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The tent flap slapped open, and Kassandra jolted. Cian entered, spreading his arms wide. “I need gossip time. Since Briseis is busy seducing the Warlord, you’ll have to do.” He dropped into the chair still set up next to Greta and let out a long, noisy sigh. “I’m in love, and everyone needs to know it. Even you.”

She shot to her feet from where she sat beside Greta’s litter on the ground. “Briseis is doing what with the Warlord ? ”

“That’s not the important thing I just said.” He waggled his index finger in the air. “Besides, you told her you didn’t want him, and he was fair game.” His left brow lifted. “Isn’t that true?”

Her breath came in shallow pants, and her hands fisted. “Where are they? What are they doing?”

Cian eyed her. “My, my, someone has become a possessive little thing. You know, unless you’ve marked him as yours, she can take a shot at him.” He settled back in his chair. “But fear not, her seduction won’t come until later when she sings for him. That’s why she’s busy, she’s practicing. Tonight, the Warlord will fall at her feet with desire the moment he hears her. Or at least that’s what she expects because that’s what normally happens. So, if you did change your mind about the Warlord, you have until tonight to claim him, otherwise you’re out of luck.”

Her mouth fell open, but she shook her head and closed it, letting her hands relax. It was best if Lodan focused his attention elsewhere. Right? “That’s good. I mean, let him be with her.” Except the thought of Briseis in Lodan’s bed made her want to claw the other Omega’s face off. Actually … no … she would claw his face off. Or maybe more delicate parts.

She shook her head again. “He’s my enemy, and I’m his prisoner. Let Briseis keep him away from me.”

“He probably has a different Omega every night,” Cian said. “That’s the way Alphas are.”

Kassandra frowned. “They are? Even bonded ones?”

Cian laughed. “Have you been living under a rock? Especially the bonded ones. The minute they get their Omega pregnant, they come looking for me. Or” —he shrugged— “you know, a prossy like me.”

She lifted her chin. “Like you? You mean a free Omega who will soon be one of the best fishermen in Anatolia?”

His face softened, and he smiled. It was the first time he’d smiled without it seeming mocking. “You’re right. That’s who I am now.” He stared at her for a long moment. “You know, we should dress you in something other than this tragedy you’re wearing. You could take a page out of Briseis’s book and flirt with Alphas every night. You’d be as popular as she is.”

She sighed and slumped back onto the floor beside Greta, who still slept. “I’m a prisoner, you know I can’t do that. Besides, it feels foreign to interact with Alphas like that. Growing up, I was told to wait for my husband like a proper Omega. They told me being with an Alpha was a special thing.” She scoffed. “I’m not sure I believe that anymore, though. I should bed one and get it over with.”

“Absolutely. If you’re going to be surrounded by the most virile, dashing Alphas in all of Anatolia, darling, you may as well enjoy it.”

Her face heated, and she stared at the ground. “Is it enjoyable, though? Really?” She knew an Alpha would knot her, and she’d always thought that seemed painful. But when Lodan touched her, all she could think about was getting more. Much more.

No matter what he said or did, though, she would never beg him. Never.

“If he does it right, it’s the best feeling in the world. It’s what we’re made for. What we need. Once you experience it, you won’t be able to go without it.” He smiled again. “And all these Myrdinians know how to handle their swords, if you’ll excuse the fairly obvious pun. Well, so I hear.” He pouted. “I haven’t enjoyed their company yet, but Briseis tells me all about it.”

She wanted to ask him more—like, would she know what to do?—but she was too embarrassed. Instead, she changed the topic. “What if I want to bed someone I hate? I won’t get attached to him, will I?”

Cian leaned forward, his eyes glowing. He rubbed his palms together. “Ooh, hate sex. Some of my best sex was with this Alpha I absolutely detested. You’ll be fine, just don’t ask him to bite you. Take your strobile.”

She sat back down and played with the edge of Greta’s blanket, weaving it between her fingers. “Oh, I’m definitely taking that. I think I need a heavier dose though. I get carried away even when he does something small like touch my hand. It’s ridiculous. I don’t want to feel this way.”

