Chapter 10 #2
The royal family began to debate their next steps—where to send the first search party, how large, and what they’d do when they found her. The discussion veered toward Castiel and the punishment awaiting him—the lovelorn swain who’d dared whisk the princess away from under their noses.
Alarik stood watching. He knew how these things went—too many voices, too many plans, none swift enough to prevent whatever damage had already been done. They’d deliberate until sundown, and by then, Reiyana and Castiel would be a day further out of reach.
He saw Kaelen slip toward the door, restless energy practically vibrating off him. Silently, he followed. His brother didn’t need words when frustration brewed this hot inside him.
He needed motion—forward momentum.
Outside, their boots rang against the cobbled paths. Kaelen reached the royal stables and threw the reins over a horse’s neck, already halfway into the saddle before Alarik fully caught up.
“I’ve no desire to waste time with lengthy deliberations,” Kaelen said. He sat straight-backed in the saddle. “Come, brother, let’s head to the harbour. We’ve always been good at finding things others miss.”
Those golden eyes found him, gleaming with restless determination. “Once we’ve obtained clues, we’ll leave. If we hurry, we can still catch up.”
Alarik stilled, the weight of his brother’s words settling like a stone in his chest.
Always rushing in, always chasing. Kaelen never seemed to understand some pursuits didn’t end in victory. Most left Alarik hollow, standing at the edge of what could’ve been, wondering if the chase was worth the fall.
“If we do find her,” he said cautiously, “then what? Drag her back kicking and screaming? If she wanted to stay, she would have.”
Kaelen scoffed, the sound full of impatience, as if the very idea of giving up offended him. His energy rolled off him in waves, like a horse straining against its reins.
“You think she genuinely wants to leave? You heard Thorir. It’s fear driving her. Fear and misunderstanding.”
“Or maybe it’s what she wants,” Alarik countered. He could feel the words wedging a divide between them, heavy and uncomfortable. “She made her decision. Forcing her to change her mind won’t help anyone.”
Kaelen’s gaze darkened, a flicker of something dangerous sparking in his eyes. “You think she’s better off with him?”
“I think we’re better off leaving her to her choices.” His thoughts were already drifting toward the packed bags waiting in their room. That was what mattered—getting back on track, not running after someone who’d already decided. “If she wanted us, she’d be here.”
Before he could take more than a few steps, Kaelen swung off his horse in one fluid motion. His hand clamped around Alarik’s arm, the grip firm, teetering on the edge of pain.
“She might’ve made a choice,” Kaelen said, voice low and fervent, eyes burning with conviction. “But I don’t believe it was the right one. I won’t rest until I see her with my own eyes—until I hear it from her lips that she wants us gone.”
Something inside Alarik snapped, a dam breaking against the tide of that relentless determination. Without thinking, he grabbed his brother by the arms, pivoted sharply, and slammed him against the stone wall with a force that rattled the air between them.
Another man would’ve grimaced, maybe cursed. Kaelen only arched a brow, too calm—dangerously so, as if the state of his bones and muscles were an afterthought. Being Sunborn, he could weather far worse.
“Do you even hear yourself?” Alarik growled, voice trembling with frustration that burned too hot for him to examine closely.
His grip remained ironclad, knuckles stark white against his brother’s tunic.
“We’ve offered her everything —time, freedom, every damn thing we have. And still, she chose to walk away.”
Kaelen’s brow furrowed, the flicker of knowing in his golden eyes cutting through Alarik’s haze of anger.
With deliberate calm, he raised a hand and pressed his palm to Alarik’s chest—right over his heart, and stilled, just long enough to turn the gesture into a reminder.
Then, he pushed, not violently, but the force behind it was enough to dislodge Alarik’s hold and shifted him back.
“Not everything ,” Kaelen said softly, his words carrying more weight than volume.
Alarik froze, tension bleeding from his limbs. The weight of the statement hit him more squarely than the push itself, slicing through his anger.
When he’d agreed to their pact, he had envisioned a simple, distant arrangement. Their father’s vision of them marrying an Omega princess to secure Asadia’s borders and trade routes had seemed sensible, even strategic.
He’d have someone to protect, someone to respect, yes—but also someone he could keep at an arm’s length, never letting her too close. He would do his duty—assist her during her Heat, provide her with his seed, sire her children if she so wished. He would remain true to her and look at no other.
He had never expected more.
Kaelen, though, was born differently. Kaelen always wanted more . His boundless desire to claim everything life had to offer was as maddening as it was inevitable. But why shouldn’t he shoot for the highest stars, him being who he was?
Alarik let out a sharp exhale, his anger receding as quickly as it had risen, leaving him hollow and spent. The fire was gone, but the ache in his chest remained.
