Sixty-three nights after meeting the General
What room did I wake up in? When I opened my eyes, I was in a clean bed.
It was loaded with furs and cotton. Duck-feather pillows lined the headboard.
It was warm and comfortable at first. Then I realised, somebody moved me, changed the sheets, and put me to bed again.
I thought it was another room until I saw the same carved stone chair that was there the day before.
It was still the General’s room, but on the chair there were pillows.
The bedside tables had embroidered clothes on them.
There was an ornate wooden mirror, leaning on the wall next to the cabinet.
There was even a white bear-pelt on the floor.
None of this had been there the day before.
Dizziness hit me. I stood up too fast. On the table, there was too much food. Fish, berries, greens and even cake. There was a rocking chair, cherrywood, inviting me over to breakfast.
“Axel?” I called. There was no answer at first. Then, the elder omega that served me my meals when stuck in this chamber appeared from the bathroom.
“Can I help you?” she asked. I looked down to see I was wearing a silk nightgown. Far too pink, way too frilly.
“What on earth am I wearing?” I asked.
“That is the royal omega nightdress,” she said, her voice cutting.
We met eyes. She was frowning at me. I did not know her problem, but I could understand her response.
Here I was, an outsider, in the sovereign's bedroom, insulting some expensive royal frock from her kingdom. One she might have seen rise and fall.
“I see,” I started. “Although it is exceptionally beautiful, is it not better suited to a woman?” I asked, hoping to remain respectful. She huffed.
“Eat breakfast first,” she said. “The bath is still hot.” I nodded dumbly. I walked towards the rocking chair. It was the same one that was in the tower I was held in when I first arrived. I sat down and nibbled on some berries, so as not to offend the woman.
“The healer’s garb is over there,” she pointed to the stone chair, where my clothes for the day were laid out. “Although it is highly improper for the king’s omega to be working.”
I swallowed another bite of food. The fish was making me homesick. I pushed the feeling down. “Axel is not a king,” I said.
“He is as good as!” she said. I looked at her properly.
Long grey hair, a beautiful face, painted with time.
Red fur robes, and a golden chain with a large wolf pendant on it hanging from her neck.
She was no ordinary woman. She was adding wood to the fire.
She was not a servant, nor a noble chambermaid.
“I meant no disrespect,” I said. She turned towards me. I bit my lip. “I feel like I am still dreaming sometimes, even when awake,” I said. “Perhaps I am not all there.” She held my gaze for a while.
“I don’t know what he’s thinking,” she said.
She walked over to me. An ornate silver and sapphire comb in hand.
I was rooted to my seat when she started combing my hair.
“You are pretty, anyone can see that.” I yelped as she undid a knot in my hair.
“If not a bit too small to bear children. But that can’t be helped with druids,” she tugged my hair a bit too tightly.
“But he has never taken interest in beautiful omegas before.” She started plaiting my hair the same way Inge did for me before.
“Yet here you are.” I was starting to get offended.
What was wrong with him choosing me? He was half magic, half wolf.
Was it truly such a surprise he would fancy an outsider?
“And then he does not even mate with you!” she said.
“What?” I asked.
“You have no idea, do you?” She touched the mark on my collarbone lightly.
I flinched. “He marked you as his own, without proper mating,” she said.
Is that what was bothering her? “The alpha I raised should never treat omegas that way,” she said.
I did not move. What could I say? It was something I had considered, the reason he was so quick to take me to bed without mating.
It bothered this woman. It bothered Inge too.
But I was from the empire. Humans did not mate.
I had very little knowledge on the etiquette of courtship in the Oaklands.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “What is your name?”
“Astrid,” she said. I bit my lip.
“And who are you, exactly? How do you know the General?”
“I raised Axel, alongside my Inge, when he first came to the Oaklands,” she said. I nodded. She tied my braid up with a bit of chiffon. “Now go bathe,” she ordered. I could not get out of there fast enough.
