Izolda is standing just outside in the hallway, discussing something with a sprite. When we appear, she whirls in our direction. I glance at Konstantin’s hand. He glances at mine. He starts to lift his fingers. I start to move mine. Thankfully, we’re saved from having to clasp hands by his sister, who threads her arm through mine and hauls me forward.
“He’s my brother, so I shouldn’t want to know a single detail, nevertheless, the romantic in me wants to knowallthe details.”
My mouth goes dry, and my heart…it bangs with guilt.
“Well, maybe notallthe details.” Her nose furrows, and she laughs while I keep rotting from within.
In front of my door, Izolda kisses me on both cheeks, reiterates how happy she is, then takes her brother’s arm and urges me not to dally.
I plan on dallying. A lot. And I do. First in front of Alyona’s portrait, which I consume detail by detail, then in the walk-in closet with Naeva as I relay my newest epic mess. By the time I’m done narrating the last hour beat by beat, my cousin’s mouth is so slack it could probably fit a corpulent sprite.
“Well, that’s going to be entertaining to watch,” she muses.
“Yeah. Like a shipwreck.”
She snorts. “I cannot wait for your first public display of affection.”
“I’m fake mated to a Faerie king with the sexual drive of a popsicle, so there will be no publicorprivate displays of affection. Will you still stay in Glace with me? Pretty please?”
“Even though I’m deeply disappointed by the news of no PDA,” she says with a theatrical sigh, “I’ll stay for as long as I can. I mean…days of complete darkness? Lawless antimorphs? A gruesome murder? What’s not to look forward to?”
I both grimace and laugh. “Whatismy life?”
“A never-ending adventure. A legend in the making.” Naeva wraps me in a hug.
And just like that, my writhing stomach settles and the ruse in which I’ve mired myself becomes much less daunting.
But then a voice resonates between my temples and crumples my newfound tranquility.
19
KONSTANTIN
The little box made of blue velvet that encloses my mother’s ring feels like a lump of steel inside my trouser pocket.
I realize it’s an illusion brought on by my guilt, but if I tell Izolda, then I’ll have to tell the other two, and I’m genuinely afraid of what they’d do at the news that Alyona may have had a daughter, and with Svyato Suprovic, no less. A daughter that Isla is foreseen murdering.
“A mate.” As we take the stairs beneath the esplanade down one level, Izolda rests her cheek on my arm and sighs contentedly. “The man who lives by the creed that marriage and love aren’t for him has a mate. Oh, what beautiful,beautifulirony.”
My heated skin warms the chain around my neck.
“Can you please tell Aodhan immediately? I don’t think I’ll be able to contain myself much longer.” I feel her lips curve against my arm. “Gods, how insane that you and I both have shifter mates?”
I swallow, remorse waging a terrible battle on my insides. Why couldn’t I have just accepted Isla’s suggestion to have Zendaya wipe my sister’s mind?
Because an alliance of this magnitude will serve Glace.
I cling to the reminder like Izolda clings to my arm. Not to mention that if my niece is anything like Alyona, she’ll hate that I have a shifter mate. I picture the turbaned girl stirring stew while reading a novel. If the title of the book is anything to go by, Mestyla is more like the dreamer on my arm than the rebel in my ocean. But I must be wrong. Otherwise, why would Isla kill her?
“Poor Lev… He’s going to be so disappointed to find out Isla’s off the market.”
The mention of the dastardly Faerie clenches my jaw.
“Especially after all that time they spent together at the carnival.”
Most of that time was spent with me, since Lev spent the better part of his afternoon with Salom, going through a weapons cache discovered in the undercarriage of his sleigh. Though he insisted—under salt oath—knowing not how the hidden shotguns had gotten there, Salom was convinced he was playing the idiot card.
“Holy fuck, Kostya.” Izolda yips with laughter, startling me out of the contemplation I was having about burying Lev in one of my mountains. “Do you realize that this effectively makes Lorcan your father-in-law?”
