I reached him in three strides and picked up the adder, pulling a clean glass vial from my cloak. The snake was still alive, but thrashing as death approached. I whispered an apology as I held it behind its neck, pressing its fangs to the edge of the slender tube. Venom dripped down the sides, and for a long moment, I focused on the snake, running though the formulas I knew that this particular venom was used for.
It kept me from thinking about all the warriors who were watching me, judging me. Though Goran still had his back to me.
Alexios helped me cap the vial and place it back in my cloak. “He never really knew you, did he?” he whispered in his own language.
“Can anyone truly know anyone else?” I replied softly, setting the now-dead snake in the grass.
“No, but he was your husband. He should…” He shook his head. “How is the selkie?”
“He doesn’t know me, either,” I said, closing my eyes for a moment. The whispers in the camp were starting to wear on me. “He has more reason to hate me than Goran does.”
Alexios sucked in a breath, then shot me an odd look. “I took a vow of peace,” he said softly. “But vows can be broken. The Goddess is very forgiving.” I laughed, but shook my head.
Suddenly, Dustin came running, his cheeks flushed. He raced to my side and dropped to one knee, his head lowered. No one in the camp greeted him, not even his former friends. “My Warqueen, I thought you were in the privy.”
“I went for a walk.”
“The Lady Stellina has requested you and your valet to be present at dinner in a half hour, Warqueen.”
I groaned. “Think she’ll take no for an answer?”
“I think I’d rather have a dose of adderbane myself than find out,” Alexios teased.
I cast a look to the east, toward the beach, where the cold wind was whipping up a covering of froth on the waves near the shore. The whitecaps almost looked like ridges of silver scales from this angle.
LACHLAN
The little thief had been running away again, like she did. I was almost certain she hadn’t seen me, though she stared into the waves for a little longer than she should have, before she returned to the house. As soon as she was gone, I swam to shore and took off my skin, wrapping it around my waist. I needed answers from my best friend, ones that couldn’t wait until dinner.
To my shock, he tried to run as well when I made my way to the center of camp. He slipped behind a group of warriors mending their leather armor and ducked his head when I called out. Maybe cowardice was contagious.
“Goran, stop right there,” I commanded when I caught sight of his blond hair again. He groaned and stepped toward the ale barrels with a scowl, then filled a horn cup and drained it before turning to face me at last.
I smiled at a few of the warriors I recognized, but they all gave me a wide berth. These warriors knew me as their warlord’s best friend and selkie advisor. Some of them also knew what else I was, and they were carefully herding the less mature Alphas away from me and upwind. My scent wasn’t rich and sweet like afemale Omega, but one or two of Goran’s men had failed the test of resisting it before. There was no reason to take chances.
“You heard all that?” he asked.
“Heard that little brat’s pet priest saying things he should know bet—” I squeaked. Goran’s hand was wrapped around my throat, half-crushing my larynx.
“Never call her that,” he said, his voice dark. “She is my wife.” He let go immediately, as shocked as I was that he’d choked me. I punched him in his arm as retaliation, and also to erase the hint of shame I’d spotted. He was constantly worried that he’d become like the other warlords of Starlak, the ones he’d spent the last decade rooting out of their positions of power, so the nation could thrive again.
“Does sheknowshe’s your wife, asshole? I didn’t see any braids in her hair.”
“It makes no difference. I still have mine,” he whispered.
“Not that she could see or know,” I reminded him. “You had me hide yours, put shells over her beads. You said the moment you saw her again, you’d make sure she knew the ceremony hadn’t been completed. You said you’d hand her the knife.”
He flinched, the tops of his cheeks going ruddy. “I say a lot of things.”
I let out a laugh. “You don’t want her to know they’re still there, that you’re still married. Does she know what your ring says on the inside?” He curled a hand protectively over the ring he wore on the wedding band finger. I was the only person—besides the jeweler who’d made it—who knew what had been inscribed on the inside. I whispered the words now. “Only. Ever. Rada.” He flinched. “Do you truly want to stay mated to her? Do you want her, even if she doesn’t want you?”
“She wants me.” He tapped his nose.
I hated to be cruel, but he had to remember what she’d done to him. I’d only known him well for the past five years, after he’dhelped my mother find a safe place to live, close enough to Wren and her mates that she could be there for the birth of Wren’s second child, the kraken baby. But we’d clicked like brothers from the first moment, and had shared all our secrets over the years. Or at least I had.
“She was running again,vasyl.”I used the word that meant brother in blood in my language. “She tried to kill me, nearly killed Kellin, and left him with a new mate mark and his sealskin covered in her slick. She had her bags with her on the beach while she watched you and her toy priest fighting.”
He stayed quiet for a moment, and I waited, though I knew my mother would box both our ears if we lingered much longer. “I think I made a mistake, Lachlan. What the priest said… that I hadn’t asked what her mission was.” He went silent.
