Chapter 65
The gamble
I turn on the goddess and scoff. “He’s a killer. I do not believe for one minute that he cares about an omega.”
She raises an eyebrow. “How shall we prove it, then? Shall I disfigure him? Cut off a limb?”
I shake my head. “That wouldn’t prove anything.”
She juts her lower jaw and pretends to think.
She doesn’t know why she’s listening to me, I think in a daze. Does a part of her buried deep recognise me?
With a huff, she drops the knife and paces away. Her leg buckles, and she almost falls. I’ve got a jagged piece of metal hidden in my boot. We just need to attack at the right moment, I doubt she could fight me off.
She gets her balance and then starts to laugh. “I know how to prove it.”
I stare at her. Bored and offended by how much fun she’s having.
“True love’s kiss. Isn’t that what humans believe in? All those old fairy tales of alphas and omegas falling in love. Let’s see them lie their way through that.” She smiles, and it’s one of the most evil things I’ve seen in my life. “But.”
My whole body stiffens as I wait for the ultimatum.
“If my Warden reacts, then the omega’s life is forfeit.”
What? I glance at Walker and see his lips have gone white around the edges.
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then my Warden will die. I am curious to see which is more powerful.” Her smile is positively evil.
I look around us, but we’re four deep in beta guards and pledges. No one will be able to reach us.
I feel sick as I stare at Legion.
“It’s okay, I’ve been prepared to die since the day I led them straight to your family,” he murmurs. “I’m okay with this.”
I’m not, though.
“Why play these games?” I hiss at the goddess. “What is this all for?”
“For? Why does there need to be a for? I was sick of everything being about omegas and alphas, just tired of hearing it. Locked away in that world, watching the boring existence of gods and humans day in and day out.”
“You were bored?” I say in absolute shock. “You did all this because you were bored?”
She shrugs shoulders that aren’t hers.
My scalp prickles, and I imagine throwing myself at her and strangling the god from her delicate throat.
“It is more fun here. I am treated like a god.”
“You were a god!” I snap.
“But now I’m treated like one!” she hisses.
I stare at her, the facial expressions, the rage and dancing glee. She really is insane.
She pouts her lips, her expression changing to coy and cunning. I shudder and stiffen my shoulders as she cants her head to the side, watching me.
“You are so moral for an omega about to die. Where is your dignity? Where is your fear for your life? Aren’t you going to beg and plead? Tell me about your loved ones who need you desperately. Will you offer me a deal? Suck my clit for an extra day?”
She tosses her mane of blond hair back and laughs.
I glance at the crowd, finding Mordecai, who is staring at me with an expressionless face. I don’t know what to do, but they can’t get close enough to her to kill her.
Think, Keres, think.
“My perfect pet here will fuck you if you wish to buy an hour?” She gestures to the High King, who smirks at me in a way that promises pain.
“I’ll pass.”
“What?”
I think she’s honestly shocked by my response.
“I’m not sure what’s so hard to understand?” I snap. With a glare at the crowd, I fold my arms over my chest. “I would rather die.”
She glowers at me. “You aren’t being fun, Omega. That loses you points.”
I shrug my shoulders, glancing down and seeing Jarek’s panicked face as he shoves against the wall of betas.
My chest tightens.
“Oh,” she laughs.
I snap my head back towards her and find her staring out at Jarek.
“I see how it is.”
“That’s not how it is!” I say quickly, too quickly.
“Bring me the alpha,” she says and points to him.
I look around frantically, desperate.
But it’s not Jarek she grabs. It’s Cadel.
My hands shake, and, curse her, she notices. She laughs at my response and leans over the stage, smiling widely.
“It seems our omega has a mate!”
The betas cheer.
I promise myself that I will see them all dead. Each and every single one of these black-robed bastards.
“Come here, young man. What is your name?”
She turns to him, smiling, but recoils in horror. “YOU! I left you to die.”
“I mean, seven hundred years was a nice attempt, but sadly, it didn’t work,” Cadel says in a bored voice.
“Bring my chest!” she barks, she dances towards me and grabs another one of her beta’s swords and holds it at me, glowering at Cadel like he’s going to pounce.
A beta rushes off, and four return, straining under the haul of a heavy box.
“High Alpha, you should have stayed where you were,” she sneers.
Cadel glances at me, but there’s a sword to my throat. I didn’t even notice it. His eyes travel to the beta holding it.
“Step away from my omega.”
The blade trembles and lowers as the beta tries to fight his command but fails miserably. The blade disappears, but there are twenty more betas crawling up the stairs, their swords poised to attack.
“What do you want?” Cadel asks.
“I want you to pick these up.”
The chest is tipped over, and chains pour out of it.
“You just carry spares around?” he mocks.
“Just in case of days like this,” she smiles sweetly. She frowns at his lack of movement. “Pick up these chains and return to your endless wait, or I will kill the omega. Run her through with a pretty sword!”
Cadel glances at me, his eyes burning so red that they look like fire. I reach for his hand but just miss him as he steps sideways.
“I can’t see you die, Keres.”
“No!” I moan. “No, please.”
He walks to the chains and kicks them lightly. “You won’t harm her?”
