Chapter 27
Naya paced in her room.
She was missing something. The last meeting… some of the questions seemed trivial or didn’t make sense. But something bothered her, a nagging feeling she was missing something. She had to figure out; it could be the key to get back home.
Akoro had been careful about what he said to her since her heat. He’d been busier lately, so she hadn’t seen him as much, even his sparring sessions lessened. Naya could no longer cloud her mind; the reality of the situation was gaining strength and every hour that now passed put her home in real danger.
When she saw him, their interaction was either having sex or sparring—typical for an Alpha like him. He seemed to think that she would just sit out of the way while he plundered and killed everyone.
She’d use that to her advantage.
Trying to mentally lay down the information, she reeled off on her fingers all the things that had obvious connections.
One, Omegas. Omegas here were separate from the general population, whereas the empire was trying to reintroduce Omegas. Keeping Omegas out of the population didn’t make sense. Why would they? The only thing different about Omegas from other dynamics was… magic.
Naya dug her nails into her palm, the connections coming quicker. The magic here was wild. So maybe the Omegas had something to do with that. Did they use it to attack people? That seemed out of character; however, as history proved, if they were pushed to the brink, they would do just about anything.
What did she learn about the magic here?
All of the most powerful magic had to do with distance. When she was restrained, it was because the force kept her in place, and if she moved away she was punished. Same with when Akoro broke her ribs—there was a connection to his wrist.
Proximity was important to the magic here. So maybe the wild magic had a proximity issue as well? When she”d seen the white fire in this land, Akoro had promised it wouldn”t come any closer, as if it would try….
And Omegas could not be near society.
Tshel had said: “Does magic follow you around?”
Her stomach jittered. Omegas attracted the dangerous magic. That was why they were kept separate. Stomach trembling, she sat down hard on the bed. That had to be it. Everyone was scared of the Omegas and thought they were dangerous because the wild magic had a proximity connection to Omegas. Having her in the city made the city dangerous for everyone else, because the wild magic was trying to get to her. It was the same in the desert, the dust she saw swirling underneath the clouds, that had to have been the wild magic out there.
Naya braced her elbows on her knees, processing the concept of what her mind pieced together.
If the wild magic was destroying the land, then taking his people somewhere that didn’t happen was Akoro’s plan. He somehow thought that the Known Lands caused the wild magic, so he considered it to be their burden. But right now, the magic she needed was in the white fire.
Naya rubbed her palms on her thighs. The last time that she tried to tackle the white fire, it had been drawn to Lili, but she didn’t know why. What happened to the Omegas here when the white fire attacked them? They must have found a way to survive. Everyone was under the impression they were gone, not dead.
Regardless, Naya had to return to her empire, no matter what. Akoro wanted to put her in a little box until he was ready to play with her again, but he seemed to have forgotten why he chose her to kidnap in the first place.
Naya was back, and she wasn’t going to give up that easily.
When she’d started engaging the magic last time, it had occurred to her that the magical language, the Ancient Tongue, could provide better structure to control it. It had rules and was easy to repeat, whereas casting using her awareness was less orderly. If she tried again now, she’d use the Ancient Tongue and see if she could draw in through the damaged ruins that Akoro mentioned when they visited the attacked building.
The first thing she needed to do was figure out where they went last time when he took her to the attacked building. The white fire had managed to get into the city, and she needed it to come into the city again. Guards stood outside her door, but since she’d been marked by Akoro’s scent, they’d been much more relaxed about where she went.
She left her room and started walking. There was a frantic energy around the palace that reflected her mood and she allowed herself to blend in. When she got to the main entrance, the guards stopped her from leaving. She turned and headed to the back courtyard, but they stopped her from exiting the building there too.
”I just want to go to the stables,” she said.
They blocked her but didn’t answer.
Lurching forward, she disabled three of them and slipped past two to run out into the courtyard. She needed to know which direction the damaged building had been in.
When she got to the stables, and looked for the direction they’d gone in to get to the attacked building. West. Good. She relaxed. At least she’d have a direction to focus on when she summoned the white fire. If she thought Akoro’s nnirae would be easy to ride, she might have ridden him to head out there, but it wasn”t worth the risk. Before she could decide whether or not go now, his guards caught up with her and took her back to her room.
Of course, Akoro was furious when he found out she attacked his guards. He descended onto her room with the force of a thousand burning suns. ”Where exactly were you going?”
