Page 66 of The King's Omega
“What’s wrong?” Roya asked. “Do you not want to marry the king?”
“Oh, no, I do!” Vali said. “I’ll be queen. It’s all a girl could ever hope for. It’s just…” She blushed prettily, shuffling her feet. “He said he wants an Omega, but I’m not sure he knows some of the most important things about us.”
“Like what?” Vali and Roya were doing the talking, but the servants were silent, listening almost too closely. That was good; we needed them to report what they heard to Milian.
“Well, most women on their wedding nights… you know. They have sex. But an Omega takes a full week to open… down there. There has to be romance and gentleness, and then it’s like a flower opening in the rain.” She sighed, then batted her eyelashes.
I could almost feel the breeze from where I sat, folding towels in a darkened corner. Roya was an excellent actress, but Vali was trying too hard.
“What happens if I go into that room tonight, and he doesn’t even have materials for a nest? He thought Omegas responded to pain, so obviously someone has misled him. But if there’s no nest, no sheets and fluffy blankets and pillows, and he tries to force me on the first night… what then? He’ll kill me, won’t he?” She dissolved into tears that didn’t sound false.
“Now, now, miss,” a servant said. “You’ll ruin your face. Dry those eyes. I’m sure the king knows all he needs to.”
Or he would soon. That servant, at least, had taken the bait.
“But I w-won’t get t-to be queen if he doesn’t. And he’s handsome, and…”
The servant woman sent a pointed look at one of the others, who silently excused herself and slipped away. The outside door opened after a series of knocks.
Excellent.
Roya’s shoulders loosened, and Vali gave a small sigh of relief. “Yes,” she said after she dried her face. “You’re right, of course. Milian is far cleverer than that King Rigol. And much kinder, I’m sure.”
I thought Roya might choke at that one.
In minutes, the other servants had finished and gone out, their sly glances betraying them. The remaining Omega—a young girl with a sweet face—lingered, her eyes wide on Vali. “D-did the king in Turino really have you t-tortured?”
“Yes,” Vali said, her face going red. “He ordered his spy, Vilkurn, to torture me for hours and hours.”
Roya embraced Vali, but her sharp eyes were on the young Omega, the one she had suspected might also be an informant. “Let’s not speak of it.” She pitched her voice low, leaning in on Vali’s side. “Vali, I want you to know… I’m planning to escape from here tomorrow night, after midnight, when the castle is asleep. I may not see you again after the wedding. Just… be careful.”
Roya shot Vali a wink, and the two of them walked placidly to the door, the wide-eyed Omega rushing ahead. Roya murmured a question just loud enough to hear, “So, was this Vilkurn incompetent at torture or something? I mean,hours, Vali? Really?”
“Oh, he was good at it,” Vali replied with a wink at me. “But the next time, I’ll be the one doing the torturing—and I might make it last fordays.” A wisp of her peaches and honey floated to me on the air. Torture, indeed.
I stayed hard until the king’s guard came for Vali. Then, with the help of an older Omega, I slipped into a maid’s uniform and mob cap, and followed them out the door.
“You can stay here, or follow us to the terrace,” an Omega whispered. “There’s a good view of the joyful occasion from there.”
“Joyful?” I breathed. “That’s not what I would call watching an evil man marry the woman I love.”
The woman grinned. “Does she know?”
“She will,” I replied. “Just have to tie up a few loose ends.” And make sure my own king understood he wasn’t the only one who needed Vali to save him.
After the wedding had started, I launched my plan, signaling one of my spies to deliver the intercepted message, signing to make certain he understood exactly when the message had to make its way to the king.
After two hours, Vali married Milian in a shower of petals.
After four, the guests cheered as they left the packed dining hall and made their way to the king’s chambers.
And then I did something I hadn’t done in years. I prayed.
Maybe the Goddess did answer my prayers. Not a half hour later, Vali emerged from the king’s chambers and was escorted by three guards to an adjoining suite of rooms, still wearing the gaudy jeweled crown Milian had given her during the wedding ceremony.
When my spy came pelting down the hall from the opposite direction, shouting “an urgent message for the king!” it distracted the guards enough that I could sneak into the room after Vali, where I found her spitting into a basin.
And spitting mad.
