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Naya huffed out a breath. “It wasn’t a lie. I had a dream, a bad one. Don’t you have bad dreams?”
His soft growl made the hair at the back of her neck prickle. “No questions. You do not ask any questions. Not to me or any of my people.”
Naya made a face. “You said I’m a reluctant guest.”
“You are.”
“So you want to ask me silly questions in the middle of the night, but I can’t ask you a single thing back?”
He stepped forward, his face hardening. “I said, no questions. That was your fourth one. There are no exceptions to this rule. If you ask again, you’ll be punished. Do you understand this?”
Naya glared back at him. What the fuck was she doing talking to him anyway? Turning her back to him, she lay down in the cart.
The Alpha growled again, this time loud and rough. Goosebumps flared across Naya’s arms at the sound but she thoroughly ignored him. He was displeased. Good. Luckily, she couldn’t scent him from inside the dome, so the impact on her wasn’t strong.
It was quiet for a long while and Naya relaxed, her mind wandering to her brothers and her sister. Drocan, the second oldest, would be as furious as Papa. He’d be in the thick of helping with whatever investigation Papa was running and doing his own research into the other rulers. He was fiery just like Papa and he didn’t trust the other rulers. Azarn, her other brother, would be more upset but then become enraged once he realized the implications of her disappearance, and Idaya, her sister, would want to tear the whole forest down looking for her, in denial of any notion that Naya had been taken and insisting that she was probably still in the forest somewhere.
They all had Papa’s temper and Mama’s curiosity, and when they were younger they were a force of nature for their parents to try and control. Naya would use magic to sneak them all into restricted areas of the palace, play tricks on the Eiros twins, and hide them all when Papa was furious at something they’d done. If it wasn’t for Mama’s ability with magic, Naya would’ve gotten away with wreaking havoc, and her siblings were always right beside her. They were all so close, and even though they understood what she was going through after what happened in Saderthorne, she could barely look them in the eyes. Idaya always left her favorite fruits outside her quarters, and Azarn would leave history books with highlighted passages he loved and wanted to share with her. Drocan would simply force his way in to see her every now and then, just to give her a hug. They never gave up on her, and now they might all die before she could tell them how much she loved them.
When the drowsiness of sleep beckoned again, Naya abruptly sat up, forcing herself awake. She couldn’t go through any more nightmares tonight.
“Humph.”
Startled, Naya turned to see the beast still standing by the cart. Why was he still here?
“You avoid sleep because of bad dreams.”
Naya tensed at his words, but was more annoyed by the satisfied way he’d said it, as if it’d been a challenge to figure out.
“That’s why you’re always in the forest at night,” he concluded.
Naya examined him, her voice quiet. “How many times did you see me in the forest?”
A gruff sound came from his throat. In an instant, the fabric around her neck tightened, solid and hard, just like it had before around her ribs. Within moments, she couldn’t breathe.
“I said no questions.” Though his voice was calm, anger darkened his features. “This is no jest. You do not ask me anything.”
Naya clawed at her throat trying to speak, but though her mouth made the shapes, nothing could come out.
He said nothing more. He simply watched her, and she glared at him back, until she gripped the side of the cart and keeled over, clawing at her neck and gasping for air. Heat encased her head, and light prickled at the edges of her vision. And then everything went black.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Naya woke with a start, her hand rushing to her neck.
Everything was calm. Her heartbeat throbbed slow and steady, and she lay on the bottom of the cart. Pushing off the blankets, she sat up. It was morning. The sky had morphed to a soft dark blue waiting for the sun to break into the horizon. The campfires stirred, low murmurings and clattering of equipment filtering through the camp.
Naya rose up to her knees looked around for the beast, violent words on her tongue as she wrestled with her anger that he had literally driven her unconscious through strangulation. Although she was his prisoner, they had agreed that she would be a reluctant guest. What exactly did that mean? Torture and strangulation weren’t commonplace rules of engagement—at least none that she’d ever studied. Also, if she couldn’t ask questions it’d be difficult to find out how to get out of here and take information back to her father. Scrunching her blankets in her fist, she let her anger rage through her. She hated him. The domination and control, and the unwillingness to be fair was reminiscent of Alphas through history who were too single-minded to listen to reason. He wanted his control over her to be absolute, that she should do what he said immediately. She wasn’t some fucking animal he could bark orders at.
He wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The camp hummed with growing chatter and noise and people moved around preparing for travel. Naya watched them, swallowing her curses as her anger faded into a reluctant realization. If the beast had allowed her to ask questions revealing information about his plan or a way for her to escape, he wouldn't be a real threat because he’d be stupid. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. Of course he wouldn’t allow it. If she was in his position she wouldn’t either. But she also wouldn’t enjoy torturing anyone the way he seemed to.
Women approached and removed her magical dome so they could change and rinse her squat pot and collect her empty food bowl. She was given three more furry fruits, a small loaf of bread with raisins, and a bowl of some kind of grain. Her stem—tmae—was replaced, and one woman took her to a small tent farther down the fleet to bathe.
Once the campfires had been packed up, the beast arrived with his usual group. Naya was irritated he looked so calm. His gaze locked onto her when he strode past to climb onto his nnirae, within it held a challenging look that taunted her to defy him. She glared back until he mounted.
Soon they were on their way. The fleet traveled again all day and camped at night. The healer checked her over and gave her a bitter, herby potion to drink, and a woman brought her meals. The beast stood by the nearest campfire watching her eat but she turned her back to him again, hoping it annoyed him as much as it had last night.
As night descended, she tried to fight the drowsiness that came over her, but accidentally fell asleep. This time she was in Lox Palace, sitting on her throne in the Great Hall with Mama and Papa beside her. The hall was full of citizens, but they were silent, just watching the three of them. When she turned to look at her parents, they were melting—bubbling streams of pus and blood softening their shape until they were blobs in their thrones. And then her throne started heating.
