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  “And if she is not, what do you intend to do with her?” Kardos said sharply. “Must she go back?”

  At that there was silence.

  Kardos let out a rumbled snort. “Exactly. You will not send her away regardless of what kind of Omega she is, because the fact remains, she is an Omega. So I don't see how this is relevant. All this talk is doing,” he continued, turning to the other shinnos, his voice becoming gritty and fierce the longer he spoke, “is revealing how desperately you wish for me not to become high chief. You want to blame other factors and ignore the obvious; I'm simply better and have reached heights higher that you will ever hope to achieve.”

  “Kardos,” the high chief said, warningly.

  “Even when the Omega is paired, do you think it will be to any of you?” Kardos shot at the other shinnos. “Most of you are not Alpha enough to keep an Omega satisfied. You sneak and slither like snakes, forcing this summoning and sending others to invade my island while I am traveling, instead of competing fairly.”

  The faces of each of the shinnos who challenged him contorted as he spoke, and a number of them drew their own weapons.

  “You put yourselves and your desires above what is needed for the Southern Isles instead of having the honor to accept and abide the codes that have been established since Az Eshra themselves ruled. Alpha of the Isles do not behave this way, and I question your bloodline in light of it. You are unworthy of any seat, even one at the foot of a sled-hound.” He spat on the ground. “You are embarrassments to your tribes. If you were in Tribe Nyek, you would be drowned like the jakhras that you are!”

  “Kardos!” bellowed the high chief, as a couple of the other shinnos growled out an anger.

  Kardos gripped the hilt of his sword, glancing at the shinnos who were clearly ready to attack him, before turning his gaze to his father. It would be better for things to be resolved in this way, but it wouldn’t be ideal. Bouts between shinnos during the Year of Selection was frowned upon, although sometimes they were unavoidable.

  The high chief looked utterly furious. His face had deepened to a dark red and his eyes bulged as he glared at Kardos. “This is my temple!”

  Kardos took a breath. That had not been appropriate behavior in front of the high chief. He sheathed his sword and stood facing him, waiting for his decision.

  The high chief turned his gaze on the other shinnos, and Kardos heard them sheathing the weapons also.

  “The Omega will be brought here in three hours to determine her dynamic,” the high chief said, his face serious as he looked over the shinnos. “If she is deemed an Omega, the selection process for her pairing will begin immediately… if I decide not to take her for myself.”

  Kardos forced himself to remain still as an uncomfortable feeling twisted in his stomach.

  “Additionally, if all is well with the Omega, Kardos’ request for a choosing will be granted, and he will hold favor of being selected high chief.”

  Satisfaction spread through Kardos rapidly. He would be high chief!

  “But I warn you all,” the high chief said, his voice lowering to a growl, “any violence, bouts, or underhandedness between any of you, and I will disband your tribes. Do you understand?”

  Kardos made a noise in the back of his throat and nodded in agreement. It was rare for a tribe to be disbanded, but it was the only threat that would prevent the other shinnos from attacking him in the three hours it took to collect Shaya and bring her here.

  The other shinnos murmured their assent.

  “You are dismissed.”

  Kardos turned and stalked out of the temple, heading through the waiting crowd to his carriage sled. Within three hours he would have the seat he had been striving for since he was a boy, the seat he knew without a doubt was his. There was no way that anyone could get in the way of that now—the high chief had spoken. The seat was his. All that was left, was to bring him the Omega.

  Kardos had forced himself not to think of her name, her gorgeous face or her soft voice while he was in the temple, but now that he was on his way back to his Island, he couldn’t help but picture his beautiful Shaya. The uncomfortable feeling within him expanded until he was growling low and steady in agitation. He could not keep her for himself, he always knew that. He took her as a gift for the Southern Lands, for his high chief, for Az Eshra. But when he was with her, there was no doubt in his mind that she was his. He could feel it. And he didn’t know how he was going to give her up. He thought that when he entered the temple, he would get answers about what to do, but with those jakhra shinnos in attendance it was no wonder Az Eshra did not speak to him.

