Page 14 of Sins of His Wrath (Myth of Omega: Wrath #2)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

T he next morning, Naya was irritated and tired. The night in the cell had brought dreams she couldn’t remember, dreams that woke her up multiple times. She couldn’t afford to be tired on the first of her fourteen days. It also occurred to her that she hadn’t had any dreams at all in Akoro’s bed. That irritated her even more.

By the time the servants came to get her, she was truly grumpy.

They led her out of the dungeons, this time with no hood on her head. A thick crowd of huge soldiers met them at the top of the stairs and surrounded her soon as she stepped into the palace corridor. They walked through the corridor, turning a few times as they navigated the palace, but once again, Naya couldn’t see anything but the ceiling. The soldiers’ bodies blocked her view in every direction. After a while, they slowed to a stop and then ushered her into a room.

It was her bedroom, the same one she’d been given the last time, and it looked exactly the same, earthy and warm. Based on the windows, it wasn’t yet light.

A woman with a broad nose and thin, straight lips stood waiting where Meiro usually dressed her with the circular bathing apparatus. Her weathered face and crinkled eyes indicated she was an older woman who smiled a lot, but there was no softness in her face. A bag sat by her feet that Naya recognized as the bathing liquids, and on the end of the bed, clothes were laid out. On the wood platform that extended from the mattress, a tray of food had been prepared, along with the short cup of kkermo .

The new woman gestured to the floor, and Naya exhaled in annoyance. “Where is Meiro?”

The woman stared at her blankly, and then gestured to the floor again.

Naya exhaled again, and stalked to the bed. Lifting the cup of kkermo , she drank it in one huge swallow, savoring the taste before realizing how much she’d missed it. Then she ate the whole tray of food, not having realized how hungry she was.

The woman bathed her more roughly and quickly than Meiro, though she was just as thorough. Once Naya was dressed, the woman led her back to the doorway, where only three soldiers waited this time. They led her to the front entrance, pausing when they reached the steps overlooking the courtyard.

Akoro sat on his nnirae and was flanked by five important-looking soldiers on nniraes —two of them had carts attached . The carts had solid domes of magic covering them so it was impossible to see inside. Naya tensed. Was this how she was to spend the first day of her investigation? Inside a cart? The soldiers led her down the steps to Akoro, and to her surprise, Akoro dismounted when she arrived. His eyes were dark as she approached, but he lifted her swiftly and twisted to sit her on his nnirae .

He mounted behind her and sat close, so her chest was against his back, and after some discussion in their language, he and his soldiers directed their nniraes to move out of the court.

“Am I finally allowed to speak?” Naya said, her irritation still prickling.

Akoro seemed to be in his own bad mood. “Since today is one of your days, speak while you can.”

Naya’s mind lurched from one topic to another trying to figure out what to ask first. Should she question what happened yesterday or ignore that and start working on the magic problem immediately? Should she ask where they’re going and why they’re traveling before sunrise? Should she ask what happens after today? Naya stayed silent, trying to order her thoughts, but all thoughts ceased when Akoro’s nnirae trotted into the city streets.

Horror filled her lungs, and her mouth dropped open. Had she really done all this?

The beautiful city was now a broken graveyard. Buildings that were once warm hues of amber and gold now stood like dull broken teeth against the horizon, their walls burst outward as though something monstrous had clawed its way free from within. Dried and congealed blood was everywhere—on what remained of the walls, on the debris-filled streets, even saturating the thick air a metallic taint. And in the undercurrent of the muddled odors was the acrid stench of death that seemed to seep from the very stones.

Naya’s breathing increased as they made their way through the streets, hardly unable to believe what she was seeing. Even though she’d known what the white fire was capable of, nothing like this had happened in the Lox Empire

As they passed what had once been the marketplace, the space where merchants had called out their wares and children had played, was now a mess of destruction; bits of cloth skimming along the ground, a child’s toy crushed beneath fallen stone, and a blood-splattered ledger whose pages scattered all over the area were the only things she could made sense of. So many lives had been destroyed, and she had caused this destruction—this time on a huge scale.

