If She Had Known

Tamlin

I had known it was coming. I had lived through the event once before, but was still shocked when my front door was ripped to shreds. I was prepared this time, and yet my stomach still dropped at the sight. At the ferocious growl that echoed in my bones. My knife made it to my hand once again.

I stepped in front of my sisters as the creature roared onto its hind legs and bellowed through a maw full of fangs: "MURDERERS!"

But it was another word that echoed through me:

Tamlin.

Even in the days before I had been transported back in time, I hadn't been able to bring myself to meet Tamlin. To step foot in the spring court. Rhys had been meeting with him, patching up loose ends that still frayed after the war. From what he told me of the visits, Tamlin was worse for wear. But that didn't matter when all I could think of was how he shredded my dignity at the High Lord's meeting. The curses he had flung at me. The feeling of wanting to melt into the floor when he had locked me inside his house.

He wasn't all bad. He wasn't an irredeemable villain. He had saved my life from Hybern several times. He had brought my mate back to life.I wished him happiness, but that did not erase the feeling of dread that resounded deep within me. I wished him happiness, truly I did, but that didn't mean I was ready for the sight of him in his beast form, ready to rip out my throat.

The wards, once again, were like cobwebs against him. My father cowered next to my sisters by the fire, but I stood there, knife in hand.

"MURDERERS!" the beast roared again, hackles raised.

"P-please," my father babbled from behind me, failing to find it in himself to come to my side. I knew he would make up for this later. He would see what he had done— had failed to do— but the fact stung no matter how I reasoned with it.

"W-w-we didn't kill anyone," Nesa added, choking on her sobs, arm lifted over her head, as if that tiny iron bracelet would do anything against him.

It wasn't the first time I had thrown a knife at him, and it wasn't the first time he blocked. He slashed out with a paw so incredibly fast — so fast I could barely see it with my human eyes. The knife skittered away as he snapped for my face with his teeth.

I leapt back. The lunge had been a warning. I knew this time that he was never intending to kill me. He needed me to break Amarantha's curse.

"WHO KILLED HIM?" The creature stalked toward us. He ground his paws into the table. It shuddered underneath him. His claws ground into the wood one by one. The sight didn't terrify me like it once had. No, I was stronger now.

His green eyes bore into me as I stepped forward. "Killed who?"

He growled, low and vicious. "The wolf."

I heard Elain's wail raise in pitch. I pushed it away, keeping my chin up. "A wolf?"

"A large wolf with a gray coat," he snarled in response.

"If it was mistakenly killed," I said calmly, trying to direct the conversation, "What payment could we offer in exchange?" I knew what payment he would require. I knew where I would be led from this night.

The beast let out a bark that could have been a bitter laugh. He pushed off the table to pace in a small circle before the shattered door. The cold was so intense that I shivered. "The payment you must offer is the one demanded by the Treaty between our realms."

Lies. They were lies and I knew it this time. But I had no other option. "For a wolf?"

The beast whirled on me. "Who killed the wolf?"