  One thing he knew that could not be argued, he was the only Alpha worthy of the high chief seat, not only because it was his birthright, but he had indeed done more for the Southern Lands than anyone else. Now was his final chance to prove he was worthy, that he wasn’t selfish like the other shinnos, and to do that, he had to give her up.

  CHAPTER TEN

  SHAYA

  Shaya had never felt so alone.

  When she woke, she was in an enormous bed that made her feel so small. Kardos was not there with his arms around her, squeezing her tight to him, tucking her into his body so she could feel the strength of his purr. He wasn't kissing her or slipping his hands between her legs, his nose running along her neck, his mouth seeking her nipple and growling with pleasure when it reached its destination. She was shocked at how much she missed him, how much her body missed him. But even when she washed and dressed, she realized it wasn’t just about him. There was no Treska helping her to dress or giving her advice, and the vastness of the room she was in strangely made her feel even more alone than when she was in the cabin. A servant brought her breakfast, and encouraged her to explore the house in broken Common Tongue. At first she declined, and paced the room as she used to the cabin, but this was different. It was bigger and there were huge windows to look out of. After becoming bored with the room, she had the urge to see what was beyond it.

  Kardos’ house was enormous and strangely structured. Almost all the rooms were shaped in a circle and most were very simply decorated. The great thing about it was that it had lots of windows. Outside it still snowed and she found herself stopping by each window she passed to watch as it swirled from the bright sky. From all angles it looked as though there was nothing surrounding Kardos' house. On one side, there were clusters of trees, silvery and thin with petals that look like sparkling crystals, but the rest of the landscape seemed to be plain.

  She wished she could tell Kyus about this. It was likely that she would wrinkle her nose and declare Shaya insane for wanting to be anywhere near such cold, but the beauty was beyond anything Shaya could have imagined. And she had imagined it. When Kyus told her stories, she would build the picture in her mind, imagining what it was like. Nothing she could have ever imagined could come close to the vast beauty of white that lay before her.

  As she passed one of the windows, she saw a woman trudging towards the house. Stopping to peer out, she stared for a long moment hoping it was Treska. The woman was wisely wrapped in multiple furs with long boots and a hat pulled down firmly over her head. As she neared, it became clear that the woman was taller than Treska, but Shaya still remained by the window until the woman walked out of her view.

  As she stared back out into the landscape, wondering where the woman’s carriage or sled was, a servant approached her looking nervous. Strangely, the shinno did not have as many servants as Shaya thought he would. Even though she had been a live-in servant for her sister and her sister’s betrothed, they had had other servants come to the house to do specific chores. And when Shaya had visited Eiros Castle, where King Malloron lived, the number of servants shocked her. They were everywhere. For some reason she assumed that shinno Kardos would live like the king, but it seemed like he only had three or four servants in this huge house.

  “Excuse me, Miss Katashaya. You have a visitor.”

  “Me?” Shaya said in surprise.
“Someone is here to see me?”

  The servant nodded and beckoned.

  Shaya bit her lip as she hesitated. Kardos hadn’t given her any instruction about being in this house, but she assumed he would have given his servants instructions about visitors. After a moment’s deliberation, she followed the servant.

  But when she reached the door, horror gripped her.

  The angry woman who had barged into her cabin was taking her hat off and shaking snow off her boots in the hallway.

  Caution caused Shaya to freeze where she was. She considered running back the way she came but the woman looked up and saw her.

  “There you are,” she said in the Common Tongue, smiling.

  Shaya opened her mouth and then closed it again, disarmed by her friendliness.

  The woman held up her palm. “I’m not here to attack you or insult you. I’m here to apologize.”

