Page 65 of Shardless

“Also, considering how fiercely possessive bondmates tend to be of one another, his family would be forced to annul his marriage. Hence why soul bonds are soscandalously foolish,as you put it. They significantly decrease a household’s political maneuverability.”

Taly took a sip from her cup. “Well,Skylen—” She drew out the syllables of his full name, the look in her eye carrying a thinly veiled note of contempt. She had always hated formalities. “A few comments. Let’s start with your point on fertility. Highborn fertility has been declining over the past two or so centuries—ever since the late Time Queen began manipulating the timelines in her favor. That’s a given. Still, the fey are an immortal race, and, for all your panicking, you’re not sterile. The way I see it, if you could simply learn to stop killing each other, you wouldn’t have a population crisis.”

Skye coughed, once again trying to hide his amusement. Leave it to Taly to be unabashedly blunt. Adalet also shifted uncomfortably beside him.

“As for politics,” Taly continued, giving a practiced sigh, “I’m aware of how breeding contracts work. I’m also aware that where highborn fey are concerned, these arrangements tend to have a very low success rate—around 10% if I’m not mistaken. That means that a breedingcontract between two noble households has almost nothing to do with fertility or reproduction. What it really equates to is a temporary ceasefire between families that can’t stop bickering unless they’re sharing a bed.”

Adalet delicately cleared her throat. “I suppose that isoneway of looking at it.”

Taly cocked her head. “If you have a better explanation, then, by all means, clarify my understanding of the matter. However, considering how many additional terms inevitably get built into the executed contracts, I think it’s a reasonable assumption. Therefore, in my veryquaintopinion, the way the nobility view the formation of new soul bonds—almost like a taboo—is completely unfounded.”

There was a moment of stunned silence before Adalet laughed abruptly, the bell-like sound carrying over the din of the crowded tavern. “Shards, I always knew that mortals could be passionate, but Skylen—” She paused to run a bold hand through his hair, pushing it away from his face. Taly’s eyes narrowed at the gesture, and she quickly looked away. “—you weren’t joking when you said she wasfeisty,” Adalet said with a giggle.

Skye chuckled, distracted by the way Adalet’s fingers trailed across the skin of his neck. “She has her moments.”

Taly’s ears flushed, but her countenance remained calm as she took another long draught of ale. To Skye, however, she may as well have been screaming. Like most shadow mages, he was usually channeling a small amount of aether at any given time, and his magically enhanced hearing picked up a dramatic spike in her heart rate.

“By the way, Lady Adalet,” Skye said, his tone even. “I believe that congratulations are in order. I heard about your engagement to Lord Achard.”

Adalet’s brows shot up. “I see this island isn’t quite as isolated as I thought.”

“Adalet, you act as though we’re savages out here,” Skye said, laughing when she playfully swatted at his chest. He heard Taly shift in her chair, and when he glanced over, her shoulders were unnaturally stiff as she continued sipping at her ale. “I was glad to hear the news, though. The last time we spoke, the match was still in negotiation. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you got what you wanted in the end.”

“Yes, well…” Adalet said, leaning back and picking at an invisible piece of lint on her skirt. “Our matriarchs finally managed to agree on a set of terms that were favorable to all parties.”

“Lord Achard is here with you, is he not?” Taly suddenly piped up. “I believe I saw him a little while ago. I would’ve greeted him—we were introduced years ago when he visited Marquess Castaro—but he seemed… preoccupied. There must have been something wrong with his room. He was giving one of the maids quite the tongue-lashing.”

Skye choked on his ale. Maybe it wasn’t Adalet’s tongue he should’ve been worried about.

“That was probably his Feseraa,” the noblewoman replied icily.

Taly smiled, sweet and wicked. “I had no idea that House Eno was using Feseraa these days. How interesting.”

Adalet picked at her gloves. “Ann is the first they’ve acquired. She took the Rites of the Imorati just two years ago, and she’s already birthed achild. We were, of course, all shocked when it happened. As you can imagine, my family has had several offers to purchase her, but my matriarch saw fit to give her to me as part of my dowry. The girl had been promised to two other men in my household, so the amount of paperwork it took to parcel out the rest of her contract was truly staggering.”

“Your family did you a great honor, Adalet. Relinquishing such a treasure just to secure you an auspicious match could not have been an easy decision,” Skye replied politely, trying to catch Taly’s eye. He didn’t know what she was doing, but he didn’t like it. “Right,Talya?”

“Yes, a great honor,” Taly agreed with a simpering nod. “Still, I will never know how you fey do it. I realize this is just myquaint, mortal sensibilities getting the better of me again, but, be it a spouse, lover, bondmate, or anything else, I don’t think I’d like it very much if my partner was… you know… with other women—even if those women did have the proper paperwork.”

Adalet cleared her throat, her gloved hands clenching and unclenching underneath her cloak. She gave Taly a serpentine smile before turning back to Skye. “You know, all this talk of breeding contracts has given me an idea. My household’s matriarch has been going on and on about how much she would love to negotiate a treaty with House Ghislain. While you’re in town, maybe you and I could” —she paused, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as her eyes raked his form— “hammersomething out?”

Skye inhaled sharply when he felt a hand on his thigh. “Perhaps,” he replied with a practiced smile. He jumped slightly when Taly placed hermug down on the table with more force than was strictly necessary. When he glanced over, she glared at him pointedly.

What the hell is wrong with her?Skye thought, his irritation from earlier starting to resurface. Taly had gone out of her way to tell him how she had spent the past year sleeping her way across the island, but then she had the nerve to get mad when he engaged in a little harmless flirtation?

Turning back to Adalet, Skye decided to, as the mortals would say, give the little brat a dose of her own medicine. After all, they were allgrown-upshere, weren’t they?

“Now, Adie,” Skye drawled, running a finger along Adalet’s jaw. He had to forcibly suppress a grin when he heard a low, near-inaudible growl coming from Taly’s direction. He didn’t even know humans were capable of making that sound. “While that does sound like a very tempting proposition, with that silver tongue of yours, I may be in danger of getting taken for everything I have.”

“I was counting on that.” Adalet gave him a subtle wink.

Taly’s chair scraped against the floor as she pushed herself away from the table and stood. Reaching for her pack, she said, “We’ve got an early morning tomorrow, so I think I’m going to go see about getting a room.” She looked at Skye expectantly. “Are you coming?”

It doesn’t have to end here,a small voice in the back of Skye’s mind whispered when Adalet’s hand became a little more daring.

And… now that he thought about it, he found that he rather liked that idea. Yes—maybe a night with Adalet wasexactlywhat he needed. Despite his best efforts, he still hadn’t been able to completely banish the memory of Taly leaning over, flirting with that scumbag trader. That incident had stirred up some strange feelings—ones that, upon reflection, felt uncomfortably close to jealousy. But that didn’t have to mean anything. It was entirely possible that it had just been too long since he’d bedded a woman. After close to a year and a half with nothing except the touch of his own hand, maybe he had just gotten confused. That seemed reasonable. Right?

“You go ahead, Talya,” Skye said, his eyes caressing the gentle curves of Adalet’s face. He gave a disinterested wave of his hand. “I think I’m going to stay down here for a bit.”

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