Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The best way Prince Edward Munson of Hawkins could describe the omega was pitiful.

It wasn’t a polite descriptor, nor appropriate given the boy’s royal standing, but it was definitely the most apt. For how else could one describe a near skeletal wisp of thing being dragged into the Great Hall by two guards.

The entire audience comprised mostly of courtiers and other nobles erupted in shocked murmurs and whispers. Even the stoic royal guards posted at every door and window in pairs turned to one another to comment.

The omega struggled to keep up with the two guards on either side of him, each supporting one of his thin arms. He would stumble on every other step which just resulted in his bare feet being dragged along the coarse hard stone floor.

Eddie could feel his uncle, the King, tense up next to him, but the Prince didn’t dare move his eyes away from the scene.

As the loud clanging steps of the imposing guards walked nearer to the long table that held the royal family and the Great Council, Eddie was finally able to get a proper look at the prisoner.

The omega was dressed in thin beggars’ rags. His once white and baggy shift was in tatters with more holes than fabric. His pants, which barely covered his knees could have once had color, alas none could be seen as they were caked in mud and dirt and grim.

The boy’s skin wasn’t much better. His callused and filthy bare feet and hands had tiny cuts and bruises were his skin cracked from the cold.

Like his clothes, Eddie could not determine the original color of the boy’s hair. His wet hair, that hung limply to his shoulders was matted with dirt. The guards must have thrown a bucket of water on the omega to help with the stench.

But the most striking thing, the most devastating thing about the omega’s appearance was the dirty bandage wrapped around the omega’s eyes.

“He’s blind!” Eddie heard a woman’s shocked yell from the crowd.

But the Prince of Hawkins didn’t react, instead he sat up straighter and steeled his resolve. This pathetic omega was the enemy, doing an enemy’s job, a coward’s job at that, and Eddie would not be swayed by sympathy.

For he swore to protect The Great Secret at all costs.

Finally, the guards and the prisoner reached the lone wooden chair in front of the long royal table and roughly threw the omega down on the floor near it. He fell hard on the rough stone floor chest first with an audible thump that must have taken the breath out of him.

He didn’t even whimper.

They then grabbed him and maneuvered the weak thing on to the chair before strapping him down with chains heavy enough to keep a ship anchored. Eddie wanted to laugh, as if the boy could even walk out of the room let alone break those bindings.

The room was still abuzz with chatter as the guards finished up, taking a step back to stand behind the prisoner, both of their hands resting tensely on their swords.

Eddie swallowed. It would be so easy for one of those towering guards to take out their swords and behead the poor creature right there.

No.

The Prince internally chastised himself. Again, he would not be swayed by compassion.

Not only for the sake of The Great Secret but he also knew the vipers in the form of General William Hargrove and his brute of a son, Billy would not be either.

Eddie heard a man clear his throat and turned to his right to see the court announcer step forward out of the crowd. However, the man’s eyes went wide, and he comically started searching his absurdly flamboyant gold and deep red ceremonial ornate robe.

The crowd around them laughed and the alpha Prince rolled his eyes. Sir Thomas Hagan was just as ridiculous as the court uniform designed by his great-grandfather. Eddie was never one for ceremony, so he choose his usual black leather pants and loose white shift. His doublet was undone, and he let his hair loose and free as most unmarried alphas did.

His trusty and never defeated silver rapier, the Hellfire, hung at his waist.

Finally, Sir Hagan found the scroll that he was searching for and unrolled it before clearing his throat again to give the trial’s opening.

“Prince Stephen of House Harrington, Crown Prince of Loch Nora you stand on trial today in the Kingdom of Hawkins in the presence of King Wayne Munson, and the rest of the royal privy council for deliberations and judgement,” Hagan continued.

Silence fell over the crowd and Eddie tensed again. It wasn’t often they had a Prince on trial…and it was not one that Eddie, as it turned out, would soon forget.

Meanwhile, in the dark…

The omega kept his chin tucked to his chest and focused on his breathing.

Steve was glad that the court crier didn’t blow a trumpet to open the trial like his father’s court would. He was pretty sure the earsplitting noise would make him puke the meager contents of his stomach.

Why did he have to say yes to that farmer? Why couldn’t Steve have just stayed in the areas he knew and trusted? How did the Hawkins' guards even recognize him?

Goddess, it wasn’t like there were wanted posters of his likeness strewn all over the Kingdom.

Actually, maybe there were. Steve really had no way of knowing.

Either way being on trial or not, the omega was just happy to be out of that dungeon. Sure, Hawkins kept their dungeon dry, and there was a straw on the floor that he could lay on. The rats didn’t bother him too much, and they even gave him food without having to beg.

It was almost like a holiday.

But…but even if he couldn’t see it, Steve missed the sun.

In the dead of winter, one of his few joys was just to tilt his head up towards the warmth when the clouds would part. And for a moment…for a brief moment Steve could pretend he could see again.

Sunny yellows and oranges and hues of red like the sunset were the few colors he hadn’t forgotten.

In fact, Steve could feel the warmth of the sun coming in from the windows in front of him. He never been to this castle before, even when he had his sight, but the omega could imagine they were beautifully colored stained glass.

“Given the severity of the charges and the fact that you, Prince Stephen of House Harrington, Crown Prince of Loch Nora were not apart of an official royal envoy, any and all diplomatic privileges have been revoked. However, King Wayne of….”

That got Steve’s attention.

He whipped his head up towards the court crier almost as if he could see him. Severity of charges? Steve thought at most he would be reprimanded for accidentally entering the Kingdom or given the stocks for begging.

Now they are talking about ‘diplomatic privileges’ as if he was still a Prince?

“As is the custom with all trials under the right and fair Hand of Justice, the defendant will be given…”

“Uh…excuse me, sir?” Steve interrupted timidly.

Immediately, Steve could hear the hundreds of people surrounding them, nobles by the smell of them and the sound of their fancy materials swishing at their feet, gasping in shock. Their heartbeats, all pounding in excitement of the drama they craved like vultures.

“I’m sorry but I think there’s been a…” Steve himself was interrupted this time by a booming voice of an older alpha man.

“Quiet omega scum. Guards, silence him!”

The sound of the armor of the guard on his right came quickly…as did the sharp backhand across his cheek. The guard’s iron gauntlet and brute strength unforgiving.

Steve’s head snapped to his side, but he didn’t go far as the chains around his chest were tight and unyielding. As the omega rested his chin against them, recovering from the hit he could feel the blood from his split lip, and drool drip down to his lap.

“Don’t fucking touch him,” another alpha, this time younger, growl out.

Anger and…and oddly, a sense of protection in his voice. His scent, his scent was like a fall bon fire, all smoke and pine, and…and something Steve couldn’t quite place but knew all the same.

He snapped his head up; he knew that voice and that scent. Somewhere in the depths of his dark mind, he knew that alpha.

Meanwhile in the light…

Prince Eddie didn’t even realize he was standing, leaning over the table, his knuckles white and his teeth bared, till his uncle gave him a sharp yank on his shirt to sit down.

The young alpha snapped out of it, almost as if coming out of a trance. Eddie sat in utter shocked at his reaction to the prisoner being backhanded.

Even more shocking was the anger he felt…the anger and the protection.

It triggered the part of Eddie’s hindbrain that was usually reserved for his uncle or pack not…not some omega enemy he had no claim over.

Even…even if now that he saw the omega closer. Despite, not being able to see his full face due to the soiled bandage and grim, Prince Eddie, Goddess help him, still thought he was…beautiful.

The slope of his cheeks, that slender neck decorated here and there with beauty marks, even…even just the raw strength and bravery the boy was already exuding.

Omega.

Eddie was jolted out of his hindbrain again when he felt his uncle sit up straighter, his scent turning angrier as he turned towards the man on his left.

“General, stand down your man. You’re not to lay another hand on him. I did not approve of that action. It was uncalled for, and I will not allow violence in the Great Hall,” the King commanded with an even tone.

The other alpha, an arrogant son of a bitch that Eddie and Wayne just had to tolerate, looked over at the royal pair coolly.

“My apologies, your highness. My men will be on their best behavior,” General Hargrove smugly answered, his cold blue eyes in a dangerous smirk. “It won’t happen again.”

The Prince knew in his gut that wouldn’t be true…and he clutched Hellfire under the table tighter.

There was an awkward lull in the court as the audience watched the tense scene. The omega labored breathing filling the silence.

Tommy cleared his throat and held up the scroll again to continue the opening when…

“Sir Hagan you may resume your seat, I will take the proceedings from here,” King Wayne spoke calmly,

Eddie looked over to his uncle with a raise eyebrow, for the older alpha’s scent was now changing to something…something warm.

“Prince Stephen, I am very sorry for the actions of my guards. Son, I swear to you that while you are in our custody no further harm will come to you. That is until…well lets get through the trial first and we will take it from there,” the King addressed the prisoner directly.

Eddie’s stomach sank. He knew what his uncle was referring to. One did not easily walk away from trials like these with their head on their shoulders when they were accused of these types of charges.

The omega peered his head up and meekly mumbled out, “Thank you, your highness.”

It seemed the prisoner knew that too.

“I do have to say Prince Stephen it is a pleasure to see you again, I am very sorry it is under these circumstances through,” the older alpha continued.