  Shaya still didn’t know what to say. She watched the woman as she pulled off her gloves

  “I had no idea that you were an Omega when I came to your cabin,” she explained. “And I had no idea that you spoke the Common Tongue. I thought you were playing dumb.” She half smiled, a sheepish look on her face. “I have a temper, I am well known for it,” she admitted. “But I did not understand... I was just really angry.”

  Finally Shaya found her voice. “But why are you angry at me? I didn’t do anything to you.”

  The woman took a deep breath. “I thought you were a real threat.” When Shaya frowned, she hurriedly continued. “And I don’t just mean to me, I mean to our tribe. I’ve seen it happen to other tribes—the tribe leader becomes besotted with one of his tribe members, and then he is unable to fulfill any of his duties successfully, and the tribe begins to fail. One of the first signs of that happening is when the tribe leader seems to stop his sexual activity. It is not usual for our culture.”

  Shaya nodded slowly. “And you thought he was focusing too much on me?”

  “He was,” the woman said. “But now I know that you are an Omega, it makes a difference.”

  Shaya’s heart lifted at the idea that Kardos wasn’t sexual with anyone else on the ship, but she didn’t understand why the woman didn’t still see it as a problem. “How does it make a difference?”

  “You cannot be paired together,” the woman explained. “As an Omega, your pairing will take priority. You will get the best male in the entire Southern Isles, possibly even the high chief himself. It makes sense to me now. The shinno was probably trying to make sure that you were prepared for whoever that may be.”

  The shock that hit Shaya’s body knocked all feeling out of her. She blinked. Her mouth opened, but it wouldn’t work. Then a sinking feeling sensation trickled through her insides, as though she was made of hot wax.

  “He was simply trying to do a good job,” the woman said, her sheepish look returning. “And I was interfering with that. I’m very sorry if I scared you. I truly regret it—many have told me my temper and nosiness would get me in trouble—I can get mean... but I didn’t mean to… It is an honor to have you here.”

  The wax was now rising in Shaya’s throat, claiming her words and making her tongue thick and heavy like lead.

  “My name is Anata by the way. Kardos told us all your name is Katashaya. That’s very pretty.”

  “T-t-thanks,” Shaya finally managed. She swallowed as she glanced around, trying to form a question as quickly as she could with what she wanted to say. “Erm… do you know if Kardos has… umm prepared anyone before?”

  “We’ve never had an Omega with the tribe before,” Anata said. “At least as far as I know.”

  Shaya swallowed, a couple of questions suddenly coming to her. “What is a pairing? Kardos mentioned it err.. at the beginning of the journey but now…”

  “Oh, it is when the tribe leaders arrange who will bond with who. They try to make sure each tribe is even with the number of Alpha and Betas, men and woman, warriors and non-warriors, that kind of thing. It’s really important here to have balanced tribes.”

  Shaya thought for a moment about what she said about the pairing. “But isn’t Kardos the best male?”

  Anata grinned and leaned forward conspiratorially. “Between us, yes he is, but there are some other good males out there.” She grinned. “I told my cousin she’s a lucky jakhra.”

  “Your cousin?”

  “Yes, she’s betrothed to the shinno.”

  An icy cold breeze blew into Shaya’s chest. Kardos was betrothed! Her knees weakened and she suddenly felt sick.

  “I’m not really supposed to talk about it with her, but I found it difficult to cut off all ties to fam—”

  Shaya forced herself to smile as the woman kept talking, her mind racing. Kardos had been using her the whole time. She thought at the beginning he was just using her body for his own pleasure, but it was much worse than that. He had made her… feel for him, become completely enrapt with his wild nature, and all the time he was not only preparing her for some other man, but also had a woman he was supposed to marry!

  “I understand,” she said when Anata finished speaking. “How come she didn’t come to the Western Lands?”

  “Oh, she’s from a different tribe,” Anata said, her face implying that that was an important factor. “She hasn’t even met him yet. They have no ownership of each other until their ceremony.”