“Calm down,” Akoro murmured. “People are watching.”

“Did I really do this?” she said, over her shoulder.

“What did you think would happen when you drew that magic into this city?”

Naya face forward. “I didn’t intend for this to happen,” she muttered to herself. In truth, she hadn’t thought about it. She’d just wanted to get away. This looked like an act of war, and while she’d been forced to do it, Akoro was to blame, not these people. They didn’t deserve it, just like her people didn’t deserve what Akoro was trying to do to them. Naya tried to keep the guilt from seeping into her bones. She couldn’t take on the responsibility for something she had been forced to do, and yet she couldn’t ignore the children that were walking on the streets, their clothes ash covered, as though they had washed and put the same clothes back on. A group of women in patterned robes gathered up the children and were heading in the same direction as Akoro and Naya.

“These are children who have not yet been claimed,” Akoro said, following her gaze. “The neighborhood healers are looking after them. They are being taken to the communal area where people are pooling their food to help feed each other.”

Just as he finished speaking the communal area came into view.

Broken pillars and crumbling walls surrounded the space, but people had cleared enough debris to create paths between the improvised shelters—strips of fabric stretched between the posts to provide shade from the merciless sun. The air was thick with charred meat, herbs, spices, and unwashed bodies, punctuated by the occasional wail of a child.

Women moved through the crowds with practiced efficiency, distributing meager portions of flatbread and dried meat to those who couldn’t line up for the food being served on a large dais in the center of the space. Yet despite their movements, a heavy silence hung over the square—the kind of quiet that came from weary grief. Even the helpers who moved through area had the sallow, exhausted look of ragged survivors.

Naya gestured to the area. “Do you contribute anything to this?”

“Of course I do,” Akoro growled. “What kind of question is that?”

“I was just asking. It doesn’t seem like they have much.”

“The palace brings the majority of the food and medicine just before lur ennen and just before sun down. But my people are independent. They have a strong sense of community and will help each other when they are in need. There are already groups rebuilding houses to rehome people, healers treating major and minor injuries, groups for creating clothes, searching for missing people, distributing help from the other regions… We’ve experienced this kind of hardship before.”

Naya kept her eyes on the area, twisting in her seat, as they trotted past, and when she couldn’t see them anymore, she turned and faced front. She couldn’t take on that guilt. Akoro had done this to his people and she had to make sure she remembered that.

They left the city heading south , navigating through the outer ruins that seemed to hug the city in all directions and passing the protective boulders. They traveled on a dusty, rocky landscape as the sky slowly brightened.

“Ask your questions,” Akoro said, almost a demand in her ear.

Naya exhaled a long breath and organized her thoughts. “Why did you have me imprisoned?”

She could almost feel him scowling behind her. “That doesn’t have anything to do with your Solution. If you can’t do what you promised, just say so now.”

“I want to know why I spent two days in prison treated like a criminal, and then paraded around in front of your people,” Naya said sharply. “I want to know if that’s what I should expect—random days in a cell and bribery to keep me quiet. I don’t see how I’m going to be able to effectively work if that’s how I’m going to be treated. You promised you wouldn’t interfere, but being a prisoner in a cell is definitely going to affect my ability to think and work.”

Akoro’s body was tense around her. “It won’t be like that again.”

“And I’m supposed to just believe you?”

“Yes.”

Naya exhaled, trying not to let herself tense. “Fine. As part of finding the Solution, I want to know what happened yesterday.”

“I already said, it won’t help you,” Akoro thundered.

“I’ll decide that.”

Akoro was displeasure was as loud as his silence. The rocky landscape gradually faded into golden sand, and the nnirae sped up, increasing to a comfortable lope. Finally, he spoke. “We have allies.”

Naya blinked, startled by the sudden change of subject. “What… what does that have to do with?—”

“I’m telling you,” he growled. “Quiet.”

