Page 67 of The Omega Slave

At least he didn’t have to demonstrate his provenance anymore.

It couldn’t ever be allowed to happen again. Tsaria was clearly the catalyst, and without him, Kamir was simply a wannabe king. But he would never need to prove it again, as his people accepted him. Easy. She could do this. There was only her and some of her people that knew Kamir hadn’t murdered the assembly members or the guards. But it was useful to let him think so, or it would have been if Damatrious had been present to lose his head as well. Everything was supposed to be handled in one. She’d worked too hard for this to get out of control.

Not that she had any problem killing those that outlived their usefulness. Ibrahim had been her most useful conquest. They’d had eyes in the palace for six lunar months and he had been easy to seduce both with her niece’s body and the coin they’d been generous with. Ibrahim had told them all about Kamir and Gabar. He’d even managed to get them word when Kamir had first changed into a dragon so she could time her arrival just as Gabar was getting desperate and put everything into action.

She didn’t suppose he expected to play such an important role in her deception, but it was an excellent way of tying up loose ends.

“We need to move the emir,” Elainore decreed. Tsaria could be left to rot as far as she was concerned, and she jerked her chin at the two guards holding him up and they shuffled out. Bex directed two of her rats to show them where to take him.

“I can guarantee your safety in here. Why not let things die down a little?”

Elainore didn’t bother telling her that the decision was now out of her hands because the imbecile had brought Kamir here and she didn’t doubt with enough coin offered that someone would talk. “Because they will be searching for the emir. I need to get him secure, and away from his slut before the emir wakes. Have you decided on a route out to the sands?”

Bex grunted. “Of course. You have my gold?”

Elainore waved a hand at one of her chosen men and the man dropped a heavy leather purse into Bex’s open, grasping palm. Her eyes lit up in glee and she started barking out orders.

Elainore turned to see the gagged slut staring at her with such hate and she smiled. She recognized defeat when she saw it.

Good, he knew he would die. It was a pity as he was a pretty thing and she could have had some fun with him. She strode out, only to be met by her men. One of Bex’s rats shadowed them closely, suspicion evident in the way he lifted his chin, and Elainore nearly laughed. When she was queen, no factions would work against her. One of her first tasks would be to seal these tunnels with the vermin still in them.

She listened as her man shared his news and wanted to crow in glee. She had assumed she would have to use Gabar as a scapegoat, but perhaps not. Her men had caught him asking questions as to the direction the sand people traveled in, and easily overpowered him.

She changed her course and headed in the direction of Gabar. Maybe he might be of some use after all.

Kamir reached down inside himself as his captors dragged him along. There,a flicker. His dragon was beginning to wake. He tried to send a thought to Tsaria, but Kamir’s brain was still like sludge after the heavy blow. He needed time. Time they didn’t have.

He carefully remained limp since he wasn’t tied, but then they turned into some sort of small cavern carved out of limestone rock by the once clean waters before the waste of Rajpur had polluted it.

The guards dumped him, and he was careful to remain limp and focused on the fire slowly building inside him. The sharp slap to his cheek took him too much by surprise to withhold the flinch. “Highness,” she purred.

Kamir opened his eyes, knowing exactly who he would see, but shock held him still. It was Elainore, butnot. Not even an old woman stood in front of him, but something he could only describe aswarped. Gabar stood next to her, and he couldn’t have held back the snarl that left his lips if his freedom had depended on it.

“My love,” Gabar murmured, ignoring him. “Let me slit him from arse to throat in front of the rats so they know who their true queen is. All this nonsense will soon stop.”

Kamir stared in shock, then realized that for some reason his uncle must not be able to see her true appearance. His eyes roved over her ravaged face. The peeling, rotten skin. The bloodied lip, and the open sores everywhere. And the smell. The stench down here was brutal, but Elainore was worse than that.

Gabar frowned. “He is untied.”

She smiled and Kamir struggled to hide his revulsion at her blood-stained, rotting teeth.

Elainore stepped forward and hooked a clawed hand under Kamir’s chin. “Before you even think of it, know I have your slut safely hidden away. Behave and when I am finished, you two will be put on a ship to Marston Keys and I care not what you do then. But if I see so much as a scale, Tsaria will be killed. He is hidden in the desert catacombs so deep not even the sewer rats could find him, and unless they hear from me every day, he will be lost to you.”

She lied. Kamir knew this. There was no way once she had Damatrious under her control that Kamir would be allowed to live, which meant his darling Tsaria would also be slain.

He also thought she lied about where they held Tsaria. He doubted they would have had the time to get him to the catacombs. The endless desert was a long day’s ride away.

Bex hurried into the cavern just as Elainore heard shouts. “Stupid bitch from the other end thinks she can take over my territory, but don’t worry, my lads will sort her.”

Elainore frowned. This was all they needed.

“Stay here. Too risky to move while this gets taken care of.” Bex cackled. “Won’t take long.”

Kamir’s heart banged hard against his ribs. It had to be Moxie. Jael must have gotten the message to her, and he prayed Jael had kept his promise and gotten back out. He concentrated on the flames building inside him. He knew deep down that he could summon his dragon, he just needed a little more time.

Elainore turned to the tunnel they had come from as sounds of the fight started dying down. He met her gleeful gaze, and his stomach dropped. “Looks like Bex has delivered as she said she would. The Eastside gang is the most powerful.”

Gabar drew his brows together again, and as if giving up, he pulled a white kerchief out of his breast pocket and covered hisnose against the smell. “Vile woman,” he muttered then looked at Kamir. “Why is he still breathing?” Gabar spat.

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