“I hope they have themselves a delightful fucking time,” I said, sarcasm heavy, and I dropped into the chair to begin writing up my report on a half-crumpled piece of parchment.

“Touchy,” Fang remarked, running the end of his blade down the list of names for the following week’s patrol along the northern end of the ravine. “That Princess Opal seems…”

“Naïve and untrustworthy,” I stated helpfully.

“Well, okay.” Fang sat back in his chair and cocked his head, studying me. “Don’t hold back on my account.”

I looked at the parchment. “Wipe that fucking smirk off your face.”

“Make me, scar-face,” Fang teased, and I growled. He chuckled. “You’re not wrong, but the bird is his mate. So any harm she might cause will be of no great consequence.”

I snorted and far too loudly. “You’re a stars-damned idiot.”

“While that may be so, I am still right.”

Long minutes passed in silence while I finished writing. Then I rose to pin the nearly illegible report on the corkboard behind me. “Ever mated with someone?”

We both knew he hadn’t, and so he stayed silent.

I’d reached the door when Fang said, “And you have?” The question was far too delayed, too careful, to have been made in jest.

He’d attempted to scour the depths of my thoughts for months after Aster had left, but to no avail. He’d long since given up, resigned to my moods after he’d experienced the very worst of them while we’d matured under the same roof.

“No, but the swan could still reject the bond.” I walked on before he could ask anything else and warped back to the city.

The wind carried the warning.

A fierce caress that many of my brethren had wanted to ignore. Given the circumstances, I couldn’t blame them.

But some of us hadn’t, and there was no time to gauge just how much worse it could’ve been if we hadn’t acted.

They arrived in swarming droves under the cover of darkness.

That their ships hadn’t been seen by our warriors and spies posted at the cove and along the coastline could only mean two things. They were all long dead, and these human soldiers had timed their arrival to perfection.

For our king and half of our legions were not here in Vordane.

They were in Sinshell to protect Dade from any foul play because he was determined to marry his bird of a mate—their princess. A princess who, as far as any of us were aware, still hadn’t even accepted their bond.

He was a stars-damned besotted fool.