Naya grit her teeth but said nothing else.

“This region is made up of ten nnoppas , or districts, as you would call them. The Sy Dynasty control three of them but others have soges who rule over them. They are our allies.”

“Soges?”

“Yes, like… lords.” Akoro thought for a moment. “Soge translates to “noble” in your Common Tongue.”

Naya nodded. “Yes, I understand.”

“Our allies have allowed Sy to become the most powerful Dynasty in this region since our civilization was destroyed, but these relationships have been built carefully over time. When I first began my rule, we were a nomadic culture, even though Onn Kkulma belongs to us. So stability in the city was the primary concern for my people. Once I secured it, tribes settled nearby. They were poor and needed us for various reasons; our boulders and magical wares that prevent magic attacks, reliable trading, sharing of resources and more. I also vowed that their protection was my first concern after the people of Onn Kkulma and I would keep peace in the region. But they’ve quickly grown into villages and towns, into more substantial sources of power. Your attack on the city was taken as an indication we could be unstable.”

Naya nodded, sighing.

“And now that they are more powerful, they are potentially dangerous,” he added. “If they wanted, they could attempt to join together and challenge the Sy Dynasty for Onn Kkulma.”

“Onn Kkulma is the city we just came from?”

“Yes. It is a city of great historic importance to this region, and to all sukkurian people. The Sy Dynasty secured it through great pains. Since then no one has challenged us. But this kind of event can make them reevaluate if it might be worth it.” Akoro’s nnirae angled across the sand and began to run at a quicker speed. The soldiers followed.

Akoro kept talking. “Yesterday I presented you to both my people and the soges, and told them you were the Omega who committed the crime.”

Naya took a breath in and turned to look at him in disbelief, alarm stuttering in her chest. “You did? That’s what you were saying? Why? Do they know I came from the Lox Empire?”

“No.”

“Will this start the war between us? How could they be happy with letting me go?”

Akoro shook his head. “They see you as a rogue Omega.”

Naya calmed. “Oh. One of banished Omegas?”

Akoro nodded. “They think you came from the forests and found your way into the city, and then attracted the wild magic.”

Naya faced front, her brow furrowed. “Could that happen?”

“It’s unlikely, but possible. Omegas haven’t ever tried to get back into the city, as far as I know.”

“So what’s the punishment? What do they think you’re doing with me?”

His body tensed around her again, and the grit in his voice was a clear sign of annoyance. “One of the soges wanted me to kill you, another wanted you to be handed over to him. I told them that neither of those things are part of law. Omegas aren’t supposed to be hurt if they haven’t committed any intentional crime.”

Naya turned and shot him a look. “That isn’t what you told me.”

“You’re a stranger whose people caused the destruction of mine,” Akoro said. “Omega law doesn’t apply to you.”

Naya snorted. “I thought I had to answer for my crimes? Why didn’t you just tell them who I was?”

Akoro looked down at her, his expression fierce. “You will answer for them. But no one punishes you but me, tmot zia . That right belongs to me alone. You disobeyed me when you escaped, and I won’t have your actions negatively affect my people more than they already have.”

“Disobey?” Naya repeated, fury clawing her chest. “I’m not your child, or your wife, or your?—”

“You are my true mate.” His vicious rumble jostled her insides. “Obeying your Alpha isn’t a choice, it’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Naya’s rage flared, her fingers digging into the pommel of the saddle. “That has no meaning for us,” she bit out. “Our bodies are compatible, Akoro, but our hearts aren’t. You know that—you feel it. We won’t ache for each other any more than physical need when this is over. You’ll easily find someone else who’ll react the same way and give you everything else you want.”

The nniare lurched, abruptly slowing, and then stopped. Before Naya could brace herself, Akoro’s fingers caught her chin, forcing her face toward his, twisting her body awkwardly in the saddle. Her eyes widened at the dangerous glint in his dark brown eyes, pinning her in place.

