Page 55 of The King's Omega
“You like it?” I asked, holding out the skirt. This dress was the nicest one I’d worn so far. It was a rich crimson, which set off my dusky skin and dark hair, and it fit right everywhere, nipping in at the waist and belling out in full skirts over my hips. I did a little twirl. “Think there will be dancing?”
Axe made a sign that I thought might mean running away.
“Don’t worry. I’m an accomplished dancer; it’s one of the things you learn in a brothel.”
Sorcha broke into peals of laughter. “One of the things,” she chortled, while Axe shook his head with his eyes squeezed shut. “Goddess love ya, dear girl. I think those boys have met their match in you.”
“Those b-boys?” I was blushing to match Axe now.
“You know exactly who I mean. Good thing you were raised in a brothel, girlie,” she said, shooing me out the door alongside Axe. “You’ll need it if you’re going to juggle five co—”
I slammed the door, and let out a huge breath, turning to take Axe’s hand.
He stood frozen, eyes glazed, mouth opening and closing. I peeked down, realizing my bodice had shifted a bit too low. I pulled it up, stepped in front of him, and said without breaking my stride, “They actually didn’t teach us to juggle. But I suppose I could learn.”
I chuckled all the way to the dining hall. But once we entered, I couldn’t laugh at all. We were late, and Rigol had just finished speaking to the crowd—probably telling them whatever story he had fabricated to explain Selene’s absence—and everyone was clapping politely, though many of the faces betrayed disbelief.
Rigol sat next to Selene, who wore an expression of victory. We walked to the head of the table and bowed to Rigol. I couldn’t look away from the ring on Selene’s hand.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty,” I choked out, when Axe finished signing to Rigol and all eyes were on me. I tried to come up with some other pleasantries, but Selene was stroking Rigol’s arm, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
“Vali,” Selene murmured in the sweet voice she used to get what she wanted. “I feel awful about what happened the last time we were together, and even before. Please understand, I was desperate. I didn’t know what to do. I was a captive, and I lashed out at everyone.”
That was a lie; she had been fairly nice to the other ladies at the Sow. It was me she had pinched, scratched, and abused. I just nodded. I wouldn’t make this any worse for Rigol; he was mated to her and had to live with her now.
Axe and I ate in silence, though he took the time to teach me signs for all the food we ate and spelled out the names of the nobles around us. None of them spoke to me, or even looked at me. I’m sure they had seen me around the castle and knew I was a nobody by now, so I didn’t bother using my Visiting Princess persona.
I was just Vali, the useless, ordinary servant who smelled funny.
“Why are you sad?” Axe tilted my chin up to his face. “Rigol?”
“Yes. And because I am not like you. Not like Rigol.” He looked confused, so I spoke. “I don’t belong here. I’m just a servant.”
“No. You are not. You are…” He made a sign I didn’t know. I furrowed my brow, and he erased the lines with one thumb, then cupped my face with both hands and mouthed the words: “Beautiful. Mine.”
I dropped my gaze, eating as much of the meal as I could with a stomach full of butterflies. When I finished, Axe signed, “Tell me about your family. Parents? Siblings? Where were you…”He rocked his hands like he was holding a baby.
“Where was I born?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. Madam said she heard me squalling in the alley behind the Sow when I was only a few months old. One of the older ladies, Nell, told me I was wrapped in a bright red blanket with gold thread, but Madam gave it to a wet nurse in trade for her milk.
“My family were all the women at the Sow. They taught me a lot, and I don’t mean things between, um, men and women. I learned how to dance, how to speak like I’m not a guttersnipe—lots of the noblemen pay better if you can sound like you’re posh, so all the ladies practice it. I can clean any stain out of anything, and I know my way around a broom and a shovel. I did a short stint in the stables next door when I was younger, and the ladies told Madam I needed more than just whores for company.”
I snickered. “Of course, then I started smelling like I do, and the stable boys lost interest in the horses, if you know what I mean, so I had to go back to just cleaning the Sow.” For a split second, my smile wouldn’t stay in place. One of those stable boys had been an enormously strong Alpha, and I’d been lucky to escape him after he’d caught my scent.
“You like horses?”
I pinned my smile back on. Axe was here with me, and no stable boy or any other man would be able to get through him. “Very much! I can ride bareback or with a saddle, and I can groom and tack up my own horse.”
He pulled me in for a quick hug, and the surrounding people turned up their noses. So, I hugged him back because Goddess take those sorts of snobs. He might be a general, and I might be a servant, but as long as he wanted to sit by me, who were they to judge?
Axe had just asked me what other animals I liked when suddenly everyone stood.
“Be seated. My mate and I will return,” Rigol said from the head of the table. He looked haggard, as if he had aged fifty years in one day. “Please keep the wine flowing, stewards, and let there be music into the night. You are all invited to celebrate the return of my mate.” His voice cracked on the last word.
“To the King and future Queen!” someone shouted. Everyone raised their glass, except me and Axe.
“To the King and future Queen!”
The people around us started buzzing about when the coronation might be, and if they would bother to hold one, with the war coming. I had lost my appetite for dessert, and apparently Axe had as well. We left, walking straight back to the laundry. A guard I didn’t recognize stood at the doorway that led inside. Axe signed to him, but he didn’t understand. “I think he’s asking why you’re here?”