The omega looked up and Eddie could see his forehead scrunch up in confusion behind the dirty bandage.

“I’m…I’m not a Prince,” the prisoner lied with a shaky voice. “You can just call me Steve.”

“Son, don’t try to lie to me. I know you are Prince Stephen of Loch Nora,” the King countered, his voice growing stern. “I would know those dimples and beauty marks anywhere.”

The omega swallowed and shook his head quickly, the chains rattling.

“No, your highness that is not what I meant. I am Stephen of House Harrington, but I’ve been stripped of my title,” the omega, Steve clarified.

Murmurs erupted in the court again, but abruptly stopped when the General pounded his fist on the table.

“Lies! Your highness, King Rodric Harrington was in desperate need of an heir. Why would he forsake his only chance of securing his line?” William Hargrove spoke harshly.

“The omega scum is just trying to weasel out of the charges,” his son, Billy added.

“Don’t call him that,” Eddie hissed.

His hindbrain took over again as he stood up at the table again, one hand on Hellfire, the other…the other strangely started reaching out towards the omega.

Again, the courtiers loudly whispered to one another at the scandal and no wonder why. Eddie, an unmarried royal alpha was defending an unmarried omega. He was practically staking a claim on him.

But as Eddie looked towards the boy, he got a glimpse of his signet ring that was stretched out towards the omega. Like every citizen of Hawkins, it was given to Eddie on his thirtieth birthday as part of his pledge of fealty not only to his uncle, the King, but to protecting The Great Secret as well.

Eddie clenched his teeth; this Prince Stephen wasn’t just any omega…he was an enemy.

“Prince Edward is there something you would like to share with the court? Something regarding Prince Stephen’s defense perhaps?” Billy snidely remarked.

Eddie just narrowed his eyes and shook his head as he slowly sat down. His uncle’s hand rested comfortingly on Eddie's hand under the table and gave it a tight squeeze.

“Lets continue on, Prince Stephen you are on trial…”

Meanwhile, in the dark…

Steve couldn’t help the shiver that crawled up his spine.

He could tell the King was speaking. He could tell a King’s voice when he heard one, especially King Wayne of House Munson.

His father’s sworn enemy…and now Steve was at his mercy.

Still, Steve was puzzled over Prince Edward’s reaction to the other alpha’s remarks. Maybe…maybe perhaps he remembered the short time they spent together many summers ago?

“Before we begin I want you to know that while I will not give you any special treatment, I will give you a fair and just ruling…as much as it pains me to do so,” the King continued, his voice growing soft as he delivered that last, very personal, statement.

Despite the blood in Steve’s nose, he could still pinpoint the older alpha’s scent. It was wistful, sad even.

Also, King Wayne didn’t sound at all like the monster his parents described him as. In fact, he sounded…he sounded warm, fond even.

“I understand your highness…but uh…forgive me why would it pain you?,” Steve asked bewildered.

He felt the stone under his feet vibrate with just the tiniest tremble as the King chuckled. “Well son, I am your godfather. But I supposed you were never told that were you?”

“No, your highness.”

“It was one of the conditions of a peace treaty between our two kingdoms when you were born. I actually held you when the High Priestess blessed you. You were a sweet babe that looked up at me with a smile,” the King reminisced.

Steve, despite not seeing a face in ages, could hear the smile in his voice. The omega cleared his throat, maybe not all hope for him was lost.

“I take it, it was my father that broke the peace treaty?” Steve asked, knowing full well his father and his abrupt and violent politics was always the issue.

The floor rumbled again with the King’s laugh, “Well, that time I think it was both of us, and a little bit of my nephew here.”

Steve heard a thump on solid leather and imagined the King putting a heavy but proud hand on Prince Edward’s shoulder.

“Eddie, you don’t remember this, but you pulled an entire table cloth off at the banquet and ruined the King’s and Queen’s clothes. Even through you were all but one and a half, King Rodric declared the treaty null and void and nearly started a war.”

The crowd laughed, and Steve had to suppress a snort too. Of course, his father’s pride would be so wounded by the innocent actions of a toddler that he would negate his word.

But was King Wayne like Steve’s own father? Would he actually give Steve a fair chance at this trial? Or if he said or did one thing wrong, like a young Prince Edward did, would his life be forfeit?

“Your highness, with the deepest respect. While I don’t know what the charges I am being accused of are, I assure you I harbor no ill will for you or your kingdom,” Steve said carefully.

He could feel the air around him grow tense. Shit, he must have said the wrong thing.

“Flattery will get you nowhere, omega,” the General’s son, Steve thinks is called Billy, spat out.

Steve turned his head towards the…the alpha? His scent had all the trappings of an alpha; dominate, strong, poignant. But it smelled forced, unnatural even.

“Captain Hargrove, that is enough. Forgive me Prince Stephen, you have a right to know why you’re here. Sir Hagan, hand me the charges, I will finish the opening so we may begin,” the King, his voice now passive, spoke.

Steve heard the court announcer, this Sir Hagan, an alpha who smelled like pork and arrogance walked towards the King. The delicate sound of fingertips on paper echoed in Steve’s ear as he waited for his fate.

“The defendant is being charged with one count of entering the Kingdom of Hawkins unlawfully, one count of being neglectful in his safety by appearing unaccompanied in public as an unmated omega…”

Meanwhile, in the light…

Eddie couldn’t help the smirk as he saw the omega scrunch his forehead again over that last charge. He looked so endearing and adorable when he was confused. Eddie wondered what he would look like all cleaned up in his nest as he….

No.

What was wrong with him? Why was he thinking like this? This omega was a traitor, an enemy. And he was reminded of that as his uncle read the final charge.

“And the final two charges, which both carry the capital punishment of execution by beheading or poisoning, is the attempted political espionage of the Kingdom of Hawkins and conspiracy to expose The Great Secret.”

“Espionage!” the omega blurted out, his mouth agape in shock. “I…I…I’m not a spy. I swear it by the Goddess.”

Eddie had seen his fair share of plays and theatrics. If this boy was lying surely he would be one of the best actors any troupe had ever seen.

No.

“Yes, you omega whore! You dare to enter our borders, and steal our secrets,” Billy once again screamed out.

“Don’t call him a whore,” Eddie, once again growled out.

“General, if you can’t keep your son in control, I must reconsider not only his position on this council but also his promotion to captain,” the King warned again.

“Of course, your highness. However, it may be beneficial to see Prince Edward showing similar restraint and decorum,” General Hargrove countered.

“Speak to your King like that again, and I’ll take your tongue General,” Eddie snarled as he stood up, his hand on Hellfire.

“You dare threaten my father,” Billy roared as he stood up too, his hand on his sword.

“Yes, and I won’t just take your tongue, I’ll take your knot,” growled Eddie.

What was wrong with him? Eddie was never the first to draw swords, he prided himself in being level headed, but when it came to his uncle and Steve he would gladly…

Wait…Steve?

What did this omega do to him?

Meanwhile in the dark…

Steve turned his head from person to person as the threats flied, his mouth still open in shock. Of course this would happen to him. His father was right, his very existence was a burden, and Steve was now sowing discord in a foreign kingdom.

Before Steve could continue to try to plead his innocence over the young alphas another voice, a new voice spoke out.

“Perhaps we should continue and give Prince Stephen his defense options so we may determine if he is, in fact, our prisoner or our ward,” a soft voice, an omega man said. “As the charges said, he is an unmated omega without any close family or friends around to protect him. By law, he should be remanded to the care of the Crown as a treasured guest if he is, in fact, innocent.”

Steve could tell the nice man was located on Prince Edward’s left, with the King sitting on the prince’s right. The General and his son were seated on the King’s right.

It seems that the council was divided.

“Yes, please sir. What are my options? I promise I am innocent. This is just a misunderstanding,” Steve pleaded.

“Thank you, Sir Robert I will continue,” the King interjected. “Prince Stephen were you ever taught how we do trials here in Hawkins?”

Steve thought back to his extensive tutoring. Through years of raw knuckles and tears, his instructors beat into him the complex ways of his own Kingdom’s laws and court systems, but never the enemy’s. It didn’t matter how they dispensed justice, just how they maintained such immense wealth for being such a small Kingdom.

“No, your highness.”

He heard the prince and the captain resume their seats, and the courtiers fall silent again. Everyone, including Prince Edward’s and the King’s, hearts quickened.

“There are three options a defendant has during our trials. One, which you already dispelled, is to plead guilty in which case a lighter sentence, perhaps life imprisonment will be taken into consideration. Would you like to reconsider your plea?” The King informed.

Steve’s own heart quickened. Should he take the first option? Life in prison wasn’t ideal, but if it was anything like the dungeons here, he would be fed once every two days. That was better than when he was out on the street.

But…but Steve, even through he wasn’t a Prince anymore still had a shred of pride left. He could not stomach the idea of being labeled a spy, especially when he wasn’t.

“What are the other options?”

More whispers from the court. He heard one omega woman whisper, “He’s gonna do it! He’s gonna drink it.”

“You can plead your innocence in one of two ways. The first is a barrister will be assigned to you to help you build your defense. They will swear their temporary fealty to you and will advise you, help you gather evidence, and present your case in front of the court when we reconvene in a few weeks’ time,” King Wayne’s booming voice silenced the court.

