“I am not a noble,” I responded. The tray was filled with foods I loved as well as foods I had never seen before. There was fruit in all colours, more than I had ever seen, even down south, where the climate was fit for growing fruits. It was a meal fit for a king.
“What title would be better suited?” she asked. I looked up to see her, still staring blankly at me. Her dark eyes felt like they looked right through me.
“I am no one, really,” I answered.
She never did call me anything other than ‘your grace’ in the following days. She was one of the only werewolves I had the pleasure of speaking to, yet she never responded. That was why I made do with pestering the guards. I demanded more furs, coats, wool socks, the juice of a pear, and sesame pie. I asked for a great many things, hoping to annoy them to the point of being let go. When nothing worked, I asked for a hot bath with rose petals and tea made from cinnamon sticks and cloves. To my chagrin, I was given anything I asked for. I even asked for the squeaky clean fireplace to be lit for the very first time, and instead of disdain, I was met with an apology from the guards, as they should have known an omega would not keep warm in the chambers.
I gave up on getting out of there by the end of day two. All that was left for me to do was to read the romance novels I requested, and to drink from the endless supply of hot tea with honey that was now provided to me, to distract me from my troubles.
On the third and final day, I woke up with resentment and spite. I cried tears of anger when dinner came and went. The teardrops left stains on the third book I read, which I had nearly finished as well.
That was when the door to the chamber opened. There he was, General Axel, looking like he just went to war. The scar onhis left eye was now accompanied by a gash near his ear. I could not bring myself to care about the state of him. He stood in the doorframe, flanked by the alpha guards that had refused to let me go. Bile rose from my stomach up to my throat. I discarded the furs I was under. Before even standing up, I could not contain myself. I launched my book at him. It hit his chest, then dropped to the floor. One of the guards looked away, distancing himself from the situation. The other guard gripped his weapon in confusion.
Axel just sighed.
“By the gods, what were you thinking?!” I shouted at him. “You locked me up!”
He closed the doors behind him and walked up to me. He stood before me. My face was hot with anger.
“To keep you safe,” he said. He was so calm about it. Unrepentant. “I need to bathe.”
With that, he walked away from me, into the bathroom. The next fifteen minutes or so were unbearable! I could hardly barge in on the man while he was naked. I was still upset, so very upset, but I also felt worried, now that I had time to process the state in which the man arrived.
When Axel emerged from the bathroom, fresh and clothed in simple cottons, my anger had subsided. It had been replaced by the sting of repressed emotions, cutting through my stomach like a blade.
“Have you calmed down?” the man asked. This ignited some of my feelings anew.
“I am not a doll, alpha. You can’t lock me up in your dollhouse while you do as you please!” I answered. He sat on his bed. I stood next to it, my emotions protecting me from the chill in the room.
“I had to.”
“No, you wanted to.” I could have spat at him. “You are a typical alpha! Controlling, demeaning-”
“Omega, calm yourself.” He stood up. He stood in front of me. Too close. He grabbed my wrist. It was a gentle touch. That was worse, somehow.
“I will not! Is this what I am to expect from now on? To be locked away like a princess in a castle? Do you want to imprison me, like the emperor imprisoned my father?”
“Careful, omega.”
“Or what? Will you imprison me again?” He kissed me. I did not know what to do with that. His lips on mine. Nothing forceful, nothing aggressive. He was frustratingly calm, his kisses sickeningly tender.
“We are at war,” he whispered. “My enemies want you for themselves.” His eyes were earnest. His words were true.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“Securing the border,” he answered. The wound on his face was small but deep.
“The imperial army was at the border? In the forest?”
“Not many of them.” Humans usually avoided the forest that led north like the plague. Something awful must be on its way if Victor was willing to sacrifice half the soldiers making the passage through a place filled with a grimy old magic.
My hand reached for Axel’s cheek. Despite my feelings on the situation, I could not help myself. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt warmth running through me. A force from somewhere deep within warmed my hand, warmed his cheek. When I removed my hand, the wound was gone. A neat scar in its place. Something forbidden. Something that even as a healer, I was taught to avoid. Using my magic. That was my own wound, a voice, telling me that if I use healing magic I would be found out. I would be executed. But I was no longer in the empire, andthe werewolves had no reason to hate me for it. Still, he had not asked me to use magic. I had resisted so far.
But I felt alive again. Axel reached for his own cheek. I had never seen his eyes grow big in such a way.
“You really are made of magic,” he said. I scoffed.
“You doubted me?”