Chapter 22 #2
“What’s this?”
“Hayce meant to give it to you the other day. If for nothing else, at least a compensation for your stolen inheritance.”
Oh. “He sent it with you?”
“No,” Calia said. “He doesn’t know I’m here.”
Ehlian gave her a grateful look. “Thank you… for coming.”
“I’m doing it for my brother.” Calia said. “He’s been through a rough four years, and if there’s any way I can make it easier for him, I will. I can only advise you the same. Hayce went well out of his way to keep you safe.”
With that, Calia was gone, swallowed by the crowd in the street.
“Don’t listen to her.” Willian stepped out from behind the curtain. “She’s a bit biased. If you choose to work things out with Hayce, do it for yourself.”
“You’re a bit biased too.”
“Absolutely, I am. Do it for me too,” Willian spread his arms wide. “You know. About those discounts…”
“You’re impossible,” Ehlian smiled, then peeked into the gift bag.
A single box lay inside. He took it out, the gold letters catching the light: Vair.
He pulled off the top, revealing most exquisite holowatch he had ever seen—elegant, refined, unapologetically delicate. The silver edges were encrusted with tiny diamonds, and the face shimmered with a shade of pearl. The screen mimicked a traditional dial so flawlessly it looked genuinely real.
It looked so fragile Ehlian didn’t dare touch it.
“Well, fuck me,” Willian said next to him. “That’s the Vair line. Only ten exist on the whole planet. You’re practically rich.”
Ehlian tried to blink away the tears gathering in his eyes. “I was too harsh to him, wasn’t I?”
“Maybe, but you had every right to be angry.” Willian shrugged. “And you’re also too hard on yourself. You’ve been through two rough years too, so give yourself a little break.”
There wasn’t only Hayce, or only himself in Ehlian’s head anymore. If he did this, if he risked exposing all his feelings, he wanted to do it for both of them.
*
The black airship Calia sent for him parked on the rooftop of Ehlian’s apartment building.
The Cartivair’s personal pilot greeted him briefly before opening the door of the spacious passenger compartment.
Squeezing the box of the Vair holowatch nervously in his hands, he slid into the leather seat.
The pilot wasted no time, and before Ehlian knew it, they were already in the air, flying toward the outskirts of Alkrion, the green hills emerging in the distance.
It was a short ride. Within half an hour, they touched down in the yard of a mansion, its wings stretching wide in every direction. And there, in the garden, a familiar figure was waiting for his arrival.
“Long time no see, 465,” Aric greeted him. “Follow me.”
Ehlian had little time to absorb the view or even react; Aric was already striding ahead.
But the moment they stepped inside, Ehlian faltered.
He stood still for a breath, overwhelmed by the sheer opulence around him: the gilded accents, the silver inlays woven into the pillars like veins, the floors so polished they reflected the ceiling above.
The noise gained strength in his head again. The opulence of that prison cell, the blinding opulence of this mansion—this was what Hayce demanded and had been used to his entire life.
Hayce would want an omega who mirrored that wealth too. Ehlian was no perfect fit for that.
“Already changed your mind?” Aric asked.
Ehlian forced away those thoughts, refusing to give them strength. “No.”
They ascended the grand staircase, portraits of long-dead members of the Cartivair family staring down at them from either side. There were a few gaps between the paintings, Sandar nowhere to be seen.
“Did you know that Larik was a spy?” Ehlian finally found his voice.
“Hayce figured it out eventually,” Aric said.
“His act didn’t match the feelings Hayce picked up through the pack bond.
And after you left, Larik tried far too hard to become Hayce’s omega.
Not to mention, I’m pretty sure he conveniently put himself in Hayce’s way during that fight, so Hayce couldn’t reach you first. Larik wanted you gone. ”
That made Ehlian pause. If Hayce hadn’t reached that cell and 665—he couldn’t even begin to imagine. Couldn’t go there. Was he surprised, really? Larik worked for someone like Sandar. It was only natural he was as rotten as him.
“There wasn’t much we could do,” Aric went on. “But feeding Larik false information threw Sandar off for a while.”
When they reached the third floor, Aric stopped before a pair of towering double doors carved from dark wood and opened them.
Once Ehlian stepped inside, he realised it wasn’t just any room. It was Hayce’s bedroom… only, he was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is Hayce?”
“He should be back in about three hours.”
“Three hours?!” Ehlian gaped at him. “What’s so important that it can’t wait?”
“I don’t know.”
Ehlian gave him a puzzled look. “You’re his personal guard and you don’t know where he is?”
“I’m not involved in every aspect of his personal life.”
“So what… you want me to just wait for him here?”
Aric shrugged lazily. “Yes.”
Great. Calia and Aric wanted to torture him… and probably Hayce too. “Is Hayce testing me or something?”
“He doesn’t know you’re coming.”
This was getting better and better. “No one told him?”
“No.” Aric shrugged again, already halfway out of the room. “So make sure you don’t block your allure completely before he thinks there’s an intruder in his room. You’ve seen what he can do with his power.”
And then Aric was gone.
Was he always such an asshole?
Unsure what to do with himself, Ehlian walked around the room. There was not much to see, apart from the absurd wealth that oozed from every fitting. Other than that, everything was organised, simple and clean. Even Hayce’s desk held only a few minimal items.
Ehlian eyed the bar in the corner for a moment, considering whether he should have a drink.
A small smile tugged at his mouth as he remembered nearly breaking a bottle over Hayce’s head in prison.
As if that had ever been funny. The memory no longer held the same harshness.
It felt like it had happened twenty years ago, rather than only two.
He walked to the bed. In prison, Hayce always slept on the left side, so he must have done the same here on Arox.
Sitting down, Ehlian dragged his hands across the velvety cover.
He set the Vair box on the nightstand and before he could give it any rational thought, he was kicking off his shoes and climbing under the blanket.
Three hours was a long time, and he was bloody tired.
He had barely slept a second last night, rehearsing what he would say to Hayce over and over again.
It wouldn’t hurt to sleep for just an hour, to have a sharper mind.
Surrounded by the scent of Hayce, it took him no time to fall asleep.