Steve scrunched his forehead at the odd custom. In his father’s court, once someone was accused the King made a judgement and sentence without a word of ‘defense’ from the person accused. Trials and punishments took place within hours, minutes even if his father had plans with his mistresses.

How could he be sure that this ‘barrister’ will act in his interest and not throw him to the wolves as soon as he stepped back into the court room.

Steve would just be prolonging his death…and frankly, he was tired of waiting.

“Your highness, I would like to volunteer to be Prince Stephen’s barrister,” the omega man, Steve thinks is called Sir Robert, spoke.

Steve turned his head to him and inhaled deeply. He had a sweet scent but not floral. More like the sugared desserts he would steal when he sneaked into the kitchens.

Sir Robert’s voice sounded sincere, but frankly Steve was surprised an omega man was in such a high and honored position as the King’s council. His father would rather burn down his Kingdom then allow an omega, male or female, any tangible power.

Goddess Steve knows.

Steve knows.

“Excellent, I approve the assignment,” the King agreed almost chipperly as he clapped his hands. “Prince Stephen, given the fact that you are blind. A fact that I was not aware of when I was informed you were brought into our  custody, you will be kept in a secure guest room in the castle for the duration…”

“Your highness! This is absurd, we don’t even know if this…this thing is actually blind,” the General protested. “It could be a farce he created to enter the kingdom and gain information unnoticed.”

Steve wanted to laugh at the statement. If only he wasn’t blind, he wouldn’t have ended up in this position let alone even in this Kingdom.

“General, I examined him myself when he was brought in. I can assure you Prince Stephen was completely blinded by a magical method I have yet to determine,” an omega woman, a familiar one spoke in his defense.

Steve turned his head towards the small light footsteps as she approached and stood behind him. He could tell from her vibrations that she was small in stature and perhaps a bit older. She smelled of herbs and spices, even flowers. Ah yes, yarrow root. She was the castle’s healer that visited him on his first day in the dungeons.

The guard on duty gave her a stern warning to not speak to him under any circumstances. Still, her hands were soft and kind, warm and motherly as she examined him. She even listened when he pleaded with her not to remove the bindings around his eyes.

“Blind or not he is still the son of the enemy kingdom,” Captain Billy protested dryly. “If he is not in the dungeons, it will be near impossible to keep the Great Secret from this omega whore.”

“What did I tell you about your tongue,” Prince Edward hissed under his breath.

Steve could hear it, but he doubted the courtiers could. Why was the Prince in his corner? And why did he smell of...of steel?

Steel and iron and fire all wielded with soft hands and strong arms. All things needed to protect a mate. An omega.

Steve swallowed dryly to clear his head. He was on trial for a capital crime in an enemy Kingdom. Prince Edward, even to honor the memory of their time together, surly wouldn’t ever want him.

Who, after all, could love a blind title-less beggar.

“Prince Stephen, before I tell you this last option, I need you to understand we will never force you to take this option. The choice is purely up to you, and your wishes will be respected,” the King continued, his voice grave.

Steve’s heart started pounding now, breathing frantically as fear leaked out of him like a faucet.

His grandfather would torture his prisoners till they confessed. The cruel man would use all sorts of grotesque and barbaric instruments to break bones and peel skin away from flesh. He remembered sneaking down to the dungeons when he was a pup and feeling bile run up his throat as he heard the screams and smelled the decay.

“Calm yourself little omega, calm yourself,” Prince Edward whispered from the table.

Almost…almost as if he knew only Steve would be able to hear him.

“The last option is you drink, of your own free will, a truth potion. If you are guilty, you will be compelled to confess your crimes and intentions, in which case the court will deliberate on a punishment,” the strong voice of King Wayne spoke.

The omega let out a relieved breath he didn’t know he was holding, and he felt himself sag into the chains around his chest.

“If you are innocent as you claim, you can give your explanation and defense which will be accepted by the court without question,” the good King finished.

The court; guards and royals and courtiers alike were silent as they waited for Steve to decide. He could hear hundreds of hearts thundering and feel twice as many eyes on him.

Pleading guilty and being imprisoned for life wasn’t even an option for Steve. He could not go much longer without feeling the wind on his face nor the rush of the water as he walked on the smooth stones in the stream.

Sir Robert seemed honorable and kind, but what defense did Steve truly have besides being a blind fool.

But…but the last option meant bearing his secrets, his soul to the King, and Prince Edward, and the court. Every shameful and humiliating indignation Steve experienced would be known, spoken out loud.

Then again, as Steve felt the cold weakness shudder through his body, he thought, what did it matter? His life would be either be forfeited today on a scaffolding or starved to death in a ditch in the coming winter.

“I’ll take the potion.”

Meanwhile, the light…

The crowd exploding in excited chatter covered Eddie breathing, “Oh, my little omega.”

What he felt, the Prince truly didn’t know.

Guilty people didn’t choose this option. Only a powerful mage could dodge the effects of a truth potion, especially one brewed by Joyce.

But, once again Eddie steeled his resolve. Just because the omega was innocent of being a spy, he was still a foreign enemy.

A beautiful foreign enemy.

Next to him his uncle’s scent turned warm and hopeful, like a lemon loaf on a summer day. And when he turned to Eddie, his smile was fond in a way the he only reserved for Eddie and his family.

“Excellent! Let the record show the defendant is willing to take the truth potion. Joyce, if you would be so kind,” Wayne asked nodding his head towards her and gesturing gently with his hand towards the omega.

“Thank you, your highness, but I would like to give him another examination before I administer it. Would you give me leave to bring Prince Stephen to another chamber?” the kind physician asked.

“Absolutely not! That is out of the question,” the General again protested. “How do we know that she isn’t going to give him the antidote to the potion? How do we know she isn’t in leagues with Loch Nora?”

Eddie thumbed the hilt of Hellfire and popped it out of his sheath by an inch. Joyce was like a mother to him, hell she even delivered him. Eddie would not have her loyalty or honor questioned.

Billy, hearing the smooth slide of the steel, leaned around and narrowed his eyes in. Eddie hissed showing his tongue like a snake as a reminder of his previous threat.

“Unfortunately, the General is right. For the sake of transparency and so there is no possible doubt in the matter, Joyce I must ask you to do the examination here in front of the court,” the King commanded as he put a strong hand on Eddie’s wrist forcing the blade to retreat.

Joyce nodded, “Very well. Guards, undo his chains.”

Surprisingly, neither the General nor the Captain argued, which to Eddie, was just suspicious. Still, as the omega was freed of the bindings, he gave an adorable little shake.

No…but maybe, maybe yes.

The good physician kneeled down so she was level with her charge, and she placed a careful, slow hand on his shoulder. The omega still shrunk back and lifted his arm to defend himself from the blows.

“Shhh, shhh it’s ok Prince Stephen. I am Joyce, the royal physician,” she whispered gently in his ear.

The omega nodded, before answering back. “I remember you. Please ma’am, call me Steve.”

Joyce smiled, a mother’s smile. “Thank you sweetheart. Steve I am going to exam your vital signs to make sure you are strong enough for the potion. I need you to take off your shirt if that’s ok?”

Eddie’s heart started pounding again. For what, again he couldn’t place it.

Anticipation of seeing more of this supple omega.

Or.

Or rather fury that his mate was being forced to disrobe in front of the entire court.

MATE!

Oh, shit. What was wrong with Eddie? Why were these thoughts and feeling popping in his head…and...and his heart? His hindbrain certainly wasn’t thinking straight.

“Ok,” the younger prince agreed meekly.

But as Joyce helped the weaken omega pull the tattered shirt over his lifted arms, Eddie didn’t gasp…but the rest of the court did, including his uncle the King.

No, Eddie clenched his teeth and gripped Hellfire for he would take vengeance for the omega’s pain and honor.

On the sides of his torso were streams of red and pink gnarled flesh. Textured like a sea of withered grass or the striking of lightening upon wood.

Here and there were straighter cuts through, some short, some long. All of them, Eddie could tell, from the unforgiving iron of a blade.

“Dear Goddess!” Eddie heard a courtier yell out. Another one screaming, “The poor child.”

The omega turned his body towards the crowd, and Eddie had to suppress a growl. For his back was just another grotesque map of scars. This time, the alpha shook his head at the realization, were from the repeated and cruel marks of cat o’nine tailed whip.

The Prince wanted to be sick. Who would do this is to an omega? Who would dare do this to Eddie’s omega?

Eddie looked at his uncle in alarm, who looked equally aghast. Eddie felt the older alpha grip his hand tightly under the table. Either seeking comfort or giving it, for they both needed it.

“Steve, sweetheart stare forward please. I’m going to lay my hands on the side of temples, I won’t remove the bandage around your eyes,” Joyce spoke so softly to the boy.

The omega gave a jerky nod, “Thank you, ma’am.”

The entire court watched as Joyce touched the omega gently here and there as she tuned into her natural magic to check the boy’s vitals. Eddie knew Joyce well enough to know that by the seriousness and tiny frown on her face that she did not like what she felt.

The omega shivered as Joyce’s hands wandered down to his arms and Eddie knew, somehow he knew the boy was struggling not to turn in on himself or raise a hand in defense.

The alpha would need to be extra careful with him when he brought the omega to his ne…No! No, why was Eddie thinking this? This omega was still the enemy.

There was no reason for him to be in Eddie’s nest.

