"So no one has done any experimentation with magic in your land?"

"Not that I know of," Naya said. "Omegas are having children, increasing the population of Omegas and Alphas. But I'm sure eventually once things are stable, many will turn to examining the way magic works. You have found a way to harness it safely without needing Omegas or going mad. I don't know if it will work the same in my Land. I assume you would have tried."

The healer, Oppo, suddenly spoke, words tumbling out of him directed at Tshel.

Tshel nodded at him. "Oppo asked if magic can be healed in your land."

"What do you mean? If magic can be used to heal?"

"No. Yes." Tshel thought for a moment. "If someone was damaged by magic, can you heal that injury?"

"Usually, yes. But it depends on the injury."

Tsol translated for Oppo, who asked another question.

“Is magic used to heal magical injuries or non-magical injuries?”

“Yes.”

"Can you heal bad magic?"

"Bad magic?" Naya frowned. “I don’t know what that means. The qualities of magic that we have aren’t ‘bad’ just different.”

Tshel translated for Oppo.

"Has magic ever been dangerous in your land?" he asked through Tshel.

"Only in the hands of people, mostly Alphas. But it’s not generally dangerous as a force or entity. It can certainly cause damage, but it depends on what is done with it."

Tshel nodded. "That is how it seems."

Oppo continued to ask questions about potions and medicines, until finally, he nodded at Akoro.

The meetings were over. The invasion was about to begin.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Naya paced in her room.

She was missing something. The last meeting… some of the questions seemed trivial or didn’t make sense. But something bothered her, a nagging feeling she was missing something. She had to figure out; it could be the key to get back home.

Akoro had been careful about what he said to her since her heat. He’d been busier lately, so she hadn’t seen him as much, even his sparring sessions lessened. Naya could no longer cloud her mind; the reality of the situation was gaining strength and every hour that now passed put her home in real danger.

When she saw him, their interaction was either having sex or sparring—typical for an Alpha like him. He seemed to think that she would just sit out of the way while he plundered and killed everyone.

She’d use that to her advantage.

Trying to mentally lay down the information, she reeled off on her fingers all the things that had obvious connections.

One, Omegas. Omegas here were separate from the general population, whereas the empire was trying to reintroduce Omegas. Keeping Omegas out of the population didn’t make sense. Why would they? The only thing different about Omegas from other dynamics was… magic.

Naya dug her nails into her palm, the connections coming quicker. The magic here was wild. So maybe the Omegas had something to do with that. Did they use it to attack people? That seemed out of character; however, as history proved, if they were pushed to the brink, they would do just about anything.

What did she learn about the magic here?

All of the most powerful magic had to do with distance. When she was restrained, it was because the force kept her in place, and if she moved away she was punished. Same with when Akoro broke her ribs—there was a connection to his wrist.

Proximity was important to the magic here. So maybe the wild magic had a proximity issue as well? When she'd seen the white fire in this land, Akoro had promised it wouldn't come any closer, as if it would try….

And Omegas could not be near society.

Tshel had said: “Does magic follow you around?”

Her stomach jittered. Omegas attracted the dangerous magic. That was why they were kept separate. Stomach trembling, she sat down hard on the bed. That had to be it. Everyone was scared of the Omegas and thought they were dangerous because the wild magic had a proximity connection to Omegas. Having her in the city made the city dangerous for everyone else, because the wild magic was trying to get to her. It was the same in the desert, the dust she saw swirling underneath the clouds, that had to have been the wild magic out there.

Naya braced her elbows on her knees, processing the concept of what her mind pieced together.

If the wild magic was destroying the land, then taking his people somewhere that didn’t happen was Akoro’s plan. He somehow thought that the Known Lands caused the wild magic, so he considered it to be their burden. But right now, the magic she needed was in the white fire.

Naya rubbed her palms on her thighs. The last time that she tried to tackle the white fire, it had been drawn to Lili, but she didn’t know why. What happened to the Omegas here when the white fire attacked them? They must have found a way to survive. Everyone was under the impression they were gone, not dead.

Regardless, Naya had to return to her empire, no matter what. Akoro wanted to put her in a little box until he was ready to play with her again, but he seemed to have forgotten why he chose her to kidnap in the first place.

Naya was back, and she wasn’t going to give up that easily.

When she’d started engaging the magic last time, it had occurred to her that the magical language, the Ancient Tongue, could provide better structure to control it. It had rules and was easy to repeat, whereas casting using her awareness was less orderly. If she tried again now, she’d use the Ancient Tongue and see if she could draw in through the damaged ruins that Akoro mentioned when they visited the attacked building.

The first thing she needed to do was figure out where they went last time when he took her to the attacked building. The white fire had managed to get into the city, and she needed it to come into the city again. Guards stood outside her door, but since she’d been marked by Akoro’s scent, they’d been much more relaxed about where she went.

She left her room and started walking. There was a frantic energy around the palace that reflected her mood and she allowed herself to blend in. When she got to the main entrance, the guards stopped her from leaving. She turned and headed to the back courtyard, but they stopped her from exiting the building there too.

"I just want to go to the stables,” she said.

They blocked her but didn’t answer.

Lurching forward, she disabled three of them and slipped past two to run out into the courtyard. She needed to know which direction the damaged building had been in.

When she got to the stables, and looked for the direction they’d gone in to get to the attacked building. West. Good. She relaxed. At least she’d have a direction to focus on when she summoned the white fire. If she thought Akoro’s nnirae would be easy to ride, she might have ridden him to head out there, but it wasn't worth the risk. Before she could decide whether or not go now, his guards caught up with her and took her back to her room.

Of course, Akoro was furious when he found out she attacked his guards. He descended onto her room with the force of a thousand burning suns. "Where exactly were you going?"

"I wasn't trying to go anywhere," Naya said. "I just wanted to visit your nnirea..”

Akoro's expression turned sour. "You don't seem to realize that I can usually tell when you're lying. This one is obvious."

"I don’t always lie," Naya snapped.

“You are a fucking liar,” he said tightly. “When were you planning to tell me that you remember your Haze?”

Naya glared at him. “I don’t want to remember it.”