She would dare, though. Some part of her must know the power she wielded even now. Knew of her importance and that she could brave much before he lost his temper.
“Hurry it up.” Fingertips measuring a slow rhythm against the intricate carvings of his chair, he watched. Waited as the girl’s eyes drifted. Lips pressed into a hard line each time they fluttered open to keep him in view as he shifted.
The longer he watched her, the more certain he became that she knew. Those midnight black eyes following his every movement, tracking him. Too aware for something so young. She wasn’t a simple child though, he reasoned. An Omega, and in a powerful Alpha’s presence. One of magnificent power even before tonight, the force of it raging just beneath his skin. Staring at one another, measuring the other, Otaso’s lips curled into something of a smile.
Something he hadn’t done in a very long time.
Releasing the wet nurse, the girl continued to watch. Finished with her meal, there was no excuse for her to remain awake. Yet she did, watching Otaso. Meeting his gaze as if she were equal, the inky length of her lashes wide against the tawny gold of her skin.
Pale amber eyes darting towards the bed, the woman held the girl closer. Urged her lips back, trying to get her to begin again.
“She’s finished.”
Tales said Omegas were immune to magic, that a force such as his couldn’t control them. Otaso thought to try it, but when he stood and took the girl with careful hands from the woman’s faltering grip, those dusky lashes began to slip shut. A contented gurgle bubbling up from her lips as she caught the edge of his robe in one fist. He shouldn’t show her such reverence as he held her against his chest. Shouldn’t let on that he had thoughts not involving her death, even in front of the slave.
Too important to be part of the long train that followed him, they had placed a rough cradle in his tent. A convenience considering he would slake his needs on the wet nurse for now, until she became too broken to withstand it. He had to have a care with that one for now, at least until they could find another, but you could do much to a woman before she shattered.
In the meantime, he placed the girl into the soft pelts and fine fabrics lining the heavy trunk. Startled when she caught his finger and brought it to her lips, gumming the hard knuckle. Otaso didn’t know how long he sat there, watching this strange infant with utter fascination. Long enough she slipped closer to true sleep, releasing him with a wet smack of her lips and a healthy yawn that showed the pink of her gums.
“Aida,” he murmured, stroking the roundness of her cheek.
His half-sister’s second name, the woman-child burnt to ash and scattered to the sea ages ago. Before Otaso found his true calling, before he’d murdered their father, taking that title and power for his own. Their brothers, too. A Beta, yes, but with the same lack of fear. She’d smiled as she met Otaso’s gaze more often than not. Her lack of caution had cost her much before her soul slipped free of its mortal chains, but he had never felt such passion, such love, before or since.
Thoughts of the long dead girl and the glory of her blood and death beneath his hands suffused him. Her pain and screams loud in his ears once more, he turned to the golden-haired woman. Lips wide in a smile that showed too much teeth as he stalked his prey, driving her across the room.
Otaso didn’t give it a second thought as he wasted the energy to throw a barrier over little Aida. She’d hear screams one day, but not the paltry ones of this slave.
Someday, she’d hear her own at his hands.
Decision made, he caught the pale slave. Tossed her onto the bed and laughed at her shrill cries while his little Aida sucked her thumb, oblivious as she found true sleep.
Chapter 1
Aida
“Aida!”
Shoulders lurching to her ears, Aida froze as her guardian’s rage shattered the hurried excitement of spring infiltrating her room. Windows wide to the gentle breeze and the cheery song of birds, it was a forbidden act she thought to get away with while he was deep in consultations with his advisors.
The stomp of boots below drove dingy ochre dust into the air. Drifting past her window and up to the spire that scraped the vivid blue sky before the wind caught it and dragged the drab yellow clouds away. Announcing in dismal fanfare that she hadn’t been as safe as she’d thought.
His guards always tattled. No matter her pleas or delicate sneaking, they reported her every misdeed with cruel neutrality. They never touched her, crowding her away from the outside world, back towards her tower with their sheer bulk. The one time she’d been brave enough to push through their wall of etched metal and sooty aggression, Otaso murdered the man. Used brute strength instead of the magic forever shimmering just under his skin in a lazy crimson glow to rip the soldier’s head clean off.
She never touched another of them again.
Otaso had no such issue with touching her. Now he wrapped a thick arm around her middle, hauling her away from eyes that wouldn’t dare to peek up at her prison. The length of her back pressed against his chest, she tried and failed to hide the flinch when the rasping sound of his displeasure rumbled through her.
“I only wanted—”
“None of your lies,” Otaso growled, the acrid wash of his breath scattering over her neck as he curled around her. Surrounding a far smaller body with mounds of muscle and vibrating anger. “What have I told you a thousand times?”
Aida forced the tension from her limbs, going limp in the violent embrace. It was to be a lesson then, not a simple reprimand. Quelling the tremble of her lower lip, she closed her eyes to the sudden dimness of the tension-soaked room. Tongue seeking to bring moisture to the parched planes of her lips, she whispered, “To act like a common woman is to be treated like one.”
“Do you wish to be punished today of all days?”
“No, sir.”
“Then I better not hear of your transgressions again.”
