and dropped it. “Not sure. It’s probably like you making trees from chairs and tables.” She hadn’t compared herself to her cousin, but her ability was sorta like Wren’s. The normal gnoleon couldn’t control limbs and roots. Her cousin was the alpha female, the only one who had the power—
A thought hit her, and she gasped, sucking her food down the wrong pipe. Slapping her hand on her chest, she coughed up a piece of leaf.
Daphne pounded on her back. “You okay?”
Still coughing, she shook her head, then took a breath. “Not if they’re going to tell me what I think they are.”
Daphne frowned, brows drawn. “What are they telling you?”
Lilah stared the elder in the eye. “Let me guess. Only the female alpha is able to make stone into metal.” All three women bowed their heads.
“Yes, Alpha,” the trio said in unison.
Lilah dropped her carrot-looking thing. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, ladies. There will be none of that bowing stuff. I’m the same as you.” Well, Lilah wasn’t really like anyone else there unless someone liked to argue points of law and precedence.
But she did look like them, heavy hips and ass from walking the slopes their entire lives, the same idea as Wren resembling the villagers in the forest and her alpha mate.
Wren and Daphne stopped eating to stare at her. “You are the mate to the next in line to be king? Just like me?” Wren’s smile lit up her face for the first time since they got here.
Oh shit. She dropped her face into her hands, her cheeks heating quickly. Who was the prince? Ferrus said the asshole who hit the woman in the dining room was the prince. That was precisely what she’d expect from this king’s son.
Valori whispered, “This is very dangerous for you because mates are not allowed.”
That didn’t make sense. “Mates are mates, allowed or not. As far as I know.” She glanced at Zee.
He tilted his head to the right. “That is how I understand the mating call.”
“No, not like that,” Valori continued. “Mates are not allowed to be together, or the female will be killed.”
Lilah’s jaw fell open. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding? Of course, it would be the female.” Her hands squeezed whatever food she had in it. She wanted to throw it against the wall to express her frustration, but that would be childish. As an adult, she could control her actions.
Valori continued. “In the years following the no mates dictate, there had been attacks on females. Most were of the sexual kind. To not tempt men, the king ordered females to hide their bodies.”
Lilah let out a deep breath. One more negative thing, and that would be it. Her top would flip. “Okay, so we can’t tell anyone, or I’ll be killed. We’ll never be together.” She sighed with relief, knowing she wouldn’t have to be with that bastard, but her heart hitched at the thought of not seeing Ferrus again.
She barely knew him, but she wanted to be with him. And no—she was sure she’d never be with him. He was an angelic face and could have any of the beautiful women here whenever he wanted. She’d seen children, so apparently, sex was still approved.
“Oh,” Shinni said, “you will get to see him at night.”
“I don’t understand. Is the rule suspended at night?”
The younger one’s face turned bright red.
Valori harrumphed at the younger fae. “According to law, when it is time to rest for the night, each male chooses a female to sleep with. Whether they join for bearing a child or not does not matter. As long as the male is able to satisfy their inner urges is what matters.”
“Uh, hold on a minute,” Lilah let those words roll around in her head. She knew she heard them wrong. “Could you please expand on what you’re saying.”
Shinni leaned closer to the bars and whispered, “Those who are mates—the males spend the night with their mates in her room.”
Daphne glanced at her with a frown. Her cousin said, “I thought I heard something about men deciding who they sleep with?”
Fuck. Lilah knew she heard that too. But she needed to verify just to make sure.
“Valori, are you saying the women have no say in whether they want to sleep alone or who sleeps with them?” She tried like hell to keep her voice steady.
“Hey,” the guard shouted from the entrance, “you females be quiet. You shouldn’t be talking anyway. Don’t you have something to do except gab