“In the flesh.” She sounds tired, but her posture is straight.
“Why are you hiding there?” the Stone King hisses.
“I wasn’t hiding. I came here for light. Warmth. This is the only part of the palace you bother to illuminate.”
Jesus, I can’t imagine how dark the rest of this place must be.
“Watch your tongue,” McCreepy snarls. He unfurls his long fingers with the gross nails. Can he do magic like Mikkan could?
I’ve got to get the fuck out of here.
The Omega queen sways forward, bringing with her the fresh, jasmine scent. Diala is taller than me, but shorter than Sian. While the males here seem to easily top seven feet on average, the females are shorter. This one is the smallest I’ve seen yet—closer to my size than Sian’s. She pulls down her hood. Her skin is a dusky pink, and her hair, markings, and lashes are the deep crimson of a red rose. She’s wearing a torn and tattered robe, she’s covered in dust and grime, and her hair looks like it hasn’t seen a comb in a century, but even so, she’s stunningly beautiful.
“You’re so young!” I blurt out. “How can that be?” After all, Sian told me that she was wounded and kidnapped by the Stone King decades ago. She doesn’t look a day over thirty.
Diala slants her mauve gaze over at Creepy McFuck, and her lips curl at one corner. “Shall I tell her, Your Majesty? How I was wounded when you murdered my mate and came to steal me? How you used magic to suspend me in time until you could find a cure? What happened when you did find a cure, and came to wake me up?” Her voice is cracked, yet still rising. The agony in her is so obvious, my insides twist.
“I should have killed you,” the Stone King snarls. “What a pathetic creature you are, ssskulking about in the shadows, always ssscheming… meddling…”
“You should have! Why didn’t you?” She lifts her chin.
She’s brave as fuck but I’m wincing. She’s provoking him on purpose. But why?
“Because you wanted me to,” he snaps. “Why reward you, when you fail to give me what I need? Besidesss, I knew I would be procuring an Omega from another planet. I thought she might need… tutelage.”
Is he fucking serious? “What is she going to teach me?” I ask before I can stop myself.
“How to be a good Omega. A good queen. Thisss one was much beloved before she fell from grace.”
“Fell from grace?” Diala’s slim body quivers like a reed in the wind. “You’re a monster! A sick, fucking monster!”
More gross, wheezing laughter from the hooded creep. “I admit, I did not intend for my life-prolonging ssspells to have these unintended consequences.” He indicates the shadow where his face would be. “But I am still an Alpha. I ssstill have desires. And I can still sssire offspring. All I need is a functioning Omega.”
“Never,” I say. “I will never submit to you.” Moldy dust rains down from the ceiling as my voice bounces off it. “Never be your mate!” So much for staying calm and reasonable.
“Just as there are potions to induce essstrus, there is magic that will make you more… willing,” the Stone King says. He seems not to care a bit about my defiance. He’s used to being turned down by prospective mates. I slide my hand—very carefully—into my pocket.
“Is there?” Diala asks with an arched brow. She has a point. If there was a potion, he would have used it on her. Once again, I’m struck by her courage. Breathtakingly gorgeous and brave as fuck: she must have been an amazing queen.
“I’m so sorry about your mate,” I say, because I’m good at saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Her face contorts, and I curse myself for mentioning it. “He was everything to me. Without him, life has no meaning.Kill me…” She whispers the last two words so faintly, I’m not sure I heard them.
“What?” I stammer.
She doesn’t repeat herself but her eyes, filled with tears and locked on mine, say it all.
There’s a deep ache in my heart at the thought that anyone could be so desperate. Then again, when I put myself in her shoes, I can see exactly why she’d want out.
Hell, I’m about to be in those same shoes, and I feel the same way. Only, I don’t want to die. I want—
“Enough of this melodrama! Diala, get out of here—or don’t, I don’t care. I have my new Omega to deal with. Jussst get out of my way.” Creepy McFucker’s slimy tones interrupt my thoughts. “If you ssstill want me to, I’ll deal with you later. I’d be happy to ob—” His words are cut off with an abrupt gurgle. Then there’s a cough, and a spray of blackish fluid shoots out from within his hood.
“What did you do?” Diala whispers.
My heart is pounding. WhatdidI do?
The tall, hooded figure folds in on himself until he looks like a puddle of robe with two taloned, blue-veined hands sticking out of the sleeves.
