Born Captive (Broken Angel 1)

Ruby turned her chair and watched as a guard carefully shut the door behind his back. “Oh, it’s you, Severin,” she said. “Come to fill my heart with more despair?”

The man slithered close to the corner of her desk, fingers tracing the edges of the finely cut and glazed wood. The soldiers who served under her lead had lived well because of her, but she promised him so much more. Now that the world was won, she wasn’t sure how to approach things.

“Come now. Do I instill such darkness in you?”

Ruby gazed at the aging man, now in the late years of his ragged life. A relic from the old Republic, he and her priest were the ones who’d taught Ruby how to become a woman, as well as a leader. Under strict observation from Cassian’s failing military, the fallen leaders took to hiding. Severin, however, chose to raise and marry the girl. Together, they’d forged an army of their own. He was, technically, still her husband.

Of course, it wasn’t the age that bothered her. It wasn’t his peculiarly small skull or cunning features. She knew the man too well. Knew his thirst for power. Knew how he turned when he felt helpless. She was the only one who could calm his nerves, but as she extended her knowledge and understanding, she wondered for how long they might last.

Seeing what her sister had with that wretched pack didn’t make her feel any better. How they could give themselves over to love during a time of complete disaster and chaos made her sick. But maybe it didn’t matter what she wanted anymore. Ruby was destined for a life without any children of her own, and because Severin still owned her, he demanded a suitable place for her twin and her twin’s mates.

None of it was fair in the eyes of Ruby, who would have rather kept them free and safe. “You stir my bowels more than you know,” she whispered.

Severin shook the desk with a quick flinch of nerves. “Need I remind you that you promised me a job as minister of propaganda?” he asked.

“Is that really the job title?” she scoffed and looked down at her nails. “Pathetic.”

Severin clenched his jaw. “Every empire needs a story. I can be the one to weave it for you.”

“And what’s in it for me?” she asked.

“Anything you want. Freedom. Time to pamper yourself,” he said. She did not flinch.

“An acting job as prime minister?” he asked.

That tickled her fancy. “You will have her when she has recovered. For now, she will stay in strict observation,” she said.

Severin loosened his shoulders and swiveled off the table. Apparently, her offer wasn’t good enough. Standing tall and rigid, he towered over her. “I fought on the front lines for this,” he said.

Ruby stood and pressed her chest against his, raising her chin in defiance. “And I was there by your side,” she whispered through her teeth. “I’d think very carefully before telling me how to run my ship.”

“I brought you to my town when the Republic fell,” he muttered, col

dly. “Cassian would have murdered you if it wasn’t for me.”

Ruby glanced away from the man she deemed pathetic. A heavy sigh ran through her. “Yes. Your money went a long way. Now, go drink some champagne. You deserve it.”

“I don’t need a glass of champagne, dammit. Give me her instead.”

Ruby tried her hardest not to laugh, but the more she looked at Severin, the more she realized she was alone. She wanted her sister’s children more than she wanted the new Republic to succeed.

She would agree to the terms they came up with, but one thing she wouldn’t let happen was for him to control her. “Is that an order, Commander? If it’s a child you need, you had one years ago, remember? What happened to him again?”

Severin turned his back on the high commander and threw the door open so hard that it almost swung back and hit him in the eye. No, Ruby knew he wasn’t one of the finest alpha specimens, and he was a mediocre leader at best. That was why she resented him—because she knew she would have to give up her only sister to keep her leadership.

His heavy footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, but he quickly ran back in the room to give his last word. “At the end of the day, she will be in my possession. She is just another slave to be taken.”

She thought about the wreckage of the facilities. The strewn bodies—failed experiments of a mad man. “What’s left of them?” she asked herself, suddenly lost. She tilted her chair back and eyed the cracks running through the window behind her.

Scanning the horizon, she watched the scavengers rummage through what was left of the city. Without warning, tears fell from her eyes, but she didn’t howl or make even a sound. Instead, she carefully inhaled and exhaled from her nose while focusing on the pressure of her pressed lips. “Forgive me, sister,” she finally whispered.

She needed to fulfill her duties.

Walking through the caterpillar of kneeling guards, Ruby paused at the door of the hospital room. She listened to the faint sounds of familial laughter. Suddenly, she wished she were in there as someone entirely unlike herself. She yearned to understand what it felt like to be loved.

Twisting the cold knob, she calmly walked into the room, leaving the door open. Two of the kneeling corporals stood and followed behind her as a warning. “Wren,” Ruby whispered. “We will be leaving the city shortly.”

Wren’s alphas stood and blocked Ruby’s passage. “What’s with the ensemble?” Killian asked, pointing at the threadbare soldiers.