Chapter 6
Chapter Six
TORION
Istepped into the keep late, a little too aware of the smell of sheep shit on my boots.
..and other even less desirable places. I braced myself for—perhaps even relished the prospect of—a disapproving sniff from my new omega, but aside from the glowing and crackling fire in the hearth of the main hall, there was no sign of life in the keep. She hadn't waited for me for dinner.
Not that I could blame her. From what I'd seen so far, Brigid was an imminently practical woman.
My own mother had been wonderful, sweet, soft, and somewhat ornamental.
She'd played the part of the alpha's omega well, hosting events with the region's prominent betas and omegas, taking baskets to the poor and elderly on holidays, and orbiting beautifully around my father.
She'd never been spotted covered in dust with an apron around her waist, sweat on her brow and a determined squint in her eye.
I'd wanted to both kiss Brigid's rough knuckles and rumple her already untidy skirts when I'd left her earlier.
No doubt she'd waited exactly five spare minutes before sitting down and enjoying her own dinner. Hopefully, there'd be some cold cuts on a tray for me in my rooms…unless she was the punishing sort.
Strangely, that idea brought a grin to my face.
But it was not a cold covered tray I found in my rooms, or even the absence of one.
Brigid was bent, pouring a kettle of hot water in the largest copper tub I'd seen outside of the one in my parent's personal rooms. She looked to me in the doorway as she poured, and her lips twitched.
"I heard you were rolling about with the animals, but I thought they exaggerated," she said, an attractive crackle in her low voice that made me shift in place.
She straightened and set the kettle aside, gesturing to the tub. "Undress. I'm playing handmaiden."
My hand clenched on the doorknob of the bedroom, and for a moment my thoughts flooded with heat, a senseless hunger. But my vision cleared, and I caught the subtle twist of Brigid's fingers before she hid her hands behind her back.
"I'd offer to help, but then we'd both be covered in muck and the tub's really only big enough for one," she said, voice rising brightly.
I could've argued that point. I would certainly have been able to find a way we both might fit—tangled together—but I cleared my throat and turned to shut the door behind me.
My mind tripped over stray questions. What exactly was she offering?
What motivated the offering? My body flicked the questions away, desire demanding the majority of my attention.
Not all of the lust I felt was even for the woman waiting by the tub.
I was sore and dirty, I stank, and there was a steaming tub of hot water ready and waiting for me.
I wanted to be soaking in that steam as soon as possible.
I reached to my collar and then had to force myself not to startle as I found Brigid at my shoulder, unfastening the plackets around my wings, stirring warm air over my skin.
"I take it you're staying," I said, holding my suddenly restless wings still so they wouldn't knock into her.
Her hands faltered in their work, knuckles brushing at my spine, a shiver of pleasure at the careless touch racing up to raise the hairs at the nape of my neck.
"Unless you'd prefer I go," she said.
I'd been managing my own baths just fine for forty-odd years, and Brigid was virtually a stranger. But she'd done more for the care of the keep in a handful of hours today than anyone had bothered with in a year. She was my omega. We'd have to grow used to one another soon enough.
"Stay," I said, reaching for the front of my trousers. "Tell me about your day."
"My day? Yours looks to have been more exciting."
"I wrestled three sheep who'd found themselves a hiding spot up by the crags, got knocked into shit, and perhaps broke a toe," I said, shrugging free of my shirt with her help.
I pulled away and sat down, reaching for the heel of my boot and then raising a hand as she stepped forward, expression gamely serene and ready to help.
"No, you're clean and let's keep it that way. "
"Careful of your toe. I'll take a look at it once it's had a soak," she said. "Are the sheep back with the flock?"
"They are, though this isn't their first escape."
Brigid snorted at that, and I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she stirred some sort of oil into the water with her hand.
"I ordered fresh linens for the nest," she said, and I grunted as I managed to free one foot from a muddied, mucked boot. "And I sent a boy to speak to the local thatchers for the roof. I considered putting maids to work on the rooms that have been damaged by the leaks, but..."
"It's sure to rain tomorrow," I said, and she murmured an agreement.
The moment struck me strangely hard, domestic and awkward but somehow easy too. Had she spoken with Barr like this? But that wondering burned in my chest, and I nearly growled, swallowing the sound down quickly before I could startle her.
"There's food, if you're hungry."
I was starving, but I rose to the sideboard at the far side of the room and washed my hands and arms before nudging my loosened pants and smalls down my hips.
There was a hitch of breath by the tub, and a small smile curved my lips.
