Page 71 of Queen of Wrath

Her head slowly rose, and her mouth was agape as she tried to draw air into her panicked lungs.

“I need you to take a deep breath. Breathe with me. Ready? One, two, three. Breathe in… Hold it… Breathe out… And again.” Rowan realized that she’d been wrong. Judging by Omara’s reaction, she might not have been totally aware of everything Diesel was doing.

Rowan watched as her breathing slowed, and a calmness—or some semblance of it—swept over her. “Feel better?”

“Why is he holding you down here? Who are you?” She furrowed her brows in a distrusting manner, but still inched closer to Rowan.

“I am Special Agent Rowan Lexie. I work for the Department of Potion Regulations, and I've been investigating your husband for the past five years.” Rowan paused, giving Omara a moment to absorb the information. “That's why he abducted me. He knew I was getting close to exposing him.”

“No. I refuse to believe that. Diesel can be a great many things, but this is too far. You have to be lying… Tell me the real reason why you're down here.” She took a few steps back again, shaking her head.

Rowan could tell she was losing her only way of escape, and knew she needed to act fast. “Come on, Omara. You have to know better than that by now. You're a very smart woman, and you had to have noticed things before now. There's a part of you that resents him, isn't there? Maybe there's even a part of you that questions if Diesel had something to do with his own brother's death—with your husband's death… What if I told you you weren't crazy for thinking that?”

Omara’s eyes dropped to the floor and widened in horror. Her hands slowly lifted to her mouth, as if she was trying to keep a silent wail at bay. “It can't be… There's no way Diesel would hurt his own family.”

“Diesel has done much worse than that, and you know it. He's played you for a fool this whole time, but you have a chance to make it right. You don't have to turn a blind eye anymore.”

“If I let you out…he’ll be furious,” she mumbled, seeming uncertain about her decision as she drew her arms around herself. “All hell will break loose.”

“All hell has already broken loose, Omara. Diesel's responsible for burning half the city to the ground, for Goddess’s sake! If you don't let me stop him, he will do a lot worse than that. More families will be devastated, and that won't just be on him. That'll be on you as well.”

Rowan narrowed her eyes at the terrified woman before her, refusing to even blink, hoping against hope that her words had finally broken through to Omara’s conscience—and her courage that had to be hiding in there somewhere.

The room fell silent. So much so that if a pin dropped, the next city over would have heard it.

Omara’s features then suddenly twisted into a cold scowl, her eyes darkening in a way that sent a harrowing jolt down Rowan’s back—which was why she flinched when the unrecognizable creature before her charged forward with vengeance written all over her face.

She expected Omara to go for her neck and strangle her, but was surprised when she grabbed a hold of the chains wrapped around Rowan's wrists instead.

Bones breaking and cracking filled Rowan's ears as she watched Omara shift halfway into her wolf form. This gave her just enough strength to rip the chains to pieces.

Rowan fell to the ground with a loud thud, immediately rubbing the bruised and bleeding parts of her wrists. She managed a nervous laugh as she said, “I'll be honest with you, that wasn't my expected outcome.”

“A part of me has always known. I just wanted a better life for my sons, something I couldn’t give them by myself. I know that doesn't excuse anything, but I was acting in the best interest of my family.” Omara was almost pleading with Rowan to see things from her perspective, but forgiveness couldn’t be given so easily.

“I also grew up in a poor village. I was raised by only my mother, and you know the most valuable thing she taught me? A decision made to save a few, to the detriment of many, is a bad decision. Don't look to me for redemption, you won't find it here.”

Rowan moved past her without another word, and exited the dungeon, leaving Omara to wallow in her thoughts.

Change was in the air; a revelation of truth, an ultimate disclosure, an apocalypse, if you will, of an old era to make way for the new.

And it was time all involved realized it.

29

DIESEL

Such a long day, and I'm still no closer to discovering who sabotaged my potions than I was yesterday.

Diesel was so distracted with his thoughts, that he hardly noticed how quiet it was in the house. He wiped his hand across his sticky forehead, only to feel a more congealed substance coming off his fingers.

As he looked down at his palms, he realized only then that they were covered in blood. He went to the water basin and washed his face and hands before Omara could see it.

Where is she, anyway? Probably staring out into the distance longingly from the terrace again. That woman will be the death of me.

Diesel made his way up the stairs into the bedroom and walked out onto the balcony, but she wasn't there.

“Omara?”

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