Scars of His Wrath: A Dark Fantasy Romance

Chapter 1

Someone else was in her forest.

A thick, muscular arm was visible from several feet away, partially obscured by a twisted, black tree trunk and the early morning mist that still lingered, desperate not to dissipate under the brightening sun.

Naya leaned forward, peering into the clinging mist to make sure she wasn’t mistaken. The tree obscured most of his body, butbased on the bulging shoulder alone, the rest of him had to be enormous. An Alpha.

Naya leaned her weight onto her palms and jumped from sitting cross-legged to a tip-toe crouch. Swift, quiet.

No one should be in her dark, gnarled refuge.

How did he even get here? The forest wrapped around almost half of the palace and was only accessible from the Omega village in the lower west grounds. Far on its other side stretched a patch of desolate, grass land—Naya’s favorite spot—and beyond that, a steep, rocky decline led to the rushing Ashens River, so wild that even the empire’s strongest boats couldn’t cross. The forest was closed off from wanderers and strangers, and if anyone attempted to enter it, its trees tangled and wound their branches so tightly it was impossible to traverse farther than a few feet.

Naya could only travel through it because of her ability with magic. At fourteen she started sneaking into the forest, and she’d never seen another person this far in, which was how she preferred it.

Quietly crouched down, she observed the stranger for a few long moments. He didn’t move. She scanned the surrounding area to see if he was waiting for someone, but the forest was silent and motionless like always. On this side of it, the trees were less compact and easier to see between.

Veins scattered along the stranger’s arm. She could see him from behind, his back leaning against the tree. From his relaxed stance, she assumed he thought he was alone. The Omega village that sat between the forest and the palace housed families—it was illegal to enter the village unless you were a resident, and something about the way he held himself made her doubt he was. The forest wasn’t suitable for hunting, so why was he here?

The strangest thing was that she hadn’t heard or felt him arrive—no footsteps, rustling leaves, or voices. If he’d used magic, she would have detected it. The magic that existed in the forest was vastly different from the magic across the rest of the Lox Empire. Ancient and largely undisturbed, its brooding weight had personality.

But she’d felt no sign of it being disturbed, and if she hadn’t happened to glance over, she wouldn’t have known he was there. Maybe Papa was testing her? It wasn’t difficult to figure out where she might be in the vast forest.

From her favorite spot, she could look down over Ashens, the capital city, which sprawled in every direction in its chaotic growth to become the powerful pulse of the Lox Empire. She loved watching its moods but she no longer visited the city. For six years, only the forest had seen her with any frequency. She’d returned to it multiple times a day, battling relentless thoughts, whispering dreams, and a shame so potent, she needed to be alone in order to breathe.

Except now she wasn’t.

A hollow clang startled her out of her thoughts, sending a jolting shock racing to her heart. She snapped a look at the city. The palace tower was nearly visible from here; its noon chime rang out loud and clear. Naya straightened to her full height. The dewy early hours always quietened her thoughts, suspending her in a timeless peace, but it never really was timeless. And now she was late.

Exhaling a harsh hiss through her teeth, Naya pushed her feet in her shoes and straightened her tunic. Before reporting this man to her parents, she needed to ask him exactly what he was doing here. If it was a mistake, maybe she didn’t need to report it at all—it wasn’t as though she were in any danger. But her parents would be concerned to know a someone was in the palace forest, especially with the Omega village so close. It was protected for a reason.

She turned and strode toward him, but then abruptly stopped.

He was gone.

* * *

“Highness!”

The loud whisper hissed down the corridor, harsh and sharp, but Naya ignored it. Quickening her steps, she nodded in greeting at the staff she passed.

The footsteps behind her quickened to match. “Princess Naya!”

Naya kept her pace. She’d never run from anyone or anything before, least of all her aide, and she wasn’t going to start now. She just had to stay far enough ahead of Gilly so she couldn’t slow her down and make her later than she already was.

Weaving through corridors to the lower wing of the palace, Naya finally slowed when she reached the quiet, empty corridor tucked out of the view of the rest of the palace. Along one wall was a row of small rooms; each held a table with two chairs. These pairing rooms were designed for potential Alpha and Omega couples to meet.

Naya smoothed her tunic and took a deep breath, forcing down her jittery nerves. Closing her eyes for a moment, she willed away her anxiety before opening the door to the room.

“Your Highness.” Gilly finally arrived, her chest heaving and the graying bun atop her head wobbling. She stared at Naya, her face pinched in disbelief. “Why are you avoiding me? Your parents need you in the Great Hall. I informed you of this yesterday.”

Naya tilted her head toward the closed door. “This was arranged before that, Gilly.”

