It was not Otaso.
Eyes the gleaming topaz of a predator looked at her from under the hard shelf of dark eyebrows, making her uncertain how much of his coppery skin was creased from his scowl or just weather worn. There was no mistaking the dark fire flaring to life behind that intense stare. Muddy rose lips spread, more snarl than smile as he showed the white edge of his teeth, the hand at her throat gliding down to splay over her chest.
Aida did the only thing she could think of. Screaming as loud and long as she could, she dug her heels into the soft bed to scuttle away from the dangerous stranger. Another shriek following tight on the heels of the first as she found herself naked and alone with the male that somehow made her skin tingle and burn like that time she’d brushed against a hot poker. Only this time it didn’t hurt.
“Silence,” the monster snarled, the hand not reaching for her halfway to his ear, as if her shrill cries hurt him.
Hoping they were painful in some way, Aida continued to scream though her throat felt as if she’d swallowed shards of glass. Not even bothering to snatch for something to cover herself, hoping Otaso would understand and forgive her, she lunged to the side to scramble off the bed and past the savage beast.
Caught by his grip on her throat once more, Aida coughed and sputtered. Lifted until their eyes met, she slapped at his chest and raked the ragged edges of her nails over his arm. Aimed for his face, though he knocked her hand aside with such ease as to make her vehemence laughable.
“I said silence.” Voice thick and rolling, tone lilting on the wrong inflections, he wasn’t from Aeslomor.
Dropped to the floor, she collapsed to hands and knees to cough and drag in ragged breaths redolent with cedar and summer. Tipping her head up she looked at the beast sidelong, her face warming as she noticed something she very well shouldn’t have. The trousers he wore were far more snug than she’d ever seen Otaso wear them. Tight fit outlining the thing she’d only ever felt pressed against her back, Aida screamed for the only savior she had.
“Otaso!”
His roar made the windowpanes shudder. Rage was far too soft a word to describe the twisted maelstrom contained in that single sound. Praying for a swift end as he grabbed her, Aida wailed as he hauled her up by the nape. Dragging her to him, he leaned close so he could growl in her face. Heavy braids twined with beads and metal rings made a curtain around them, shadowing all but his menacing gaze.
“You will never say that name again. Do you understand me?” When Aida continued to stare in panic-stricken horror, he shook her hard enough to cause her teeth to snap. Yelling at her from inches away, he demanded, “Do you understand me?”
Lower lip trembling, the first scalding tears dripped over her lashes. Dewy drops becoming a torrential flood, she sunk loose limbed and desolate to the floor to cower around her nakedness, hiding away what she little she could. Otaso was gone, if not dead. Why else would this stranger be in her room, so casual of being in her presence let alone her lack of attire? Otaso had killed for far less. He’d not allow something like this if he could. Not to his fawn, his jewel, his prize.
Sobbing into upturned knees, Aida ignored the male as he hunkered down before her. Hoping he would leave her to her misery and fears of what would come next, she understood that would not happen. Not after what Otaso tried, what he’d accused her of ruining. All these years her guardian warned her of what awaited her should he not be there to protect her, and now she would see the truth of it.
“Stop this, kou’va,” the man muttered, thick fingers winding around the back of her neck to haul her between his spread thighs. Tucking Aida into the sweltering shadow of his presence, he took her chin between finger and thumb to force her eyes to his. “I will give you something to weep about if you continue to mourn him like this.”
Eyes rounding, Aida sputtered a smeared tumble of syllables as she slapped away the savage’s hand. Seeking to put space between them, she cried out when her backside stuttered across the cold wood planks as he dragged her right back where he wished her to be. Caught in the vice like grip of his arm just under her breasts, she couldn’t even hide that part of her. Splayed hands struggling to shield that space between her legs, she cried all the harder when he raked a rough hand over the tangled knots of her hair.
“You reek.”
There was no stopping it as he locked his fist around her bicep, yanking her up to tiptoes to follow in his wake towards the bathing chamber. With a low growl of disgust, a sweep of his hand incinerated the wilted lilies and moldering petals. A turbulent skim of sunset hues rippled over the water, leaving it clean and steaming without a trace of the rancid oils or perfumes though the scent of burnt greenery lingered.
Wide-eyed gaze sliding from the bath to the man and back, Aida stood slack jawed in horrified amazement. The magic he controlled with so little effort was as powerful as Otaso’s to have done such a thing, yet it wasn’t the same bloody reds and darkness accustomed to her.
He gave her no further time to contemplate it, one hand at her back and the other slapping up between her thighs. Hefting her into the air, he ignored her shrill pleas as he stalked towards the tub. Dropping her in so she banged her hip
