Kari glared at the commanding tone but Ryedir drew up to his full height while his voice dropped. His voice was soft and deep but no less authoritative.
“We will be outside of the safety of my domain and it’s exceedingly important that you follow my rules while we are away. Remember that everyone who sees this collar,” he stood close enough to reach up a hand to trace his fingers along the soft leather at his throat, “will know you are my pleasure slave and will treat you as such. Which means that they will mostly ignore you or they might look but not touch. Other servants and slaves at the palace may approach you and will most likely treat you with indifference or even malice. I need you to not react and carry on with whatever task you were doing. As you do here, you will stay with me and serve me. Once in the capital, you will have to sit at my feet when not serving and you will not interact with anyone. You are to be a pretty p
Overall, the journey into the capital was rather boring. Kariwas disappointed that he was relegated to travelling in the carriage with Nevisand the other household servants while Ryedir and the guards all got to ride on horses. The only consolation was that once Ryedir had seen that Karidid actually know his way around a horse, he agreed to let him ride one of them one afternoon when they were in between villages. He had even had suitable clothing made for the omega for riding just in case. Unfortunately, it had been days on the road and it had been village after village. Sure, the scenery was nice but sitting still in the carriage all day had Kariready to tear his hair out in frustration. Ryedir had, of course, seen fit to wear him out in the evenings by continuing their hand to hand training then using those very same hands to wring multiple orgasms from his body under the g
Hooves sounded behind him and Ryedir came level with him almost immediately, rising to his challenge. Karishot him a wild grin and then they were off, hooves pounding into the road as they galloped ahead. He laughed with unrestrained joy at the feeling of freedom. The wind rushed in his face and the horse underneath him gave the impression they could go anywhere he chose. It was like the weight of the travel and the impending worry over their upcoming visit to the capital slid off his shoulders. It wasn’t long before they slowed to a walk again. It wouldn’t do to tire the horses too much as they still had a way to travel and Karilaughed breathlessly in exhilaration. “Feel better?” “Yeah.” He flashed his alpha a beaming smile and received a soft look of affection in return. Embarrassed and a little shy over the openness being displayed, Kariturned his gaze back
Finally, they entered Disani’s city proper. Twelve days of travel and here they were. Thankfully Kari’s heat had yet to arrive but he was aware of the alpha watching him more than usual, no doubt looking for signs of it. He estimated that he had one to two weeks left at most before he hit three months since he had been given to Ryedir. That was roughly when he had healed enough to be functional, so prior to that,his heat must have been pushed aside due to his injuries. He was cutting it fine to tell Ryedir his choice but he refused to be pushed into it. The man could damn well wait until Kariwas ready. The omega had been eager to see the city he had heard so much about, so he had gone to sit at the front of the carriage with the driver but Ryedir had pulled him onto his horse and sat him in front of him, large arm wrapped around his waistsecurely while the other wasonthe
“Well, I can see why you like this one, Rye. So fiery.” Millicentswept into a large entertaining room in front of Kari. The women had bullied him into the bath with her, dosed him with scented oils, and dressed him up in a white short-sleevetunic ornamented with gold and yellow patterns.He was in a red breech with knee-high boots. A fabric was tied on his waist as always but now, a sash accompanied it from his left shoulder across his chest. Sparkling silver chains decorated both his arms placed just above his elbow. There were even two tiny silver bells attached to it so he tinkled as he moved. It was super embarrassing. Worse still, she had put something oily through his hair and painted around his eyes with a dark, almost charcoal-like stick. He was feeling ridiculously self-conscious when the crazy woman had dragged him from her quarters and through the palace. That had changed
The alpha turned off the main corridor and a smaller one. It wasn’t long before they passed what appeared to be rooms before finally entering one. It was lavish, the opulence even more grand than the rest of the palace. A huge four-poster bed surrounded by light drapes dominated the room but it wasn’t there that Ryedircarried him. They entered a room with an even larger pool set in the middle than the one in Mishal. Karicould only gape at the steam-filled room. How on earth did they manage to keep the water warm enough to steam? There was so much water. Ryedirset him down but still kept a tight hold on his form. He stripped Karicarefully, removing the delicate chains first then the sash, belt, tunic and breech before manhandling him into the bath. Kariopened his mouth to say something snarky about the treatment but the words died in his throat at the look on his alpha’s
“Well, you certainly are thorough, aren’t you, Rye?” The man in question growled at Millicentas she waltzed through the door without knocking. Kariflushed. He knew exactly what she referred to. Ryedirhad been overzealous in scent marking him last night and removing all traces of the perfume that lingered on him. He had certainly put Karithrough his paces. He practically came dry at the end just from the man’s fingers and had been too exhausted to react to the cum that splattered on his face to then be rubbed into his neck. It was embarrassing to think about now but there had been something thrilling about seeing such a wild-eyed look on the normally restrained alpha. He had honestly thought the man might finally lose to instincts and go back on his word to only claim Karionce he agreed. But by some great feat of will, Kariremains unbonded and unmated, just very tho
“It was a stupid move, but it was nothing to start a war over. It’s been two years.Jueanshould call an end to it. It’s nothing but a waste of resources at this point. No, even right from the beginning.”“We are all well aware of your stance on the war, Rye. But it was father’s last wish and decree as king. Jueancan’t very well call it to an end without seeing it through.”“Seeing it through how?” Ryedirwas starting to snarl at this point.Karihad never seen him so animated in conversation before. “We have taken enough land now that we could claim it as a fifth NiamreanVesnice and have that as reparation. Then send you across to set up and run the area. You are more than capable of managing such an undertaking, including the construction of additional infrastructure to link it to the capital.”&ld
The wedding was a truly beautiful affair. Karihad never seen such an elaborate celebration before but then, this was for a king of a powerful nation. People were dressed in their best, everyone glittering in shimmering fabrics and adorned with precious metals and stones. Even the servants and slaves were done up. Karihimself had a new tunic that was intricately patterned with swirls of blue, and small sparking silver chains that had tiny sparkling jewels hanging off them. His breech was made from beautiful shimmering blue fabric and he veritably dripped in silver chains adorned with more sparkling jewelswhile his knee-length boots shined with silver swirls on each side. Millicenthad painted black around his eyes again and when he glimpsed himself in a mirror, he looked almost otherworldly. His skin was as pale as snow, almost unearthly, and his eyes, hai