His face contorted. “You don’t want to remember our most blissful time together?”

“I told you no! You didn’t stop.”

He stepped forward, looming over her, his voice beautiful gravel. “Why would I stop? You’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever had, tmot zia. And I was already in my rut by then.”

“And would you have stopped if you weren’t?”

“No!” He roared the word. “You’re my true mate! You belong to me.”

“And yet you’ve never once called me by my name,” Naya said, firming her trembly core. “I am not a mate to you, I am a means to an end who also happens to smell nice.”

“If that’s what you want to think, that is up to you,” Akoro said sharply. “It doesn’t change a fucking thing. I'm going to give you one more chance to tell me the truth about why you wanted to go to the stables."

"I don't see why it’s a problem," Naya said, sitting down on the bed. "You said that I didn't have to be bound anymore because I smell of you."

"That does not mean you can just leave your room, escape your guards, and go somewhere on the edge of the palace."

“I was still on palace grounds!” Naya said, exasperated.

Akoro crossed his arms, glaring at her with the hard anger that she had first seen from him when she arrived. She held a hand up. This had already gone on for too long. "I'm sorry," Naya mumbled. She just needed to get rid of him. "It won't happen again."

"Do you think I am foolish? It's not a coincidence that you did this after the final meeting. I already told you that you’re to be with me. You no longer have any allegiances or alliances with Lox Empire."

Naya shrugged. "I don't even know when you're going to invade. Why can’t I go to the sables after finally being free of these meetings?"

Akoro was silent for a moment, anger still working through his stance. He grabbed her and dragged her onto the bed.

“I am not fucking you right now!” Naya yelled.

He flipped her over and pushed her dress over her hips, then dragged her underwear down to her knees and he stopped.

Naya froze too, panting into the bed as he stared directly at her bare ass.

“I’m going to remind you,” he said, his low voice sending a shiver through her.

Annoyingly, she sounded breathless. “Remind me of what?”

“Of your Haze.”

Naya huffed out a breath, ready to scream at him. “I don’t want⁠—”

“You were waiting for me when I came in,” he said.

She heard him undoing his pants.

“On your knees, naked, wet, looking at me like I was the best thing you’d ever seen.”

Her pussy clench at sound of him rubbing his shaft. Naya kept her head forward, hoping she wouldn’t smell him too soon. This was a trap.

“I waited for you to come to me, to touch me, but you didn’t.”

A loud clap hit her ass cheek and she cried out, jolting from the pain. “Ow!”

“Why!” he demanded.

He slapped her check again, and the pain was even worse.

“I was being good. I was trying to be a good Omega.”

“Who the fuck taught you that?”

“I-I⁠—”

Clap.

She cried out again. “Not an Alpha. It’s so I sit quietly they bring in food to the room.”

He rubbed her stinging ass cheek. “You went through your Haze solo before?”

“Yes,” Naya panted, whimpering. Her pussy was dripping and his scent filled the whole room now. He was aroused and it was making everything harder.

The sound he made in his throat was of satisfaction, an Alpha pleased that he had been the first—the only one. “Why?”

“To see what it’s like… that’s all.” It annoyed her that deep within was a preening pleasure at his satisfaction.

His hand left her and he stroked himself again. “You opened wide and let me lick and suck you.”

Naya almost sobbed at the memory.

“Are you saying you didn’t enjoy it?”

“No. I did.”

A rough tongue ran over her slit, and she moaned, pushing her ass up more, rotating her hips to give him better access. He sucked and licked so gently, she writhed for more pressure. He hummed. “So good. Why would you want to deny me this?”

“I-I…” Naya tried to shake off the arousal. “You don’t treat me well,” she whispered. “I could never love a man like you.”

The tongue froze. With a roar, he flipped her back over a climbed over her. A cold fury gripped him and he caged her in, pinning her with his gaze. “Is that so, princess? When this is all over, and I have killed everything else you love, we shall see.” His nose flared and his eyes roamed her face. “I treat you the best I can in the circumstances, but you are in denial. You will never escape me, tmot zia. I will have you no matter what. But… if you want to have free reign in the city, I can give you that. But you have to pay the price."

Naya eyed him. "What do you mean?"

"If you want to be able to go anywhere in the city without my guards following you and without the fabric, then I can arrange that. But the price is high and I would advise you to stay in your room.”

“What is the price?”

“Your face.”

Naya narrowed her eyes at him. That sounded ominous. “My face?”

Akoro nodded.

Her face for her freedom to get back home and warn Papa. That seemed worth it. She wasn’t exactly a celebrated beauty. “All right.”

Akoro drew a dagger from his belt and approached her.

Naya froze. "What are you going to do?"

"If you accept you’re mine, this won't matter," Akoro said. "I’m giving you one more chance.”

Naya nodded. Whatever he was about to do, it wouldn’t change how badly she wanted to go home. "Go ahead," Naya said.

Grabbing the crown of her head, he pushed her head back, glaring at her as he held up the dagger to her face.

Naya's eyes flitted between his eyes and the dagger, but she said nothing.

He pressed the tip of the dagger against the back of her right cheek and then sliced along her face all the way to her mouth. The sharp pain flared across the cut, followed by a cooling sensation. The second cut was a little higher. This time it burned, like the blade was heated. The third was a little higher than that. Her face was tingling when he finished but she couldn’t feel any blood.

When he released her, Naya pressed her fingers to her face, but her skin was smooth; she couldn't feel any cut from the blade. She looked up at Akoro. "What was that?"

“Come," Akoro said. He took her through the corridors, up into the palace, into his bedroom. It looked just as grand and majestic as she remembered, and even stranger with him in it.

He led her to the mirror, but when she leaned forward to examine her face there was no sign of any cuts.

"I don't see anything," she said.

"I know. You won't. Tell me where you wanted to go.”

Naya ignored him, trying to figure out what he’d done.

He grunted. “I’m going to the ruins,” he said. “You will stay here and watch the mirror. When I come back, I expect you spread and wet, and waiting to give me every inch of your cunt before I go and kill your father and claim your empire."

He stalked out and Naya exhaled. Maybe it was the impending battle, but he was particularly cruel today. This was completely unnecessary and barbaric, and since the dagger cuts didn’t show, why did he do it?

She thought back to after her Haze, when he was trying to coax her back out of her dampened mood. It had seemed like he cared about her then, but maybe that was just about him. He wanted her praising him and adoring him, like she’d been in her Haze state, and maybe fucking someone who didn’t care either way bruised his ego, so he did what he needed to get her out of her shell. He took her to a forest that was so similar to hers, there was no way she was not going to engage. Was anything he told her even true?