I rise to my feet as the man exchanges a nod with my guard, then comes closer.

“This is Marguerite,” he tells me, picking up the child. She must be his and Ivar’s daughter.

Which makes her Gabriel’s niece, I think to myself—for some reason, with an odd pang in my chest.

“And I am Andreas.”

I force out a smile. “Sofia.”

“Oh, I know. Martia and I work together, and she’s been complaining about you for the past two days. And yet, no one will tell me what the deal is between you and the general,” he says, with something I can only describe as a pout. “It’s rough, being surrounded by Alphas. They’re not good at sharing gossip.”

“Oh. Well, my deepest sympathies.”

“No offense, healer, but you can shove your sympathies up your nose. There’s something else I want from you.”

“And what would that be?”

He grins. “Information.”

He leads me to a little play area right behind a giant fern, where we sit side by side on a stone bench and watch Marguerite build castles in a rocky sandbox. “So, you’re Lennart’s mate?”

“You know him?” I ask, surprised.

“A bit. I was born and raised in House Niemi, though not in the main branch of the family. But Lennart and I are both third sons around the same age. There was some overlap.”

“Ah. Well, I’m sure Ivar has already explained the gist of what’s going on.”

“Only the bare bones. Lord Larsen, cold Omega, Right of the First Night. That’s about it.” He sighs. “Ivar’s entire life consists of gathering exploitable information about people and events and circumstances. When he’s home with me and Marguerite, he likes to relax and never shares any juicy stuff. Mostly, we talk about boring property disputes that ended two hundred years ago.”

“Who doesn’t like a good land registry?” I ask dryly.

“Who, indeed. So, how did you meet Lennart?”

“We were both training as healers.” It feels so long ago. “And then we became friends.”

“Love at first sight?”

“Not really. He liked me for longer than I did him. He was nice, but I didn’t really think of him like that. When I ended up being cold, though, he told me that he didn’t care. That I was still perfect to him.” I swallow. It’s strange, sharing such intimate details with someone I just met. But my head feels stuffed with cotton, and I might be running a fever, and there is something soothing about putting my thoughts in order to lay them out for another person. “It was a tough time. I couldn’t figure out my body. I felt like I was disappointing everyone around me. But Lennart was so accepting. When he asked me to be his mate, I accepted.”

“Was that recently?”

“No, not really. Years ago.” I feel myself flush. “I pushed back the mating for a while. I was just very busy with work, and then my father was sick, and after…”

“Not eager?” Andreas asks.

I glance away, a mix of guilt and defensiveness churning through my stomach. “It’s not so simple.”

“I’m sure it isn’t. And what about you and Gabriel? How did that start?”

“How did what start?”

His smile is amused. “Your relationship.”

“There is no relationship.”

“He called the Right of the First Night for the first time in his life. To have you.”

“I… Yes, he did. But it’s exclusively to get back at Lord Larsen. It has nothing to do with me.” Andreas scans my face like it’s a book written in the tiniest font. Ahead of us, Marguerite is still piling rocks, and I allow myself to ask simply out of curiosity, “Is there anyone else?”

“Excuse me?”

“Gabriel. Has he…ever thought about mating? Or been close?”

“No. God, no.” He laughs. “Can’t you tell? Does he look like the kind of Alpha who has an Omega behind him? Someone who loves him?”

I have to mull it over for a minute. “Not really, no.” Without a doubt, Gabriel is very skilled at taking care of the stronghold. But maybe he needs someone who’ll take care of him—and someone to take care of who’ll give back in a more tangible and immediate fashion than a massive stone structure that hosts tens of thousands of people. Someone who won’t let him wake up earlier and earlier. Someone who’ll decorate his rooms with just a splash of color. Someone for him to talk to about his day. Someone willing to massage the stiffness of his muscles after a sparring session. Someone able to make him laugh⁠—

Fuck. Where are these thoughts coming from?

I know where. It’s what he told me earlier. He looked me in the eye and listed every single thing I’ve ever wanted, like I’m more transparent to him than limpid water. And now my brain is twisting itself into thinking that it knows his needs and desires.

I really must be ill.

“Can I tell you something?” Andreas asks softly. “As an Alpha?”

I nod slowly.

“You don’t smell cold. In fact, you smell”—he sniffs deeply—“well, for the most part, you smell like Gabriel decided to personally coat you in his scent. But also healthy. Very healthy, if you get my meaning.”

I swallow, then massage my temples, where the throbbing is steadily intensifying.

“You see how this is odd, right?” Andreas asks.

I hesitate. Watch the thin line of his lips. Nod, because things are changing. My body. My mind. What I want and what I need. I don’t know how or why, but I’m no longer the person I was twenty-four hours ago.

And my head is about to fucking explode.

“No offense,” I say gently, “but I think this might be a conversation I should be having with Gabriel.” And with Lennart, I try to force myself to add. But the name simply won’t come out of my lips.

“No offense taken, Sofia.” His hand lifts to pat my back, but instantly falls back at his side, as if he remembered himself. As if he realized that I belong to another Alpha, and that it would be impolite for him to touch me. “I think so, too.”

Chapter 16

THE MEETING Gabriel

I take the meeting Lennart requested in the same operations suite that was stormed just a few days ago. Despite the attempt at cleaning, the stench of blood still saturates the air.

I’m attempting to make a point and hope it will come across bright and clear.

“I don’t believe you and I have ever talked face-to-face,” I tell Lennart after he sits across the table from me. I can smell the sweat of his palms, see him wipe them over his trousers. “Although I remember you standing behind your mother, back when she was demanding that I leave Kuznetsov’s funeral.” He glares at me, tight-fisted, and I smile behind my face mask.

“Gabriel—”

“That’s not how you address the general of the military system that keeps you alive, is it?”

A tic in his jaw. Clenched teeth. His brown hair is mussed, as though he ran his fingers through it one too many times. If anyone who is not a member of the military wants to access this wing of the keep, they need to use a complex system of tunnels and elevators. How convenient that today they were all out of service and only just got repaired.

What a stressful few hours he must have had.

“I want her back,” he bites out.

“Her?” I ask, as if Sofia’s name hasn’t been pounding in my veins from the second I first saw her sitting on my bed.

“My mate.”

“Ah. Her. Well, then you should have come to fetch her this morning. Now she is asleep.”

He leans forward. “The Right of the First Night, by definition, applies only to the first night. You can’t keep her here.”

“And that’s why I will send her back as soon as she wakes up.” By now I know that it’s a lie, and he must suspect it, too. Sofia is not going anywhere. The certainty has been growing inside me like a weed, taking over every little empty corner.

Lennart flushes. “If you send her back with child…”

For a moment, the desire to slash his throat is so intense, I can almost smell the iron of his blood. “A cold Omega? With child? That’s not very likely, is it?” When Lennart’s expression twists into something carefully blank, I know I’ve struck a nerve. So I continue. “Then again, Sofia doesn’t smell so cold lately. Maybe you haven’t had a chance to notice, but I’ve had plenty of opportunities to experience that change.”