Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ren woke up that morning just like any other day.
It even took his mind a groggy few moments to remember why he had been so excited to sleep, why it had eluded him for so long as he tossed and turned and listened to Falk’s soft snores.
When he pulled his eyelids apart, still so heavy from how restless his night was, nothing had changed.
The world didn’t seem brighter and Ren didn’t feel any different from the day before.
He thought turning twenty would feel like something—like everything would fall into place the moment he was deemed old enough to take a mate, to start a family, to settle into a job and start making decisions for himself.
But as he glanced around, he wondered if that was something broken about him too.
Falk wasn’t beside him, but he heard water running.
Ren sat up slowly, realizing this was one of the first times he had been truly alone in a while.
Usually, even when Falk bathed, Ren was forced to sit on the floor of the bathroom until he was done.
Sometimes it seemed more like a punishment to Falk with how deep the line on his forehead got as Ren chatted endlessly.
Ren knew a few months ago, maybe even a few weeks ago, he would have bolted through the door and raced down the halls searching for freedom without even a moment’s hesitation. But now, as he turned the idea over in his mind, he didn’t think there was any happiness greater for him out there alone.
Ren took a shaky breath and decided to tuck himself back into bed and wait for Falk to finish his bath.
He shut his eyes quickly when he heard Falk shuffling around a moment before the bathroom door opened. Ren tried to even out his breathing, relax his face, truly make it believable he had been asleep this entire time and Falk hadn’t had to worry at all about leaving him alone.
Ren felt the bed dip under Falk’s weight sitting on the edge of it. A moment later there was a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Ren, it’s time to wake up.”
Ren shivered at the quiet words and hoped Falk didn’t notice. But when he opened his eyes for the second time, the little smile on Falk’s lips told him he hadn’t been doing a very good job pretending.
“Good morning,” Ren murmured, burying himself further into the blankets and pulling them up to his nose.
Falk just smiled and patted his knee. “It’s time to get going.”
Ren watched him carefully and asked, “Did you forget what today is?”
“Of course I haven’t.”
Ren’s eyebrows rose as they continued looking at each other.
Why wasn’t Falk moving? Why wasn’t he doing anything?
He just sat there, close enough for Ren to feel his body heat through the blanket, with his palm on Ren’s knee.
Ren swallowed thickly as he considered what Falk wanted him to do, wondering what was expected of him here.
The castle was so different from the cliffs.
Traditions and rules all seemed to be completely different and maybe this one was too.
Ren pushed his blanket down slowly until it bunched on his stomach so he could see Falk directly. Falk watched him, gaze curious. Ren wondered if Falk could hear how loudly his heart was beating in his chest. If he could see how quickly his pulse fluttered in his throat.
He didn’t even know what to do. On the cliffs, the Alpha would be the one to make the first move. Ren had never heard of an Omega in this type of situation.
So, he did what he figured was right, and turned his head to one side, baring his neck.
“You can mark me now,” he murmured, voice shaky.
Falk took in a surprised breath of air, but there was no movement from him.
Ren peeked one eye open, only then realizing how hard he had squeezed them shut, and looked over.
Falk’s jaw had dropped open and he stared at Ren as though he had sprouted leaves from his head.
“What?” he asked. “Why would you think I’d do that today? ”
Ren felt like his heart stopped entirely, his pulse pausing in his veins. He stared up at Falk in utter shock, not knowing how to respond, not knowing what he could possibly say at being rejected outright by the Alpha he had assumed would be courting him.
“I—I…” Ren stuttered. “I—I thought—I was—” What had he thought? Had he really thought Falk had saved him—had done all of this—because he wanted to be with Ren rather than helping someone he thought had been treated wrongly?
“Ren, I don’t know why you would?—”
“I’m sorry,” Ren said quickly, sitting up straight but holding the blanket closer against his body. “I didn’t mean to?—”
“Ren,” Falk’s voice was a bit sterner, making Ren fall quiet, lips clamped shut. He reached for Ren’s hands which were buried in his blanket, squeezing one of them lightly as he said, “Why would you think I’d mark you?”
Ren chewed on his lip for a second before saying, “I’m twenty now… and you’re an Alpha so, shouldn’t you want…” he trailed off, not sure how to even finish his sentence.
Falk sighed heavily, making Ren look down as to not see the frustration on Falk’s face. “I told you before, Ren. I didn’t take responsibility for you, I’m not helping you, just because I wanted an Omega to mate.”