  “They don’t meet until their ceremony?” Shaya asked, bewildered. Kyus and her betrothed had been living together for a long time.

  “No, they can meet before their ceremony,” Anata said. “But they haven’t yet. Kardos has been too busy being the best tribe leader on the Isles.” She grinned but Shaya found it a struggle to return it. This culture was much more complicated than she thought and even though Kardos made her learn about it, it was as though she had learned nothing.

  “Anyway, I should head back,” Anata said, her smile faltering. “Thank you for listening to me.”

  Shaya wasn’t sure what to say, and an awkward silence grew as the woman put back on her gloves and hat. “Thank you,” she blurted out, finally.

  Anata smiled at her before opening the door and trudging back out into the snow.

  ***

  It was late afternoon when Kardos finally arrived.

  Shaya sat on the bed in his room, rolling a potion bottle between her fingers. She had already spent the last few hours tearful at the revelations Anata had brought with her apology. She had always suspected she was going to be used but didn’t expect it would be like this. Nothing would have prepared her for this, not even Kyus’ warnings.

  By the time she had cried herself out, she was numb inside, and the world had lost its color. Even the beauty of the landscape outside had become dull and gray.

  She thought back to every moment on the ship and realized he was preparing her for someone else all along. He wasn’t trying to keep her safe, he was trying to keep her pure and get her ready for whichever Alpha she was going to be paired with. The thought made her nauseous and then angry.

  She searched her belongings for her real clothes, the clothes she was in when she hugged her sister, the clothes that were her only true belongings, but instead of finding them, she found a potion bottle.

  It held a pale blue substance and smelled exactly like the liquid he had poured down her throat that night of the celebrations. She hadn’t given the liquid much thought, but when she sniffed the bottle, the memory rushed to the surface of her mind and she couldn’t get it out.

  Potions were dangerous things and this one smelled too complex to be innocent. Now that she knew he was training her all along, who knows what he could have used the potion to do? That was the night he’d had sex with her, the potion could have been used to do anything. She shook it, held it up against the light, and watched the liquid settle. She couldn’t tell what it might be, but the fact he still had a dose meant he was planning to use it. Was he planning to give them to her Alpha mate? An annoyance came over her so strong she deci
ded to ask him.

  It was a bold thing to do but at that moment, how else would she get any answers? She was more important to him as a trading asset than as a lover. That made her cry again, but it was the brutal truth. She had to accept it. After all her intentions not to break, he had indeed broken her, just not in the way she expected. Kyus would never have been caught out like this, but then she was a trained spy. She could use magic, and foresee things that Shaya would never have dreamed of. Shaya thought she could be strong like her, but she had no protection, no power, and no control over her feelings for him—she was useless.

  The shinno entered his room and froze when he saw her. He still looked so amazing—his wide frame strong, his blonde hair beautiful. And that nervousness rose within her yet again as a tingling between her legs even though she hated it now. She forced herself to think of how many women had been in this bedroom with him, if he’d ever had Anata in here, and that gave her strength.

  “Shaya,” he said.

  There was something strange in his voice, but she ignored it. “My name is Katashaya.”

  An amused rumble came from his chest as he threw his fur overcoat down. “I told you, I will call you what your sister calls you.”

  “And what will my mate call me? The one I will be paired with.”

  Kardos stiffened, his eyes turning dark. “Who the fuck told you that?”

  “It doesn’t matter if it’s true, does it?”

  The shinno was silent.

  And in that silence, Shaya’s heart broke, making her realize for the first time that she was clinging to the hope it wasn’t true. She was still being a fool.

  “It matters because no one should be speaking about it,” he said finally.

  “Yes, you wanted to keep me in the dark for as long as possible,” Shaya said, unable to spit out her words as harshly as she wanted because everything inside her hurt. “You wanted me to wake up underneath some crazed Alpha and wonder what had happened and where you’d gone.”