Lady Neda read in silence, her expression composed, but Reiya caught the subtle pause in her breath, the slight tightening of her fingers on the parchment.
“A gracious invitation,” the woman murmured. “On the surface.”
“Too gracious,” Reiya mused, gaze drifting toward the palace walls. “This isn’t just a simple outing.”
Lady Neda rolled the scroll and set it aside. “No, it is not.”
Reiya studied her—the delicate tension in her posture, the way her fingers curled just slightly around the embroidery frame. She had thought often of the consort these past few days, of the way her smile never quite reached her eyes whenever the king’s attention drifted toward Annaïs.
“Do you think His Majesty will marry her?” she asked at last.
Lady Neda’s hands tightened briefly before she resumed stitching.
“The king is a man of duty,” she said after a moment. “He will do what he believes is best for Asadia.”
It was an answer without being one, and Reiya knew it.
She thought of the way Annaïs carried herself at court—poised, confident, utterly sure of her own worth. The woman was not just an Omega looking to secure any mate. She was playing a larger game.
“And if it happens?” she asked. “If the king does marry her?”
Lady Neda paused, her needle hovering over the silk. Her expressiondidn’t change, but for a moment, just a moment, something in her gaze looked almost . . . tired.
“Then I will smile,” she said, her voice calm, steady, “and play my part.”
Reiya set down her embroidery, a hollow ache yawning in her chest. “Lady Neda?—”
“I have had a place by his side for years, child,” the woman said gently. “That does not mean it was ever truly mine to keep.”
She wanted to argue that love and loyalty should matter more than politics, but the words caught behind her teeth. Speaking them aloud would only reveal her naivety, as if she hadn’t yet grasped how power truly moved in the nine kingdoms.
Lady Neda, despite all her grace and dignity, was not an Omega, or even a highborn.
That, more than anything, made all the difference.
Betas didn’t possess the same primal pull, the instinctive bond that wove Alphas and Omegas together as if they were carved from the same thread of fate. An Alpha could love a Beta, could cherish her, but the world had already decided where his truest desires would lead. The bond between Alpha and Omega was a force of nature, undeniable, inescapable.
For a Beta woman, standing between that inevitable pull, could it ever be enough?
Did Lady Neda fear that fate? Had she always known it was only a matter of time before her place at the king’s side became obsolete?
Reiya’s heart ached for her, for the silent strength in the way she held herself, as if she could will away the inevitable. But even the strongest walls could not hold against the tide forever.
She exhaled, glancing at the invitation once more. “If I refuse Annaïs’s invitation, it will be seen as an insult.”
“Indeed.” Lady Neda’s gaze flickered with something almost wry. “His Majesty spoke of harmony at the desert picnic. Annaïs knew you cannot refuse when she sent the invitation.”
Reiya turned the parchment between her fingers. “Then I will accept.”
Lady Neda’s brows lifted slightly, though she didn’t look surprised.
“The court expects us to be at odds,” Reiya said. “If I refuse, it feeds their entertainment. But if I go, I can see what she truly wants.”
The consort’s lips curved just slightly, though her expression remained careful. “Precisely.”
Reiya smoothed the silk of her embroidery. “Kaelen and Alarik won’t like it.”
“No, they won’t.”
