Too important to be part of the long train that followed him, they had placed a rough cradle in his tent. A convenience considering he would slake his needs on the wet nurse for now, until she became too broken to withstand it. He had to have a care with that one for now, at least until they could find another, but you could do much to a woman before she shattered.
In the meantime, he placed the girl into the soft pelts and fine fabrics lining the heavy trunk. Startled when she caught his finger and brought it to her lips, gumming the hard knuckle. Otaso didn’t know how long he sat there, watching this strange infant with utter fascination. Long enough she slipped closer to true sleep, releasing him with a wet smack of her lips and a healthy yawn that showed the pink of her gums.
“Aida,” he murmured, stroking the roundness of her cheek.
His half-sister’s second name, the woman-child burnt to ash and scattered to the sea ages ago. Before Otaso found his true calling, before he’d murdered their father, taking that title and power for his own. Their brothers, too. A Beta, yes, but with the same lack of fear. She’d smiled as she met Otaso’s gaze more often than not. Her lack of caution had cost her much before her soul slipped free of its mortal chains, but he had never felt such passion, such love, before or since.
Thoughts of the long dead girl and the glory of her blood and death beneath his hands suffused him. Her pain and screams loud in his ears once more, he turned to the golden-haired woman. Lips wide in a smile that showed too much teeth as he stalked his prey, driving her across the room.
Otaso didn’t give it a second thought as he wasted the energy to throw a barrier over little Aida. She’d hear screams one day, but not the paltry ones of this slave.
Someday, she’d hear her own at his hands.
Decision made, he caught the pale slave. Tossed her onto the bed and laughed at her shrill cries while his little Aida sucked her thumb, oblivious as she found true sleep.
Chapter 1
Aida
“Aida!”
Shoulders lurching to her ears, Aida froze as her guardian’s rage shattered the hurried excitement of spring infiltrating her room. Windows wide to the gentle breeze and the cheery song of birds, it was a forbidden act she thought to get away with while he was deep in consultations with his advisors.
The stomp of boots below drove dingy ochre dust into the air. Drifting past her window and up to the spire that scraped the vivid blue sky before the wind caught it and dragged the drab yellow clouds away. Announcing in dismal fanfare that she hadn’t been as safe as she’d thought.
His guards always tattled. No matter her pleas or delicate sneaking, they reported her every misdeed with cruel neutrality. They never touched her, crowding her away from the outside world, back towards her tower with their sheer bulk. The one time she’d been brave enough to push through their wall of etched metal and sooty aggression, Otaso murdered the man. Used brute strength instead of the magic forever shimmering just under his skin in a lazy crimson glow to rip the soldier’s head clean off.
She never touched another of them again.
Otaso had no such issue with touching her. Now he wrapped a thick arm around her middle, hauling her away from eyes that wouldn’t dare to peek up at her prison. The length of her back pressed against his chest, she tried and failed to hide the flinch when the rasping sound of his displeasure rumbled through her.
“I only wanted—”
“None of your lies,” Otaso growled, the acrid wash of his breath scattering over her neck as he curled around her. Surrounding a far smaller body with mounds of muscle and vibrating anger. “What have I told you a thousand times?”
Aida forced the tension from her limbs, going limp in the violent embrace. It was to be a lesson then, not a simple reprimand. Quelling the tremble of her lower lip, she closed her eyes to the sudden dimness of the tension-soaked room. Tongue seeking to bring moisture to the parched planes of her lips, she whispered, “To act like a common woman is to be treated like one.”
“Do you wish to be punished today of all days?”
“No, sir.”
“Then I better not hear of your transgressions again.”
Opening her eyes wide, Aida remained where she was as he released her. Strangling the momentary relief from a conflagration to a guttering candle flame in the space of a heartbeat as she tipped her chin down. A subservient apology, a show of reform as she dipped into a deep curtsy to almost kneel at his feet.
“I came to tell you I will miss our luncheon,” Otaso murmured, fingers sliding along her jaw to bring her face up. “You will join me for dinner this evening.”
“D-dinner, sir?” Throat working to swallow back the pleas for a stay of this sudden decision, she suppressed the shiver from an icy finger of dread scraping down her spine. His advisors, his men, they supped with him at the grand table in the enormous hall. Never her.
“Yes, my little fawn. Dinner.” Chuckle grating and swirling with darkness, he cupped her chin in his palm. Brought her wide eyes to meet the russet of his gaze as his thumb traversed a rough course over her cheek. “We’re to celebrate your name day, and it is a very special one. At dusk, the precise moment the sun and moon hold equal sway, you will be of age. A glorious moment. Magical, even.”
The lurking dread became a wave. Sucking at her heart and soul, twisting them into hopeless knots as Otaso admired her features. Fingering a lock of her hair, the sound he made was one she’d heard many a time from him before, yet louder now. More insistent. Sure of its moment of victory.
“Tonight you will see your true potential. No longer the fumbling fawn, but the graceful doe, yes?” Drawing Aida to her feet, Otaso’s tone took on a serrated edge. Darkness seeping into the deep wounds he inflicted with words alone. “You will dine by my side, a testament to my power.”
“As you wish, sir.”
Otaso grunted, displeased with her response. Before Aida could sort through what he wished of her now, he stalked towards the door. Boots landing with the weighty thuds of impending doom, he gave her his back until he reached the slab of wood carved with hundreds of patterns, the symbols of his magic intertwined with a design of a delicate fawn poised to run. Whether to spring away in fear or to play was in the beholder's eye.
“You will remember who gave you a life, Aida Vertia. Took you in, made you something more. The person who has given you everything you could ever need or desire.”
With his words still ringing in the eerie quiet, Otaso left her in the chill shadows. The birdsong she wanted so much to hear without the thick panes of glass separating them now seemed dull and shrill. Any warmth from the weak spring sun melted away, leaving Aida to tremble with arms wrapped tight around her middle.
Whatever plans her guardian had for her, the things he promised with every uncomfortable touch and awkward moment, he would see it come to fruition this night. The exact moment she was of age, he would take what he long ago professed was his alone.
“Foolish girl,” Immari hissed as she came bustling into the suite. Full skirts snapping with her agitation, she hurried towards the windows. Closing them with such force the thick panes rattled, the casements creaking in distress. “On today of all days, you misbehave, threatening to bring his wrath down on us all.”