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I wait for more—requests for money, power, the sort of thing someone might typically request from a king. But Mylah doesn’t go on.

“Books?”

“Yes.”

“Any specific books?”

She hesitates, then, “I could give you a list.”

I can’t stop the smile that spreads over my face. So, my mate likes books. I have an entire library of books that I have little to no interest in. They could all be hers, for what I care.

But I don’t say that. Instead, I gesture to her seat, desperately trying to contain the strange joy that claws to life in my chest. “We’ll see about a list. If you win, I bring you the books you want. If I win, I get to pick.”

Something lights up behind her eyes. A woman who loves a challenge.

“Fine,” she agrees, pulling out the seat and sitting with a grace I didn’t expect.

Everything about her seems to be something I didn’t expect. For a long, lingering moment, the two of us just stare at each other, the board and table between us. The physical attraction is still there, simmering beneath the surface, but for the first time it’s taken a backseat.

For now, I want to see if she can put up a fight in this game.

“Okay,” I begin, clearing my throat and pointing to the board. “First rule. The white square always goes in the bottom left corner.”

Chapter 13 - Mylah

The moment Augustus leaves, I let out a breath and pace into the bathroom, where I’ve hidden the book from Aurora.

It felt like he was looking in that direction. Like he knew about it, and was just waiting for me to blurt it out. But I managed to keep my composure.

Playing chess helped.

As did the look on his face when I nearly beat him the first time, and then bested him the second. On the third, we had a draw.

“So, give me your list,” he’d said, crossing his arms. “I imagine chess strategy books won’t be a on there.”

I’d darted a cheeky grin in his direction, liking that he’d conceded my victory even though we technically tied. Liking the way he sat in the chair, his biceps stretching against his shirt. Liking the way he looked at me, eyes locked on mine. A competitor.

My captor, I had to remind myself. I shouldn’t have been grinning at him. But it was fun to play chess with him. To sit across from him, the drama of our bond tugging us slowly and surely together, even as we pretended not to notice it.

Another reminder: I pretended not to notice it. Augustus genuinely did not. That is how the false fated connection functions.

Now, I pull the book down and examine it. The first thing I did after receiving it was hide it, and now that Augustus has come again, it feels like the safest time to really look at it.

Just from touching it, I understand that many other omegas have had this book before me. That other hands have held this leather, read these pages.

Somehow, Aurora got her hands on it.

And she gave it to me.

Sure, it could be a ploy to get me in trouble. Big trouble. It’s one thing to read something like this, but it’s another to pass it to another omega. That’s intent to riot, intent to rebel. The laws that prohibit omega movement and consumption are among the strictest, and even fringe shifters follow them.

Or, at least, they sometimes follow them. My father letting me use his library card and bringing me books certainly would have been frowned upon. Him leaving me his house likely never would have happened if we’d lived in an actual Kault territory. Even if he had tried to do it, someone would have shown up and seized it. Took me to a workhouse and sold the house to an alpha.

Hands trembling, I take a deep breath and open the book again.

Your Guide to Omega Liberation.

This is, perhaps, the most reckless thing I have ever done. More than trying to squeeze out a window or picking the lock on the door. More than playing chess with the king of the Northern Kault pack.