I practically ran to start my shift after getting dressed, hoping to be on time.
I knew I reeked of Axel. Astrid had alluded to it before I left his chambers.
There was nothing I could do about it. He marked me in more ways than one.
I arrived at the infirmary in the late afternoon.
The soldier from yesterday was awake, sipping water, trying his best to remain alert.
Inge was with him, checking his vitals. Inge’s hand was on the patient’s wrist. The soldier was blushing, clearly enjoying the attention of a handsome omega, despite his condition.
At the opposite end of the room, a new patient was tied to his bed with ropes. I met his eyes first, before I noticed his scent. Taller than me, but smaller than the wolves. A human.
“What did he do to you?” A voice behind me. Inge. Several patients and a healer’s apprentice were staring. Of course they would, Inge had to announce the obvious in front of an audience.
“Keep it down!” I said. I smacked his arm before whispering. “It was nothing,” I said. “Let’s get to work.”
“Nothing? You reek of him! The entire castle will know by nightfall that he scented you before mating. Your reputation will be in shambles, Gabriel!” He was whispering too loudly.
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.
Scenting? Is that what Inge thinks they did?
Is that what everyone thought was happening between them?
I caught Inge’s frown when he took me by my arms and shook me a bit.
“Gabriel, this is a serious matter. You can’t scent before mating.
And where were you last night? If you disappear at night, they might think even worse things are going on and-” I put my hand over his mouth.
“Shhh!” If most of the people in the castle underestimated the situation that much, it meant his personal guards weren’t talking, and neither was Astrid.
“We can talk about this later,” I said. I pulled up my healer’s tunic, to be certain the mark was covered.
Inge huffed. “Who is that?” I asked. I pointed at the human. It successfully distracted Inge.
“One of Victor’s spies. They found him at the military camp near the forest edge,” he explained. The human stared right at me.
“Why are we treating him?” I asked.
“If we play nice, maybe he’ll talk.”
I walked up to the man. He looked like any other human.
No uniform to speak of. I noticed he had only one arm.
The stump at his shoulder was bandaged up.
If I was there when it happened, I could have healed him.
I could have saved his arm. Axel had commanded me not to use my magic, but what would he do if I did? When I healed Axel, he did not stop me.
“You’re not from here,” the man said. I sat on the chair next to his bed.
“Neither are you,” I said. “Where is home to you?”
For a while, it seemed as though he would not speak. We sat there in silence. “The fields outside Tellevine,” he said.
“I passed them on my way up here,” I said. “From Auriyonne.” This caught his attention. He looked me up and down.
“You are not human,” he said.
“Do you think only humans reside in the empire?”
“You are not allowed to be there,” he said. “It is not legal.” I nodded.
“And yet I grew up there,” I stood up then.
My attention went to a heavily pregnant omega that needed to be on bed rest. I sat with her too.
We spoke of children, whether I wanted any.
I was in no position to consider having children.
The night grew tired, and many patients were no longer awake.
I ignored Inge’s questions by keeping myself busy.
That night, after my late shift, I found my way to the General’s chambers.
Behind me were footsteps. They halted when I halted.
At a reasonable distance, I was being followed by a beta guard with a sword as large as Erna’s.
I noticed her the moment I left the infirmary.
She was not subtle about her orders to follow me.
It did not come as a shock to me that Axel was having me guarded as I moved through the castle.
On the way to the General’s wing, I saw torches lighting up the throne room through the windows.
A storm must have been brewing, for his council to be working till dawn was almost breaking.
The same guards that saw me being pulled towards his chambers the day before let me in without question.
My face got hot with the memory of what they saw and must have heard last night. I swallowed my embarrassment.
Two more guards were now standing before his chambers.
They opened the doors for me without looking at me.
Perhaps too afraid to lay their eyes on their General’s omega.
I did not thank them. This was all too new to me.