Gilly looked at the door then glanced around the corridor, realization spouting in her eyes before returning Naya. “But this can be rearranged at any time, Your Highness. The meeting in the Great Hall is the seasonal audience, and it’s already started. It’s extremely import?—”

“So is this,” Naya insisted. “And it was arranged before that. I’m not going to stand here arguing, Gilly. You can either give me a few moments to do this or you can tell my parents where I am and that you don’t know when I’m coming.”

Gilly exhaled, pressing her fingers into her palms, her face a mix of worry and fear. The emperor and empress were not a couple anyone wanted to disappoint. Naya would never normally put Gilly in this position, but she wouldn’t allow her appointment to be canceled. It was too important.

Before Gilly could answer, marching footsteps rounded the corner.

Gilly retreated behind Naya as three people approached, their steps in sync.

”I tried to tell you this was serious,” Gilly whispered. ”Please go with them, Your Highness. Your parents insist.”

Uncle Torin, her father”s commander, led the small group. He was a lean pillar of stone; gray and stern and immovable. An effective commander for her father, but boring and restricting to Naya—especially when she was growing up. Her father’s Talent-crafters flanked him on each side. While some leaders in the history of the Known Lands had groups of Talent-crafters to wield magic for them, her father needed only two. The powerful twin Alpha sisters wore identical clothing in the Lox Empire colors; one always in red, the other always in black. They were even more devoid of personality than Uncle Torin, but no one could question their skills.

They stopped in front of Naya.

”Your parents request your presence in the Great Hall.” Uncle Torin’s concrete expression indicated he didn’t approve of having to collect her. “I’m sure your aide has explained.”

Gilly almost broke her neck nodding.

”I have a short meeting that was already scheduled,” Naya said, calm and professional. “I’ll follow on after.”

”We’ve been sent to escort you,” one of the twins said.

Her voice was measured, but Naya noticed the twins’ stance, the way they tensed when she refused to go. Had her parents really sent them to drag her to the Great Hall? Uncle Torin was one of the most impressive warriors in the Lox army. His exceptional skill had taken Naya years to best, but she’d finally beaten him. And it was the same with the twins. Her father had insisted she improve her control of magic by sparring with them magically, but she’d bested them too. Granted, if her parents wanted to drag her anywhere, Commander Torin together with the twins would be the most effective option, but she could still resist them if she wanted. It would be an extreme action, but so was sending trained warriors to collect their daughter.

She refused to allow it to stop her.

The twins were there under instruction, but Torin was their commander and the person she needed to convince.

She stepped forward and lowered her voice so only Uncle Torin could hear her. ”I have no problem with you escorting me, Uncle. But it will be in a few moments. They can wait a few moments.” She pointed at the door to her left. “I’ll just be in there for a little while. You can stand right here, I have nowhere else to escape to.”

Uncle Torin glanced at the door, and a flash of something resembling warmth broke through his stoic exterior. His chest heaved and the tension went out of his body. “This isn’t a good use of your time,” he said, lowering his voice to his scolding tone. “You know that. Your parents need you to be focused on the right things.”

“This is the right thing, Uncle.” She tried to keep the exasperation out of her voice. “And I am an adult, I can decide what things I need to focus on. You shouldn’t be sent to collect me like I’m an unruly rebel about to destroy the empire. You and the twins have more important things to deal with. They shouldn’t be using you for this.”

Torin’s mouth crooked in the flicker of a smile, but it was quickly smothered. “They are worried, Naya. Parents never stop being worried.”

Naya’s eyes slid to the door. “They can worry for a few moments more.”

Torin sighed. He moved to stand outside the door and the twins flanked him. ”If I have to come in there to drag you out, it will not go well,” he warned.

Naya smiled sweetly. ”You won”t need to.”

Gilly watched them, jittering with indecision for a long moment, before she finally sighed and stood next to the commander.

Naya walked to the door and took a breath to refocus. Pulling on her innate senses, she called on magic and carefully, she unraveled the magical blocks surrounding her body. They faded slowly, like body armor reducing into fine dust and drifting away. As soon as she no longer felt any trace of them, she placed a hand on the door handle and allowed a fragile hope to bloom. If this worked.…

Opening the door, she stepped inside.

An Alpha sat on the opposite side of a table in the middle of the small room, elbows leaning on the table, his head jerking up at the sound of the closing door.

Lonn.

With a sharp gaze, low-cut hair, and a down-turned mouth that rarely smiled, Lonn was one of the most talked about warriors in Naya’s father’s army. Having developed a fierce, brutal combat style, Lonn had won almost all his sparring sessions and impressed even the most fastidious of Lox generals. He had been given more responsibilities, and it was rumored he would soon become the youngest general on record if he kept impressing his superiors.

