Page 45 of Storms of His Wrath

“What is she saying?” Oppo asked again, his voice carrying an almost pleading edge.

Akoro noticed his brother’s face had flushed, his expression cycling between elation, concern, and relief in rapid succession. The drawing crinkling in his grip.

“First tell me,” he said to Naya, his voice rough. “Who is Nnimi?”

She glanced at Oppo, something gentle softening her features. “Your niece. Oppo’s daughter.”

Shock rendered him speechless. The words echoed in his skull, refusing to make sense. Oppo had a daughter? His eyes flicked to the direction she’d walked from, toward the shimmering heat that concealed whatever community lay beyond. Family was here?

The realization hit him hard. “You knew,” he said to Oppo, switching to Shtonma. “You knew these Omegas were here.”

Oppo’s mouth clamped shut in alarm, then he exhaled, his shoulders dropping as though releasing a burden he’d carried for years. “No, I didn’t know they were here, Akoro.”

“But you knew about this community,” Akoro snapped, fury building in his chest like a brewing storm. “When youdisappeared five years ago, you told me you’d found an Omega. You’d found your true mate, but that you had to walk away. You didn’t say there was a whole community. You didn’t say anything about having a child.”

“Why would I?” He lifted his chin, his eyes growing cool and distant. “Why would I tell anyone, Akoro?”

“I’m your brother!” Akoro bellowed, the words tearing from his throat.

“No, you are King of Tsashokra!” Oppo bellowed back, his own composure finally cracking. “Your duty to the people always comes first, not your loyalty to me as your brother. You banished Omegas to some dead forest and haven’t cared to even find out if any of them are still alive.”

“I had to?—”

“You always have to!” Oppo thundered, stepping closer. “There is always some fucking justification for your laws and rules.”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t have done it?” Akoro’s eyes were wild, his hands clenching into fists. “Are you saying I should have let Omegas roam the region with no idea how to stop wild magic from attacking them, and put everyone else at risk?”

Oppo took a breath, his eyes lowering before lifting to meet Akoro’s, his mouth twisted with conviction. “No. No, brother. Once again, I agree with the hard decision you had to make. But this is my mate we’re talking about. My child! I have no obligation to tell you anything. Not when you were planning to kidnap and torture an Omega.”

His words pierced Akoro like a thousand spears at once. He stared at his brother, brows furrowed, trying to untangle all the thoughts unspooling in his mind. He’d kept himself at a distance with Oppo since the Battle of Sy, resenting him for letting Akoro shoulder everything, but Oppo had distanced himself too. He didn’t see Akoro as his brother, he saw him as belonging to thepeople… a wild king blinded by the needs of his people. Just like what Naya said.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naya move to Oppo and hold out her hand for the parchment. When Oppo gave it to her, she came toward Akoro, an intensity in her eyes he’d never seen before.

“This is me,” she said, holding up the drawing and pointing to a stick figure with zigzag copper hair and a wide grin. The artwork was clearly a child’s creation, innocent and charming. She pointed to the other smaller figure. “This is Nnimi.” The second stick figure bore carefully drawn crisscross braided hair. Naya’s eyes found his, compassionate and soft. “She is beautiful, Akoro. A happy, healthy, clever four-year-old. She would play all day if she could, she loves reading. She runs away from having her hair done and is shy in the mornings, and she speaks both the Common Tongue and Shtonma.”

The gentle cadence of her voice soothed something savage in his chest. His fury drained away, her scent wrapped around him, replacing rage with something more manageable. He slowly took the drawing from her fingers, staring at it. Naya had played with the little girl.

“And she’s never met her father and uncle,” Naya added quietly.

His jaw clenched as tangled emotions surged through him. “I didn’t know about her,” he said, his voice dropping low.

“I know,” Naya said softly. “It was for her own safety. It’s no one’s fault. Certainly not Oppo’s.”

Akoro breathed deeply, forcing calm into his frame. “Naya, wait for me in my tent. I need to speak to my brother.”

She searched his gaze, then nodded. After inclining her head toward Oppo, she turned and made her way across the sand drift.

Akoro stared at the drawing, his mind racing between past and present. When Oppo had disappeared for nearly a year, Akoro had torn the region apart searching for him. He’d been convinced one of the districts was making a move against the throne, but Oppo had vanished from a secluded area with no witnesses, no traces. When his brother finally returned, he’d been reluctant to explain his absence. Only under pressure had Oppo revealed meeting an Omega, his true mate, spending months with her before forcing himself to leave because Alphas couldn’t be with Omegas. At the time, Akoro had found it both brave and unbelievable—he couldn’t imagine any Alpha possessing such restraint.

The story had explained Oppo’s transformation. He’d returned a different man, sadness permeating not just his mood but his entire physicality. Withdrawn, softer, sometimes irritable. He barely talked for the first year. Akoro had thought he’d understood to some degree. But he hadn’t. He realized when he’d met Naya that he’d had no idea about the gravity of what Oppo had done.

But the idea of leaving his child...

He looked up at his brother, who watched him with cautious eyes. “Tell me what really happened.”

“Everything I told you before was true,” Oppo said, his voice steady despite the emotions flickering across his features. “We met in Hharvelin and realized instantly that we were true mates.”

“How did you know?” Akoro asked, remembering the first time he spoke to Naya. Something had happened between them but he hadn’t known the significance until much later.

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