“You didn’t ache for me when we were apart?” he thundered. “You didn’t need me in the Sands when you worried about the nnin-eellithi ? You didn’t lie awake, slick coating your thighs, inviting me into your camp?”

“It was all physical,” Naya ground out. “It has no meaning.”

Akoro’s face twisted, his nostrils flaring. “No meaning?” he repeated, incredulous. “So if I were to tell you that you could go home right now, would you go back to that pathetic excuse of a male? Let him mount you, let him rut you like a weakling? Would let yourself pretend you’re happy?”

Naya held his gaze, calm against his anger. “I won’t ever be truly happy—not like I thought I would.” She inhaled a long slow breath. “I’ve come to terms with that. You should too.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked as he studied her face, his thumb pressing into the soft flesh beneath her chin. A nerve flickered at the corner of his eye, and the air around them grew heavy. Even the nnirae seemed to sense the tension, shifting restlessly beneath them.

“Give me your heat.”

Naya blinked, her brows drawing down. “What?”

His eyes flicked down to her mouth. “Give me your heat again.”

Naya’s mouth tightened, her temper flaring again. She spoke with force. “No. You already fuck me whenever you want, however long you want. You don’t need my heat unless you’re trying to get me pregnant—and I’m not agreeing to that.”

“Oppo will have something to prevent that.” His voice was even, measured. “That’s not what I want.”

“No.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I thought you wanted to negotiate?”

Naya’s anger dropped away. He wanted to negotiate now? Looking at him closer, there was something different his expression. Something guarded and maybe even desperate. It threw her off guard. “W-what do you have in mind?”

“I will give you an additional fifteen days working on the Solution if you go into heat for me again.”

Naya shook her head. That was a trap. She had no idea when he’d even let her use those days. “I want ten days together in a row instead.” To her surprise, he didn’t balk.

“Two,” he countered.

“Eight.”

“Three,” he growled, a wild look in his eye. “You realize this means 3 days without you in my bed? I’ll fucking die.”

A startled laugh almost burst through her lips.

Akoro’s eyes snapped to her lips, his frown softening.

She fought to keep a straight face. He probably would suffer. And if she was honest, she likely wouldn’t fare much better. “All right,” she said. “Then let’s see if we can push ourselves to 5 starting today.”

Akoro studied her face. “And at the end of the fifth day, you will let me take care of you in your heat.”

Heat surged up her neck, realizing what she was agreeing to, but she could make a lot of progress in five days and she’ll still have nine left. She nodded. “Agreed.”

Their eyes remained locked, and a smile ghosted over Akoro’s lips—not the sharp, victorious smirk she expected, but something softer. Amused. Almost… pleased.

For a moment, Naya saw him in a different light. She almost forgot to breathe, her heart thundering against her ribs, caught in the deep attraction that always simmered between them. She cleared her throat. “Where are we going?”

Slowly he released her chin and turned forward, urging the nnirae back into a canter. The familiar rhythm resumed, and Naya forced herself to breathe normally as his arms settled around her waist again. The silence stretched between them, taut and almost painful.

“My people and the soges expect you to be escorted back to the Omega forests,” he said finally, his voice was thick and low. “So that is where we are going. The soges will have lookouts watching us.”

Nears brows rose, surprise hit in her. “We are going to the Omegas?”

“No, we’re just going far enough out that they think I have delivered you.”

Naya turned and looked at the dome-covered carts attached to the other soldiers’ nnirae . Akoro wanted everyone to think the Omega culprit was in one of them. Clever.

A sudden eruption of shouts shattered the quiet rhythm. Naya’s heart thumped into her throat and she turned to see what the soldiers were shouting about.

Akoro cursed and barked our orders, his voice cutting through the mayhem. The entire company surged forward as one, their nniraes’ hooves thundering against the sand.

