Even the king.
“I’ve made my choice,” the king said. Time seemed to slow as cheers rang out. People screamed my name and others cried out his.
Zymos, give me strength for what the fates have in store for me.
I didn’t say a word. It wasn’t my place. He was king and I was not.
“I claim Freya the Unstoppable as mine. There isn’t another woman that deserves the honor of being my queen. She’s proven herself worthy of leading you all on the battlefield and now she’s going to prove herself worthy of ruling all of Valgertha by my side,” he continued.
I licked my lips. I tried to keep my expression calm and I did everything in my power to quell the fury rampaging within me. I took a deep breath and stared at the king. He knew I wasn’t an omega. He knew that I would never kneel to an alpha and if he had it in his mind to try to conquer me, he should think again.
I kneeled to no one. Not on the battlefield and certainly not off of it. I had no plans on changing that either just because he decided to take me as his wife, as his queen.
The crowd roared with their approval, effectively making my decision for me. I looked across their faces, all of them cheering for me. For all my life, I had struggled to prove myself under the stigma of being the only known female alpha in existence. I’d earned everything I had ever acquired, from the land that I lived on to my place on the battlefield leading my very own group of warriors.
My heart beat heavy in my chest. It felt like a drum, pounding over and over, forcing the blood to rush through my veins and echo loudly in my skull.
King Vageir stared at me, a satisfied smirk edging at the corner of his lips. I returned his gaze, refusing to back down.
He had dark war paint that dragged down to his chin and continued out to the sides of his shaved head in a thick, blood-red line. His familiar hard brown eyes appraised mine, completely unforgiving and far too alpha for my liking right now. His long brown hair was gathered at the back of his head, braided into a long rope along with pieces of frayed red fabric. He wore his own battle armor, which was muddy, covered in blood, and well-worn from use. Our people fought together in battle, no matter if they were a king or a commoner, man or woman. He was no different. We’d fought together as equals, but now he wanted a whole lot more than I was willing to give.
My own alpha simmered inside me, awakened at the challenge of another of my own kind.
“Do you accept, Freya?” he asked, his voice carrying throughout the room.
Our people waited in silence. I could almost cut the tension and anticipation with a knife. They were waiting for me.
I closed my eyes and prayed to the gods. Zymos, the god of war. Edia, the goddess of tranquility. Oslin, the god of the fates. I prayed to all of them except for one, Cerena, goddess of fertility. Right now, I didn’t want her blessing. Right now, she could just fuck right off.
The crowd was deadly quiet. They wanted an answer, so I gave my people and my king the one they wanted.
I felt myself die a little inside as I opened my lips and said the words that I really didn’t want to say.
“I accept your offer, King Vageir,” I said forcefully, keeping as much strength in my voice as I could possibly manage. I said it because I knew I no longer had a choice.
The entire Great Hall erupted into screams of excitement. The king outstretched his hand and I forced one foot in front of another until I reached the table at the front of the room. I stepped up onto the raised platform and moved across it to take his offered fingers, before he took my hand and raised our arms up in the air as one. He was making us appear as a united front.
“To the people of Valgertha, may we continue conquering the wilds together. Freya and I will lead you to a great many victories together. The gods will smile down upon our union, blessing us with glory and victory for many years to come,” Vageir shouted.
I couldn’t hear anything except the deafening cheers of the crowd. They cried out for us, for honor, and the glory that could only be found through victory on the battlefield.
They wanted this and I knew that I would be powerless to stop it now.
I could do this. I could be queen.
I just had to quell the alpha that was screaming inside me. I had to stop her from getting out.
* * *
The celebrations devolved over the hours that followed. I did my best to enjoy the festivities, and for a while, I was successful. The room reverberated with the sounds of music and laughter as everyone danced and drank to their hearts’ content. Just outside the Great Hall, there were arrow-shooting competitions. I watched as a rather drunk warrior missed the target and I laughed even harder when they were made to chug another mug of ale. When the man ultimately missed the target by a long shot a short while later, a raucous uproar echoed loudly all around the large crowd. He drank enough that I watched him fall asleep standing up and I shook my head, moving on to take part in the other activities of the night. There was an axe-throwing competition taking place nearby too where I overheard that the winner was promised a very eventful night in one of the local brothels as a reward, which made for some loud and fierce rivalries after that. Other groups were playing cards and making bets against each other. Surprisingly, only a few of them ended in bloodshed, but the boisterous bouts of laughter following each one were comforting to me just like they always were.
My fellow warriors goaded me into a duel because I was particularly good at axe throwing and always swept the competition, but my companions continued to challenge me anyway for the recognition that beating me would bring them. I was unbeaten though. I had a perfect record and it remained that way that night. Finally, I returned to the king’s table and took a seat, enjoying the sight of the wild raucous celebrations of my people.
A servant girl brought me a tankard of honey mead. I took a long draw of it before I passed it back. She handed me another and I sat back with a sigh. I looked over toward the king, knowing how this night was likely to end. Anxiety still simmered in my belly at the thought, refusing to quell no matter what I did to try to quiet it.
The mating between a king and queen was always to be public, as it was for any alpha and omega in our great city. Every omega went through a period of estrous, a time where her body demanded an alpha’s seed and wouldn’t abate without it. An alpha would take her and fuck her through her heat. It had been like that for centuries and I knew that I would not be the one to change that. Before the night was over, Vageir would toss me onto the table and force his knot into me, claiming me as his once and for all.
I shuddered at the thought. I didn’t want that. I didn’t even know if I was capable of going into heat and I sincerely didn’t want to find out.