Even…even if he was innocent.

Meanwhile in the dark…

Steve could hear the disgust from the crowd behind him. He was used to it by now, society’s distaste for the malformed and ugly omegas like he was. But the omega still couldn’t help but feel insecure.

Then he smelt Prince Edward’s scent turn not angry…but livid. Was he angry too that he was being subjected to having to view the grotesqueness of Steve’s scars?

Steve had long given up hope that he would ever find an alpha that would look past not just his blindness and destitution but also his broken body.

Either way what did it matter. It would be in the ground and out of sight soon enough.

Joyce’s hands, as foreign as kind touches were to him, felt nice. They reminded him of a nurse he had long ago when he was a small child. What a good memory Steve could now store away.

Finally, through it seemed the good doctor finished her examination by giving him a gentle squeeze on his hand. Steve heard her stand up, her dress brushing against his legs as she turned to the King.

“Your highness, Prince Stephen is just barely strong enough to take the potion. I will take him into my care immediately afterwards for treatment,” Joyce commanded sternly as she helped Steve put his shirt back on.

Steve took in a sharp inhale. Joyce would surely get in trouble for giving the King an order. All because of him too. No, Steve wasn’t worth a nice omega like Joyce being hurt. But before he could plead on her behalf, the King spoke gently.

“I wouldn’t dare to come between a doctor and her patient, much less a mother and her pup.”

The omega scrunched up his forehead in confusion. What an odd kingdom he was in. Perhaps the healer and the King were lovers? Even then, his father would never allow his mistresses such leeway.

He heard Joyce reach into her pocket, her nails and rings clinking against a glass vial. The guard behind Steve started murmuring again as the pop of a small cork followed.

“Sweetheart. I’m going to give you the potion now. The effects are going to last around an hour and like the King said you won’t be able to lie. It’s going to make you feel relaxed, and you might even fall asleep towards the end,” the kind physician explained.

Steve swallowed nervously as more scared pheromones started leaking from him. He didn’t want to be here. He wanted to be in the woods surrounded by black berry bushes or in flower filled meadow where he didn’t need to worry about being cold or hungry.

“Steve I promise, I will take care of you. No matter what happens,” Joyce vowed fiercely, her own protective pheromones drifting around Steve like warm sunlight.

He liked sunlight. He trusted sunlight.

So, Steve bit his lip to stop the quiver and nodded. He could practically feel Joyce’s reassuring smile as she brought the tiny vial to Steve’s lips and tilted it into his mouth.

It tasted cool and fresh, like stream water after the snow had melted. It went down smoothly and almost soothed the near constant ache of hunger as it reached his stomach. His feet and hands tingled, and they no longer stung with pain. The bruises on his hips from laying on a stone floor for days receded.

And…and his tongue felt fuzzy. His brain too. In fact, it felt a bit floaty, like the tiny boats he would make as a pup and to send down the creek.

“I kinda,” Steve giggled, “like this.”

Shit, why did he say that out loud, and why was he laughing. It didn’t matter through cause the court laughed with him, even the King gave a little chuckle.

“Steve, I am going to ask you a practice question that I know to be true to test it out,” Joyce explained slowly.

“Ok,” Steve answered with a shrug.

“Steve are you an omega,” the physician simply asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Steve could feel the tension in the court raise, and he felt Joyce’s dress brush his ankle again as she turned around.

“Your highness, Prince Stephen is ready for questioning.”

Meanwhile, in the light…

Eddie’s heart quickened, and his palm around Hellfire began to sweat almost as if he was the one on trial today. The alpha didn’t know why, but Goddess help him he was sorely invested in the fate of this omega…and may have said a silent prayer for him.

“Prince Stephen, since I haven’t seen you since you were a babe, let’s start at the beginning. What did your father tell you about our kingdom? What do you truly know about us?” Wayne asked, starting the questioning without further ceremony.

The omega didn’t answer immediately. His mouth opened and closed, and he peered left and right under the bandage as if he thinking extremely hard. Eddie felt another tang of sympathy for him. It wasn’t a yes or no question so the potion must be pinging around his brain and tongue in unison.

“My father said you were an incompetent, insane, son of a bitch who was hoarding diamond and gold mines, and couldn’t plan a successful military campaign even if you had a million men,” the omega choked out through gritted teeth.

The omega fast and scared breathing was the only sound in the soundless courtroom …. that is until his uncle abrupt and booming laughter.

“I…I…I’m so sorry your highness…I…I…didn’t…I don’t think of you like that…my father is just a horrible man and…I didn’t mean to say that…” the omega whimpered out.

“It’s alright son. It’s nothing your father hasn’t said to my face,” the King reassured light heartily with a grin.

Eddie could see the boy practically deflate with relief, but the Prince knew that was just the beginning. Harder questions were coming.

“If…if it makes you feel better, my father said a lot worse about me…but…but he’s right about me…I…I don’t think he’s right about you.”

“Well, we will see about that now won’t we. Now, Prince Stephen, what do you know about our kingdom’s Great Secret?” the King then asked.

“The great what?” the boy answered in complete confusion. “I…I…my tutors and my father always said you guys were keeping something hidden, but it was always just rumor.”

The omega paused as if revisiting a long ago memory.

“As I got older, I thought it was just some excuse or propaganda my father and his council spread to the people of Loch Nora to justify an invasion.”

Eddie looked to his uncle and Sir Robert with a smile. Not only was it a smart assumption the younger prince had made, but it was also proof that all of the efforts to keep the Great Secret within the borders of their kingdom were successful.

“How many men at arms does your father have? How many siege weapons? Where are they located?” the General ordered sternly.

Before the King or Eddie could belay that question to the prisoner, the omega answered in panicked voice, “I…I…I don’t know…I was stripped of my title before I could be sent off for proper military training with General Brenner.”

“That’s bullshit! You must know something or are you blind and a fool,” Billy growled.

“Little omega do not dignify that with an answer,” Eddie ordered to the boy swiftly.

For he knew under the effects of the potion, the omega would respond. Based on what he’s seen already, Eddie’s heart couldn’t take the self-degrading answer the boy would give about himself.

“Captain, General, you will do well to remember the reason why we are here. It’s to determine Prince Stephen’s innocence, not gain strategic advantage over a tiny kingdom that poses no threat to us,” Sir Robert calmly reminded.

The alphas glared at the omega noble before turning back with clenched teeth and narrowed eyes.

“Thank you Sir Robert. Now Prince Stephen, back to your training and childhood. Many of those scars look…look old. Where did you get them?” the King asked gently.

“Oh, well most of them are my birthday scars,” the omega replied casually.

“I’m sorry! Your what,” Eddie blurted out.

“You know, from my yearly trials. See this one was when I turned twelve and the trial that year was to hunt a black bear…I…I got the bear but not before it threw me into a barren pine branch and impaled my arm,” the boy explained as he gestured to a circular scar on his shoulder.

Eddie’s eyes went wide at Steve’s easy tone, like one was discussing new armor, not a deeply traumatic event.

“And the big ones?” his uncle asked grimly.

“That was from my demo-bat test when I was nine,” Steve answered shrugging his shoulders. “General Brenner said they would only put one in the cage with me, but he put in three.”

“Goddess,” Ser Robert breathed.

“It’s ok,” Steve reassured with a blasé shoulder shrug. “It was to prove my worthiness as to be the future monarch as Crown Prince…well when I was the Crown Prince.”

“And these trials were every year on your birthday, little omega?” Eddie asked in disbelief.

“Uh yes, your highness. Do you…do you not have those here?” Steve asked, his voice raised in confusion.

Eddie could see the omega’s eyebrow raise over the bandage. He truly thought that was a normal part for a royal child’s birthday.

“No, son we don’t. Which brings me to my next question,” Wayne responded sadly. “Your father and mother were overjoyed to finally have a child. I can’t imagine them forsaking you, therefore I must ask were you really stripped of your title as Crown Prince?”

“Yes, your highness,” the omega answered immediately.

His uncle paused, as he fidgeted with the rings on his fingers in thought. Eddie could see his teeth clenched in anger, something he did when he was struggling with his composure.

“And when did this occur?”

“My fourteenth birthday, your highness.”

The crowd again started their shocked conversations. In Hawkin’s, children didn’t come of age till they were 21, and even then omegas tended to stay with their packs until they married into a another one.

But more than that, Eddie’s stomach felt like it dropped to the dungeons. He knew the question…and feared the answer. For most people, including Eddie, their fourteenth year was when they presented.

“Son, why were you stripped of your title as Crown Prince,” The King asked sorrowfully.

The omega, the former prince looked up, and Eddie, oh Eddie knew if he could see his eyes they would be shining with tears.

“Because, your highness, I presented as an omega,” the former Prince Stephen confessed. His voice leaking with shame and embarrassment.

Again, the courtiers and guards shouted out in shock. “That bastard!” “How could they treat a child like that?” “Uncivilized barbarians.” “The poor sweetheart.”

Eddie couldn’t agree more, and his vision was glaring in red. How could a fellow King, a father be so heinous to forsake his only son because a very natural metamorphous occurred? Of course, King Rodric would think omegas are inferior.

“Oh Steve,” his uncle whispered.

Eddie gripped his hand under the table and squeezed. A silent gesture to let his King know he would ask the next question.

