Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
When she was clean and dressed in draping robes the women on this ship preferred, he offered her fabric and the items required for sewing, saying, “Make dress,” with a genuine smile.
Simin offered food that was warm, cooked through, and seasoned. Food he had not made, but that waited in the dining area of his domicile. Food that was so familiar, Morgaine swallowed it with the worst blend of a broken heart and longing for what could not be.
It was a recipe of her mother’s.
Who was far away and in the possession of men like Esin, Uriel, and the commandant. Men who had harmed her and would do so again.
“Kor’yr?”
Blue eyes wet with tears looked up from a perfectly created stew to find her mate brimming with concern. In fact, he looked ill.
Pressing his hand against his chest as if to soothe an incessant twinge, he said her name, stood, and carefully pulled her from her chair. Without Etaine to translate, most of what he whispered into her hair was lost. But it was the tone that mattered.
He sounded sorry.
Shaking her head, trying to communicate that she did not blame him, Morgaine swallowed down her tears.
This was to be her life now, and he had been better to her than any other male. He loved her. She could feel that clearly when the link warmed and cocooned her pain. She would make the best of it.
Large thumbs wiped her tears away, her Alpha cooing until she gave him a crooked smile. But when she went to reclaim her seat and eat the food with no further theatrics, he pulled her in another direction. The dining chamber behind them, he walked her through the front rooms until they neared the exit.
Assuming he was going to take her back to the Omegas because she was sad, Morgaine failed to notice who waited.
“Morgaine?”
It couldn’t be! “Mama?”
Morgaine was caught up by the woman she loved with her whole heart in a bone-crushing hug.
Pulling back to make sure it was real, sobbing and spilling out her heart, Morgaine asked, “How are you here?”
Excited, her mother carried on, the smile on her face aglow with all the joy she had in being reunited with her missing child. “For days the sky burned, huge pieces of the Alphas’ ships raining down upon us. Just when we thought things couldn't get worse, barbarians invaded. They rounded up everyone as the Alphas arrived. The whole settlement was dragged away amidst the shooting. Our fields burned… animals were left to wander. While I was being herded onto a ship, a woman named Etaine questioned us—a woman soldier if you can believe it. When she learned my name, I was separated from the others and brought here.” Cupping her daughter’s cheeks as if this could not be real, Elizabeta said, “I was told I was to be a slave for a princess.”
Morgaine’s blood went cold. “Slave?”
“That I was to cook for her and keep her company. And here I find you!” Embraced her again, Elizabeta wept and kissed her daughter’s cheek.
Simin watched the exchange, arms crossed over his chest. When his mate turned to look at him, to assess, he nodded and said in her language, “Gift.”
“What about my people? Why take them all?”
It was as if he anticipated her scowling brows and downturned lips, Simin coming forward to press a kiss to her forehead. “Etaine explain.”
“The female soldier?” Her mother shook her head. “Etaine was taken by the Alphas—the armored ones. She never made it off the planet.”