A Savage Debt (The Beholden Duet #1) - Zoey Ellis Page 0,47

“Bastard! That is all he is getting.”

“We have arranged for his death at dawn tomorrow,” the queen said stiffly, as if that solved everything.

Ana lowered her gaze, twisting her fingers together in her lap. “Is there any way we can simply imprison him?”

Her mother smiled at her sadly. “No, Ana. I know he seems more real to you now than before all of this happened, but he is still a criminal, and he must pay for his crimes. If we were to imprison him, it is likely his men will attempt to rescue him.”

“Multiple times,” the king added. “Causing danger for all of us.”

“He has already committed enough crimes to be executed ten times over. This is a kindness to his future victims.”

Ana nodded glumly. It would be difficult to try to save a man with crimes like that, but it was strange to her how he always questioned the validity of the things she accused him of—as if she’d gotten it wrong. She’d hoped that meant he didn’t do some of things they accused him of, and there wouldn’t be enough time to find the truth if he died tomorrow.

The only decision that remained was if she was going to warn him.

After Mother and Father left, Ana visited the library, taking Maddoc’s Alpha and Omega book with her.

Once her guards had cleared the library, she began an intensive search for any books that were similarly nondescript. As well as lacking a bookmaker insignia, The Lox Empire didn’t have any cover cloth or author name or even a published date, so she had no idea how or when the book came into existence. But if there were more stories about Alpha and Omega couples, potentially in the library, those might have more details.

There were, of course, many stories written about Alphas and Omega’s separately, as well as many factual retellings and reports. But there were none that Ana had seen about a couple. Until now.

Ana paused when she came across a book that didn’t match its cover cloth. The cover read; Two Thousand Tales from the Oakenshire, but the book itself was too thin to fit the title. She flicked through it, and the story inside seemed to be a factual retelling of an Alpha and Omega couple who once ruled Allandis.

Stunned, Ana carried the book to her favorite chair and began reading. It was A thrilling tale about a couple who ruled Allandis like her parents did. Of course, she’d heard about them; she was descended from some of them, but to read their stories as though she was right there with them was extremely exciting. And what adventures they had! Their love and passion shone through the pages, and it even included diary entries of the couples’ thoughts about each other, including their intimate times.

Ana glanced at her guards to make sure they wouldn’t notice her reddening, but she was too engrossed in the story to stop. Maddoc had one thing right: stories with sex were much more intriguing.

After closing the book, she headed to one of the walls that depicted her family tree, searched for their names, and grinned when she found them. They had been a handsome couple. As she surveyed the other ruling couples, most of whom had been Alpha/Omega couples, Ana realized that it was probable there were other retellings of the other ruling couples of Allandis, who would most likely come from her line.

She began to search the library with renewed efforts, trying to find the books that had unusual covers or where the covers and titles didn’t match the contents, but it was difficult considering the library was so big. Ana first headed to the boring sections of the library where she never really browsed; they were sections Milly never recommended for her studies, and within an hour, she’d found five more and each story was a retelling, and just as interesting and passionate as the first.

A heavy disappointment weighed down on Ana’s chest. Why were these stories hidden? What was the purpose of lying about what was in a book, creating a different cover to what was in the contents? Why were these stories of her family history never included her lessons? Why did her mother lie and say there wasn’t much text about Alphas and Omegas being together? So many questions flooded her mind, and it all seemed to support what Maddoc had told her. But how had he known the stories were here?

The sixth book she found made her