I pinch her waist. “Witch.”
She tucks her chin into the crook of my neck. “Never change, Isles. We love you just the way you are.”
I spendmy last night in Luce having a sleepover with Shoshair, my stomach full of birthday cake and butterflies. I’m flying back to Glace in the morning with Elio, Lachlano, Izolda, and Aodhan. Naeva will come next month, once her Akwale duties slow.
As my grandmother rubs lotion into her skin, I draw the scent deep—citrus with a hint of thyme. The body butter is one of many she and Bisnonna Ceres have concocted together. Those two have become inseparable over the years, bonding first over naturopathy, then over their staunch resolve to never remarry.
“What would you have done if Dádhi’s father hadn’t been your mate?” I ask her.
She stops moisturizing her hands. “What a question…”
I roll onto my side, bend my arm, and prop my head up on my open palm. “Have you never considered the possibility?”
“I have.” A sigh whistles past her lips. “I believe that Tadgh would’ve been my mate, had he been alive when we became Crows, and that this is the reason the Cauldron has never mated me to anyone else.” After a quiet beat, she adds, “I suppose it could still happen, but I hope the opportunity never presents itself.”
“Because you don’t want to share your life with a new man?”
The shallow creases around her eyes and mouth deepen. “Because it would mean that your grandfather hadn’t beenthe one.”
I flop onto my back once more and fold my fingers over my tender stomach, regretting that third slice. Though I ingested a digestive tonic before getting into bed, the frosted confection rests like wet clay inside my belly.
“Have any mates ever rejected their bond?”
“Not that I’ve ever heard of,ah’khar. Care to tell me why you’re so tortured by the subject of mates?”
I nibble on my lip, moving my gaze off the smooth stone ceiling and onto the solitaire that sparkles like a miniature version of Konstantin’s empire.
“Ah…” She screws the lid onto her glass pot before lifting the bedsheets and slipping beneath them. “Behati mentioned you’d meet your mate in Glace. Are you wondering what to do if it’s not the man your heart desires?”
I grimace. “You are frighteningly intuitive, Shoshair.”
“Merely observant. Every time you’ve mentioned Konstantin, your eyes acquire the same luster that brightens my son’s when he looks upon your mother.”
“Do they really?”
She gifts me a gentle smile. “Yes.”
“Do you think anyone else has noticed mylustrousgaze?”
Her deep-brown irises sparkle. “Byanyone else, you wouldn’t happen to mean your parents?”
My features writhe.
“You’re a young woman, Isla.” My raised eyebrow leads her to add, “Your parents realize you’re going to develop feelings and collect partners.”
With a snort, I reminisce on the three I’ve had—a Crow, who was so afraid of my father that he’d barely dared to peck my lips (even in private); a clumsy but fun one-night stand with a Shabbin male (nota Serpent), who was as virginal as I was; and a Nebban halfling, who never saw my true face or knew my true identity (thank you, blood-magic), not even during our eighth and final hookup, during which he admitted his wish that the Crow regime would fall.
“I doubt I’ll be collecting many, seeing as most males are either scared of me or my father.”
She sighs and reaches over, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ears. “Why do you think royals usually marry fellow royals?”
“Because it’s difficult to trust someone’s feelings toward you when you’re in a position of power?”
“Exactly.” After a beat, she says, “Do you know that the day of your parents’ Sky Kingdom nuptials, I asked Konstantin whenhe’dmarry and he told me that if he could help it,never.”
“I heard.” After a beat of laden silence, I ask, “The reason I abandoned you, Shoshair?—”
“You didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done had I been your age and had learned my parents and grandmother had deceived me.”