“Little omega, tell us exactly how you were blinded,” Eddie asked reluctantly. “I want to know everything. I’m sorry if this is painful. But my little prince, do not leave out a single detail.”

Oh, did Eddie wish he didn’t need to ask Steve that now. He wished he could ask that only after he was cleaned up and cared for, warm in Eddie’s nest after trust was established.

And the alpha could gently ask his omega his story.

Meanwhile, in the dark…

Steve didn’t want to answer the question. It was deep and personal and shameful…but he had too. His tongue and lips and brain and heart beckoned him to confess, to lighten his trauma by speaking it out loud.

To tell his alpha so he knew the depths of Steve’s brokenness.

His alpha…Shit, Steve really was in trouble now.

“Two weeks before my fourteenth birthday, I woke in the morning to…to…to the change” Steve felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

This wasn’t something that was talked about in polite society let alone surrounded by hundreds of foreign courtiers.

“My father and mother and all my tutors had reassured me that I would be an alpha. I had no choice but to be an alpha and so…so I didn’t know what was really go on,” Steve continued.

He could see it in his mind. The only sight he had was his memories, and not many of them were good.

“My father was outraged and he….he always backhanded me, that was nothing new. But this time he struck me with the hilt of his sword, the Bloodspill,” the omega recounted, his voice hollow.

He heard another gasp; this time it was from the guards behind him. Striking someone with the hilt of a sword was considered shameful, as it meant they were not worthy of a clean death. Often times when Steve laid groaning with hunger and immobile with cold, he wished that his father was more merciful that day and sheathed Bloodspill in Steve’s chest.

“Then what happened sweet boy,” Sir Robert gently coaxed.

Steve had to swallow the lump in his throat before continuing, “My mother argued that I could be changed to an alpha. She reminded my father that she couldn’t have any more children and that I was their only hope.”

He remembered all the times his mother was on nest rest through out her life. Struggling with one failed pregnancy or another. All the while his father was off with other mistresses and lovers. It left his mother bitter and angry as she put more and more pressure on Steve to be the model Prince and later, alpha.

“She sent for doctors, and mages to come and see if they could try to turn me into the alpha they wanted. I could still taste the gallons and gallons of awful potions they made me consume. Then when they failed, my mother called in dark priests.”

Steve could feel the court room tense up around him, everyone was giving off jittery scents, scared and sad at his tale. He would be choking on it soon for wherever dark priests go, suffering, great suffering soon follows.

“They tortured me for a week.”

Steve’s voice was eerily hollow…and he didn’t know why.

The omega heard Prince Edward softly breathe, ‘No.’ Steve didn’t pay it any mind through, he was used to pity.

“The dark priests said that eventually I would get tired of being submissive. That I would fight back and unlock my ‘alpha’ potential,” Steve continued. If he could, he would roll his eyes at the dark priests’ absurdity. “But…but that’s the thing. I always fought back.”

He swallowed the spit and blood in his mouth as he gathered his courage.

“I fought the dark priests and guards as they dragged me to the dungeon. I fought as they strap…. strapped me down,” the omega’s voice stuttered…but got louder.

“I fought the doctors and mages as they gripped my chins and spilled potion after potion in my mouth,” Steve’s voice steadied…. but got even louder.

“I fought my parents. My father, the King, when he struck me, and called me unworthy of my title, and beat me, declaring me shamed and disgraced…I fought it all,” Prince Stephen’s voice growled…and even louder still.

“I fought.”

The audience and royal table were silent. The truth potion was not. It continued to beckon the memories and answer the previous question Prince Edward asked it in all its painful entirety.

“I fought and argued that I could still be the King as an omega. I fought and I fought, and I crawled and scratched and finally, I begged,” Steve recounted through gritted teeth. “I fought so hard that eventually my father made me a deal, a promise.”

There was silence, save for fast heartbeats and hitched breathing.

“You father doesn’t honor his promises through,” the King pointed out.

Steve lifted his head towards the monarch and nodded, “No. But I do.”

More silence, and the truth beckoned for release.

“He changed my birthday trial that year from walking over the spike mountains in the west barefoot, to wandering through the entirety of our kingdom with nothing. Absolutely nothing, including my name and title. I would be without family nor friend, nor money, nor any assistance of any kind for not one year…but six years.”

Steve remembered feeling hopeful, that naïve 14 year-old that he was. Hopeful and even confident he could not only survive, but triumph and come back victorious to his father who would welcome him back.

“He promised that if I survived, if I survived in the wild woods of my homeland and didn’t starve or freeze to death in that time, he would restore my title as Crown Prince. And omega or not, I would be the King of Loch Nora.”

Steve, in his memory, looked his father in his cold black eyes.

“I shook my father’s hand proudly, foolishly. I could still feel him squeeze the slash on my palm from one of the dark priest’s experiments,” the prince mumbled.

He didn’t quite know why the potion made him recount that odd detail. But the omega looked up at the King, the Prince, and Sir Robert’s hearts quickened even faster.

“Just as my father let go of my hand, I was prepared to walk right out the castle, my home. I was prepared to do whatever it took to be worthy of my return, but then as I turned, I caught a glimpse of my mother. She didn’t look sad, she looked…she looked…”

Steve bit his tongue. He didn’t want to admit it out loud. Fuck the potion. Fuck the trial. Let him hang.

“Omega, how did she look?” Billy, the Captain asked cruelly.

His teeth lifted from his bloody tongue against his will, and he spit out, “Relieved. My mother was relieved that I was out of her hair. Sure, her only horse in the race to the throne was gone, but she didn’t care. She just wanted me gone. She wasn’t fearful I would die or that we would never see each other again. She just…”

Steve took in a deep inhale.

“It was the last thing I ever saw.”

It wasn’t a beautiful sunset, nor the green of a meadow, nor a babbling stream arching over smooth stones.

“You know I can’t remember my mother ever smiling at me till that moment.”

Distraught scents and booming hearts swirled around Steve as if he was in the clouds of a thunderstorm. Thick, and all consuming. Violent yet electrifying as the truth potion propelled him forward.

“I remember searing pain, the worst I ever felt. I remember the hands of the dark priests on my face, over my eyes. I remember my father’s voice adding another condition of the deal.”

The Prince bit his tongue again. He just wanted a moment in the darkness.

“He said that this was a mercy. That there was strength and holiness in suffering. He made me another promise that in six years, on my twentieth birthday, they would send someone out to find me and bring me home….if…if I was alive.”

Meanwhile in the light…

The room, to Eddie’s ears, was soundless.

His heart, his hindbrain through were pounding like war drums ready for vengeance, ready for retribution, ready to leap over that table and gathering the omega, his omega up his arms.

Hold the little Prince tight.

“Six years?” his King asked.

“Six years,” the young Prince confirmed.

Eddie closed his eyes, for he knew how old Steve should be.

“And how many years ago was that,” his uncle, a good man, asked.

The omega Prince let out a deep exhale, as the potion and hopelessness made his shoulders sag.

“Seven.”

The courtiers and nobles and guards alike rioted at the single number answer. For how could a King, a father be so heinously cruel to a blind omega, a cherished son.

“Death to King Rodric!” “What a cruel man!” “Declare war!” “How could a parent do that!” “Unleash the Great Secret.”

“Silence,” Wayne ordered, slamming his signet ring down on the table.

As the enraged crowd quieted down, Eddie looked to the omega who was struggling to keep his head off his chest.

“You didn’t deserve that, little omega,” he announced softly as he leaned forward over the table. “Your father is a tyrant. A horrid, coward, pathic excuse of a man."

The young Prince looked to Eddie. The soiled bandage around his eyes seemed to peer right into Eddie’s soul, as the omega’s lips quivered like he holding in so much.

“I don’t know about that my Prince. I personally think the man had some guts,” the General cruelly praised. “I would do the same to any son that presented as an omega.”

Before Eddie could responded, his uncle snapped his own sword, the Justice, out of his sheath with his thumb and turned coolly to the General.

“Another word from you William Hargrove, and you’ll be the one on trial,” the King ordered through gritted teeth.

Eddie immediately smelled the rage on his uncle. Above all the injustices in this world, Wayne Munson hated with a passion the cruel prejudices male omegas faced. And by the Goddess, he would not have his own General spout the same hatred.

But despite his uncle’s hand on his sword, Hargrove didn’t apologize. He simply nodded, his eyes afire on the left side of the royal council.

“Prince Stephen, I know this is painful, but we want to have a full picture of all that you suffered. It could potentially help us build a case against your father in the future. Sweet boy, please continue on,” Sir Robert intervened calmly.

As much as Eddie couldn’t bear to hear more of the omega’s suffering, he was grateful that his friend was moving the trial along. He wanted this to be over so Joyce could start attending to the malnourished omega.

Once the younger Prince was rested, Eddie could begin the courting rituals and slowly woo him. Slowly build trust, and instill in him that omegas, especially one as strong and lovely as he, were cherished and loved here in Hawkins.

Not this…this absolute hell Prince Stephen, Steve had gone through in Loch Nora.

“I…I,” the omega let out a slow breath, his body sagging as if strength was leaving him, “I woke up to darkness. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, even…even my own parents. I pray to the Goddess that everyone here will never know the fear of feeling your eyes open, feeling them blink and blink, feeling your eyes still there…but…but not seeing anything.”

