Page 56 of Choosing Her Alpha
"With any alpha," Sasha said.
"Oh, Sasha," Lilla said in sympathy.
"Now before you do something to get me all crazy again, you guys have secrets. What do you know? I'm tired of being in the dark." Sasha leaned back on the table, entrusting herself to their beauty treatments.
"Davila told us the queen is coming to dismantle the harem today. The concubines are leaving, and she wants you there."
Lilla waved in the general direction of the harem. "Bye-bye, hootie-coos"
"Hootie-coos?" Sasha laughed.
"I heard one of the beta guards call them that."
"What does the queen have to do with the harem?" Sasha was so confused.
"She set it up, you goof. She organized one for all her mature, unmated sons. Did you know that alpha has fifteen living brothers?" Lanny asked.
"And three living sisters! The youngest is ten years old! She visits here a lot, but doubt she'll be coming here today." Lilla said.
As only servants who gossiped about the goings on of the upper classes could, the twins filled Sasha in on all the things they'd been told by the household staff.
"Everyone says the queen is very nice, it's her entourage that can be haughty and expects all the pomp and ceremony they can get." Lilla stuck her nose in the air and made condescending noises until Sasha laughed.
They speculated on the queen and what it was going to be like to "dismantle" the harem while covering Sasha head to toe in lotions. There was so much slippery, creamy stuff that Sasha wasn't convinced they were doing it right. Few drones from the slums knew of personal hair removal and deep skin moisturizers.
Lilla picked out jars and held them over Sasha's nose to smell test. Both girls were well acquainted with Sasha’s picky nose. They settled on a couple thing with fancy names. One left Sasha smelled like strawberries and the other left her skin with a subtle silver glow.
Lilla pulled papers from the basket of girly supplies and read the directions out loud while Lanny followed them, making Sasha feel like a test subject.
"This one goes on first." Lilla held up a bottle. "This is second. Wait five minutes, use this to scrape, and then this one goes last." She held up more tools and bottles.
Sasha was not reassured. "If you touch my woman's curls, I will hold you both down myself and shave your heads bald."
Lanny laughed; fierce Sasha was so funny. But fierce Sasha was serious.
Their time in the bathing room getting ready for the queen felt like a balm to Sasha. The steady, giggling presence of her friends eased a bit of the sharp edges to the recent ugly discoveries.
Sasha had learned in school that omega breeders were social creatures, that omega's needed constant company and that isolation could lead to despondency, which in turn lead to death.
The teaching made it sound like that company needed to come from an alpha. Sasha missed Kane. She wanted him here. But he could never give her this.
Chapter 15
An alpha guard escorted Sasha to the meeting. A group of people dressed in stiff formal wear stood in two straight lines outside the open doors of a room she’d never been in before. Their faces were blank, but Sasha was well aware of their radiating disapproval.
She had kept the queen waiting.
This room was modern like all the rooms in this part of Kane's compound. Its large windows were swathed in white, gauzy curtains. There were soft white carpets on the floor, and the furniture was all dark gray.
It felt sterile and cold. Even the huge vases of white flowers didn't soften it.
Sasha spent most of her time in comfortable drone spaces and Kane's wing. She wondered how many formal rooms there were that she had never visited.
Already engaged in friendly conversation, the queen, Sara, and Doctor Bruns stood when Sasha entered. She blushed—looked at the floor, the ceiling—and almost fled the room. Even a slum girl knew it was weird that older, respected breed stood when she entered.
Not only did the queen stand, but she rushed around chairs and tables to pull Sasha in for a friendly hug.
"Hello, beautiful girl. I've heard so much about you."