Cian tilted his head. “Strobile prevents bonding, it doesn’t really suppress lust. You’re attracted to him. What are you waiting for?”

“We’re enemies. We’re—” She shook her head and looked at her lap. “I’m probably being stupid, but I guess I’ve always clung to the idea of my Alpha loving me.”

“He’s not your Alpha, he’s an Alpha. There’s a huge difference.” Cian’s brow furrowed. “You think he’s your Alpha?”

She shook her head. “No. No way. Absolutely not.”

Studying her another long moment, Cian still seemed worried about something. But then he sank back in his chair, his expression smoothing. “Now, enough about you. How about you ask me who I’m in love with and what I’m going to do about it?”

She smiled. “I already know. Xander.”

Cian fell back in his chair and slung his arm over the back. “He courted me properly today. He asked me to take a turn around the camp with him. Even said it just like that, ‘take a turn with me,’ like he’s out of some old romantic novel.”

No one would ever court her, especially not if she was stuck in this camp. “That sounds wonderful. What happened?”

Cian smiled wider. “I thought you’d never ask. I got a proper kiss. The kind that makes you swoon, you know? The kind that promises all sorts of delicious things. All involving just how good they are with their mouth.”

She didn’t tell him she’d never kissed anyone, and she wasn’t about to anytime soon either, considering the Warlord told her he’d never kiss her. “I’m glad. Last week you didn’t think he was interested.”

“Oh, I felt his interest today. And I think I could have lit up in flames at the way he looked at me. Have you ever had an Alpha look at you where you knew, without a doubt, he wanted you? Like he’d die if he didn’t have you?”

“I can’t say I have.” Definitely not.

Cian shuddered. “I can’t wait to get Xander looking at me like that tonight. I want to stroke those arms of his. They’re the biggest I’ve ever seen. I hope all of him is as big.”

“I’m happy for you. I’ll be here tending Greta, or I’ll be told to stay in a tent somewhere. You’ll have to tell me how it goes.”

“It would be much more entertaining for me if you came to the feast and fought Briseis for the Warlord.” His lips pursed. “You’re a Sardi and an Omega, you must be trained in singing, too. We could have a sing-off.”

She laughed. “If you want to keep your hearing, you won’t ask me to sing. My tutor told me I was the worst he’d ever heard, and he’d roamed the countryside for years.”

Cian tapped his finger on his chin. “Hmm. Do you play anything?”

She shrugged. “The lute, but I haven’t played much over the past four years. Cian, seriously, I can’t join the Myrdinians for dinner, I’m not allowed around camp.” Besides, a stone lodged in her stomach at the idea of standing in camp and playing for everyone. All those eyes watching her. Judging. “I don’t like playing for others.”

He stood. “We’ll see about that. I’ll come for you at dinner.” And he strode out.

Kassandra huffed out a breath and returned her attention to Greta. She thought the Beta’s lids may have flickered for a moment, but she still breathed deep and steady as if sleeping, so perhaps she’d imagined it. “Why did you decide to hang around in camp with all these barbarians?” she murmured.

She frowned. Barbarians didn’t seem like the right word any longer. They were definitely warriors, and focused on slashing things, but they weren’t mindless marauders. Lodan was educated by Chiron, for Olympus’s sake. He was a Myrdinian, one of the men selected to tend the land, yet the greatest mind in the country agreed to teach him.

It didn’t fit with what she had believed—that Myrdinians only wanted to work the land and that it was all they were good for. It simply didn’t make sense.

She got up and paced. What had he said about his horse? That he was bred to be a plow horse, yet he’d proven himself to be a fearless battle steed.

She halted and wrapped her arms around herself. All her life, she’d wanted to be seen as someone other than an Omega who had visions. Or an Omega who was only destined to bear the children for some Alpha of her father’s choosing.

She’d demanded her brother’s tutors teach her. With little else to do because her brother rarely went for his lessons, they had, but they’d told her over and over it was a waste of time to teach her anything. She was an Omega, and soon, all she’d need to know was how to care for her Alpha’s children.

She’d fought against a destiny chosen for her, and so had Lodan.

If he wasn’t a mindless killer slaughtering her people, what was he? She stared blankly at the side of the tent. “Who is he really?”