The court was silence with the earnest of what was said. The kind hearted boy truly wished no ill on others, even those who had so grievously wronged him.

“I was miles and miles from home. They stripped me of everything, my signet ring, my cloak, even my boots. All I had were the clothes on my back,” Steve explained his voice hollow as he gestured to the filthy clothes he was wearing now.

Eddie shook his head. Steve wasn’t very tall as years of malnourishment probably stunted his growth making the clothes still being able to barely fit him, but still. Seven years. Seven Goddess forsaken years Steve was still in those clothes.

“I didn’t even have my sword, Swiftwinds, with me.”

The alpha tilted his head to the side in thought. He heard of that sword before. He could almost even imagine a silver rapier with a blue gem.

“They left me in the eastern forest. And…and I got up. I found a stick, and…and well, I survived,” Steve shrugged. “I fell a lot back then. Before I learned where the paths were I would trip over roots. My ankles were constantly sprained from holes. I would wander accidentally into ponds and rivers. I would get wet and freeze. I was so cold. But then the hunger came…and that was so much worse.”

The omega looked like he was locked in an often visited and torturous memory.

“I nearly died those first three weeks. I would run my hands over the bushes and feel the berries that grew, but I was too scared to eat them,” Steve whispered.

Eddie watched as Steve’s fingers rubbed together, almost as if rolling the tiny fruit between his fingers.

“I was scared that I would choke on the poison. It was torture to have them there, right in front of me and not be able to eat them. Same with water. I didn’t know what sources were clean or not,” the omega shook his head. “The cold was worse than the hunger, but nothing was worse than the thirst.”

“Thank Goddess you survived,” the King whispered.

Eddie nearly jumped when Steve gave an abrupt snort.

“More like thank my father,” the omega giggled as he sank further down in the chair weakly. “Thank the Goddess, oh that’s funny.”

Joyce stepped forward, and put a soft hand on the omega’s shoulders, “Your highness, Prince Stephen is very weak, and it looks like the potion is advancing faster than I anticipated. I would like to bring him to the nursey now.”

“He’s still awake, he can answer questions. We’re not done yet. We still don’t know if he is a spy or not,” the Captain snarled.

“Billy, I assure you after this trial I’m going to pummel you so hard you’ll be lucky to even wake up at all,” Eddie growled.

His uncle’s and Sir Robert’s hands on his shoulders were the only things keeping him in his seat.

“I can…continue,” Steve slurred out.

In an amazing show of strength, the omega sat up straighter and gave a rather adorable shoulder shimmy to rouse himself.

“On the third week, I was laying against an oak tree too weak from hunger to move. I heard the leaves around me rustling and something dragging along the ground. I thought that maybe a bear or a mountain lion had mercifully come to end me.”

The omega then let out another long exhale as he struggled to control the bobbing of his Adam’s apple and the quivering of his lips.

“Sir Owens was once one of my father’s most trusted advisors. As I said, my father doesn’t keep his promises, and his temper…. well, it was unforgiving,” Steve whispered, his fearful scent now leaking.

Eddie was struggling as well to keep his scent under control. His anger at King Rodric only growing to new heights.

“When Sir Owens refused to kidnap young boys from the outer villages to make the quota for the army recruits, my father had him stripped of his title and…and… had the physicians amputate his legs above his knees.”

Again, the crowd let out a collective gasp. Such barbarity was just not simply done here. And Eddie clutched Hellfire even tighter.

“He, like me, was forsaken by his family and dumped miles from home. But he found me, and he saved me. Sir Owens was able to drag me back to the cave that he was living in. He feed me and nursed me back to health.”

Eddie’s breath hitched as he saw the Prince actually give a smile. It was small, but Goddess was it beautiful.

“And when I was strong enough, we became a team,” Steve’s smile widen as Eddie watch him re-live the memory.

“He was my eyes, and I was his legs. I carried him on my back everywhere as he taught me how to survive. He showed me what berries I could eat by how the leaves were shaped. He taught me how to identify which mushrooms were safe to eat by their smell. He even showed me how to fish…”

Again, the omega let out a sweet giggle. Eddie loved it when the omega laughed.

“It didn’t go too well the first few times. Anyway, eventually we made our way to different villages. Sometimes we would beg at the roadside, other times we would come to find work scrubbing floors or helping with the harvest. We did our best to just…just live and survive.”

Eddie could hear Steve’s voice drop lower and sadder. And the older Prince could sense another sad turn coming.

“Sir Owens seemed like an honorable and good man,” Sir Roberts acknowledged softly.

Steve licked his bloody lips and nodded, “Yeah he was. He was…he was the closest thing I had to a…to a…to a real pack. Even before when I lived in the castle with my parents and tutors, surrounded by people.”

The omega paused and his jaw shook like he was fighting the potion and its effects. Eddie could only hope that the hour was up soon. His omega did not deserve this further torture.

“It was our third winter together. We worked to fortify the cave and gather enough food and firewood to last us till spring, but it was no use against the constant blizzards that year.”

Steve tucked his head to chest as he gather himself, before looking up, his face crumbling further.

“I started coughing, and I couldn’t stop. Day and night, no matter how many teas or herbs Sir Owens gave me I would just cough and shiver.”

Eddie shook his head and closed his eyes.

“We had worked all that summer to buy cloaks for the both of us. They weren’t thick but it was still something. One night, I don’t remember falling asleep, my body was so weak, but when…”

The omega let out a sob…and the alpha’s heart broke.

“I…I… woke up to find his cloak wrapped around me. It was still warm…but…. but he was already…already…”

Eddie’s heart broke even more as he watched Steve breakdown. The heinous dark priests must have taken his tears for the soiled bandage stayed dried, but his chest shook, and lips quivered like the rumblings of an almighty earthquake.

Before Eddie could demand the trial stopped for Goddess’s sake, the omega looked up as he struggled to regain composure.

“Sir Owens sacrificed his life for me. I loved him. I owed him so much. I wouldn’t have survived without him…and…and he died because of me,” Steve finished, his voice oh so hollow. “I killed…”

“Son, listen to me. You did not kill Sir Owens. As grateful as I am that he was there to protect and guide you, his death was not your doing. It was your father’s and his alone,” the King interrupted, his voice fierce and angry.

His scent was warm through, like the hug he would inevitably wrap Steve so tightly in.

“Prince Stephen…Steve, this is an order from your King, your new King. You are not to blame yourself for the actions of a tyrant…nor the love of a good and kind and noble knight,” Uncle Wayne ordered…asked oh so softly.

Meanwhile, in the dark…

Steve let out a shaky exhale at the declaration.

“My new King?” he asked with watery hope.

Was this alpha, his long forgotten godfather welcoming him into his Kingdom? Maybe even welcoming him into his pack?

“Yes, sweet boy. We’ll get the details sorted out later, but for now lets get your name cleared shall we?” the King continued on, a smile in his voice.

“Ok?” Steve breathed thoroughly confused now.

His brain was spinning, like when he would roll down a hill as a pup. Round and round as the sky and meadows flashed by his eyes. The darkness, the pure blackness was just as dizzying.

Steve knew it wasn’t dignified but his body was starting to sag again, and he could feel Joyce’s hand on the back on his right shoulder helping stay on the chair.

“Prince Stephen, it seems you and Sir Owens tended to stay in one area. What happened in the years afterwards? How did you come to be in this Kingdom?” Sir Roberts asked gently.

Steve struggled to sit up a bit, but he just nearly toppled forward into the chair. He let out a yelp of fear as he heard the sound of clanking armor rushing behind him. He lifted an arm to block the strike the guards would surely give him again.

“It’s ok Prince Stephen,” a young voice rumbled behind him, as the padded side of a gauntlet grasped his other shoulder gently, keeping him on the chair.

The omega gave a shaky nod, but he could tell by the guard's scent it wasn’t the same knight that struck him earlier. This one was younger, and by the sweet smell of him, recently turned from pup to alpha. Steve cleared his throat as the potion nagged at him to answer the question.

“I couldn’t stay in the cave anymore. I…I just couldn’t. So, I packed up and I left. I…I wandered the main roads hoping to get back to the capital. I foraged and begged for food along the way. The bandits left me alone. I never really stopped coughing and they didn’t want to get sick, and it’s not like I had anything to steal anyway. That journey took me about another year.”

Steve’s chest still ached constantly whenever it was cold or damp out.

“I had…I had this foolish thought that I should stay close to the capital, to my home so it would be easier for the knights my parents sent out to find me and bring me home in a few years.”

Steve’s heart still pounds when he remembered smelling the familiar aroma of the castle as he wandered closer to his home.

“I knew my father would not let me come back early so I tried getting apprenticeships at weavers or in a few kitchens, but nobody would take the chance on a blind diseased omega. The guards, the royal guards funny enough, chased me out the city after that, so I just kept wandering.”

His stomach, already churning and hollow with hunger, dropped as he remembered the awful dawning he had one day.

“Since my sight was taken, I always had trouble keeping track of time. But I knew by the seasons that my time was coming to an end…well it should have come to an end. My birthday is midway through the Yuletide season, so that winter I stayed by the roadside…. waiting.”

Steve could smell Prince Edward’s angry scent flare up again and wondered why. Perhaps he was taking too long with the story, but the potion beckoned him to spill his past like water out of a broken bottle. Or perhaps he really did remember the time they spent together at the border years ago. Perhaps…just maybe, his little Eddie was still in there somewhere.