”I wasn”t trying to go anywhere,” Naya said. ”I just wanted to visit your nnirea..”
Akoro”s expression turned sour. ”You don”t seem to realize that I can usually tell when you”re lying. This one is obvious.”
”I don’t always lie,” Naya snapped.
“You are a fucking liar,” he said tightly. “When were you planning to tell me that you remember your Haze?”
Naya glared at him. “I don’t want to remember it.”
His face contorted. “You don’t want to remember our most blissful time together?”
“I told you no! You didn’t stop.”
He stepped forward, looming over her, his voice beautiful gravel. “Why would I stop? You’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever had, tmot zia. And I was already in my rut by then.”
“And would you have stopped if you weren’t?”
“No!” He roared the word. “You’re my true mate! You belong to me.”
“And yet you’ve never once called me by my name,” Naya said, firming her trembly core. “I am not a mate to you, I am a means to an end who also happens to smell nice.”
“If that’s what you want to think, that is up to you,” Akoro said sharply. “It doesn’t change a fucking thing. I”m going to give you one more chance to tell me the truth about why you wanted to go to the stables.”
”I don”t see why it’s a problem,” Naya said, sitting down on the bed. ”You said that I didn”t have to be bound anymore because I smell of you.”
”That does not mean you can just leave your room, escape your guards, and go somewhere on the edge of the palace.”
“I was still on palace grounds!” Naya said, exasperated.
Akoro crossed his arms, glaring at her with the hard anger that she had first seen from him when she arrived. She held a hand up. This had already gone on for too long. ”I”m sorry,” Naya mumbled. She just needed to get rid of him. ”It won”t happen again.”
”Do you think I am foolish? It”s not a coincidence that you did this after the final meeting. I already told you that you’re to be with me. You no longer have any allegiances or alliances with Lox Empire.”
Naya shrugged. ”I don”t even know when you”re going to invade. Why can’t I go to the sables after finally being free of these meetings?”
Akoro was silent for a moment, anger still working through his stance. He grabbed her and dragged her onto the bed.
“I am not fucking you right now!” Naya yelled.
He flipped her over and pushed her dress over her hips, then dragged her underwear down to her knees and he stopped.
Naya froze too, panting into the bed as he stared directly at her bare ass.
“I’m going to remind you,” he said, his low voice sending a shiver through her.
Annoyingly, she sounded breathless. “Remind me of what?”
“Of your Haze.”
Naya huffed out a breath, ready to scream at him. “I don’t want?—”
“You were waiting for me when I came in,” he said.
She heard him undoing his pants.
“On your knees, naked, wet, looking at me like I was the best thing you’d ever seen.”
Her pussy clench at sound of him rubbing his shaft. Naya kept her head forward, hoping she wouldn’t smell him too soon. This was a trap.
“I waited for you to come to me, to touch me, but you didn’t.”
A loud clap hit her ass cheek and she cried out, jolting from the pain. “Ow!”
“Why!” he demanded.
He slapped her check again, and the pain was even worse.
“I was being good. I was trying to be a good Omega.”
“Who the fuck taught you that?”
“I-I?—”
Clap.
She cried out again. “Not an Alpha. It’s so I sit quietly they bring in food to the room.”
He rubbed her stinging ass cheek. “You went through your Haze solo before?”
“Yes,” Naya panted, whimpering. Her pussy was dripping and his scent filled the whole room now. He was aroused and it was making everything harder.
The sound he made in his throat was of satisfaction, an Alpha pleased that he had been the first—the only one. “Why?”
“To see what it’s like… that’s all.” It annoyed her that deep within was a preening pleasure at his satisfaction.
His hand left her and he stroked himself again. “You opened wide and let me lick and suck you.”
Naya almost sobbed at the memory.
“Are you saying you didn’t enjoy it?”
“No. I did.”
A rough tongue ran over her slit, and she moaned, pushing her ass up more, rotating her hips to give him better access. He sucked and licked so gently, she writhed for more pressure. He hummed. “So good. Why would you want to deny me this?”
“I-I…” Naya tried to shake off the arousal. “You don’t treat me well,” she whispered. “I could never love a man like you.”
