Page 15 of The Spy's Solstice
Another woman agreed. “Zara’s put off having her cycle for a long while, but the herbs were starting to make her feel ill. I think it’s sweet.”
“Some of you may need your own nesting rooms as well before long. And you’ll have them in a place this size. I may not be able to make them as fancy as Queen Vali’s, but you’ll be safe.”
“We won’t let Alphas in. We can’t.”
“Cross that bridge when we come to it, eh? I’ve been working on finding solutions to that problem, too. And not just the herbs that keep you from smelling like the stinky little miracles you are.” Rueful chuckles filled the air.
Nests. There was only one kind of human female who built a nest. Who had a distinctive scent.
I was frozen in place, my mind reeling as I realized what I was seeing. This was why she’d sold the dagger. To buy this place, to protect a treasure far greater than the diamond she’d thrown at me. This group of women were hiding from Alphas, and at least some of them were Omegas.
The people on this continent believed that Omegas had all died out in the plagues three hundred years before. On Pict, we knew better, but the emergence of Rimholt’s Queen Vali had drawn the attention of the Lord of Fire to this small, landlocked country. When she’d brought another Omega—Ratter’s adoptive mother, Haven—out of captivity to live here, in this city, every kingdom had begun to send emissaries, hoping to secure Omegas for their own royal lines. But as far as I knew, the only ones here were Vali, and her sisters Haven and Cilla, who had married into the Mirrenese nobility.
Even one of these women was worth ten horses’ weight in gold to an Alpha. Not only could she take his knot and bear his young, she could draw him back from the edge of madness, as Vali had done for Rigol.
Did they know of these women and girls? Did anyone?
Ratter was heading for the door, and I listened closely. “...miss you so much. Can you come tomorrow night for an early Solstice celebration?”
“Are you cooking cabbage?”
“No.”
“Then yes. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Bring your crew. All of them.”
“Even…?”
“He’s special to you. And we need to learn to be around Alphas. You made room for him in your heart. We can do the same.”
She did have a boyfriend, then. Of course she did. A young woman as beautiful and strong as her, who spoke a dozen languages, from what I’d gathered, and had the ear of a king?
The ear of a king, and the voice of a Goddess. I thought for a long moment about what I’d heard tonight. About her vicious, deeply protective nature. Her insistence on honor and keeping promises, combined with her questionable morals.
Was she touched by the Goddess? Could she be… Her avatar? The one in the prophecy, the reason my masters had bred a line of females for a thousand years?
I shivered in a gust of harsh wind. It was possible. The rumors might be true, and if they were, my masters would stop at nothing to bring her back to Pict, and force her to fulfill her destiny.
I had to let her go. I’d find the dagger, and not speak to her again. Then, after the Solstice, I’d do my best to ignore the feeling that I was allowing a part of my soul to leave me. Carving a wound that would never heal.
I rubbed my wounded shoulder, waiting for her to get far enough away to move, only now feeling the bitter cold of the night through my wet clothing. When I was certain she was gone, my heart heavy, I slipped away, in search of the dagger.
RATTER
On Solstice Eve, I let Verity exchange the passwords when it was time for the party at the new safe house. She and I had come first, with Dev, Augusta, and Peony about ten minutes behind us. The boys had agreed to come an hour later, to give the girls who might not be able to handle being around strange males time to get a meal, and get used to the idea. Baby, Smith, and King were all young enough to still look like children, but Trevor and Robert were full-grown men, though only Robert was an Alpha so far. They both stood around six feet tall, and were muscular from years of practice fighting with our dads.
Robert knew how the women reacted around Alphas, and had volunteered to stay with the royal tots, but I’d made a deal with two of Vilkurn’s spies who were in Turino for the holiday. They would take his shift so he could join us. He needed to be here; he was one of the only Alphas I trusted entirely.
And the women needed to learn to trust him. Robert was a born protector, and would make sure no one messed with them.
Gertie opened the door, the four separate locks sliding smoothly, until her small face poked out. “Ratter! What’s all that?”
“Cabbage, I’m afraid,” I replied with a grin. Rolling her eyes, she widened the door to let us in. My arms were filled with bags full of candies and an enormous basket of fresh, still-warm cinnamon rolls that Haven had made that day, no questions asked.
Well, she’d asked how many to make, when I’d told her I was going to have a farewell party with some friends. I’d said four dozen, but judging by the weight of the basket, she’d made twice that. Papa Niko had gently reminded me that Haven baked when she was under stress. “Saying goodbye to her eldest daughter? We might need to open a bakery on the side of the school just to get rid of all the excess cakes,” he’d teased.
I entered with Verity, shocked at how quickly the women had transformed the glassworks into a home. The hallway just inside was still bare, but once we went through the second door into the main room, we entered a scene straight out of a Solstice play. One of the glass firing ovens had been lit, and was filled with a blazing coal fire that heated the entire space. They’d hung boughs of evergreen in all the corners, and heaped them high on the long wooden tables that ran the length of the room, along with holly branches. Besides the oven, torches and candles lit the room. My jaw dropped, taking it all in, and I hardly noticed when a pair of hands plucked the basket from my grip.