“What’s happening?” The words barely left Naya’s lips before Akoro spurred their mount harder, his body tensing around her like a steel trap. The air whipped with the distinctive sound of arrows, and Naya twisted to look past Akoro’s shoulder, horror freezing in her chest as she watched a nnirae crash to the ground, its rider tumbling across the sand. More arrows found their mark and the rider’s body jerked before going still.

The remaining soldiers raised bows, returning fire at an enemy she couldn’t see. Naya scanned the endless expanse of sand, searching for the attackers. But the horizon stretched out, unbroken and innocent. She couldn’t see where they could be hiding, the sand looked completely flat. “Who’s shooting at us?”

“Otenyo’s men,” Akoro growled, his voice rising above the wind and commotion. “Or Mansa’s. Or both of them together.”

“But why?” she shouted back.

“They’re trying to get to you,” he said dryly.

“But…” Naya shook her head. “Are they declaring war against you?”

“They will pretend to know nothing of it and then blame bandits. I’m sure they’ve covered their tracks.” Akoro dug his heels into the nnirae’s flanks. The beast responded instantly, stretching its long neck forward as it ate up the distance with powerful strides. Wind streamed tears from Naya’s eyes, and she had to lean forward to keep her balance, her hands gripping the pommel.

Through the thundering of hooves, whipping arrows, and loud wind, she caught fragments of shouted commands. Their escorts peeled away, their forms quickly disappearing into the swirling sand.

They rode hard, the sky getting brighter, until sweat soaked through her clothes. Through the haze of sand, a dark smudge appeared on the horizon. They drew nearer and the outline of a forest emerged—if it could be called a forest. Twisted black trees reached toward the darkening sky like gnarled fingers, their branches bare and lifeless.

As they approached, Akoro slowed his nnirae , stopping on the edge of the forest. One of the soldiers manning the cart pulled up behind them.

Akoro slid from the saddle before clamping his hands around her waist and lifting her from the saddle as if she weighed nothing. She barely steadied herself before his fingers gripped her chin, forcing her face up to his. His other hand ran down her arms, across her ribs. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she managed, though her legs trembled from the long ride. Her gaze was drawn to the forest, and something in her chest ached at the sight. The trees rose like thick, black spears against the sky, their naked branches twisted into tortured shapes. It reminded her of the dead forest Akoro had shown her before, but somehow more profound in its desolation.

“How can Omegas survive here?” she whispered, more to herself than to him.

“I don’t know,” Akoro said. “But they do.”

She began to walk along the edge but Akoro’s hand slid to her nape, fingers tangling in her hair to slow her so he could walk with her. Tension rolled off him and he matched her steps, staying next to her as he scanned their surroundings.

Naya turned her attention to what must have once been a beautiful feat of nature, She shook her head, sorrow coursing through her. It felt wrong that Omegas lived here. In her land Omegas had been abused historically, but was this any better? Being abandoned to the harsh nature of wild magic, a deadly sun, and a dead forest? What kind of life could they have? “Your society truly doesn’t care what happens to them?” The words were sharper than she intended.

“I never said we don’t care. I told you, we have laws about them.” But something flickered in his expression, but it was gone too quickly for her to interpret. Before she could press further, the soldier dismounted and approached, speaking rapidly in their tongue.

Akoro gestured back to the nnirae . “The soldier that was shot survived; we must get him back quickly to the healers.”

Naya nodded, watching the soldier with the cart remove the opaque dome. “Where were they hiding?” she asked after a moment, turning to Akoro. “Why couldn’t I see who was attacking us?”

“A section of the Sand we crossed is unique.” He mounted behind her, pulling her into him as he did before. “Certain shifts in the sand at certain times of the day create places where men can hide. It’s perfect for assassins and bandits.”

“You knew they would attack?”

“I suspected they would try,” Akoro said, gathering the reins. The nnirae began moving the way they came. “My men will try to pick up who they can.”

“And then?”

His arm wrapped around her, not squeezing, but firm. “Then they learn why no one dares to challenge me or try to touch what is mine.”