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Chapter One
Once upon a time…
“Rory! What on earth areyoudoing here?” my stepmother, Queen Berinda, cried out in a horrified tone as she spotted me at the back of the Great Hall. She clutched her chest, as if she were about to have a heart attack.
I should be so lucky.
I gave her a mocking little bow and a smile. “I live here, my queen.”
My presence had taken my stepmother by surprise, and the poisonous words had spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them, I think. She usually tried to hide the full depth of her hatred for me in front of my father. I wasn’t sure why. He never seemed to feel much differently either, really, though he did try to keep up appearances.
One must havesomedecorum, after all.
Standing beside my stepmother was my half-sister, Princess Callista, wearing a candy pink, low-cut gown and glaring at me like she could already feel her blood-red fingernails digging satisfyingly into my skin.
I suppose I had waited too late to even try coming to the Great Hall that night, where my father, stepmother and half-sister took their evening repast. I usually came much earlier to fill a container with food I could take back to my own rooms and snuggle down into my blankets to hide, thus avoiding any needless interaction with my family. We all found that so much easier to bear.
But I had been so excessively tired this evening that I had nodded off as I was reading in the library. Almost no one from court ever came there, so it was perfect for me to stay during the day. I even had a lovely corner where I’d made myself a hideaway by piling up some pillows and blankets, with the only light coming into my little cocoon was from a sliver of the nearby window that I’d left uncovered. I liked to sit for hours reading every day when the weather was too cold and dreary even for me to go out to the mountain trails to run.
Since my father’s court had very few omegas—my stepmother’s idea—everyone just thought I was weird and crazy. Which I probably was, but we omegas liked the safety and comfort of small, dark places. The nesting instinct was strong inside us, because we were usually on the small side and vulnerable to just about everybody else. Well, everyone else with a dick, anyway.
The Alpha fathers of most omegas acted as their protectors until they came of age, but my father never had much to do with me.
He’d once been a strong Alpha, but over the years, as his close family members and betas had been killed in the frequent, back and forth wars with Morovia, the neighboring kingdom to the northeast, my father seemed to dwindle away, getting smaller and weaker with each passing day. Then my mother died. And the thing about mate bonds, like the one my father had with my mother, was that even death didn’t break them. He tried his best to keep going after she passed, but I knew he still suffered her loss keenly every day, making him unable to ever truly move on.
My father grieved over my mother’s loss particularly hard, because she had not only been his mate, but she’d also been on his council and his closest advisor.
But since we don’t miss what we never had, my father’s disregard barely registered on me. I was far too engaged in a daily cat and mouse game with my stepmother.
On this particular afternoon, when I finally woke from a late nap, the soft, amber-hued light from my little sliver of window in my hideout told me that it was far later in the day than was strictly safe for me to venture out. Still, I was starving, and I thought I might have enough time to slip into the Great Hall and grab something to eat before the rest of the royal family made their grand entrance. I’d already missed the midday meal, not to mention breakfast, so waiting until they had all finished their dinner and left for the evening simply didn’t feel like an option. There was no help for it—I had to go to the Hall.
Glancing at the clock in my room, I figured I might have about twenty minutes to make my way to there, sneak in, grab a little food and get out again before any of them made an appearance. Some of the court would see me, of course, but they’d simply have to deal with it. It couldn’t be helped, as I was almost faint with hunger. Unfortunately, my calculations about how much time I’d have before the family arrived were slightly off.
Our winter castle was on the small side, so the Great Hall had many functions, as it was used for court business and receiving guests. It was also the place where the entire household would dine together, including the King and Queen. Their older children, along with any of father’s lords or ladies who happened to be in attendance that day would join them—except for me, that is. I wanted to stay far away from anywhere the family might be making an appearance. The less we saw of each other, the better it was for all of us.
I felt a little uneasy from the moment I stepped inside the Hall, but I had to get some food, so I just kept going. I had just managed to stuff a few pieces of bread, a couple of apples and berries and some tasty-looking pieces of cheese in my pockets before reaching for one last, succulent strawberry when I heard my stepmother’s shriek. I usually avoided strawberries, because they were my half-sister’s favorite and not for the likes of me. So when I heard the shriek, for just a moment I thought it was about the strawberry and dropped it like it was hot. It plopped in the gravy, made a big splash and the thick, brown goo spilled out onto the tablecloth.
I had heard the fanfare outside the entrance, announcing the royal family, of course, but I’d thought I might still have time to skulk out the back door before my stepmother made it inside. No such luck.
I swear, the woman had eyes like a hawk circling the barnyard for baby chicks. I froze, my hand still outstretched, as I turned my head slowly toward her.
“Rory!” she cried out again. “What are you doing here? Answer me this instant! You know the sight of you gives me indigestion!”
“Um…I was just getting some food, my queen.” I liked to call her “my queen” because it seemed to annoy her. It was a small victory, but I took what I could get.
“While I’meating?”sheshrieked again.
“Technically, you’re not eating yet, my queen,” I replied. “You just walked in.”
“Rory,” my father cut in, sounding tired. “Don’t be rude to your mother.”
“Stepmother,”we both loudly corrected him, almost in unison, and she glared daggers at me. I mean, I was only agreeing with her. My father waved a languid hand at us, because he didn’t really care anyway and grabbed a goblet of wine.
“You knew we were having guests tonight,” Berinda hissed at me. Actually, I had no idea, because nobody told me anything, but it wouldn’t have stopped me if I’d known. I was too hungry and already getting those black spots dancing in front of my eyes, the ones that meant I better eat something and soon if I knew what was good for me.
“Must you ruin everything?” she hissed. “Our guests have traveled a long way to come here tonight, so the least you could do is show us all the courtesy of not appearing here in such a-a deplorable and wretched state.”
All right, she had me there. My hair was a tangled rat’s nest under the hood of my old cape, because I hadn’t taken time to try to comb through it as it was mostly unmanageable anyway. I also had bright pink marks creased into my face from falling asleep with my head down on my folded hands in my little cocoon in the library corner. But I’d slept only an hour or so the night before, and not at all the night before that, which, come to think of it, might have accounted for the dark purple circles under my eyes. Still, I had to agree with my stepmother’s remark. I was definitely not looking my best.
