Page 30 of Faeling
“What should I call you?” she asked. “Surely your name cannot bekone.”
“No. It’s Ravenna.”
“Ravenna,” the orcess repeated. “Very pretty. Well, Ravenna, shall we go down to the baths? The king’s private bath is quite spectacular.”
She held out a moment longer, but the chance at a proper bath was too much. She needed to scrub her skin, and hopefully, the steam and warm water would help clear her mind and makeroom for a plan.
She was in dire need of a new one.
“Very well,” she said. “But I’m not doing it forhim.”
“No indeed,” Brynhíl agreed, “you’ll do it for me.” The orcess winked, earning another laugh from Ravenna. “Besides, if you must confront something, better to do it clean and smelling pleasant.”
8
In the end, Vallek hardly made it past sundown. After abandoning Ulrich’s arguments and Eydis’s advice, he made his way into the training yard for his berserkers. A few of his most unfortunate men were treated to a thrashing in the pit, Vallek unleashing the might of his beast and throwing himself into a fray.
The exertion helped—for a few moments. But by the time his blood began to cool, his beast was still loud in his mind. He’d succeeded only in tiring his limbs and shocking his men. He sent them back to the barracks with word to Mattias to give everyone the day off tomorrow.
Instinct drove him back up into the citadel. He climbed two stairs at a time, his beast gnashing its teeth to be near her again.
However, when he nodded at the guards at his chamber door, he’d no plan, no solution. Beyond that door lay the true challenge. The brutal sparring in the training yard hadn’t prepared him for a mate like Ravenna.
He wasn’t sure anything could have.
A half-fae mate.
It was almost too fantastic to believe.
The rational part of him agreed with Eydis—this complicated everything. The fae were longtime enemies of orc-kin. Many ancestors had met their deaths at the end of a unicorn horn or fae blade. Although outright war hadn’t been declared between them in centuries, their borders were always places of tension, and suspicion ran deep.
The only thing worse than a half-fae mate would’ve been a full-fae mate.
But the gods, the fates, whatever it was that oversaw the universe, cared little for politics, it seemed. There was a reason for all of this, Vallek just had yet to see it.
None of that, however, was comforting as he opened the door to his quarters.
What in the name of the Ever-Father will I do with a fae mate?
His beast had more than a few ideas, none of which were helpful. If he was honest, he’d hoped taking Eydis’s advice to leave, to breathe, to beawayfor a few hours, would clear his head. While he might have clawed back a scrap of his sanity in the training yard, the moment he strode into his quarters, it was forfeit.
The faintest hint of jasmine met his nose, and a purr immediately sparked in his chest, rattling his battered ribs.
Satisfaction as sweet as ambrosia flooded his veins to smell how their scents were already combining within his space. That buzz of pleasure soothed the worst edges of his misgivings, and he strode purposefully further inside, seeking out his waywardmate.
Instead he found Bryn, her arms full of ugly fabric that smelled of his mate. Her soothsayer disguise, no doubt.
“I’m off to the laundress with these,” Bryn said. “Is there anything else before I retire?”
“Please have our dinner sent up.” He nodded at the bundle she carried. “I won’t be aggrieved if those find their way into a fire.”
“Perhaps not, but your mate might.” Looking over her shoulder into the adjoining room. “She’s a spirited one, your mate.”
“Indeed,” he sighed.
Chuckling, Bryn patted him fondly on the arm before taking her leave.
When the doorclickedshut behind her, Vallek resumed his search.
