Episode 36 Queen of Heats… Er, Hearts #2
“He’s always been integral to us,” Forsythe adds, twisting his head to beam at Piers, who flushes, before turning around to say seriously. “We just didn’t honor him the way that we should have.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Forsythe’s grip on my fingers tighten even further, but I don’t complain squeezing him right back. I know this is hard for him, admitting all the ways he’s messed up, all the ways he feels he failed his pack, but it’s something that needs to be done, like lancing a boil so it can heal.
But beyond that, the world needs to know just how manipulative the queen of Bravonne has gotten. We need to weaken her base further, so Elizabeth can topple her with a tiny push.
“I’m not proud of it, but I caved to pressure put on me by my family.
The queen, specifically. She stressed to me that it was bad enough that I had formed a pack, but to have a beta in the mix would paint us as weaker.
And if there is one thing an Ashbourne cannot be seen as, it’s weak.
I was young and dumb and I let her dictate what my relationship with my beta would look like. ”
“She convinced you that having a beta as a mate was something to be ashamed of.” Cleo’s tone is a blade now. Not surprising given she’s mated to a beta herself.
“In essence, yes.”
“In his defense,” Piers pipes up. “I could have argued more, spoken up more, forced the issue. I could have refused to let them bond me without some kind of reassurance that I wouldn't be hidden away, but I didn’t. It wasn’t until the show, until Florence.
Until they were considering which of the twenty omegas would be our new mate, a member of the pack that I was a part of, and I wasn’t a part of the process that it chafed, became unbearable.
Ren knew who I was right away,” he tells her.
“She could tell we were in love, and more importantly she respected our relationship in a way that no one really had before. It was… a relief to be seen like that.” His fingers brush against his mating mark.
“I don’t know how no one else recognized it,” I tell her honestly. “To me it seemed so obvious, the love between them, the devotion. It made me so mad that they weren’t including him. And I just… I wanted to make him a part of the process.”
Cleo looks around at the four alphas of our pack, letting her disappointment with them show on her face, before she focuses again on Piers.
“Do you resent them at all?”
“No.”
“Not even a little? You’ve been a member of their pack for years, and they never bothered to claim you publicly. But a few months after meeting Florence they bonded her and very publicly claimed her. Does that seem fair?”
I stiffen not really understanding what she’s getting at. Is she saying he should resent me for having my pack claim me?
The alphas in my pack bristle, dominance bleeding out of them, while Piers does the same shifting forward to pin Cleo with a hard look.
“I am fucking delighted that they claimed Florence so quickly. Hell, I would have preferred for them to claim her ages ago. How could I be anything but thrilled, when my own bite is on her pretty neck, when I claimed her right alongside them? And she claimed me right back? When I was snuggled against her in the photo heard around the world just like all of them, a part of the pack like I always should have been. We love Florence, all of us. I would never begrudge her or be resentful of her receiving the love she deserves.”
For a moment, no one speaks.
Piers’ words hang in the air, heavy and unshakable, leaving no room for doubt, no room for the narrative Cleo had been trying to press.
Cleo studies him, something like approval flickering across her face before she leans back in her chair, crossing one elegant leg over the other.
“Well,” she says lightly, as though she’s pleased with his answer, “I think that answers that.”
A quiet murmur ripples through the crew behind the cameras, the tension in the room shifting, settling into something more focused, more intentional.
Cleo turns her attention back to me, her expression softening just slightly, recalibrating.
“The last time many of us saw Florence on live television, she collapsed alone. Tonight, she’s surrounded by all of you. Was that deliberate?”
No one else answers, like they’re waiting for me to. “Yes,” I say eventually. “We wanted to do this together. To show the world that we’re bonded.”
“Happily bonded,” Grieves adds.
Cleo smiles as though she’s pleased with the interjection and then leans forward, face serious. “The reason for your collapse, Florence, was the reveal of your Rejected Mate Disorder diagnosis. Were you aware of the diagnosis before that moment?”
I nod, even though the question is ridiculous. “I was aware. Yes.”
“When did you find out?”
I slide a glance to my left to Forsythe who squeezes my hand gently. “Almost as soon as I returned to the states. The video Heather showed of me collapsing in the airport was real. My family rushed me to the hospital and there they told me the truth.”
