Page 146 of Ruled By The Alpha

We’ve stopped at mine and village, to remind Justlinn’s tithelings of their lord’s face, and to introduce me as his Omega. I’ve seen pity in many eyes as they play over my face, but no revulsion, nor heard any of the whispers that clawed at my heart during my handfasting.

Our horses, eager for warm stalls and fresh hay, quicken their pace toward the wooden palisade ringing the Tomarrhai. We’re hailed at arrow-distance, and when Justlinn announces himself, the gate’s quickly opened. Before we even pass our horses into the care of the stable master, a Beta in black silk robes and the truncated hennin of a steward bustles into the courtyard.

He eyes our small party suspiciously until Justlinn holds out the large signet he wears on his left hand. The man bows. “My lord Tomarrson, I did not recognize you with your hair gone white.”

Justlinn nods. “It’s been a few years, Donag. This is my lady-Omega, Kieran, my nephew, Morgan, and Kieran’s attendant, Rivvard.”

Donag pales as Justlinn introduces us, but quickly recovers his composure and bends over my hand. “Lady-Omega.”

I gather Justlinn did not send word ahead either of our mating or our arrival.

“We’ll take the guest rooms tonight,” Justlinn tells the steward. “Morgan and I hie south tomorrow. The King cannot spare us for long. Rivvard will take the Omega Tower. You can ready my chamber for Kieran on the morrow.”

Two spots of color rise onto Donag’s cheekbones. “Surely the lady will take her place in the Omega Tower as well.”

“No,” says Justlinn. “I bring Tomarrhai a trained and blooded warrior who will hold the hai fast for the King, not a Tower Omega. No offense, good Rivvard.”

Rivvard lowers his violet eyes and bows. “Of course not, my Tuvarr.”

“Send word to the port,” Justlinn says to the steward. “I’ll hold a short audience, for any who wish to air their grievances to my face, after I break my fast tomorrow. You’ll need the keys today, no doubt, but plan to hand over both keys and signet to Kieran tomorrow. She is the lady of Tomarr now.”

Donag’s eyes, a foggy gray-green that speaks of Isvaulta ancestry but surely carry no Gift, track to me. “Lady-Omega, you will need instruction on how to run the hai.”

Although I appreciate Justlinn making my position clear, he does not have to remain here amid whatever ill-feeling foments in the demoted steward. I need allies, not enemies. “I would welcome your instruction, good steward.”

That seems to settle the man. He calls a boy to take our trunks and a girl to show us to the guest rooms. Both look faintly awestruck at the sight of the two Alphas, reinforcing theimpression of what strangers Justlinn and Morgan are to their own people. I ask the name of everyone we meet and encourage them to call me Kieran.

Although I would rather spend our dwindling hours together sequestered with my Alpha, I understand the importance of being seen with Justlinn. When he suggests we eat in the hall rather than the well-appointed guest rooms, I agree.

The great hall is hung with the Tomarr colors, black and silver. There, any similarity with my father’s hall ends. There’s no dais for the Tuvarr. Everyone, from the kitchen maids to the three house Omegas to the captain of the mines, eats at two long tables. When we enter, the steward directs a short table be laid across the end of the two long ones. A maid drapes the table with a tabard and sets it with pewter and wood. There is no gleaming silver or sparkling crystal on this table. A boy brings four chairs instead of the trestle benches everyone else is sitting on. One of the chairs has a black and silver canopy over it and I can only guess it’s been brought from the Tuvarr’s audience chamber.

I cannot suppress my surprise when Justlinn seats me in the canopied chair instead of himself. Donag, holding a chair on the other side that he surely meant for me, stares at Justlinn open-mouthed.

Justlinn sits to my right, Morgan and Rivvard to my left. Justlinn gestures to the steaming serving plates two sweaty maids are setting out on the long tables. “Eat, my friends. It’s good to be back in your company, if only for the night.”

The quiet, comfortable chatter of people who know each other well, who have worked side-by-side through days bright and gray, slowly fills the hall. Donag seats himself at the top of the table to my right. At first he’s stiff-backed, his mouth drawn into a tight line of disapproval. But as the meal progresses, his spine softens. Before the foamy custard the coastal hai arefamous for passes around, he deigns to smile and even joke a little.

Stiffness returns to his spine when we retire for the night and he offers Morgan a pallet with the house guard. I scramble to think of some excuse to spend the night with my Alpha, but Justlinn comes to our rescue.

“Morgan is my blood, my companion, and has served as my guard these many years I’ve served the kings,” Justlinn says, clapping Donag on the shoulder. “He leaves my sight rarely and we have no secrets from one another. He sleeps in my chamber, and if he ever visits without me in the future, he is to be afforded all the privilege of lordship, including my own bed.”

Donag’s eyes, sharpened with suspicion, flick from his lord, to my Alpha, to me. Understanding dawns across his features. If I had any concern about this man being an accomplished liar, his easily-read countenance puts that fear to rest. He bows his head to me. “I understand, my lord, my lady-Omega.”

After too few hours of bliss in my Alpha’s arms, and too many hours listening to Justlinn adjudicate the petty complaints of farmers, merchants, and miners in the Tuvarr’s hall, I stand at the palisade gate and watch my mate-in-name and mate-in-truth ride away. Justlinn waves and calls to everyone who comes to see off their lord; Morgan’s silent and watchful at his uncle’s side, his black eyes often returning to meet mine over his shoulder.

Once they crest the cliffs and pass out of sight, I sigh. Rivvard, who has been close at hand all this difficult day, loops his arm through mine and presses against my side. I give him a gentle smile before turning to the man on my other side.

“Now to the work of running the hai,” I say to Donag. “I am at your disposal, good steward.”

Donag’s foggy eyes rise to mine. He searches my face for a long moment, not lingering on the stain. “Morgan is your Alpha.”

“Yes,” I say.

“Any heir—”

I put my hand to my belly, where I know Morgan’s Gift already quickens within me. I agreed to his child as we lay knotted together last night. By morning, we could both scent the change.

“Any heir will be of Justlinn’s blood.”

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