“I promise you I won’t harm her. No one will lay a finger on her. She is the safest person here,” she says impatiently, rolling her eyes.
Cadel bends down and picks up the chains. I hear gasps behind me, calls of people screaming, asking where he’s gone. They can’t see him. But I can.
We stare at each other.
His knees give way, and he hits the ground, bowing under the weight of them.
“Cadel,” I whisper.
He looks away from me.
I want to tell him to look at me. Shout that it changes nothing. Don’t hide. Just look at me.
But she is looking between us with growing happiness.
“This, this is exactly what I was talking about.”
She reaches out, grabbing my chin. I tear my face free and hiss at her. She grabs me again, her nails digging into my cheek. When she breathes on me, I can smell the body rotting from the inside out.
“You love him. You would die for him, and he walked into a trap for you. No one but a god can free him of those chains.”
I don’t say anything. I can free him. She doesn’t know that, and I have no intention of telling her.
“What is it? This emotion, why do you crave it so much when it makes you so weak.” She looks so baffled that I almost feel sorry for her. If she weren’t a homicidal maniac.
“You will never know how strong it makes us.”
She looks between us. “From here, you don’t look strong at all.”
I stare at her, refusing to look away.
“I thought omegas were supposed to be meek, mild, and weak?”
“Omegas are the heart, the fire of a pack. We can be whoever we want to be. Even if I wanted to look away from you, I wouldn’t.
You are the person who killed my mother, my family, my friends.
You are a threat to everything that lives.
A rot that poisons everything it touches.
High Beta?” I spit. “You are nothing but a parasite.”
She throws me away. I’m in the air for seconds, but then I hit the doors of the walls of Foreen. They rattle and clang as I collapse on the floor, breathing hard.
“Oops, broke my promise.”
I roll to my knees, breathing hard, looking at Cadel. He struggles, straining against the chains, but they hold him there.
“The end of days is upon us,” the Beta sings and turns, stopping abruptly when she sees Legion and the impassive Walker.
“Will you kiss him back?”
“Never!” Walker hisses.
“Do you love him?”
“No!”
“Is he your omega?”
“No.”
She smiles, sidling up to him and walking fingers up his chest. He doesn’t even look at her. His white hair floats in the breeze. He’s a monster, but he wasn’t always.
“I think you’re telling me lies.”
His eyes flicker up to her. “I’m not.”
“Don’t do this!” I shout at her. I get to my feet, wincing at the pain in my ribs.
“Hold her!” The Beta says easily, without looking away from her Warden.
“You are so much bigger than him. Will you break him? I wonder…” she stalks off, her legs less shaky, but the body is dying, perhaps it's stopped fighting her. “It’s time. I need to know if I’m right,” she says and snaps her fingers.
“No, don’t do this!” Legion shouts. “Kill me instead. Just kill me.”
She runs her hands down her naked body and leaves them on her hips.
“Kill you? Without all the fun? No, I don’t think so. I need to know if I can trust my Warden.”
“He’s not yours!” I shout. “He will never be yours!”
Her eyes fix on me and seem to glow an eerie yellow. “Be quiet. I’ve got plans for you, so wait your turn.”
Walker clenches his jaw but doesn’t look at anyone.
“Warden, I command you to kiss that omega.”
Legion looks at me, almost desperate. I’ve never once seen him like this. Walker stands up and approaches Legion, who doesn’t move. He trembles. His whole body trembles, and then he leans into his alpha, unable to resist the pull.
“You don’t have to do this,” I hear Legion say to Walker. He’s almost begging. He stumbles back when Walker reaches for him, but then the alpha’s hands close over his arms and tow him in.
“I won’t kiss him back,” Walker promises.
“I won’t let you die for me,” Legion says with fervor.
“Just kiss already!” the Beta shouts petulantly.
I look up at the sky, willing the stinging in my eyes to go away, but then I look back just in time to see them kiss.
It’s stiff. They aren’t enjoying it. And then Legion starts really kissing him. Putting everything into it. He steps into Walker’s space.
“Legion,” I whisper, knowing what he’s doing.
“I love you,” Legion says into Walker’s mouth, and that rips the alpha’s control apart. He grabs his omega and devours his mouth like he’s drowning, like his control has finally snapped, and in a way, it has.
The kiss goes on and on.
And then he pulls away, his face an expression of pure horror.
“No!” he whispers. “Lucian, no! What did you do?” he whispers the words, but they are so broken they bring tears to my eyes.
He leans in, kissing his omega again.
This is the Walker I remember; this is my friend. Someone who cares so deeply, who is free and easy with his affection.
Their kiss is soft and slow. The agony of their combined scents, full of heartbreak and yearning, fills the air. My chest hurts, and I find myself looking for my alphas.
Jarek is struggling, shouting in an increasingly uneasy crowd. Mordecai stares at me still, my strength in an alpha who has been our rock. When I look at Cadel, his forehead is pressed to the platform.
I struggle against the arms holding me, but it’s impossible. I can’t break free.
And then, from deep in the crowd, I hear one word louder than any other.
“Resist.”
It’s repeated over and over from all around the gathered black-robed betas. Until the hidden Resistance are chanting as one.
“RESIST.”
And then all hell breaks loose.