But that wasn’t how Naya first knew him.

As the firstborn child of Emperor Drocco, the most celebrated warrior and leader in the Known Lands, Naya had grown up training harder than any other warrior in his army. He’d bought her first sword at age five and spent years teaching her how to put it to good use. By the time she was nine, she was sparring with the likes of Lonn—young teenage Alphas just starting their training for the Lox army. But Lonn had been different from the rest. He never went easy on her once. His blows landed as heavily as when he fought everyone else, and Naya never won a match unless she’d earned it. At first she hated sparring with him, but her improvement had been swift. Soon she looked forward to finding ways to best him, and did so repeatedly. But they’d never had a single conversation.

When she started training more exclusively with her father, she hadn’t seen him much, but his career trajectory—and the undercurrent gossip that speculated about his romantic affairs—was part of the frequent rumors that whirled through not only the palace but the rest of Ashens.

“Naya.” He rose from his chair, his height and bulk making the room shrink.

Naya hadn’t paid much attention to his looks before. At the age of nine, he was just another sweaty young man she had to beat. But that was before she’d officially come into her dynamic as an Omega. Even though everyone knew she was an Omega before she was born, her hormones had developed at age eleven, just like everyone else.

Lonn had certainly developed too. His eyes swept over her, curious and thoughtful.

“Lonn,” she responded. Breathing deeply, she took a step and held the back of the chair in front of her. Without her blocks and in a room this small, they’d be able to scent each other properly. But after a few moments, the bud of hope withered. His scent was earthy and rich, somewhat comforting and warm—it was all wrong.

She lifted her eyes to meet his and frowned at his expression. He didn’t look surprised to see her. “Were you expecting me specifically?”

The selections for pairing meetings were anonymous unless one of the pair had made a request. Due to who she was, she’d wanted all of her pairings to be anonymous.

He gestured to the chair opposite him. “I was invited to attend a pairing with you specifically, yes.”

“By whom?”

“Your parents.”

Confusion flooded her for a moment. When did her parents start interfering with her pairing attempts?

“Are you going to sit?”

Naya stared at him, wondering if she should bother to stay. She decided to be honest. “Is there any point?”

The Alpha froze, then lowered back down to his chair, his eyes locked on hers. “That sounds like you don’t think we’d be a good match.”

Naya shrugged. “We’d know by now, wouldn’t we?”

At that, Lonn broke eye contact, leaning forward to shift back in his chair.

The pairing rooms were specifically designed small so the couple could scent each other immediately. True mates would instantly recognize each other’s scent. It would cause an instinctive reaction of arousal that couldn’t be faked. Those couples were in each other’s arms within moments of scenting each other. If Lonn was her true mate, they’d both know.

“Being a good match doesn’t rely on being a true match,” he said finally, returning his gaze to her.

“I’m sure that’s what my parents believe too.” She sat down. “But even if I agreed, I think our union should be more about our connection with each other and less about what we represent, don’t you?”

He considered her, his face a carefully controlled mask. “What do you mean?”

“We hardly know each other,” Naya pointed out. “But you’re in this room because you’re an impressive warrior rumored to become the youngest new general. And I’m here because I’m the imperial couple’s daughter. It seems more like a match that would please my parents and the empire than us. It’s not exactly encouraging, is it?”

To his credit, the Alpha’s blank expression didn’t flicker. “Unions have been made on less, Princess. One of my fellow warriors bonded with an Omega he had a pairing with last year. They weren’t true mates but he thought she was pretty and pleasant. They are incredibly happy now and having their second child.” He watched her closely. “Isn’t it better to have that than to have nothing?”

Naya almost recoiled at the suggestion. She opened her mouth to challenge him and stopped. What was the point? There really wasn’t much more to say. He was happy to settle with a choice that would please the emperor and elevate him to a status he would never otherwise reach, while she only cared about finding her true mate. Lives depended on it.

“Besides,” Lonn added, “it’s not as though we have nothing in common. You are now famously unbeatable on the battlefield.” A proud gleam entered his eyes. “And so am I.”

A knock fell on the door, then it creaked open.

“Your Highness.” Gilly’s strained voice came through the crack, quiet but pleading. “I beg of you.… The Commander is?—”

Naya stood. “I’m coming now,” she called over her shoulder. She looked back at Lonn, offering a small, apologetic smile. “It was nice to see you again.”

The Alpha leaned forward, elbows back on the table, his eyes following her, but he said nothing as she hurried out of the room.