“I waited and waited and waited for someone to come and retrieve me. To bring me back. To restore my title. But they never did,” the former Prince whispered.

“Oh, my little omega,” he heard Prince Edward breathe.

Steve moved his head towards him. He had no idea what he looked like, but if he was anything like his memory, then Eddie would have surely grown to be a handsome alpha.

“I should have known my father wouldn’t keep his promise. But I was stupid, and I foolishly had hope that I would be different. He probably suspected I died, and if I didn’t at that point I wouldn’t leave it passed him to send knights out to retrieve just my head,” Steve answered as he blasely shrugged his shoulders.

Thankfully the potion didn’t make him say this out loud, but Steve stayed by the roadside hoping the knights would just end his misery already. After six years of starvation, of cold, of loneliness…of darkness, what was Steve truly fighting for now?

“I…I…kept going, looking for a place that would…would tolerate me…”

Looking for a final resting place.

Meanwhile, in the light…

The alpha shook his head again. Steve, his omega deserved to be more then just tolerated. He deserved to be cared for, to be given the best clothes, to be given the most delicious food. He deserved to be carried out to a beautiful garden and seated in the shade where Eddie could read poetry to him among the birdsong.

Prince Stephen deserved a knight, a Prince to take vengeance for him and his lost birthright….and Eddie vowed to be his sword.

Goddess knows if Eddie ever came face-to-face with King Rodric again, that sniveling oath breaker, oh Eddie would drive Hellfire from his navel to his nose.

“I waited until the first flowers bloomed. I told myself, I lied to myself that maybe I miscounted, that it was five years and not six. That maybe in the coming winter my father would send the knights out for me.”

Eddie closed his eyes at the dead tone of the young Prince’s voice. He tried to conceive the utter hopelessness that Steve must have felt in those lonely and forsaken days. The alpha knew right then and there this omega held more strength then Eddie ever could.

“But another winter came and gone, and I couldn’t lie to myself anymore,” Steve admitted before licking a trickle of blood from his lip. “So again, I wandered from place to place. Yet this time through, I was truly lost.”

The alpha Prince wanted to yell out, scream, declare to he had been found now. That in the darkest of places, in the most hopeless of times, the alpha would always find him.

But Eddie could hear the General and Billy whispering, which was never good. The alpha might need to make a quick decision for the little Prince’s safety soon.

“I was able to find some work tending to pigs this past summer with a kind farmer. But Benny made it clear that I couldn’t stay passed the harvest season. He didn’t have enough food for me and his family so I would need to go back to the woods for the winter,” the omega continued.

“The harvest ended two weeks ago, which was when you were arrested,” his uncle pointed out.

Steve nodded, his movements weak, “He was kind, and gave me some food and a blanket to bring with me for my winter’s journey. But he asked me to do one last job for him.”

The omega’s head then drooped and nodded before jerking back up, his weak body giving a fine tremor.

Eddie immediately stood up and was about to jump over the table to scoop Steve up when both his uncle and Sir Robert grabbed his wrists.

“Joyce has him now. Once his name is cleared, you can claim him but in the meantime don’t give the General a reason for any of his bullshit,” his uncle whispered to Eddie.

The Prince looked to his King and saw those warm but calculating eyes. Eddie could tell his uncle picked up on Eddie’s desire for Steve. But then again, this went beyond desire in two opposite but very important ways.

For Prince Stephen whether he knew it or not, was the golden key to a century of war between their two Kingdoms.

But more importantly, Steve, his omega held a shining, all-consuming, celestial ordained love that Eddie would gladly claim…when the time was right of course.

Goddess let that be soon.

“The farm, farmmmer,” Steve slurred, before giving himself another shake and sitting up farther. “He asked me to accompany him to the livestock market in the next town. You see pigs well they…they are calmer when being lead to the…the…well you know, their last place, if someone is with them in wagon.”

Eddie flared his nostrils at the thought of a kind hearted soul like Steve being forced to be a Judas goat. But again, the alpha was even more impressed with the strength the omega had. Eddie himself would have been squeamish at the task.

“I rode in the back with the pigs. You see I just…I just didn’t realized the next town also meant the next Kingdom as well.”

There was a surprised laugh from the crowd. Eddie could still faintly smell the swine on the omega. But passed that, his scent, the small bit the alpha could pick up, was tantalizing sweet.

“We do have a small trade treaty with some of your border towns,” Sir Robert explained. “As grateful as I am that you are here, Prince Stephen, we will need to remind the guards to be more thorough when they checking the goods.”

The omega quickly shook his head, “No, no, please don’t hurt them. It wasn’t their fault; I fell asleep in the hay between Polly and Piper. I woke up in your Kingdom, I swear I didn’t mean to enter unlawfully.”

Eddie could smell the distress coming from the omega. All because he was worried for the welfare of guards he didn’t even know.

“Calm yourself my dear godson. I swear no harm will come to them, just a stern talking to,” his uncle soothed with a warm smile.

The younger alpha smirked for he knew his uncle couldn’t wait to embrace this boy properly. The King loved to wrap Eddie and Dustin in tight holds, even if his pups were growing fast on him. Kind words in the meantime will have to do.

Steve gave a sigh of relief, “Thank you, your highness.”

“What happened next Prince Stephen? Did the farmer abandon you? We have the guards’ accounts of how you ended up in our custody, but we would like to know yours as well,” Sir Robert continued.

Eddie saw the omega next to him subtly glance at the General, who then seemed to tense up. That was a good question, considering House Hargrove was in charge of the guards, and subsequently the dungeons.

“No, no he wouldn’t abandon me. Benny is a good man, I was…I was being foolish. I woke up and I didn’t feel the pigs around me, so I got out of the wagon to look for Benny. But the area around me…it smelled and sounded different. I knew immediately I wasn’t in my Kingdom.”

That set off alarm bells at the royal table collectively. If a blind boy like Steve could pick up on something different in the outer towns than they may need to put an end to the trade treaty and close the borders.

Otherwise, the Great Secret could be at risk.

“Different how, dear omega?” Eddie asked.

Steve shrugged, his body further sagging as he pushed himself to finish his tale, “I don’t know how to describe it. The air smell fresh yet still…still smoky like Yule bon fires. And the ground, it seemed to tremble like tiny earthquakes sporadically. In fact, I felt it here too, everyday since I came.”

The alpha toyed with his signet ring. It seemed that while his omega was clever, the Great Secret was safe for now. For these were all circumstantial observations by someone who, Goddess willing, would never need to go back to the Kingdom of Loch Nora.

And even if Steve did, Eddie knew he would be loyal to his new Kingdom…and soon, alpha and family.

Meanwhile, in the dark…

Steve didn’t know how much longer he could hold on. Sleep was calling to him, beckoning him to surrender. Then again, maybe it was something stronger, something more permanent.

How could his body continue to go on like this? How could this life continue to be so cruel? He just wanted rest.

Rest from the cold, from the hunger, from the loneliness…from the dark. Maybe, just maybe the Goddess will let him see in the afterlife.

But in the meantime, the potion buzzed again, jolting him, now painfully so, to continue.

“I found my way to a crowded square so I figured I would take out my cup to beg for a bit, maybe get some scraps of food or a few pennies,” Steve explained, his voice and head lowering.

He vaguely wondered what happened to his trusty tin cup that been his sole companion for many years.

“I guess your people didn’t like my presence, and I don’t blame them. I am very unpleasant to look at.”

The omega hadn’t seen his reflection since he was 13 and often wondered what he looked like as he grew into a man. Not that Steve had any illusions he would be attractive, even if he had fresh clothes and access to soap.

“Your people gasped and whispered around me but to their credit they didn’t throw rotten food at me like in my home Kingdom. Still, I could feel they were taking offense at me being there,” he gave another blasé shrug. “I wasn’t trying to start a scene. I was trying to leave, I swear, but your guards approached me.”

“Son, my people were not offended you were there. They were concerned,” the King explained, sadness lacing his voice.

“Prince Stephen, the guards were called because seeing a blind beggar, especially an unmated omega…well, we just simply don’t have that here,” Sir Robert continued, his voice strained in a way Steve couldn’t quite place. “We take care of our poor; we especially take care of our omegas. So, to see someone as…as…”

“Pitiful,” Billy mocked.

“As exploited and abused,” Sir Robert corrected, “the guards were sent to assist you.”

Steve scrunched his forehead in confusion as he blurted out, “What an odd Kingdom you have?”

A Kingdom that doesn’t have poor people with weird earthquakes. What an interesting mystery? Then again, what did it matter? For sleep was calling him. The whisper was getting louder by the minute. Surely the hour would be up soon, and his fate would be decided.

“Your guards were nice at first. They asked me questions about where I was from and promised to help me,” Steve explained. “One of them even gave me a whole loaf of bread to eat while he sent another guard to look for Benny.”

He remembered talking to the kind guard who said his name was Sir Philip and thinking how different they were from the guards in Loch Nora. Steve even had a crazy thought that he could maybe stay in Hawkins if this was how they treated a stranger.

That was until…

“But then the General came.”

