5. Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Hal
Seb had asked Briar to go ahead and wait for me in the palace gardens. He wanted a word with me in private, he’d said, and Briar had instantly looked worried, then scurried out of the office.
“I want you and Briar to get to know each other so you can form a professional relationship,” Seb began. “I trust Gus with my life, and he trusts you, so I think you will be perfect for the role of royal advisor.”
Perfect. I mulled Seb’s words over in my head.
We were still getting to know each other, but somehow his words mirrored my own thoughts.
I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about Seb, but Gus loved and trusted him, and I trusted Gus.
It would take some time to get used to this new way of living side by side with omegas, but I wanted to do whatever I could to help.
Not just for myself, but for Ember and Lumi, too, and for my own children’s sake when I hopefully had some one day.
I wanted my alpha and omega children to grow up as equals with the same opportunity for a happy, fulfilling life.
“I will do my best,” I hummed in agreement, and Seb relaxed.
“That’s all I ask.”
I was waiting for Seb to send me on my way ,but I got the feeling that there was more he wanted to talk to me about.
“Is that all, Your Majesty?”
Seb looked up at me as he seemed to contemplate something. “Not quite. There’s something…” he sighed, hesitating.
“If you are worried about Briar, then I can assure you I will respect his boundaries. He already told me he doesn’t like to be touched, and I will respect his wishes.”
Seb regarded me, surprised. “He told you?”
I nodded.
“Good. Good. Briar is… special, you know? I love him dearly, and he hasn’t always had it easy.” Seb eyed me knowingly. “I assume you can relate to that, Hal?”
“I can,” I whispered, and I didn’t like the way my chest tightened. There were particular parts of my past I didn’t enjoy revisiting, but perhaps Gus had shared some of it with Seb. I didn’t mind if he had, they were mates after all, but I still preferred not to be talked about too often.
“Good.” He waved his hand at me nonchalantly, like I was now dismissed, and I made sure to bow exaggeratedly as I backed out of his office.
I found Briar in the palace gardens in front of a huge lake. He seemed deep in thought, so I made sure to clear my throat loudly as I approached so as not to startle him.
He turned, smiling at me, his blond hair almost golden as the midmorning sun hit him from behind.
“Hal,” he merely said, a nervous flicker in his green eyes.
It was strange how oddly protective of Briar I was already.
Not just because he was so much smaller than me, but because of his shy and almost apologetic demeanor.
This morning at breakfast, when I’d convinced him to eat the sausage, my chest had almost burst with happiness, like I’d achieved something meaningful.
If it hadn’t been for that annoying servant Nial interrupting our peace, I would’ve hand-fed Briar an entire plate of sausages.
He was too skinny, and a compulsive need to take care of him had risen inside me.
I imagined Briar round and wholesome, with a slightly rounded belly and full cheeks.
I knew these were dangerous thoughts because my fingers instantly tingled with the need to reach out and touch him.
I wouldn’t, of course. I’d never touch Briar without his consent.
Briar held a journal clasped against his chest, and he gestured at some garden chairs under the shade of a large tree with a view of the lake.
“We’ve been tasked with getting to know each other better,” he said, blushing adorably, as soon as we’d taken a seat.
“We have,” I said, leaning back, folding my hands behind my head. “What do you want to know? I’m an open book.”
His eyes widened, and a careful smile played along his lips. “While you were talking to Seb, I prepared some questions.”
I couldn’t help laughing, and Briar’s blush deepened. “Of course you did. Fire away!”
“O-okay,” he stammered, licking his lips, and suddenly I was thrust back to earlier this morning and how Briar had moaned around the piece of sausage.
Oh gods, this was going to be way harder than I’d imagined.
“Let’s start with your childhood. Where did you grow up?
” He eyed me curiously as he held his pen ready.
Damn, Briar had just asked me the one question I dreaded the most. Then again, Briar had shared parts of himself with me that were clearly painful to him, too. I guess I owed him my truth in return.
“I, uhm… I grew up in an orphanage with other alpha children.”
A gasp flew from Briar’s lips, his eyes huge with surprise. “You didn’t live with your omega father until you came of age? Like Gus did?”
I shook my head, sadness filling my chest. “No. I was left at the orphanage as an infant.”
“Oh,” Briar whispered, compassion pooling in his eyes. “That’s… I’m sorry, Hal.”
“It’s okay. I don’t remember any of it. All water under the bridge now, ay?”
Briar dipped his gaze to the journal in his lap, his lips moving silently as he read something to himself.
Then he closed the journal. Looking up at me, his voice vibrated with indignation as he spoke.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Hal.
Truly. No child deserves to be abandoned by their family. ”
His words stunned me, his anger clear on my behalf.
“It’s okay,” I mumbled. “It all turned out all right in the end, didn’t it? Look at me now, a royal advisor. Who would’ve thought?”
He didn’t seem convinced, though, his voice tinged with sadness when he asked, “So how did you meet Gus?”
“I, uhm… I ran away from the orphanage when I was twelve. I’d had enough, and I couldn’t stand it a second longer.”
“Were they… were they not nice to you? At the orphanage?”
“They were nice enough, I guess. I mean, they didn’t hurt us or anything. I just… I always imagined there were better things out there for me, you know?”
Briar nodded slowly, his eyes not leaving mine, and I realized that Briar perhaps understood me better than anyone. He, too, was trapped in a way. “So what happened?”
“I roamed the countryside for several weeks, trying to get by the best I could. I’m not proud of it, but in the dark, when no one noticed, I stole vegetables from the gardens and fruit from the orchards.
I slept in old abandoned sheds or in the woods, trying to stay clear of people.
