Mar
The council would have been horrified to learn their brand-new omega was brushing down horses like a common stable hand, but Valgar allowed no interference in their everyday lives.
Of course they would have also hated how old Quincy was, and that it showed.
He was a good-looking man, shorter and softer than Valgar and very different in colouring, but undoubtedly masculine.
She wondered if that was how he’d come to have a female alpha, because alpha men had felt threatened by his size.
It would have to remain a mystery, of course. She hadn’t needed Valgar to tell her how excruciating Quincy’s grief still was after two years.
But that was in the past and all she could do for him was help him see there were opportunities to be had in the now.
Sometimes, she caught them looking at each other the way Val had only ever looked at her before.
It wasn’t easy, but if she thought of the last time her mate had looked at her with desire, it was never a distant memory and that was enough.
She’d had her own thoughts since she had seen them kissing, and furthermore, she suspected neither of them would act on it without external prompting.
Except perhaps she was a little na?ve, because when Valgar sat her down to ask for advice, she was surprised when he mentioned heat.
“The Veolian physician assured me they would return very soon after mating and since it’s already been a month...” He downed his liquor and met her eyes. “Beloved, is this too much?”
Mar blinked at him. “Oh. I... No,” she decided. “I can feel you wanting him, and it’s... it’s almost like it’s happening to me. It makes sense, he’s... he is ours.”
The words echoed between them, undeniably true for all she was as surprised as he was to hear them.
Valgar didn’t speak for a long moment, staring at her in wonder. He nodded slowly. “If he...” He did not finish the sentence, because it would have been a lie to imply Quincy could choose to belong to them.
But neither could they, not anymore. And Mar could resent Valgar for it if she wanted, but what would have been the point?
Her husband had been pushed to make an impossible choice, and he had done his best to fulfil his duty to his family without neglecting his duty to her.
It was true he had not much considered Quincy’s happiness beforehand, but if the other omega could find his way to see past that, then Mar certainly was not about to make a fuss.
“It is done,” Mar told him. “For good or evil, so we better make it good, right?”