Chapter 5599

To belong to Jared-Onneas had come to believe that was a kind of blessed state.

There had been a time she barely glanced his way. When his needs arose, she would send Isabel, to ease them, shrugging it off as beneath her notice.

Now Jared filled her mind until the night air itself smelled of him. She ached for him to favor her the way he favored the others, just once.

But she would never dare ask. Shyness chained her tongue, and Jared was already surrounded by women. So she watched Lyra with wistful eyes.

“You want to be with Jared, too, don’t you?” Lyra’s smile was gentle, almost conspiratorial. “If you like, I’ll carry the message. I know you’re dying to speak, but pride keeps the words locked behind your teeth.”

Women, after all, read one another like open pages.

Even from a field away, Lyra could feel the storm of pheromones that crashed off Onneas whenever Jared’s name surfaced. She remembered her own first glimpse of him-how her body had turned restless, fevered with wanting. None of them could mock the other; desire leveled every woman the same.