“I see. And did you tell the Ashbourne pack?”
I shake my head. “No. I didn’t want them to know.
And believe me I’m aware of how that sounds.
I knew they were my fated mates and I didn’t tell them.
But I’d also just been rejected by them on international television.
I was dealing with a newly diagnosed lifelong illness and I was concerned that if they found out they would agree to be with me, but only out of duty.
I didn’t want that for them or for me. We all deserve love. ”
“Did you believe at the time that they loved Isadora?”
I can’t stop that sharp bark of laughter. “I think we both know the answer to that, Cleo. We saw how they were together when the cameras weren’t rolling, which is to say they weren’t. No, I definitely did not believe that they were in love with Isadora.”
“We weren’t,” Thayer confirms. “Never have been. She was someone we were thrown toward constantly. It was for all intents and purposes an arranged match.”
Cleo tilts her head. “If it was arranged, why bother with the spectacle of going on a reality dating show?”
Forsythe shifts next to me, straightening the slightest bit. “My grandmother, the queen of Bravonne, requested that we do it.”
Court snorts. “‘Requested’ is a polite word for ‘demanded’. We weren’t given the choice.”
“It wasn’t until after filming wrapped that we realized why she’d asked,” Forsythe continues, voice steady and strong.
I tighten my grip on his fingers in support, letting him know I’m with him through our bond.
“While the world was distracted by the ‘spectacle’ as you called it, she was quietly pushing through a regressive law that greatly hinders the rights and freedoms of omegas.”
“And packs,” I’m quick to add, not wanting to downplay the effect the laws had on them.
“Yes,” Cleo nods, voice sharper now. “The Omega Welfare Act was announced shortly after you returned to Bravonne, correct?”
“Yes,” Forsythe says, jaw already ticking like he knows where she’s going to go with her questions next.
“It was announced weeks ago, and yet, not one member of your pack spoke out against it until recently. Except Florence of course, who was quick to call it regressive rubbish. Was there a reason for the delay? Or are you speaking out against it now because you’ve bonded an omega.”
“We never supported it,” Grieves growls out, startling me for a moment. I hadn’t expected him to say much during this interview, more that he would be a calming protective presence for the rest of us. “Never. But we were focused on something equally as important. Getting Florence to forgive us.”
Cleo hums, like she’s not sure that’s a good enough reason and I have to agree with her. Their first instinct should have been to speak out against it.
“To be honest,” Courtland says, leaning forward to brace an arm on the back of my chair.
“None of us were in great shape after the show, after we sent Florence home. Even before we knew who she was--is--to us, we were falling apart. If she hadn’t done that interview with Heather, if she hadn’t fainted during it, the Ashbourne Pack, as the world has come to know it, probably would have shattered. ”
“But Florence holds us together,” Forsythe adds. “She’s our heart, our reason for… everything.”
“And in case it’s not clear, we are officially stating we do not support the Omega Welfare and Community Stability Act,” Thayer adds. “We’ve been working with protest and resistance groups to help them get it reversed, hopefully before it goes into full effect.”
Forsythe nods. “The law never should have passed. It is regressive trash, as Florence called it. My grandmother, the queen of Bravonne, unfortunately has stopped looking at what is best for the country and started focusing on her own legacy.”
Cleo shifts, eyes catching fire. “What do you mean by that, your highness?”
The prince looks at me and I brace myself for a flicker of uncertainty, of doubt that this is the right path, but there is none.
Just his unwavering warm gaze filled with determination.
He looks back at Cleo and the camera positioned over her shoulder.
“It’s no secret that for generations the Ashbournes haven’t formed packs.
We’ve focused on preserving bloodline, on ensuring only Ashbourne blood sits on the throne and wears the crown.
My sister and I, we both do not hold to that notion.
She formed her pack well before I did, found her omega before I did as well.
When I did the same, my grandmother wasn’t shy to share how displeased that made her.
She told both of us repeatedly that an Ashbourne must sit on the throne and that packs don’t allow for that guarantee.
I believe she started working on the Omega reform law years ago in order to ensure any heirs to the crown are blood born Ashbournes. ”