Page 27 of Own To Obsess

“And what if he chooses not to inform me about certain things?” Shaya asked evenly.

“That is where the problem lies,” Rozalia admitted. “I believe it is to your benefit to know most of the things that are happening in your own tribe, on your own island.”

“So are you going to tell me?”

Rozalia inclined her head. “Yes, within reason.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means if you have questions I will answer them when I can, but only while we work. And I will not offer information unless you ask.”

Shaya took a breath and nodded, relieved to hear that she would at least be getting some answers.

Rozalia grinned at her and then got to her feet. “Shall we start?”

They worked for the whole morning in the white garden and Shaya questioned Rozalia about some of the plants and flowers. Between the snow garden in the natural one, Rozalia was growing over two hundred varieties of different plants, flowers, and seeds. Shaya mentally made a list of the ones she had used to create the potion, and then set about finding where they were on Rozalia's land or what the replacement was. She was careful to only ask questions sparingly, or to equate it to another recipe or use.

When they stopped for lunch, Rozalia gave her a quizzical look. “Do you not have anything to ask me about Kardos?”

Shaya almost wanted to tell her no. She had already made up her mind about dulling the bond, but she was still very curious about many things.

She spooned purple pea-cider soup into her mouth as she thought about the questions she needed answers to. “What did he lose when I bit him? Why is he so angry?”

Rozalia spoke carefully. “By bringing an Omega back to the Southern Isles, Kardos had effectively guaranteed himself to be chosen to be the next high chief.”

“But I thought it was obvious he would be?” Shaya asked, frowning. “From everything I learned about the Southern Lands, he is the most suitable Alpha, isn't he? He has achieved much more than the other shinnos.”

Rozalia nodded as she spooned soup into her mouth. “Yes, but there still is a selection process”

“What is the point of the selection process?”

“It gives the shinnos the chance to prove that they can think and act like a high chief.” She thought a little more as she put a couple more spoonfuls into her mouth. “The high chief of the Southern Lands has to consider that each tribe will have its own rules and live a different way. He cannot interfere with that, and yet he has to ensure that individual tribe business doesn't interfere with the running of the Southern Lands as a whole. Additionally, he has to oversee that pairings are frequent and successful, so the Southern Lands can continue to thrive. He must be aware of any threat to the Isles, whether it be from other lands and people or due to the severe weather we endure. It requires intelligence and balance and consideration—it is a big role.”

“And Kardos wants that role,” Shaya confirmed.

“It is said that the position of the high chief is not a matter of desire, it is a matter of duty,” Rozalia said. “The Alpha suited as high chief has a responsibility to ensure that he is selected, because the wrong Alpha could be detrimental to the people of the Isles. And, ironically, the wrong Alpha will not know he is ill-suited.”

Shaya nodded thoughtfully. “I can understand that,” she murmured, as Rozalia shared warm bread rolls. “The high chief said that people could die.”

Rozalia smiled, her face suddenly brightening. “How did you find meeting the high chief?”

Shaya bit into her bread and chewed slowly. “It was scary at first,” she admitted. “And there seemed to be some anger between the high chief and Kardos. But then when he took me to the blessing room, he was very nice.” She lowered her hand to her lap. “I don't know why he didn't bless us though.”

Rozalia bit into her own bread nodded. “I’m sure he has his reasons.”

“Everyone has their reasons for everything. It doesn't mean it's right,” she said irritably. “I don't understand these Alphas. They are confusing.”

Rozalia took her hand and squeezed it, smiling at her. “I'm sure over time you will learn to understand them,” she said. “They are not that difficult, I assure you.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Shaya studied Rozalia's potion books and made a mental note of the ingredients she needed for her potion. Rozalia happened to have some form of them, either from the garden, or already harvested and prepared in a bottle for application to potions.

Over the next few days, she secretly stored some of the more abundant ingredients, such as sesame seed and wireroot on her body as she traveled back to Kardos' hut, where she stashed them out of sight in the guest room.

She had gotten used to the routine of grooming Kardos in the morning, and had found the location of all the grooming items after asking his servants. He didn't seem to be that bothered about what she did with his beard. When she asked him, he simply shrugged. So she cut it down and neatened it and then used one of her hair creams to moisten and soften it.

Of course when he was in bed with her, all thoughts of anything other than him fled from her mind, and it scared her how completely he dominated her whenever he chose to. Her mind was on him, her body craved everything he did to it; he barely had to touch her before she was wet and writhing for him. But all that did was make her even more determined during the day as she sourced each ingredient needed to create the potion.

The only problem she had was that she didn't know where she was going to make it. She needed a specialist mixing desk to create it the right way, and there wasn't one in Kardos' hut. The only place was Rozalia's hut, but she’d need time alone to do it.

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