And I’m… family?”
“That’s what I said!” Kyntha laughed. Then she turned to Darion. “See? She doesn’t think she should be there, either. I’m sure she’d be much more comfortable in her—”
“Kyntha,” Darion warned with a growl. “She will be there, as proof of the Sabletail Clan’s blessing and as my Naravekh. And we won’t have this discussion again.”
Summarily chastised, Kyntha turned away, and Darion continued.
“You will remain by my side and only speak when spoken to. Do you understand?”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “I understand.”
“Good,” he said, nodding once. “Finish your meal and return to your rooms to prepare yourself. Someone will arrive to bring you to Hearth Hall in a few hours.”
Her appetite gone anyway, she stood to leave when his hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist. “I said you could finish your meal,” he said.
She patted his fingers gently until he let her go. “Never seemed to bother you before.”
Fern turned around, not wanting to see the anger on his face, and her guard left his post to follow her back to her room.
“Do you know the name of my attendant?” she asked, leading the way.
“Pardon?”
“My attendant. The mute Solvekh. Do you know her name?”
The guard looked confused. “I… can’t say that I do.”
Fern’s lips rumbled as she exhaled. “Is there any way I could get a wax tablet?”
“Of course, my Lady.”
“Thank you. And how should I address you?”
The guard was confused again, tilting his head as he replied, “Me?”
Fern stopped walking so she could face him directly. “Aye, ‘you.’ Unless you prefer for me to just refer to you as Guard Number One?”
He looked up in thought, stroking his beard. “Number One, eh? Better than Number Two, at least.” His eyes lowered to meet hers and he smiled. “Lucas will do, my Lady.”
They headed back to her room, and just as Fern was about to pull out her nicest dress, her wolf growled, and she followed her gaze to look at her nest.
It was small. It was probably something Fern did herself before leaving that morning.
But it was wrong. The square pillow, its corner…
Too low.
She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, counting to twenty before opening them again.
“Gods, I am scaring myself over nothing,” she said.
Her wolf wasn’t so sure.
She fixed it and then went back to the cedar chest.
Ten minutes later, the attendant arrived, wax tablet and lidded basket in hand.
“Ah, perfect,” Fern said. “Do you know your letters?”
The woman stared at her for a moment and then gave a quick nod. Fern pointed to the tablet, asking for her name.
“JENA,” she wrote in large, crooked block letters.
Fern smiled at her. “Nice to officially meet you, Jena. First, did you clean my nes—er, bed, while I was out?”
Jena shook her head. She looked sincere enough.
“That’s fine, I’d actually prefer if you didn’t. I’m very… particular about how everything is placed.”
The attendant’s gaze glided towards the nest and then back to Fern, nodding her understanding.
“But that brings me to my second question. Do any other attendants or wolfkin have access to my room? Aside from the alphas and guards.”
Jena thought for a moment, smoothed out the wax, and wrote, “I DONT NO.”
Fern sighed. She wasn’t sure about this morning, but someone last night definitely moved things around. And if it wasn’t Jena, and if she didn’t know of anyone who’d be in here, she’d have to ask Lucas next.
“That’s alright, then. If you do see someone, will you let me know?”
She nodded, and then Fern asked her a few more questions, but despite knowing her letters, it was slow going, and she didn’t want the woman to feel embarrassed or frustrated.
Fern also didn’t know when she’d be called upon for the meeting with the Ironcoats, so she got dressed and asked Jena to help her with her hair.
That Jena knew how to do very well, and she opened the basket to reveal an assortment of hair ornaments.
Fern closed her eyes as she worked, enjoying the gentle pull on her scalp and remembering the way both Eidan and Reinn had massaged her there. Then she blushed, foolishly wondering if Darion would ever be so attentive.
Pins decorated with ribbons and pearls were stuck in intricate braids woven together, with half her hair left loose.
“What a talent you are, Jena,” Fern said, taking a look at herself in the mirror.
She actually looked… nice. Better than she had in a long time. Save for the tiredness.
Soon after Jena left, there was a rhythmic knock at the door, and a familiar voice called from the other side.
“Are you ready, sunbeam?”
Fern opened the door, surprised to find it unlocked and happy to see Reinn on the other side.
He looked quite formal, his leather armor spotless and the same fur stole she remembered from their first meeting attached to one shoulder.
“I didn’t realize you’d be my escort,” she said.
Reinn extended his arm. “I may have bribed a few guards…”
She laughed and took it.
“I wanted to give you some advice before meeting the rest of my family,” Reinn said as they walked.
Fern’s plan had been to keep her eyes down and mouth shut, but any information would be helpful. “Are they more like you or your cousin?”
“My cousin, unfortunately,” he replied with a heavy sigh. “And they’re currently trying to decide if your existence represents an opportunity or a threat.”
Fern shivered. “I think I preferred the days when my existence wasn’t thought of at all.”
Reinn slowed his pace, his voice lowering. “Your existence was all I thought of those days, little sunbeam. It still is.”
Then he stopped completely, looked up and down the hall, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her.
Her surprised yelp was muffled by his mouth, the kiss slow and deliberate like a man who never rushed through anything. No, he took his time and savored every second.
And Fern kissed him back, feeling less like a burden for once and more like a privilege. Like she wasn’t a problem to be taken care of. A chore to check off a list.
Her wolf howled in delight, Fern’s hands gripping his armor where she could find purchase, wanting him closer and needing his strength to keep her upright, her legs weak and trembling.
She whimpered when he finally stopped, withdrawing with a parting nip to her lower lip and whispering in her ear. “He doesn’t deserve you.”
Perhaps. But she had still chosen him, hadn’t she? She could blame her wolf, she could blame the bond, she could even blame Darion for manipulating it.
And yet, part of her still wanted him. Even after all he had done to her, she still longed for the day he would look at her with the same love and adoration he reserved only for Kyntha.
A tear fell down her cheek, the hopelessness of her situation too much to bear. He didn’t want her, but he didn’t want to see her with anyone else either, and it was driving both of them to misery.
“He’ll never let me go,” she replied, and Reinn sighed, wiping the tear away with his thumb.
“I know. I know.”
Then he placed his hand on her back. “We will certainly be late now if we don’t hurry, so best not look at me with those beautiful green eyes like that or I will whisk you away from this awful place at once.”
“This place may be awful,” Fern said. “But there’s only one Kyntha here, and it sounds like there are several back where you’re from.”
“Who said we would go back to where I’m from?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge. When she smiled, he returned it. “Now, for my family—Head Alpha Dane…”
He was just finishing the last of his guidance when they entered Hearth Hall through large doors.
Massive cedar beams crossed the ceiling high overhead, blackened by smoke, while iron chandeliers shaped like intertwined antlers hung between them, every candle already lit despite the lingering daylight outside.
A great circular hearth dominated the center of the room, its fire crackling low beneath a vent cut into the vaulted ceiling.
Long tables curved in crescent shapes, allowing every seat a view of the center, while banners of Sabletail black and Ironcoat gray hung side by side from the walls, interspersed between large tapestries depicting wolfkin as both man and beast, at peace and at war.
The head families from both clans filled the hall already—alphas with broad shoulders draped in furs and leather and beta mates dressed in fine fabric, heavy jewelry glinting gold and silver in the firelight.
Conversations quieted as Fern entered on Reinn’s arm, heads turning one after another, noses sniffing to confirm what only her scent could say.
“Alpha Reinn, so good of you to join us,” Alastair called out, his voice filling the room. “Clan Ironcoat, allow me to introduce our blessing from the moon.”
The Ironcoat Head Alpha smiled. “Omega…”