There was a bed in the corner of the room, lifted high on the newly built stage for everyone in the room to see. There was no guessing its future role.
The Cult expected me to take my omega to heel right here, in front of everyone as a celebration of my crowning. I ground my teeth together, turning away with a hard grimace.
I wouldn’t do it. I would accept their gift and I would do it gracefully, but I wasn’t going to take her as an alpha takes an omega in front of the entire royal court. I was going to do things my way.
I stood and my closest advisor Neegan approached me. I glanced down at the hand of the king emblem on his chest and at the pillow in his hands.
He brought with him the crown and the crowd went silent. Silently, I bowed my head as he placed the pillow down on the table. He picked up the angular silver crown and slowly placed it on top of my head.
The sound of chanting started to rise.
“Long live King Magnar,” they chanted, repeating it over and over as the volume soon grew to a deafening drumbeat that made the very pebbles on the ground tremble in its power.
I pounded my fist hard against my chest.
“Long may we reign, my people of Kingsworth,” I shouted and every single person within that Great Hall roared with approval. I could feel the rising tension in the omega by my side. She was uneasy and I did nothing to ease her woes.
At once, the Great Hall was filled with a line of servants bringing beer, mead, and wine to the masses. There were continual cheers and shrieks of laughter. Today was a joyous day. I was meant to bring the city happiness and hope. The crowning of a new king when the world was on the brink of war.
All of my work had come down to this day. Tomorrow I would figure out what to do next.
One course of food after another was brought out in a lavish display of the wealth and glory of Kingsworth. There were no expenses spared on this day of celebration and I knew it was a showing of power from those who led the Cult.
The crowd started to sing songs of me, chanting renditions of my exploits and of my reputation both on and off the battlefield. I listened carefully, pleased to hear that much of the songs spoke of the people’s mutual respect and fear of me. It was an image I’d cultivated very carefully and one I worked incredibly hard to maintain.
One I was going to have to live up to while also ensuring the omega beside me wasn’t put in danger.
The raised bed in the corner of the room was both a beacon and a message, but I had been crowned king before all of these people. I would do things as I saw fit. The Cult wanted a show, and I would give them one, but I would do it my way.
With a deep breath, I plucked the wineglass from Ariana’s fingers and placed it on the table. Purposefully, I took her hand and led her in front of the table. A rolling hush came over the crowd, curious eyes watching the interplay of an alpha king and his omega.
“My people…” I began, waiting for the room to go completely quiet.
“You know who I am, but I fear I’ve neglected to introduce you to someone very important to me,” I continued, maneuvering her to stand in front of me. Casually, I placed one hand on either shoulder, noting how tiny she felt beneath my grasp.
“One day soon, I will take this woman as my mate, but that is not all. She will be my bride and she will also be your queen,” I declared, and she stiffened under my fingers.
“But, my dear people, she is not yet any of those things. She stands before you as simply an omega that has yet to feel the hands of her alpha on her naked skin,” he continued, and she tensed even harder beneath me.
Too swiftly to allow her to react, I grasped the sides of her dress and tore it open, exposing the body I knew was bare beneath. I glanced down, noting that her nipples were pebbled hard. The sound of ripping fabric filled the air as I made quick work of the garment that once covered her beautiful body and in a span of moments, I threw what was left of it to the ground.
“This pretty omega before you has never been properly put in her place by her alpha. You can see it in the way she lifts her chin, at the way to bites her lip in order to keep quiet, and the way her face tenses in an effort to hold back how much she wants to challenge me. She wants to challenge her king,” I exclaimed, and the crowd perched forward on their seats with bated breath. They wanted to see what I would do, of how their new king would handle his omega.
“Now my omega has been obedient thus far, so I don’t intend to punish her before all of you. I simply plan to give her a taste of what might happen should she displease me,” I continued. I said it more to calm the woman beneath my fingers, but I think the words functioned more to appease my own guilt about what I was going to have to do in order to placate the men who had put me here on the throne in the first place.
With restrained cruelty, I dug my fingers into the thick blonde hair at the back of her scalp and fisted it hard. She cried out at the pain, but I didn’t falter even as I lifted her several inches higher, forcing her to
