Ryedir heard Kari’s scream and was up and sprinting to the bedroom before he consciously registered what he was doing.
He was stopped in his tracks by the sight that greeted him.
An unknown man lay dead on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood and with a large, bloody shard of ice protruding from his back.
Kari knelt a short distance away, arms wrapped around his torso and mouth open in an unending scream. He immediately noticed the familiar faraway look in the omega’s eyes and started to croon as he slowly walked forward.
He had only gone a few steps into the room when massive shards of ice shot out from around Kari.
They had a different quality to them from the ones Ryedir had seen before and it set alarm bells ringing in his head. The omega hadn’t been triggered in their sparring sessions for some time now so it could only be the blo
Ryedirdidn’t miss the suggestion that he would die if he ever lost his powers. It was not something to bear thinking about, but it was the reality of the situation. While Karimight not want to say his choice yet, Ryedirknew he needed the omega to come to him because if he broke the young man’s will then he would lose him irrevocably. Their power was connected to their beliefs and their own wills, of that he was certain. Force him into something and the doubt would eat away his power as had happened to the two previously captured Daiyans. Silence reigned while those words sank in. It was Jaidwho finally broke it. “That may be, but that’s not common knowledge here. Who would know about such things and have been in contact with him? Few notice a slave, even out in the city.” “Knowledge about Daiyansis more prevalent within the army as they are something that has been fought against in the past.”
The younger man stiffened in his arms and Ryedirknew he had hit the truth. He remembered how he had seemed to be torn between clutching at himself or tearing at his own skin while he trembled on the floor. How his ice seemed different compared to what he had seen before, almost as though he was trying to forceitout of himself. It had seemed sharper somehow, more dangerous, and lacking the usual soft beauty that Kariseemed to unconsciously imbue into the ice. Dumping the omega on the bed, Ryedircrawled on top of his prone form and pinned him in place. Karikept his face averted to the side but Ryedirgrabbed his chin to force him to meet his eyes. “Look at me.” Blue eyes looked up at him in a swirl of stubbornness, confusion, and guilt. “Never again.” “But-” “Never. Again. What you did is nothing to feel shame over.
Kariglared at the commanding tone but Ryedir drew up to his full height while his voice dropped. His voice was soft and deep but no less authoritative. “We will be outside of the safety of my domain and it’s exceedingly important that you follow my rules while we are away. Remember that everyone who sees this collar,” he stood close enough to reach up a hand to trace his fingers along the soft leather at his throat, “will know you are my pleasure slave and will treat you as such. Which means that they will mostly ignore you or they might look but not touch. Other servants and slaves at the palace may approach you and will most likely treat you with indifference or even malice. I need you to not react and carry on with whatever task you were doing. As you do here, you will stay with me and serve me. Once in the capital, you willhave tosit at my feet when not serving and you will not interact with anyone. You are to be a pretty p
Overall, the journey into the capital was rather boring. Kariwas disappointed that he was relegated to travelling in the carriage with Nevisand the other household servants while Ryedir and the guards all got to ride on horses. The only consolation was that once Ryedir had seen that Karidid actually know his way around a horse, he agreed to let him ride one of them one afternoon when they were in between villages. He had even had suitable clothing made for the omega for riding just in case. Unfortunately, it had been days on the road and it had been village after village. Sure, the scenery was nice but sitting still in the carriage all day had Kariready to tear his hair out in frustration. Ryedir had, of course, seen fit to wear him out in the evenings by continuing their hand to hand training then using those very same hands to wring multiple orgasms from his body under the g
Hooves sounded behind him and Ryedir came level with him almost immediately, rising to his challenge. Karishot him a wild grin and then they were off, hooves pounding into the road as they galloped ahead. He laughed with unrestrained joy at the feeling of freedom. The wind rushed in his face and the horse underneath him gave the impression they could go anywhere he chose. It was like the weight of the travel and the impending worry over their upcoming visit to the capital slid off his shoulders. It wasn’t long before they slowed to a walk again. It wouldn’t do to tire the horses too much as they still had a way to travel and Karilaughed breathlessly in exhilaration. “Feel better?” “Yeah.” He flashed his alpha a beaming smile and received a soft look of affection in return. Embarrassed and a little shy over the openness being displayed, Kariturned his gaze back
Finally, they entered Disani’s city proper. Twelve days of travel and here they were. Thankfully Kari’s heat had yet to arrive but he was aware of the alpha watching him more than usual, no doubt looking for signs of it. He estimated that he had one to two weeks left at most before he hit three months since he had been given to Ryedir. That was roughly when he had healed enough to be functional, so prior to that,his heat must have been pushed aside due to his injuries. He was cutting it fine to tell Ryedir his choice but he refused to be pushed into it. The man could damn well wait until Kariwas ready. The omega had been eager to see the city he had heard so much about, so he had gone to sit at the front of the carriage with the driver but Ryedir had pulled him onto his horse and sat him in front of him, large arm wrapped around his waistsecurely while the other wasonthe
“Well, I can see why you like this one, Rye. So fiery.” Millicentswept into a large entertaining room in front of Kari. The women had bullied him into the bath with her, dosed him with scented oils, and dressed him up in a white short-sleevetunic ornamented with gold and yellow patterns.He was in a red breech with knee-high boots. A fabric was tied on his waist as always but now, a sash accompanied it from his left shoulder across his chest. Sparkling silver chains decorated both his arms placed just above his elbow. There were even two tiny silver bells attached to it so he tinkled as he moved. It was super embarrassing. Worse still, she had put something oily through his hair and painted around his eyes with a dark, almost charcoal-like stick. He was feeling ridiculously self-conscious when the crazy woman had dragged him from her quarters and through the palace. That had changed
The alpha turned off the main corridor and a smaller one. It wasn’t long before they passed what appeared to be rooms before finally entering one. It was lavish, the opulence even more grand than the rest of the palace. A huge four-poster bed surrounded by light drapes dominated the room but it wasn’t there that Ryedircarried him. They entered a room with an even larger pool set in the middle than the one in Mishal. Karicould only gape at the steam-filled room. How on earth did they manage to keep the water warm enough to steam? There was so much water. Ryedirset him down but still kept a tight hold on his form. He stripped Karicarefully, removing the delicate chains first then the sash, belt, tunic and breech before manhandling him into the bath. Kariopened his mouth to say something snarky about the treatment but the words died in his throat at the look on his alpha’s