Abrupt, he demanded, “Tell me.”
The woman smelled shaken in her own right, but did her best to appear calm. “Morgaine is under the belief that you have brought her to something the Nierra refer to as pleasure chambers… that you have grown bored of her and left her here to be used at will by other males willing to pay your fee. I do not think I need to describe what she anticipated would be done to her in these rooms.”
Simin’s face went ashen. “What?”
There was much to explain and the hall was not a proper location for what had to be shared. The Omega, her hair shorn close to her skull as a sign she refused to take a mate, led him to a small waiting room and gestured for him to sit.
When he obeyed, she sat across from his bulk, smoothed her robes and was openly trying not to tremble. “The pleasure chambers were to be her fate for at least two years had she remained in Nierra care. In fact, it was the fate required by the male who was to have her for mate. By their law, he could not pair-bond to her until his rank had increased. After gathering powerful supporters, the weight of his claim outweighed all potential rivals. She learned of this while on display for the males already signing up for their turn. They made demands to see her body, growled to encourage her arousal against her will. She was shamed.”
The glass cage was a bidding area? The defeated soldiers in the Nierra’s ship, the ones he’d paraded naked before to shame them with his utter lack of fear had been signing up to abuse his kor’yr? How had he not considered this? Her clothing had been there, it was the reason he knew just what waited in that cage.
The scent of her had wafted toward him even in a sea of the enemy’s stink. For the first time in his years, he had lost composure before his men. It had taken the whole mob to drag him from the enemy’s ugly chambers.
He’d maimed males he’d known his whole life. For this woman.
To get to her. To care for her. To take her to his heart and tie them in a pair-bond that would be sung of throughout the ages.
The fire in Simin’s eyes when he snarled at the wispy translator confirmed the threat. “I’ll destroy every last Nierra, see their women despoiled and make slaves of their people. As of this moment, the treaty is dust.”
“There is more.”
Forcing his rage to quiet so he might know everything, Simin swallowed, steadied his breath, and demanded, “Tell me.”
The nervous habit of running her fingers through her short brown hair showed itself for the third time. “The things they taught her, that they made her watch…”
This Omega was outside of her sanctuary, snapable neck within his reach. “Tell. Me.”
So shaken was the woman that she failed to see the very real threat before her. “I do not even know how to describe the damage that was done, Heidron.” She closed her eyes, openly disturbed. “Morgaine has no concept of estrous. She believes a pair-bond is equivalent to sex, and that all interaction she has shared with you any Alpha could inflict on her. Before today, she had never even seen another Omega. She… was told you would mutilate and rape her.”
Foreign women were not protected by the Omari code of honor, and such things did happen in war. In battle, any subjugate people could be taken as slaves. Once under ownership, new stock was protected from savagery. An Omari cardinal rule existed. Omegas could never be enslaved, only pair-bonded, and yes, often by force at the onset of estrous. But, from the moment the bond was established, they were considered Omari citizens under the protection and care of their mate.
The mateless Omega before him continued. “She thinks you bite her when she’s done something wrong.”
That could not stand. Voice unbearably sad, hardened by pent up rage, the Heidron snarled, “I mark her to reassure her that when estrous arrives I will forge the bond. It was done to make her feel safe in moments of her fear. It was done so she would know to trust me.”
Compassion glimmered in the upturned golden eyes of the woman across from him. “We know… but that does not change our verdict.”
Simin’s expression turned deadly. “She’s mine.”
“She does not recognize you.”
Rising to his feet, vibrating with the need to rend the Omega messenger limb from limb, Simin curled his lip. “I am Heidron of this fleet, your prince, and I will challenge the Omegas to have my kor’yr returned to me.”
Brave, unflinching like the best Omari woman, the Omega stood her ground. “A handful of days ago she was taken by force from her mother. This was after years of evading the Nierra who raided her village. She fought through the pain of pre-estrous out of hatred of Alphas and love for the woman who birthed her. She suspected they would one day take her, she didn’t know why, but she knew it was only a matter of time. In punishment for hiding her daughter, the mother’s face was disfigured with a brand and Morgaine was listed as feral.” Smoothing her robes then her hair, the Omega sat back, displaying so much sadness that even the enraged Alpha took notice. “Having spoken to her, it is an apt term. She is completely wild, totally ignorant, and indeed very scared.”
Grinding his teeth, already imagining how best to bleed this woman, Simin hissed, “Why do you think I brought her to you?”
“We will allow you to court her for one hour each day.”
“That is not even enough time to pleasure and knot her!”
Standing, meeting the eyes of her king’s fifth son, she said, “Sex will not be allowed unless Morgaine initiates it.”
They both knew that would never happen. Smoothing dark hair off his face, chest expanding in a full breath, Simin stared her down. “Until she learns our language, I have no way to communicate with her outside of physical acts. What am I supposed to do? Sit here and stare at her?”
“You claim she is your kor’yr.” The Omega translator had done her duty, and chose to stand, leaving the room in a soft swish of robes. “Prove it.”
Chapter 18