Then the weather took a turn for the worse, and one evening, when it’d been raining all day, I was chilled to the bone and just exhausted, you know? ”
Briar nodded quietly. I recalled that night so vividly, my wet and torn clothes clinging to my skin.
The way the cold had seeped all the way into my soul, and the way my stomach was clenching with hunger.
“I was walking aimlessly across a muddy field when I saw a dim light in the distance. Using the last bit of my strength, I dragged myself closer. When I reached the farm, I was dead on my feet, my old boots soaked through. I could hardly feel my toes. I didn’t dare approach the main building, too scared of how the owner would react to an alpha roaming around freely in the dark. ”
Briar’s eyes grew wider as he leaned closer, listening intently.
“I found shelter in a barn,” I rasped. “I slept in the hay, drifting in and out of sleep to the muffled sounds of horses and the rain hammering against the roof. By morning, I knew it was bad. I had a fever, and it felt like I was burning up from the inside.”
Briar dug his teeth into his bottom lip. “What happened to you, Hal?” he breathed.
“I must’ve fallen asleep again, because I woke to the feeling of someone staring at me.
When I opened my eyes, an older omega was hovering over me, a worried frown between his bushy eyebrows.
I was getting ready to bolt, but I couldn’t move.
All strength had left me. The man opened his mouth, and just when I thought he was going to yell at me to get out, he called for someone named Kenneth. ”
I remembered everything as if it were only yesterday: Lord Willoughby lifting me from the hay; cradling me against his chest as he carried me inside; Kenneth coming to his aid from the main building.
‘You’re alright, child,’ Lord Willoughby had assured me again and again. ‘You’re safe here, son.’ No one had ever called me son before. I was no one’s son, unwanted and alone.
“Lord Willoughby and his servant Kenneth nursed me back to health, and when I was strong enough, Lord Willoughby offered me work at his farm.”
Briar’s eyes were fixed on mine, relief pouring off him, like he’d doubted for a minute if I’d made it or if I’d simply perished in that barn more than ten years ago.
“I was happy for the first time in my life. They were kind to me, treated me like family, and then a few years later, when Gus came to work at the farm, it was like meeting a long-lost brother.”
A shadow moved across Briar’s face. Then he blurted, “I haven’t seen my brother for a long time.
He lives far away. Father sent him away just before my sixteenth birthday.
” He paused, his eyes so sad, and I had to fight myself not to pull him into my arms and hug him.
“I don’t know why. I don’t know what Sin did to be sent away.
I—” his voice broke. “I wasn’t allowed to visit him, and now I have no idea where he is. ”
“I’m sorry, Briar.”
Briar bit his bottom lip, and longing pooled in his deep green eyes.
He was such a mystery to me, this strange omega, such a contradiction in everything he said and did.
He’d told me he didn’t like when people touched him, but right now, this very minute, he could’ve fooled me.
He looked like he wanted to be close to someone more than anything.
The hollowness in his voice when he spoke of his brother.
But I’d made a promise to Seb, and I’d keep it no matter how much I wanted to wrap myself around Briar and assure him everything was going to be fine.
“How was your life on the farm?” he asked, opening his journal again and pulling out the pen.
It was clear he was done talking about his brother.
So I told him about my life on the farm, of the years of happiness I’d spent there with Gus.
From time to time, Briar would look up from his journal like he wanted to say something, but then he quickly continued writing my story.
When I recalled the shenanigans Gus and I would get up to, he giggled, his voice lofty and carefree as it filled the space between us and mingled with birdsong and the hum of bees.
From time to time, his blond curls fell into his eyes, and he pursed his lips and blew at them.
My fingers tingled to tuck them behind his ears, to feel their softness against my fingers.
When I was done telling him about my past, he closed the journal carefully. “Thank you, Hal,” he said simply, then got up from his chair.
“What about you?” I blurted, not ready to let him go yet. His company felt like sunshine, and I didn’t want to be without it.
“Tomorrow,” he whispered as he took a few steps backward, clutching the journal against his chest. “I have to go see if Seb needs my help with the babies.”
“Do you want me to walk you?”
The longing returned to his eyes—I saw it, but he just shook his head. “No, that’s alright. See you at dinner?”
“Sure,” I nodded, and then he left.
I decided to explore a bit now that I was left on my own.
Gus had told me about the stables and his friend Adrian, who looked after the horses.
I missed the farm and being around the animals, so I headed in the direction of a larger building, which I decided must be the stables.
As I approached, I could smell the horses.
Eager, I quickened my pace and nearly bumped into someone as I rounded the building.
“Well, well, what a nice surprise,” he purred, and I recognized the omega in front of me from earlier as the servant, Nial, who’d been rude to Briar over breakfast. “Were you looking for me, Alpha?” He licked his lips, his eyes glued to my chest.
“Nope.” I tried to move around him, but he held out his hand and planted it against my chest.
“Don’t be shy now,” he giggled, but where the sound of Briar’s soft laughter was like music to my ears, Nial’s voice just left me annoyed. “You can call me Nial, by the way.”
“You think I’m shy?” I huffed, batting his hand away.
“If you are, Alpha, I have just the cure for that.” He smirked knowingly.
“Hate to break it to you, Nial, but you don’t have anything I’m interested in.” I tried to give him the most indifferent look I could, and he gaped at me as if I’d just slapped him in the face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
I moved past him, and when I was halfway to the stables, he called after me, “It’s cute when you play hard to get, Alpha!”
“I’m not playing!” I yelled over my shoulder.
“We’ll see about that!” His annoying laughter followed me inside the building as I entered.