“I’m sorry,” Ren whispered, voice small. “I didn’t mean to?—”
“Please don’t forget that,” Falk said. Ren wasn’t sure why his tone seemed so gentle. “I’m not going to mark you and take you as my mate all of a sudden because you’re twenty now.”
“Okay,” Ren moved his lips to say, but he wasn’t sure if any sound actually came out.
They sat in a strange silence Ren couldn’t begin to figure out and was desperately trying to think of ways to disperse. But eventually Falk simply patted him on the knee again and stood up. “Come on, I have somewhere for us to go.”
Ren got to his feet, silently going about the motions of getting ready, and followed Falk out of their room.
The castle halls were particularly cold that day.
Maybe it was because Ren was keeping an extra foot in between himself and Falk, or maybe it was because the sun had hidden itself behind clouds again.
The halls were also especially silent without his and Falk’s idle chatter to fill the space in between the gray stones.
“How about you?—”
The moment Falk’s words finally broke the silence between them, Ren startled and, another voice interrupted him, “Falk!”
They both turned to see Mont jogging to catch up to them. Falk stiffened, his shoulders pulling back more than before as he asked, “What is it?”
“Oren has called a meeting,” Mont said simply, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the opposite direction. “Your presence is required.”
“I’m off duty today,” Falk said, eyebrows furrowing.
“Doesn’t matter,” Mont laughed, shaking his head. “This is what you get for being close to our King.” Mont reached over, clapping Falk on the shoulder. “At least you’ll have quite a high rank right when you graduate.”
“I have things to attend to today?—”
“You can’t argue with Oren,” Mont said. “Come on, we’re meeting in the library.”
Falk hesitated, finally glancing back at Ren standing quietly to one side of them, watching the interaction unfold. “Okay, I need to bring Ren to Chaya’s shop first, then. I doubt Oren would want him coming to the meeting.”
Mont nodded before heading back the way he came. Falk turned back to Ren and jerked his chin. “Come on, let’s head to the shop.”
They hadn’t been heading that way originally, meaning they had to wind through several hallways to get there. With the silence broken by Mont, Falk tried to keep up some sort of small talk between them, but Ren could barely think of answers through the chaos of his mind.
“What are you and Chaya working on today?”
“I don’t know,” Ren muttered.
“Did you show Des that crochet pattern you were telling me about?”
“Not yet,” Ren said, looking straight ahead.
“Are you going to show him today?”
“I don’t know.”
“After I’m done with the meeting, would you like to go on a walk this evening?”
“It looks like it’s going to rain.”
“Then would you like to go?—”
Ren didn’t hear the rest of the question. He was already turning to walk into the little shop, leaving Falk at the door as he moved through the familiar space on autopilot.
Chaya looked up in surprise as Ren took the seat beside her. She turned to see Falk standing helplessly in the doorway. “I didn’t think Ren was coming today?”
“I got called to a meeting,” Falk explained.
“Ah,” she hummed. “He’s always welcome here. You go do what you need to do.” She waved him away.
Once Falk was gone, Chaya studied Ren a bit closer—his tense shoulders, his slightly wet eyes, and his quick breaths—and asked, “Did something happen between you two?”
“No.” Ren shook his head. “It’s fine—I’m fine.”
Chaya hummed in acknowledgement and said, “You know you can talk to me about whatever it is, right?”
“Sure,” Ren said quietly.
Chaya looked like she wanted to say something, but just pulled out the fabric and pattern they would be working with that day.
The day was so normal, Ren would have completely forgotten it was his birthday if not for Falk’s words echoing through his mind as he worked—why would you think I’d take you as a mate? I’m not going to take you as my mate just because you’re twenty now.
He wanted to slap himself for being so stupid—for actually thinking Falk would want to be his mate. It was a ridiculous assumption to make considering all Falk had done for him—how could he ever assume it was anything more than out of pity?
Des didn’t show up to work, so it was only him and Chaya working quietly. She seemed to realize Ren didn’t want to talk, and the quiet was heavy in the air until she said she needed to go.
“Where is Falk?” she murmured to herself, looking at the time which was far past how long Ren was supposed to work. “I’m going to call for someone else to come stay with you here, is that okay?”
“Sure,” Ren said and began cleaning up his project and organizing everything he had taken out that day.