Page 227 of Filthy Royal

Anya’s advice:Maybe don’t worry about trying to stifle your gift so much.

Luc’s statement:You might have been born property and a prize, little sister, but you’ve shown us all the true meaning of strength.

The omegas’ encouragement:You can trust yourself, Scarlett… We know you can handle it. You’re a force to be reckoned with.

Kadon’s vow:I set her free to live, to love, to be whoever she is meant to be.

And most of all, Damien’s love:I don’t care about the pain. The risk. The dark. It’s part of you, and I’ve experienced life without you, Omega. The truth is, Scarlett, I’ll take you any way I can… You are my dream.

They believed she was strong. Worthy. All of her, even the less-than-perfect parts.

So why didn’t she?

She’d grown up under the Consortium’s harsh rules, been trained since birth to do as she was told. To please others.

Bit by bit, without her even realizing, they’d chipped away at her power. Until all she knew was to dance on command and smile behind the walls of her cage and even while making plans to run away, she’d wondered if she truly had it in her to stand on her own after all.

Life under Darvish’s thumb had been more of the same, just with higher, uglier stakes.

And all the while, her rage grew andtwisted back onto herself.

Behave or else. That’s all she’d known.

Until Damien.

The darkness inside her swirled faster, mushrooming into a cosmic tempest of charged particles and violent impulses, but this time, she didn’t let herself fear it.

She’d not let those bastards steal from her again. And she refused to allow Darvish to turn her into a weapon to use against Damien and those he loved.

Darvish, Andor, and the Consortium had already taken far too much.

She’d just gotten her dream, her Alpha returned to her. He was hers in every way.

In her heart, she knew Damien would be scrambling to find her even now.

So she wasnotgiving up. She’dnotlet their ship take off. And she wasdonebehaving.

She’d become the omega she was always meant to be.

She would trust herself.

Outside, in the hall, the Alphas’ discussion continued.

“Have I ever led you astray?” Darvish was back to smug. “I’ve been planning this for a long time, and we’ve come far together.”

“Your schemes worked at first because the Skolovs didn’t know you existed. Now? Things are unraveling.”

“Don’t you fucking dare say that!” Darvish shout was a near shriek. “I have everything under control. Plans are underway. The army is almost ready. Zaya is right where I need her to be. And now, I’ve got a weapon tied to that cot that will make the Skolovs weak.”

“You cost me my son,” Andor snarled, and Scarlett suspected he’d finally revealed what he was truly furious about.

“I thought I was the son you never had.”

“Do not trifle with me. Your mother was the one who decided to shame me and her Sartin kin by spreading her legs for Burian SkolovafterI’d agreed to make her my prime omega. Instead, she played the whore and humiliated me, rutting with that second-rate Skolov space trash. Do you know how long it took to live that down and regain my respectability among the Brotherhood?”

Goddess! Scarlett jerked against her restraints. Damien’s father stole Andor’s prime omega to be. That’s why he plotted against the Skolovs even now. Like Darvish, he was intent on punishing the Skolov heirs for the sins of the father.

There was a crash outside in the hallway. Then a gagging sound, as if someone was choking.

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