Page 27 of Sins of His Wrath

“Maybe so, but you can tell me about that after we’ve mounted a defense against their magic. This is urgent.”

Mother Freya sighed. “The dome that surrounded and protected our compound needed to be maintained constantly, and we didn’t have the time to give it the attention it needed. We weaved raw magic into the dome, creating a pattern—a symbol that served as an instruction it would obey. Then, whenever magic encountered it, it followed the instruction.”

“How would someone unravel the symbol?” Naya asked. “If I wanted to stop or interrupt the magic, how would I do it?”

“It is difficult if it isn’t your own magic; you have to know the shape of the symbol to feel and disrupt it. And you have to be careful—it can cause serious harm if you’re careless. You need to understand the symbol to be able to sense it.”

Naya thought for a moment. “What kind of symbol is it?”

“It’s a language,” the Mother said, a strange look coming over her face. “The Ancient Tongue.”

“The Ancient Tongue?” Naya made a face. “I thought you Mothers hated the Ancient Tongue?”

“We hated what Alphas used the language to do,” Mother Freya corrected. “And we never needed it, particularly. But it is the only language that magic responds to. There was no use letting it go to waste if it could be useful.”

Naya frowned in thought. She had used the Ancient Tongue to control the white fire when she escaped Akoro, so everything the Mother was saying made sense, except that Ancient Tongue couldn’t be the only language magic responded to. Akoro’s people had to have developed another language that worked with magic, otherwise their application of it wouldn’t be so varied and sophisticated. “The Royals created that language, didn’t they?” The moment the question left her lips, she knew it was a mistake.

Mother Freya’s face shuttered, transforming into something hard and closed.

It was the king’s line from across the White Ocean, who had overseen and encouraged the most brutal violence against Omegas. They had developed the language over centuries and used it to position themselves as tyrannical rulers. That was over now, but those wounds would always run deep with the Mothers.

“How well did you learn it?” Naya asked tentatively. “I thought it was restricted to Talent-crafters back then.”

Mother Freya’s face was sour, but she still answered, her voice harsh. “We raised an army of Omega spies, princess. We learned anything we wanted.”

Naya returned to her rooms in deep thought. The first days after Akoro had taken her were almost a blur now, but in the desert when he’d had those horrible dark red bands attached to her, the women traced symbols on the fabric with their fingers. That seemed to support what the Mother said. The question was, what symbols were they using? If Akoro’s people had developed their own magical language, Naya wouldn’t be able to interfere with it without learning that particular language. Though… when she’d escaped using the Ancient Tongue, did that mean she could use it to interfere with their magic language? Did the Ancient Tongue override the language they created?

Naya sighed and moved in front of the mirror to check her bandage—peering at the seeping red wound before re-dressing it. Whatever theory she comes up with interrupting their magic, she needed to try it before they arrived, and she’d have to think quickly. The knot in her stomach coiled tighter at the thought of Akoro arriving in her land. Wrapping her arms around herself, she pressed her face into them. A deep-set longing and sadness overcame her that her Alpha wasn’t here to do this. That was his responsi?—

Naya inhaled sharply and dropped her hands, a sharp gust of guilt bursting through her. No. She would not pine for him. He wasn’t what her stupid Omega side thought he was, and the sooner he was dead, the easier it would be to move on.

Pushing all thought of him out of her head, she changed into something more formal. Her parents had met with the other rulers, so they were going to fill her in about what had happened between the Southern Lands and Akoro’s land. The fact she hadn’t attended the meeting herself niggled at her, especially after Mother Freya’s words about the ornamental nature of her existence. The old woman hadn’t been completely wrong. Even without her total absence from her duties for six years, Naya had never been as meaningful to Omegas as her mother. She’d never passed a law or passed a decree or led the army. She’d done nothing.

Pushing the guilty feeling away, she opened the door to leave again and froze.

Lonn stood outside.

She was surprised to see him for a moment, forgetting she’d asked Auntie Vic to find him. He still had that hardness she’d seen in the Great Hall, and it took some getting used to. The man that’d sat opposite her in the pairing room had been attentive, serious, confident. But she had to remember he was a fierce warrior and Alpha first, and he had the height, width, and demeanor to prove it.

She averted her eyes from his body, suddenly guilty that she was looking at him like she was assessing him. “Thanks for coming.”

His eyes roamed her face, lingering on the wound, before darting back up to meet her gaze. “He really did this to you?”

Naya nodded.

His face turned hard. “I will kill him.”

“You’re in a queue behind my parents, Drocan, Uncle Torin, Auntie Vic, and probably every general across the realm.”

“I am a general.”

Naya pursed her lips, quirking them up in a smile. “I noticed. You were promoted?”

Lonn nodded. “Soon after your disappearance.” He paused and then stepped closer. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Naya said, aware the words came out a little too quickly. “But I need something.”

He searched her eyes. “What?”

---