Page 10 of The King's Omega
My face burned as my fingers flew back to the sheets, yanking them around me to hide the stain. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I needed these men to leave so I could clean up the mess on Selene’s bed.
“It’s not possible,” Tarn said. “There can’t be two.”
“Two what? Two women from a bordello abducted into the king’s stupid castle?” I bared my teeth. “Sure, there are. There’s only one he tried to murder, though.”
Lorn scowled. “Let’s get our little Vali a dress, shall we? I think Rigol needs to meet her.”
“The king?” I stopped fussing and wrinkled my nose at the men. “I just said he already met me. Told my sweet mountain of man to kill me. Idiot didn’t even care Madam was beating me,” I grumbled low enough they couldn’t have heard.
Could they? Tarn stifled a laugh; Lorn held his hand in front of his mouth. “Idiot would be the king, then. And your sweet mountain of man is…?”
I lifted my too-short nose, wishing it were long and aristocratic so they could see my opinion of them and their questions, and their ridiculous matching sexiness. Who even had eyes that blue, and jawlines that rugged? It was absurd, like seeing two suns rising. It shouldn’t be legal. “His name is Axe. And if you touch me, I’ll tell him to chop off your privates and feed them to Mischief.” I nodded at my kitten, who was tearing the wing off a moth in the room’s corner. “He’ll do it, too.”
Lorn’s smile was blinding. “Actually, he might. Tarn, steal us a dress quickly. I’m feeling curious.”
Rigol
Did I have time to kill a scholar before dinner? I wasn’t sure. But if the one I had paid four hundred goldani to travel to Turino and teach me about Omegas had nothing more useful to share than wild tales about orgies resulting in bumper wheat crops, or Omegas calling mythical beasts like dragons from the skies, I would make time to end his prattle.
“I need accurate information on Omegas, not legends or myths.” The gaunt man in black robes and matching skullcap trembled but remained silent. The only book he seemed to have brought with him almost fell from his hand.
I sent up a prayer for patience. “Everything you can tell me about their abilities, man. Now!”
Axe motioned from the door.“Can I go?”
“No. Stay and listen as well.”
“Will the females be at dinner?”
“My Omega will.” To my surprise, Axe scowled. I supposed he was eager to get to know the Omega. She would be his queen, after all.
And if he wanted her, she would be his mate as well as mine. Not that he knew that.
When Axe lost his voice, taking the blade meant for me, I swore to treat him as my brother in all things. Swore to share everything with him equally. It was the very least I could do to repay his sacrifice and loyalty.
Few women wanted a mute for their mate, even one as strong as Axe. He assumed he would never mate; between his muteness and his unique size, a suitable woman would be hard to find.
I frowned at the thought. Selene wasn’t big… but she’d learn to cope. According to legend, an Omega was able to handle any Alpha. She’d need to.
“You have ten more minutes, Scholar. Speak.”
The pock-marked scarecrow swallowed reflexively. “T-ten minutes?” Axe stepped closer, and the man opened his tome. “Of course. I’ll start at the beginning.”
“Before the Great Plague, eighty-five men and women out of every hundred were born Beta. Approximately ten of the remaining males were Alphas, and the last five females were the mysterious Omegas. Revered for their ability to calm even the most aggressive Alphas with their delicate purr, Omegas possessed many other qualities that made them ideal mates for most Alphas. Once a year, mature Omegas would experience a heat, a mating cycle, luring Alphas from far and wide with their potent, unmistakable scents. Omegas who did not draw at least one Alpha to them during this time might sicken and even perish from their unmet biological need to mate. Some scholars hypothesize that the first Omega Plagues occurred due to the imprisonment of a large group of Omeg—”
My hand was around the skinny throat of the pedantic academic before he could finish the page. “There’s not time to read the whole damned book. Tell me about mating. What do Omegas require?”
The man slid to the floor when I released him and began babbling. “O-of course, Your Majesty.” He held up a hand and began ticking off fingers as he spoke. “Omegas made slick, a substance that poured from their vaginas when aroused, allowing them to accept not only the cock but also the knot of the Alpha.”
I nodded; I’d known that. Most Beta women couldn’t take an Alpha’s knot, and no decent Alpha tried to force it on a physically incompatible partner. Most, if not all, Betas were incapable of accepting an Alpha’s full length, although they could mate, and bear an Alpha’s children.
The scholar cleared his throat, appearing uncomfortable with the material he was reading. “The slick only came, however, when an Omega thought she had found a worthy mate. In fact, the Omega’s, erm, opening, would stay mostly shut until fully aroused.”
They stayed shut? A true biological difference, then.
He lifted another bony finger. “Classic techniques of stimulating an Omega differed from Betas because both pleasure and pain aroused them. Their scent, powerful and sweet, became an even stronger musk when stimulated thus.”
“All pain aroused them? Or only sexual pain?”
