AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Akoro scowled at her for a long moment, then headed for the door. "We will talk about your sister tomorrow.”
"We won't," Naya snapped to his back.
He turned, still in the grip of whatever instinctual insanity had taken him. “We will. And you’d better hope I can verify everything you said, otherwise you’ll have bigger problems to worry about."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Naya paced across her room, trying to work out the agitation that had gripped her.
Guards had escorted her back to her room hours ago and it had gone dark outside, but her anger and upset hadn't cooled. When she’d agreed to give Akoro information about the empire, that did not, in her mind, include information about her personally or her dead sister.
Maybe it was foolish to think they wouldn’t want that information, but she'd assumed that they’d done their fucking research.
Lili had been dead for six years, the same amount of time that Naya stopped visiting the countries around the empire and withdrew from her duties. How is it they knew so much about the empire, but didn't know that specific thing about her? She thought back to the way the empire had grieved during that time. She wasn't sure what had been put into the Records Keep about the event—had no idea what had been recorded or publicized. Her parents had controlled that, but it was public knowledge. Where were Akoro and his people getting their information from if they missed that?
Regardless, it didn’t have any relevance to Akoro's invasion. There were some things that she would not do, and that was provide them with any intimate information, knowledge, or details about her family that wasn’t public knowledge—that was off-limits, and she would tell Akoro that. He could kill or torture her—whatever he wanted. There were some things she just wasn’t willing to do, even if it hurt her plans to escape.
An hour after Meiro had brought in food that remained untouched, the door opened again. Akoro stepped in. He had calmed down from earlier, but there was still a smoldering anger in the way he moved—his bulky shoulders still tense.
Naya crossed her arms and glared at him.
It was strange that he didn’t know about true mates, but since it appeared he didn't, it was likely he wouldn’t find out she lied about the Omega Haze, and even if he did, it could be that things worked differently in her empire. Either way she had a safety net.
His eyes ran over her. "Have you calmed?"
"Have you?"
Akoro's face soured. "I have looked into what you said about Omegas’ true mates. It isn’t accurate."
"How so?"
"The Haze isn't always present when true mates meet each other.”
"That’s what is supposed to happen.” That wasn't a complete lie—things like Omega blocks impacted the Haze. “If it doesn’t, you can’t be sure.”
Akoro approached and examined her face, his expression somber. Naya stared back at him and let him look. He couldn’t boldly claim they were mates just because he had an attraction to her, especially if she didn’t claim an attraction back.
He spoke low, gravelly. “Are you in the habit of fucking your own fingers in front of men you don’t know?”
“What?” Anger reared up again. “You threatened to break my hip! Or did you forget?”
“But you were so wet, Princess,” he said softly, “and so eager to show me.”
Heat crawled up Naya’s neck and her stomach fluttered hearing him call her princess. It was the first time since since he’d captured her that he’d said anything remotely close to her name. She stepped back, her tone resolute. “You’ll never see between my legs again.”
Akoro scowled. He grabbed her and dragged her to him, his voice gruff. “If I want to eat your cunt every day for the rest of my life, you will let me. And your precious Lonn? When we invade, he will die first.”
Naya twisted out of his grip and backed away, but he was already walking to the door.
"We will continue your questioning tomorrow."
“I want your assurance that my sister will not be brought up again.”
Akoro stopped at the door, irritation skittering across his features. “Any question you don’t answer will be taken out on your people. That’s what you agreed to.” Then he left.
* * *
Naya spent the rest of the night practicing her sequences again, but some of the quieter, sustained sequences that her father had been learning in recent years with High Chief Kardos required strength, balance, and focus.
