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I peer through the waning evening light to make sure there’s nothing out there. As I survey the trees, the weight of the last forty-eight hours crashes down on top of me.

Caelan. The Omega.

My fault. All my fault.

I fucking swear I sense something watching me. The feeling of unease from earlier starts to creep back in. Just like before, I force myself to shake it off.

There’s nothing out here. Just the sun setting on the worst day I’ve lived in five-hundred years…

And if I pause at the threshold of the door, scenting the faint fragrance of lavender carried on the breeze, well…

I’m smart enough to know it’s nothing more than my imagination

Chapter 24

Idril

It’s evening, and I’m following Lenora across a football field-sized training yard and into one of the largest houses I’ve ever seen.

If you can even call it a house.

It’s even larger than Father’s mansion. A towering structure, with turrets like an honest-to-Fates castle, touching the sky. There’s an actual walk-around battlement surrounding a central structure with arrow slits for archers.

Thick, dark ivy crawls up the side, a splash of color against dark stone that looks like it was mined straight from a mountain.

It looks like a castle.

No, it is a castle. At least four stories tall, its shadow looms ominously the closer we get.

Behind it is a training area that connects to the sprawling single-level compound we came out of. I’m pretty sure that building is full of barracks. A part of the estate, but clearly not connected to the main house—err, castle.

A broad courtyard opens to a wide circle drive that runs all the way to the connecting road. It’s lined on either side by tall trees that seem to sway, despite the absence of wind. They continue around the entire perimeter, and the training area backs up to a sea of them. There must be hundreds of acres of dark forest.

By the time Lenora leads me through a side entrance, my breathing has turned ragged. She enters before me, not bothering to catch the door as it swings shut behind her. It almost hits me in the face.

I catch it at the last second, my palm stinging from the impact. My cheeks heat, and something dark and angry twists in my chest.

She didn’t even look back.

I’m right here. I’m a person!

I dig my teeth into my lower lip and swallow the words.

I’m starting to realize that years being the perfect Omega daughter while living in constant fear of my abusive father, only to be stolen away, brought here, and treated like a criminal, may have broken something inside of me.

There are new desires surfacing, fighting against the instinct to stay submissive, silent, and obedient. I had to learn those instincts early, to stay safe. I had to ingrain them so deeply that they became a part of me. Without them, there was nothing but pain.

But now, the flame flickering in my chest grows larger and hotter with each indignity I face.

Now there are two sets of instincts. One set wants to snap back, but the other reminds me that staying silent is all that stands between me and more pain.

It should be easy to ignore that flame.

It’s not.

I find myself wanting to ignore the very instincts that have kept me alive for two decades. The flame points out that I’ve spent my entire life making myself small for my father. How long can I continue to do the same for this new threat? How long will I keep choking on my words to stay safe?

As long as it takes to stay near your Mate.