The tongue froze. With a roar, he flipped her back over a climbed over her. A cold fury gripped him and he caged her in, pinning her with his gaze. “Is that so, princess? When this is all over, and I have killed everything else you love, we shall see.” His nose flared and his eyes roamed her face. “I treat you the best I can in the circumstances, but you are in denial. You will never escape me, tmot zia. I will have you no matter what. But… if you want to have free reign in the city, I can give you that. But you have to pay the price.”
Naya eyed him. ”What do you mean?”
”If you want to be able to go anywhere in the city without my guards following you and without the fabric, then I can arrange that. But the price is high and I would advise you to stay in your room.”
“What is the price?”
“Your face.”
Naya narrowed her eyes at him. That sounded ominous. “My face?”
Akoro nodded.
Her face for her freedom to get back home and warn Papa. That seemed worth it. She wasn’t exactly a celebrated beauty. “All right.”
Akoro drew a dagger from his belt and approached her.
Naya froze. ”What are you going to do?”
”If you accept you’re mine, this won”t matter,” Akoro said. ”I’m giving you one more chance.”
Naya nodded. Whatever he was about to do, it wouldn’t change how badly she wanted to go home. ”Go ahead,” Naya said.
Grabbing the crown of her head, he pushed her head back, glaring at her as he held up the dagger to her face.
Naya”s eyes flitted between his eyes and the dagger, but she said nothing.
He pressed the tip of the dagger against the back of her right cheek and then sliced along her face all the way to her mouth. The sharp pain flared across the cut, followed by a cooling sensation. The second cut was a little higher. This time it burned, like the blade was heated. The third was a little higher than that. Her face was tingling when he finished but she couldn’t feel any blood.
When he released her, Naya pressed her fingers to her face, but her skin was smooth; she couldn”t feel any cut from the blade. She looked up at Akoro. ”What was that?”
“Come,” Akoro said. He took her through the corridors, up into the palace, into his bedroom. It looked just as grand and majestic as she remembered, and even stranger with him in it.
He led her to the mirror, but when she leaned forward to examine her face there was no sign of any cuts.
”I don”t see anything,” she said.
”I know. You won”t. Tell me where you wanted to go.”
Naya ignored him, trying to figure out what he’d done.
He grunted. “I’m going to the ruins,” he said. “You will stay here and watch the mirror. When I come back, I expect you spread and wet, and waiting to give me every inch of your cunt before I go and kill your father and claim your empire.”
He stalked out and Naya exhaled. Maybe it was the impending battle, but he was particularly cruel today. This was completely unnecessary and barbaric, and since the dagger cuts didn’t show, why did he do it?
She thought back to after her Haze, when he was trying to coax her back out of her dampened mood. It had seemed like he cared about her then, but maybe that was just about him. He wanted her praising him and adoring him, like she’d been in her Haze state, and maybe fucking someone who didn’t care either way bruised his ego, so he did what he needed to get her out of her shell. He took her to a forest that was so similar to hers, there was no way she was not going to engage. Was anything he told her even true?
He was about to unleash his cruelty upon her family.
She stood by the mirror as each moment passed. Maybe he was just wasting her time. But then something began to happen. First scars appeared, faint and slight, but they followed the lines that he had carved. Slowly, they became bolder and uglier and raw. Then the skin unknitted, turning into fresh wounds, lines of red all over her face. They started to bleed, painfully and abundantly, like he had just freshly cut the blade into her. Blood flooded down her jaw, trickling down to her chin; her face was wet, aching, and raw.
Naya cried out in alarm. This was the proximity magic. He had gone to the ruins knowing that each step he took away from her revealed what the blade had done—what he had done to her face.
Horror descended over her; she realized he did this so she could never leave—this was his true prison for her. She’d have to be near him all the time not to bleed.
Disgust rocked her more than her anger. He hadn”t changed a single bit, all this time. He had been keeping her satisfied with his cock and his mouth and his fingers. Softening her to him so her stupid instinct would make him seem safe. But he was a monster, a beast like he”d always been. And now he was coming back to collect a last fuck from her.
Naya seethed. She wasn’t going to let him get away with this cruelty again. He’d proven that he didn’t really want a true mate, even his care for her had been selfish. She would let him come back to her… let him think she’d been subdued. And then she would find a way home and prepare to destroy him. If she bled out and didn’t survive the battle, at least she would have warned Papa and Mama, Uncle Torin, the twins, and Lonn.