“There is nothing more we can do,” he said, his tone quieter now. The words hung heavy in the space between them. “Let her family reckon with the consequences. If they find her—and if she chooses to return—then we shall see. Until then, chasing shadows across the nine kingdoms is a fool’s errand. ”
His gaze flicked toward Kaelen, lingering just long enough to catch the restless set of those shoulders. He could feel the fight simmering beneath his brother’s skin, but he wasn’t about to feed it.
Kaelen’s jaw tightened. “What if you’re wrong?” he demanded, his voice quiet but no less intense. “What if she didn’t choose this? Could you live with yourself?”
He hesitated, just for a moment, but long enough for doubt to slip in. He’d told himself chasing after a woman who’d never belong to him was a mistake he wouldn’t make again. He knew what it was to let someone go, to accept some things were never meant to be.
But a tiny voice spoke inside him, asking him the very question he’d refused to entertain until now: what if this was different?
Aethonia was supposed to be a detour, a quick stop, but its princess had now become more than a passing thought. She lingered beneath his skin, in the spaces between doubt and certainty.She was quietly becoming a storm he hadn’t seen coming, a choice he hadn’t thought he’d have to make.
And the worst part? He wasn’t sure what terrified him more: that Kaelen might be wrong?—
—or that he might be right .
“How can you be certain she didn’t choose this?” Alarik asked, forcing himself to meet his brother’s gaze.
Kaelen’s lips curved into a faint, defiant smile. “I’m not sure. But the best things in life are never won by playing it safe.”
Alarik shook his head with the barest hint of a smile. Of course, Kaelen would say something like that. Reckless. Idealistic. Infuriatingly steadfast in his convictions.
Yet, wasn’t that the very quality that had carried him through every storm, every impossible challenge?
And wasn’t it why following him was so damn inevitable?
Alarik scoffed, levelling his brother with a dry look. “Another one of your leaps of faith, is it?”
Kaelen shrugged, his grin unfazed. “No great journey was ever made without one.”
“You’re impossible, you know that?”
“Yet, you’re still with me. ”
A muttered curse slipped from Alarik’s lips, but he was already turning toward the palace, already resigning himself to the path ahead.
“Head to the wharf and start asking around,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll gather our things and meet you there.”
He returned to their room and packed their belongings with the efficiency born from years of trailing in his brother’s wake. Experience had taught him Kaelen’s impulsiveness wasn’t a fleeting thing—it was a force, relentless once set in motion. Chasing after him empty-handed was never an option.
Someone had to think ahead, and that someone was usually Alarik.
When he arrived at the harbour with their bags, he found Kaelen already talking to a couple of dockworkers, leaning in casually, flashing a grin that made their suspicion flicker and die.
“We’re looking for an old friend,” Kaelen said, deftly slipping a coin between two fingers. “Maybe you’ve seen him?”
The coins loosened tongues until the truth spilled—a man fitting Castiel’s description, accompanied by a smaller figure draped in a heavy cloak, had boarded a ship bound for Bashkor under the cover of darkness.
Alarik’s stomach twisted. The city’s name sank like a stone in his gut. Bashkor—a place of stark duality.
He’d expected Castiel to take Reiya somewhere remote, one of the quieter nations on the outer edges of the nine kingdoms, perhaps.
The very fact Castiel had chosen Bashkor as his destination sent a ripple of unease.
Why there? Castiel didn’t fit the mould of the men who prowled those alleys, yet the choice still painted an unsettling picture.
Alarik swiped a hand over his jaw, the weight of doubt pressing heavier by the moment. Maybe it was a stopover? A place to rest before they boarded another ship heading elsewhere?
But . . . what if Bashkor was the end of the line?
The thought lodged in his chest like a shard of glass.
He shook it off and scanned the piers, his gaze landing on a merchant ship preparing to depart for Bashkor within the hour. It was their only lead, and time was quickly slipping away.
Gathering the horses and pulling a scrap of parchment from his pack, Alarik scrawled a brief message to the palace. A promise they’d find the princess and send word the moment they had news.
The courier was young but sharp-eyed, and Alarik pressed a handful of coins into his palm. “Get the horses and this message to the palace. Quickly.”
Kaelen stood nearby, silent for once, the tension in his frame impossible to miss. When Alarik joined him, he turned, his usual grin absent—an unsettling reminder that even he had limits to his bravado.
“I know this isn’t what you want,” his brother said quietly. “But I’m glad you’re here.”
He exhaled through his nose, shaking his head. “Someone has to keep you alive.”
A flicker of a smile tugged at Kaelen’s lips. “And you’re the best at it.”
Lips twitching, Alarik brushed past him toward the gangplank. “Just get on the ship before I change my mind.”
The sails snapped open above them, catching the sharp morning wind. Together, they boarded, the dock falling away behind them, the open waters ahead wide and uncertain.