“She doesn’t know.”
He’s silent for a few beats. “Do humans even have bonded mates?”
“Yeah, which you’d know if you ever read any history, Kon.”
He shakes his shaggy head and laughs. “You know that me and books don’t get along.”
“Anything that requires sitting your ass down and using your head, you mean.”
He grins. “Exactly. So… are you staying here?”
“Of course not.”
“Oh.” His grin falls. “I thought, you know… for the female? Your mate?”
“She’s getting married to another,” I bite out the words. They grate in my throat like broken glass.
“What the hell, Valen?” He frowns at me. “Wait, are you pulling my leg?”
“Man, I wish I were.”
He throws more pebbles into the stream. “That’s rough.”
“Tell me about it,” I agree.
“We could kidnap her and carry her off the old way, tie her up and?—”
“Kon,” I bark.
“Sorry. It was a joke.”
“Was it?”
He shrugs. “Sometimes a girl wants a dark fae to kidnap her and save her from her ugly fate.”
“The problem is that Rosie wants to marry this asshole.”
“Ah, fuck. That’s no good. What a mess.” He hangs his hands between his knees, looking morose. “He’s an asshole, huh?”
I scowl at the tranquil, night landscape. “Rosie likes him.” My enhanced vision can make out everything in the dark, but I don’t really see it, my mind on this Lord Eorl.
“Rosie. Any other pet names?”
“That’s her name, you idiot.”
Konstam smirks. “Sure it is, my friend. Sure it is.”
“Rosamund,” I whisper. “Rosamund Briar, that’s her name. Blue eyes, dark hair, cheeks pink like a blushing rose.”
“Oh fuck, you’re gone.” He chuckles. “Dammit. Never thought I’d see you like this.”
“Like what?”
“Pining and withering over a girl.”
“I’m not pining,” I protest.
“Huh. You could have fooled me.” He throws a pebble at me and I bat it out of the air before it hits my head. “So you’re coming back home, then?”
