Innocent - Roe Horvat Page 0,8

his left hand and tugged it back up.

Zana was a good man. He’d even asked Navid’s permission to claim him, saying he wouldn’t marry him against his will. A good, compassionate man. He wouldn’t be cruel or cold. Calm down. I need to calm down, or he’ll notice. It’s his wedding night, and I’m his omega. I can’t ruin his pleasure because of stupid nerves.

The veil slid again. Frustrated, Navid clutched it with both hands. He was shaking, and that was why the veil kept slipping.

Zana would notice.

A tear escaped his eye, and Navid wiped at it frantically. This was hopeless. Breathe.

Distinct footsteps sounded just behind the door, loud over the blood pounding in his ears. He was going to throw up.

My body belongs to my husband.

The door handle clicked.

3

Zana

Bathed and dry, Zana pulled on the black silk trousers and slid his arms into the sleeves of the matching long robe. He didn’t bother tying it. The window was open and the night hot. Voices from outside drifted in, a muted chattering, and his lip curled with disgust. For all their superiority, his uncles could behave barbarically. They looked down on their relatives in Dalton City with disdain for the supposed moral decline, but then they’d do this. And the Taheris were just as bad, if not worse. All the primitive rituals and nonsensical rules. Today was his wedding day, and Zana should be glowing with happiness. Instead, he’d been boiling inside with wrath and frustration.

His only consolation had been the look in his young husband’s eyes.

Navid’s nervousness was so painfully obvious. His hands had trembled when he lifted the cup of wine to Zana’s lips at the celebratory dinner, and Zana had almost taken it from him for fear Navid would spill it in front of everyone. But he’d managed. Zana had drunk the wine, and Navid had smiled timidly. Every time their gazes had met during the endless day, Zana saw hope. Navid had looked up at him with sincere, guileless hope, making Zana’s heart bleed for him.

He’d take his husband away from here as soon as possible. Knowing how Navid had been brought up, Zana shuddered at how anxious he must have felt on his wedding day. Zana had tried to talk to him a few times, to tell him he’d take care of him, protect him, that he had nothing to fear. But they had never been alone long enough for them to have an actual conversation. Until now.

His husband was waiting for him behind that door. Zana pictured how he’d find him. Naked but for a red veil over his shoulders, kneeling by the foot of the bed. Like an offering to the gods.

Zana didn’t feel like a god. He felt like a criminal, worse than those people standing underneath the window, eager for their spoils of the wedding night. He hated that his young husband must be waiting for him—exposed and humiliated. At the same time, Zana envisioned the beautiful boy on his knees, imagined his nakedness, and he burned with want. Did that make him a villain?

With his hand on the door handle, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Navid’s dark, glistening look was fresh in his memory. All the hope. Chasing away the lustful fantasies, Zana held on to that picture of hope.

He opened the door.

Zana had forgotten how to cry when he’d been a young boy. He was the oldest brother, the alpha heir. Tears were a weakness he couldn’t afford.

If he knew how, he’d cry now.

His young husband was kneeling on the wedding night pillow, clutching the veil in his hands, head bent in submission. And he was shaking so hard his back quaked. The lines of his naked body were visible underneath the transparent fabric. When Zana took a step closer, a quiet sob escaped from Navid’s lips. He was struggling to stay still and failing miserably. His shaking only intensified.

Zana almost swore out loud but stopped himself. He’d just scare Navid further. Swiftly, he took off his robe and crouched by him. He tugged the veil down Navid’s back, and before his husband could panic even more, he cast the robe over him. He didn’t look. Not without permission.

Then he walked to the window and threw the veil out. Loud cheers erupted underneath, and Zana slammed the window closed.

Savages.

Navid was so terrified he could barely breathe, and those animals were cheering down there. As if anyone would ever want to fuck with their family hollering at