Chapter 8 Poppy #3
“Today, three young omegas will receive their assignments,” Konrad announced.
Me and Rorik were givens, I assumed. We were adults now, and ready to contribute.
Aside from the two of us, there were a couple omegas around our age.
Across the crowd, I saw Charon, another polar bear omega.
He sat up straighter, eager to receive his assignment.
Although Charon was older than Sorrel, the two were friends who often spent their free time together.
At least, they used to before Sorrel took an interest in Konrad. ..
I pushed the thought away.
“Rorik,” Konrad boomed.
Rorik’s dense fur bristled as he stood to attention. He looked confident, without a hint of nerves. I wished I could be that brave, so certain...
“You are now a fighter,” Konrad declared. “Congratulations.”
The crowd indulged in a moderate cheer. Rorik nodded as he accepted the assignment in stride. Nobody was surprised. He was a massive bear, nearly rivalling Konrad in size, and he excelled at taking orders. He’d be a fine fighter.
Konrad focused his black beady gaze on me and called out, “Poppy.”
My blood chilled in my veins. All eyes swivelled in my direction. Determined not to buckle, I willed my fur to stay fluffed so it wouldn’t flatten against my skinny body. It would only make me look smaller and weaker.
Be brave, I told myself.
I forced my gaze up to meet Konrad’s as he spoke my destiny into existence.
“Hunter.”
The word brushed past my face like a cold wind.
A hunter. Middle of the road. Nothing special, but nothing bad, either. A perfectly respectable outcome.
And yet, I felt nothing. The dread stagnating in my stomach still coated my ribs like slime. I had no pride in my newfound position, and no hope for my future.
“Congratulations,” Rorik said over the crowd’s mild excitement.
I felt empty. “Thanks.”
Despite my lack of emotion, my body relaxed. With my assignment over, I knew what I had—and didn’t have—to look forward to. At the very least, it gave me a weak goal. After Charon or whichever omega received their assignment, I’d start my life as a hunter.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Hunting meant a degree of freedom other omegas weren’t allowed. I could traverse the fields, the hills, even the rocky beaches. I was free to feel the wind in my fur and the earth beneath my paws.
Most importantly, it meant I could still visit Violet. Would it be long before he recovered? I could offer to hunt for him in secret to help boost his strength. Then maybe when he was healthy he could—
“And finally, Sorrel.”
My thoughts crashed to a halt.
What did Konrad just say?
I slowly turned to face my younger brother. His expression was awestruck. He stared at Konrad, utterly still with shock.
I hadn’t heard incorrectly. Everyone in the clan pinned their eyes on my brother. Rorik’s brow furrowed in confusion, and Charon’s eyes were wide as moons.
The clan alpha’s beady gaze glittered down at Sorrel. “Surprised?” Konrad asked with a chuckle.
Sorrel nodded. I couldn’t move a muscle.
Konrad raised his head, standing proud on his platform. “Don’t be. You’ve proven yourself to be a loyal and brave omega, wise beyond your years.”
A shiver of dread shot across my pelt.
“You have unimaginable potential,” Konrad continued. “Perhaps more so than any omega I’ve met...”
A pit opened beneath me. I began to sink, trapped in a callous bog apathetic to my struggles.
“And so, due to your dedication to me and the tundra clan, I bestow upon you the title of—”
The blood in my veins turned to ice.
This could not be happening.
“Child-bearer,” Konrad finished.
The crowd was silent. The occasion called for cheers, but they held back. For the first time, it felt like someone else was experiencing a fraction of my despair. For once, I wasn’t alone in seeing the dark cloud.
This was not right.
But then the cheers came. Quiet and uneasy at first, then louder and brighter until the air rang with their congratulations.
Even Rorik cheered, but quietly. Across the crowd, Charon looked dismayed, yet joined in anyway. Neither could stop the rising tide of approval.
My ears hurt. So did my chest. I breathed harder, pushing past the painful tightness in my throat.
I had to say something. I wasn’t eloquent. I wasn’t brave, or good at speaking, or confident in front of a crowd. But for my brother’s sake, I had to say something, or else I’d have to live with this sick feeling forever.
Standing on all four paws, I stared straight at Konrad and yelled over the cheers: “He’s not old enough!”
I understood the crowd’s abrupt, horrified silence. Nobody argued with Konrad. Nobody. But especially not a young omega freshly assigned his duty. He was well within his right to strip my new title away and shove me down the hierarchy until I was the clan pariah, the lowest of the low.
Konrad let out an easy laugh that calmed the crowd. “Of course, Poppy. That’s obvious.”
What? I thought.
Konrad spoke in slow, calm words. “I know that. I figured you were smart enough to know it, too.”
I swayed on my paws, disoriented. What was going on? Had I misheard him earlier? Did my brain lie just to have a concrete reason to distrust our clan alpha?