I wanted to turn and see where she was looking.
Was she still staring at me, or had she blushed and turned away?
I spun to face her and found her kneeling by the tub, a cloth being wrung to a rope between her hands and a shock of color across her cheeks that darkened as I approached. Otherwise, she looked perfectly calm, her eyes focused on my face, pointedly fixed above my bare hips.
Which was good. Hopefully, she wasn't noticing my cock stirring just at the thought of her looking fully at me. Was this a seduction? It didn't seem like one, but it was doing the trick all the same.
"We always speak of the value of an omega to an alpha, but I hadn't considered the full scope. From managing the home to the...well, body," I said, hissing as I stepped into the water. "Haven't I gotten as much in the way of you remaining in your cottage as Barr would have?"
"No," she rasped harshly, ducking her face away from my stare as I sank into the water. "That is... The cottage was not my only concern."
"Did he hurt you?" I growled out, and my hands tightened around the rim of the copper tub as she remained silent. I could ban Barr from taking another omega. I would if he posed a danger to the Hills' women.
Then Brigid sighed, leaning into the tub and meeting my gaze with a weary smile. "Not in the way you mean. Lean forward. Let me wash your wings."
I rested my chin on my knee, my arms looped around my legs, and listened to the rustling of her skirts.
My eyes shut, and a rough purr rumbled in my chest as she gently spread one wing, her hands sliding along the top spines.
Her touch was confident, and I ignored the jealous throb of understanding that she had done this before for another man.
"I...I enjoy my independence," Brigid said softly.
"I don't mean to take it away—" I started, but she cut me off, using the now soaked cloth to sluice water down the expanse of my wing.
"But I like helping others. I want to be a helpmeet to you."
I blinked, the words on my tongue to tell her that this was the first time I'd ever purred for anyone. The sensation was pleasant, vibrating through my chest and out my limbs. I wondered if she liked it too.
And then her hand rested on my back, and she let out a soft sigh. I leaned into the touch, my own heart pounding in my ears, the purr growing louder. It wasn't the only reaction I had to her touch, but I didn't plan on drawing her attention to that, at least not just yet.
"My things arrived this evening, thank you," she said.
I cleared my throat as she went back to work on washing my wings. "It's nothing." And then, thinking of her words, I twisted to catch her eye and added, "I would be your helpmeet too, Brigid."
She froze in place, her hand clenched around the washcloth, water dripping down my wing as she stared back at me.
I reached for her hand, holding her gaze, but she stirred with a deep breath, rising up on her knees and leaning in.
Her scent dizzied me, clear but full of nostalgic memories, wild heather and rainy days of flying around the hills, chasing little downpours.
Her face neared mine, knowing and serene, and her hand landed on my shoulder, stroking slowly over my chest.
"Show me how to please you, alpha."
The words were heady, and for a moment my head spun and my eyes shut, purr roaring through my chest. My cock jumped in the water, eager to greet the woman so boldly touching me.
But the picture of Brigid that appeared in my mind was stepping back, eyeing me warily, refusing to flinch from Malcolm as he railed at her.
As much as every cell in my body wanted to arch toward her—and many already were—my head called out a brief warning.
I rested my wet hand over hers just as it reached my stomach, which twitched beneath her palm, but I noted the way her fingers trembled. "You don't have to do this," I rasped, my eyes opening and tongue going numb as I found her just a bare inch away.
And then several inches away, all at once, her hand yanked from beneath mine as if I'd scorched her with dragon fire.
"Of course, my lord," she murmured, folding her hands over her stomach and rising.
I gaped, the sudden cold of the room surrounding me, and she made it a few steps away before I realized my blunder.
"Brigid, wait, I—" I scrambled to rise from the tub, but the water was slippery from the oil she'd added and my foot skidded out from under me, my ass landing hard and my words interrupted by a rough grunt.
"I'll leave you to rest. It's been a long day."
"Brigid, I only meant—" Water sluiced down from my body as my puzzling omega all but ran for the door, her braid drumming against her spine.
What had I meant? Only to be sure that she was acting out of desire rather than duty.
And now, at the slightest question, she was disappearing.
I paused, and she stopped with one hand on the door handle, glancing back at me with a soft smile and a shrouded gaze.
She waited for a moment, and I realized I was standing naked and half erect, but the pause of considering my nudity wasted the second she granted me.
"Goodnight, Torion."
I caught my breath, raking a damp hand through my tangled curls as she slipped out of the door, shutting it silently behind her.
"Goodnight, Brigid," I huffed out.