Page 89 of Sins of His Wrath

Akoro's chest tightened, the weight of generations pressing down on him. He'd sworn to protect his people, to lead them to safety. To reclaim what was stolen from them. And now...

Oppo turned to the others. “Leave us. Wait outside.”

The council members blinked at him in shock. Oppo had never given that order before. Slowly, they bowed and filtered out of the room.

“What is it, Oppo?” Akoro growled, annoyance coursing through him.

“It was always going to happen eventually, Akoro,” Oppo said, sitting down at a chair at the table.

“What?”

“Your decision between your Omega and your people.”

“No,” Akoro said. “I refuse to believe that.”

“How was it going to work? Not only do we have laws about Omegas, but you were intending to conquer her home. You threatened to kill her people.”

“She would have come to terms with it.” Even has Akoro spoke, he knew from his time with her today that he didn’t know if he wanted her to come to terms with it. She had listened. She had understood. And while she defended her people, she didn’t outright decry what he said. Harming her this way, even if he thought she would come around eventually, was becoming more unappealing each moment.

Oppo eyed him. “You came to my room annoyed that she was fine with being your whore. You wanted that for however many years it took for her to come to terms with it.”

The words grated on Akoro. Of course he didn’t want that, especially not now.

“I told you, it’s much better when she wants you back.”

“Not if she’s dead because of some myth,” Akoro said sharply

Oppo sighed. "Even if you don't believe in the Solution, what harm is there in letting her try? She has fourteen days out of the month. Give her that chance."

The silence stretched.

Oppo went to the door to call the council back in while Akoro turned everything over in his mind, trying to find another answer, another way. But he could see none.

With a heavy chest, Akoro turned back to face his council, his expression carved from stone, betraying none of the turmoil churning within him.

"I will give the princess her fourteen days," he said, words feeling terrible on his tongue. "She is on her third and will continue on."

Relief rippled through the room, visible in slumped shoulders and released breaths. Tshel closed her eyes briefly, as if in silent prayer. Nanaek and Ranin exchanged nods of satisfaction. Even Nrommo seemed to uncoil slightly, some of the desperate tension leaving his frame.

But a hard knot of dread locked tight in Akoro’s gut.

Because if Naya succeeded, she would leave him immediately. She’d return to her empire, to her people. To the life she had before him. And if she failed...

The thought of her facing the full fury of thennin-eellithi, of watching it tear into her as it had so many others who dared to challenge it, sent a coldness through him that he couldn’t shake.

Either way, he stood to lose something precious. Something he'd only just found.

"Prepare to brief her in the morning," he ordered, his voice betraying none of the turmoil raging inside him. "Have everything ready."

Prillu nodded, relief softening her rigid posture. "We will, my king. Thank you."

As the council dispersed, their voices a murmur of renewed purpose, Akoro remained at the window, staring out unseeingly.

He had fought for everything he had. Killed and bled for it. He’d become the king his people needed—ruthless, unyielding, determined.

And now, for the first time, he found himself wanting to fight for something he never knew he wanted.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

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