Suddenly, I felt a sharp, burning glare on the side of my head. Sorrel was shooting daggers at me. His ears flicked forward aggressively, and his lip curled above his front teeth. He was enraged.
His furious expression knocked the wind out of me, but I stayed grounded. I couldn’t drop the topic until I knew the truth—the full truth.
It took all my courage to speak up a second time. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand,” I replied, my voice beginning to tremble. It was bad enough I’d caused a scene. Now I couldn’t even speak steadily? I was pathetic.
“Why announce it now? Why not wait until he’s older?” I asked.
My question felt perfectly reasonable until it hung in the air for a few long, silent moments. Discomfort crept over my pelt like marching ants. Then I began to doubt myself. Was something wrong with my hearing, or did I completely misunderstand Konrad’s words?
“Of course Sorrel won’t be a child-bearer right away,” Konrad said slowly, as if speaking to a clueless pup. “He needs time to mature.”
He was saying all the right things. So why did they feel wrong?
I felt the burn of everyone’s eyes on me. My fur prickled, and my skin grew hot with shame. If nobody else was incensed, then it made me look like I was overreacting. I looked like a fool.
“It’s best for Sorrel to know now so he can prepare. I’m doing him a favor, aren’t I? Now he doesn’t need to waste his time learning skills like hunting or fighting. All he needs to do is take care of his body and grow.”
My legs shook. I suddenly didn’t trust them to keep me upright anymore. My haunches collapsed, and I sat on the ground, dazed, as his honeyed words flowed over me. When he put it that way, it made sense... didn’t it? I wanted to believe him, but my stomach kept twisting.
“It’s all right, Poppy,” Konrad soothed. His voice was oddly kind, but carried an undercurrent of pity. “I understand that your alpha’s plans might not make immediate sense. But trust me, please.” His eyes flashed with hurt. “Or have you lost faith in me?”
Everyone’s stares turned cold and accusatory. Their gazes stabbed at me from all angles, silently prodding for an apology. The heavy ache in my chest twisted into physical pain. My body wouldn’t stop shaking. I felt sick.
“N-no,” I managed. My voice was thin and choked.
Konrad looked disappointed. “No? You have no faith in me anymore?”
The crowd’s angry aura flared. Their collective sway felt like a hundred blows to the head.
My body crumpled beneath their furious gazes. I crouched so low that my belly touched the ground. When I spoke, my breath came out in a whimper. “I do. I believe in you...”
“I hope so,” Konrad replied, still sounding wounded. He raised his eyes to address the crowd. “Everything I do is for your sake.”
My sake? I thought. He must mean everyone’s—the sake of the clan.
Sorrel shouldered forward, leaving me grovelling on the ground. “I’m ready,” he announced. “I accept my duty assignment with pride.”
The clan cheered, and Konrad’s eyes glittered with satisfaction.
“Thank you, Sorrel,” the alpha said calmly. “You’ll be a fine addition to the ranks. In time, of course,” he added, shooting me a contemptuous look.
When Konrad’s address was over, the crowd dispersed. Everyone hurried away from me like I was contagious. Only Rorik remained beside me, although he was clearly aware of the tension gripping the air.
I couldn’t move. I just lay there and trembled on the ground. Ahead, too far for me to hear, Konrad spoke with Sorrel, who listened dutifully and wagged his tail.
My younger brother had shoved right past me. Like I was nothing to him.
“...okay? Poppy?”
Rorik’s voice floated into my ringing ears. Still lying on the ground, I glanced up at him.
“Are you all right?” the bear asked again.
Summoning the air to speak was difficult, so I nodded. But even that felt like I was taking up too much space in the world.
Rorik hesitated. He wasn’t the best with words either, and this was an uncomfortable situation. “Don’t worry. Konrad would never do anything bad to Sorrel.”
I wanted to believe him. I really did. But the statement rolled off my back, meaningless. Right now, everything was meaningless.
Rorik nudged the flat fur between my shoulders with his big nose. “You’re all right,” he stated. “The sooner you stand up, the faster everyone will forget about this.”
He may as well have been speaking to a different person. I already knew I wouldn’t recover from this incident. It gutted me to the core. It rearranged things that couldn’t be fixed. Konrad’s public humiliation had fundamentally changed me.
“Poppy, come on,” Rorik pushed, encouraging but firm.
My voice came out in a frail whisper. “I can’t.”
Rorik cared, but I could tell he was losing his patience. The longer he remained to comfort me, the worse my contagion would spread to him. He shouldn’t be seen with me.
“I’m fine,” I managed. “Please, just go.”
Rorik hesitated. He furrowed his brow sympathetically, but in the end, he turned and sauntered away. My newfound loneliness was a relief. At least now I couldn’t infect anyone else with my social exclusion.
Konrad and Sorrel had finished speaking. My brother left the interaction beaming—his tail wagged as he bounced away. But then his gaze slid over me, and his expression fell. His ears flicked back and his lips drew tense. A coldness settled over his eyes. Distrustful.
My heart shattered.