I stood in the middle of the room. My feet rooted to the ground, taking it all in.
While the room was empty, the fire was lit.
It was warmer than last night. Torches on the walls, even more blankets and furs covered the four-poster bed.
Instead of just an empty frame, the bed now had satin draping top to bottom.
A bed fit for an omega werewolf. I had no need for softness the way werewolves did.
At least, I did not think so. My mother was the only other druid of my rank I had known, and we did not have the means for such luxury.
Of course I could nest, same as any omega.
But a bed that would swallow me whole was daunting.
Perhaps it was because I did not grow up with opulence.
But why was I to remain modest, in the face of losing everything I ever loved?
Did I not deserve these riches as payment for my hardships?
I lost my home, my peace, my freedom. Was I going to torment myself further by being a groveling commoner, too modest to accept anything from the people who took me from my home?
In some ways, they saved me from a worse fate.
But did they know it then? If I was to live a new life, one where my fate was unknown, and nothing was simple, did I not deserve payment for it?
I thought it would not be like me, to revel in the riches an alpha can provide for me.
But would it be like me, to never ask for more?
Did that not mean that I was too thankful to demand, like a groveling slave?
Sleeping in his chambers, warming his bed for him, gladly depending on all he provided for me.
It was in line with my station, but not with my character.
If he did not claim me, my position would remain unstable.
I could wait and see what I was to him, if he was truly going to take responsibility.
That was not me. I had to fight for my place in this castle.
I had to assert my own rank. Was I a courtesan?
Or was I going to be like a queen to the lands he was too modest to claim as his kingdom?
I had no desire to rule over anything, but it was better than being anyone’s toy.
What if I simply demanded power? In the empire, power had to be a man’s birthright.
That could not be the case in the Oaklands.
Axel himself came here with nothing to his name.
I could not live off whatever he gave me.
My status as a healer, he demanded of me.
He granted me freedom then took it away as he pleased.
These displays of wealth, his gifts, his furs, they were all his to give.
For a moment, I stood there, unmoving. In the middle of the chamber that was made to please me.
Another gift from the alpha I could not truly call my own.
Whatever came over me then was a madness, for it lasted too long to be an impulse.
I straightened my back. I unclenched my jaw.
I marched to the doors, and was met by three guards.
The alphas that guarded the chambers, and the beta swordswoman that was assigned to me. They did not move, or speak.
“You are my guard, yes?” I asked the blonde woman. She stood still for a moment, before nodding at me. She was a head taller than me, while the alpha guards were even taller. My posture could not falter. Neither could my conviction.
“Excellent,” I said. Now what could I demand?
“I need a hot bath. With lavender, preferably. Maybe a servant or two to prepare it.” She was frowning, but nodded.
I assumed there was no anger in her gaze, but her knitted eyebrows and clenched jaw signalled at least a seriousness, and a tad of confusion.
I could demand someone other than Astrid to take care of me in the morning.
She had more power than I did, I knew it from her poise, as well as her judgement.
Who dares judge the General, but those who control him?
In Auriyonne, a noble girl was called to serve in Tellevine castle as a lady’s maid.
“I want my own omega’s maid by morning. One with a proper station,” I said.
“And a chamber of my own with a desk and a vanity. A place to get ready. My own bath, and a closet. See to it.” I did not care much for fine clothes, silk robes or silver combs.
But this was what I imagined Axel’s omega would ask for.
I left the guards in the hallway without sparing them another glance.
Back in the room, I let out a breath I did not know I was holding.
I slumped against the door. Had I gone insane?
I sat there for a bit. An empty mind. My body on edge.
Wondering what would be done now. The demands I made when in captivity felt nothing like those I made today.
Those were made in desperation, by a person with no power.
I was a whole different person back then.
Water splashing behind the bathroom door. Over the next few minutes, the scent of lavender started permeating the air. A knock on the door, and a soft female voice.
“The bath is ready, your grace.”
A door closing.