Ch. 5

I lay perfectly still on the bed, listening for any sound or movement in the dark bedroom.

The bed dipped on my left as the king lay down next to me, his sweet scent wrapping around me. I sucked in a shaky breath, willing my heart to slow down and stop beating so fast.

I counted each breath in my head, just waiting for whatever was going to happen next. One breath, two breaths. Nothing.

Was the king truly being honest about just wanting to sleep? He didn’t wish to punish me for not pleasing him?

All he’d done tonight was put poison in my wounds and give me the oddest commands. I mean, asking me to call him by his first name and not to punish myself? None of this made any sort of sense to me.

I waited for two more breaths before I silently moved off the king’s bed. I was more than ready to go back to the servant’s quarters to my own cot for a few hours before I had to make breakfast.

But as soon as my feet touched the cold, stone floor, the king’s voice bounced off the walls.

“Where do you think you’re going, Little One?” he demanded.

“T-To sleep,” I squeaked out. “Like you had said, I was going to go back to my cot and sleep.”

“Oh, Little Mate,” the king chuckled. “That’s not at all what I meant. You’ll be sleeping in this room tonight.”

My whole body froze. The king wanted me to sleep in this room tonight? The same room as him?

“Here, Your Hig–Ambrose?” I quickly corrected myself.

“Yes,” he answered in an instant. “In here with me.”

I wished that it wasn’t so dark in here so that I could make out the king’s face and see if he was joking.

“Okay,” I said quietly. I had so many questions I wanted to ask him, but I knew that it wasn’t my place to ever question the king’s decisions. Whatever he said was law.

Choosing not to say another word, I continued to move as silently and quietly as I could away from the king’s bed. In his fit of rage from earlier, he had destroyed almost everything else in the bedroom besides the bed.

And of course, I couldn’t sleep in the same bed as the king! I wasn’t foolish enough to think that.

Instead, I opted for the least broken of the two chairs lying next to each other across the room. I moved the torn pieces of cushion away, getting feathers everywhere in the process.

“What are you doing?”

I didn’t notice the King get up from bed, but he was now standing directly behind me.

I jerked my head back to look at him, craning my neck.

“I’m sorry.” The words fell from my lips right away. “You said that I was to spend the night in here with you, so I was just making a small spot to curl up to sleep.”

It was only after the words left my lips that I realized just how dumb I was being. I didn’t even think to ask the King if I was allowed to move things around to make a bed. I’d been an awful Omega today; Madam Olympia would surely punish me greatly for everything.

The King’s eyes bore into me with hot intensity.

“I did say that you were sleeping in here tonight, Little One.” His voice was deep and rich. “So why are you gathering ripped-up cushions to make a bed?”

Was I missing something? Was this like the game Gamma Thomas played with us Omegas where he would give us an order and wait around for us to mess up on the smallest thing?

“Did…did you think that I was going to make you sleep on the floor tonight, Little One?” the King asked me, his voice full of confusion.

A beat of silence passed between us before I answered his question.

“Yes,” I said. “The carpet is full of glass, otherwise I would sleep on it tonight, unless…” my voice stilled. “Unless you wish me to sleep on it tonight?”

It wouldn’t be the worst place I’ve slept. At least the carpet would help to keep me warm.

Without saying another word, the King bent down and scooped me up into his arms like I weighed nothing. My face was pressed into the crook of his neck as he walked away with me.

He placed me in the middle of the giant bed, still warm from where he had been lying just a second ago.

Without warning, the candle on the bedside table lit itself up again, its spark burning much brighter than before.

The sudden burst of light made me jump and try to scoot back on the bed. But the King held my right arm firmly in his, keeping me close to him like he’d done before.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Little One. I often forget that magic isn’t as common as it used to be so many decades ago.”

I didn’t think that my heart had stopped beating wildly since I’d first seen the King in the kitchen, but right now, seeing him perform magic, I felt like my heart was about to give out.

I had never seen anyone do magic. I had only heard mere stories of it when I was a small pup from some of the older Omegas who were lucky enough to catch glimpses of it while doing chores. But to see magic up close like this? I truly had no words for it.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the magically burning candle, no matter how much I tried. It was only once I felt the King’s rough hands drawing small circles on my wrists that I finally snapped out of my transfixed state.

I dropped my eyes down to the crisp white sheets, mentally scolding myself for looking in the first place. The King didn’t stop his soft movements on my wrist as he gently tipped my head back up with his thumb and forefinger.

“It’s been so long since I’ve found someone with whom I can experience firsts with,” he said in a thick voice. “The way your eyes lit up is one of my new most favourite things.”

My cheeks heated up at the King’s words. Even if he was just saying these beautiful things to get inside my mind so that when he finally killed me it would be even worse, they were still the most amazing things that anyone had ever said to me.

This weird, funny feeling started to bubble up in my chest the longer I looked into the King’s eyes.

Maybe, that small voice in my mind started to speak. Maybe he’s feeling the same thing too. Maybe there’s a reason…

No! The rational part of my mind cut in. You’re just an Omega, he’s the Alpha King. You know that Omegas and Alphas can’t be mates.

The King dropped his hand from my face but didn’t let go of my wrist. Wordlessly, he held his free hand palm up just to the side of us. A small orange and red flame appeared in his hand a moment later.

The flame was no bigger than a gold coin, but still, it glowed as bright as a ten-foot fire.

I wasn’t afraid of the sudden magic this time; I didn’t flinch or try to back away.

The King moved his hand that cupped the fire closer to me, but still, I wasn’t afraid that he was going to hurt me with it.

“You can trust me,” he said softly. “The flame won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Maybe it was foolish—the King had applied the slow-acting poison to my injuries earlier—but I did trust him.

Maybe it was because I’m an Omega and he’s an Alpha. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the little voice in my mind that was telling me it was something more.

The King stopped drawing soft patterns on my wrist and lifted my hand closer to his. Slowly he moved the magic, burning fire closer to my open hand until I could feel the warm heat from it.

“It won’t burn you,” the King repeated as he slowly transferred the flame from his hand to mine. “See?”

He was right. The fire didn’t burn me at all.

I lifted my other hand up to touch the top of the flame, watching it wrap around the tips of my fingers and lick across my palm.

For just a single moment I forgot where I was. I forgot who I was. I forgot that I was up in the royal suite, or that the King was kneeling beside me, or that I was holding magic for the very first time.

I moved my hand from atop the flame, slowly grazing my fingertips up and down the side of the fire, drawing slow figures like the King had been doing on my wrist just a few moments ago.

Without warning, the flame grew larger and began to morph in my hand.

It changed into the shape of a young man cradling a baby as he ran across the length of my palm. I couldn’t make out any of his features, but I felt like I knew him.

The flame changed again, the baby now alone wrapped tightly in a blanket with no sign of the man.

Then again, the scene changed to a tall woman holding the baby in her arms. But unlike the first man who was holding her tightly, this woman looked like she was about to drop the baby at any second.

Just as quickly as it had happened, the flame shrunk back down in my palm before disappearing altogether.

The King’s deep voice filled the room, thunderous.

“How did you do that?”