Steve turned his head towards the older Hargrove alpha and inhaled. He recognized that arrogant smell the moment he was dragged in here. Again, the tension rose in the courtroom. Not that Steve cared, let this odd Kingdom have its infighting and bickering.

“The General came, and he…he ripped off the bandage around my eyes.”

Steve could still feel those angry hands pull at his hair as the General threw him to the ground.

“He announced to the guards and people around me who I was and that I was a spy. That I was here to steal their secrets. He then ordered the guards to beat me and drag me away,” Steve remembered the once kind knight striking him down next.

“LIES! He attacked my men first, I ordered them to defend themselves. That is all!,” General Hargrove yelled, banging his fist on the table, the sound of his chair scraping on the stone floor following.

His words were still echoing through the silent chamber as everyone processed the scene. For they all knew only one was incapable of lying…and it was not their most esteemed General.

“Hargrove do you need to be reminded that Prince Stephen is under the effects of a truth potion. His word now carries more weight than yours,” Sir Robert reminded through gritted teeth.

“You dare talk back to me, you filthy omega…”

“GENERAL!” the King yelled.

Steve jumped in his chair and turned in on himself. For the smell of angry alphas, from both ends of the table, permeated the air.

“General you were on thin ice before but now you have truly forgotten yourself,” the King continued to growl as Steve heard the scrapping of his chair as he stood up.

“You told us that you found Prince Stephen going through your desk,” Prince Edward snarled.

Steve could faintly hear his silver rings adjusting on the hilt of a sword. He vaguely wondered if the alpha did end up calling his sword the Hellfire after all.

“I…I…I did! He…he was in my office,” the General stuttered. And for the first time, Steve could hear the alpha truly losing control.

“He escaped when he got to the dungeons. He slipped out the irons we put him in like the rat he is,” Billy lied, trying to defend his father.

Steve snorted at the notion.

“As if I could walk after the beating your guards gave me. You must feed your men and women well, Captain,” the omega said, turning his head to address the alpha in a cold voice. “I’ve taken a lot of beatings, but your guards hit quite hard.”

“Yes, but we will strive to hit harder next time,” the Captain threatened.

“Touch him and you die,” Prince Edward growled.

Steve could hear the alpha stand up at the table too, but it was also accompanied by the sound of a rapier being freed of sheath.

BANG!

“ENOUGH,” the King yelled as the echo of a metal hilt hitting wood drove through Steve’s ear like cannon shot.

What had he done? He drove a once kind monarch to the verge of fury. Steve was so tired of the chaos and destruction his very existence seemed to always cause.

Sleep was calling him.

“Eddie, put your sword away. Sir Robert, please resume your seat. General Hargrove and Captain Hargrove you will disarm yourself after the trial has concluded and you will see me in my office, is that clear,” the King commanded severely.

Steve was surprised to hear the swords being sheathed and chairs being pushed in instead of protests from the Hargrove alphas. It seemed King Wayne, despite the outward kindness that he showed Steve, was respected or even feared by his subjects.

“Prince Stephen, I can tell that you are nearing the end of your strength. But I swear dear godson, your suffering is almost over. I am going to ask you just a few more questions. Were you really in General Hargrove's office?” King Wayne, his godfather, asked with such tenderness.

The older alpha smelled like warm cinnamon and rum, with just a hint of sorrow and sage.

“No, your highness,” Steve confirmed simply.

“Did you try to escape the guards?”

“No, your highness.”

“Were you treated well while you were in the dungeons?” Sir Robert asked. Steve could hear the heat in his voice and smell his anger.

Steve paused as he struggled to steady his head rolling on his shoulders. Goddess was he tired.

“Well once they threw me in the cell, they didn’t beat me anymore, and they fed me seven times. So, it wasn’t that bad” he shrugged.

“Seven times! You were in that cell for two weeks. You mean they only fed you once every two fucking days!” Prince Edward screamed, his fisting pounding on the table.

Steve jerked again at the sound. That was something he wasn’t going to miss when the sleep took him. There wasn’t any loud sounds in the green meadows.

Meanwhile, in the light…

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, my little omega. Please forgive me,” Eddie breathed oh so low.

He wanted to kick himself for scaring Steve like that. The poor omega had been through too much already.

But the alpha’s blood was boiling in anger. He knew the Hargroves were intolerant arrogant knot heads, but this bordered on treason. His uncle made clear instructions that Prince Stephen and every royal prisoner were to be treated humanly while in their custody.

“Oh ugh, its…its ok,” the omega slurred, his scared pheromones leaking. “I…I honestly didn’t mind. It’s more food then I get most times.”

“Still, Prince Stephen I am appalled at how you were treated. Trust me, dear godson, it will not go unpunished,” his uncle reassured, glaring at the Hargroves.

They glared back, not even having the decency look ashamed. Eddie clutched Hellfire, for he knew there was going to come a need to unsheathe her again soon.

“Did anything else…untoward happen while you were in custody?” Sir Robert asked grimly. 

“No, sir…that is until I was dragged here into the court. Which brings my tale full circle,” Prince Stephen of House Harrington finished, his voice so even and calm.

Even and calm as if he didn’t just recount one of the most harrowing and brave tales Eddie had ever heard. The strength, Goddess, the strength of this omega held was poetic…legendary even.

And Prince Eddie swore that every bard in the kingdom would sing his omega’s praises.

“Prince Stephen you have proven during this past…,” Sir Robert paused to check his pocket watch, “forty minutes, that you are innocent of the first charge of entering the Kingdom illegally.”

“Yes, I agree Sir Robert. It was an honest misunderstanding on your part so let the record show Prince Stephen is hereby cleared of that charge,” King Wayne decreed.

Eddie smiled as he saw the scribe to his left feverishly writing on his parchment. Sir Michael Wheeler’s hand must be cramped from trying to transcribe all that happened in this hectic trial.

“My dear godson, I am going to ask you two more questions, which I only ask so there is no doubt of your innocence on the capital charges,” his uncle continued seriously.

Eddie knew in his heart that his uncle did not want to execute the boy, even if he was guilty. He could feel the relief the older, and frankly, softy of an alpha that Steve was out of danger.

“Prince Stephen, are you a spy?”

“No, your highness.”

“Prince Stephen, do you know our Kingdom’s Great Secret?”

“No, your highness…and if I did I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

Eddie smiled fondly. He couldn’t wait to show him the Secrets and all its wonders.

“Excellent, my son. Excellent,” his uncle whispered with a fond smile. “Let the record show he is cleared of the two capital charges.”

Surprisingly the court erupted in cheers. The happy faces of the usually stoic or conniving courtiers filled the room and the alpha smiled. His little Prince, it seemed, inspired charity and unity wherever he went.

“However, we still have one more charge, which I will leave for Sir Robert, as head of Omega Welfare in the Kingdom to handle,” the King decreed, nodding to his friend of many years.

Sir Robert, or Bobby as Eddie preferred to call him when court was not in session, looked beyond thrilled to be the one to strike down the final charge and arrange Steve’s future.

“Thank you, your highness. Prince Stephen, in case you have forgotten, the final charge is negligence in your safety,” Sir Robert reminded.

The young Prince gave a jerky nod, as Joyce’s and Sir Lucas' hands were the only thing keeping him upright now.

“I’m sorry…we don’t have that in my Kingdom. What does it mean?” the omega asked confused.

Of course, the Kingdom of Loch Nora wouldn’t care about the wellbeing of its most important and vulnerable citizens.

“Well, sweet boy, omega’s have equal rights to alphas here. And while we value omegas being independent if they so choose, we ask they, especially if they are unmated must be in the company of family or an alpha while in public for their protection,” Sir Robert explained chirpily.

Omegas were revered here, but Hawkins, like all Kingdoms, had its villains. And Uncle Wayne, when he came to power made it his mission that no omega would ever be victimized again.

“It’s a minor charge and not one we frequently use. Since you do not have an alpha or close family, and since you are here by happenstance, you are cleared of the final charge,” the omega man declared with a smile.

Again, the court erupted, and Eddie beamed in happiness. His uncle wrapped his arm around his shoulder and squeezed tightly, tilting his head against Eddie’s forehead as they took in each others elated scent.

“Soon, dear boy, soon,” he whispered happily.

However, the one person, besides the right side of the royal table, that wasn’t showing joy was the innocent man.

Steve was still giving off a fearful scent as his body continued to sag in the chair. Oh, his poor omega must be too exhausted to comprehend the wonderful news. Not that Eddie could blame him, between his malnourishment and Joyce’s potion, his omega would need to sleep for a long time.

And Eddie would be there when he woke with the first of his courting gifts.

“Thank you Sir Robert, your highness…Prince Edward,” Steve finally answered, his voice low and groggy. “Am I free to go back to Loch Nora now? I really need to start preparing for winter in the forest.”

Eddie shook his head and then realized the folly of his action, but his uncle beat him to the chase.

“No, my dear boy, you don’t need to forage in the woods or beg by the side of the road anymore. For one, you are my godson. It is my responsibility and honor to take you into my pack,” Uncle Wayne cooed, his eyes sad.

“But…but I’ve been stripped of my title,” Steve answered back, his brow scrunched in confusion.

His uncle chuckled lowly, “Son, I care not for titles. And that doesn’t free me of my obligation nor my desire to care for you.”

“Yes, not only that but in the Kingdom of Hawkins, if an unmated omega does not have close friends or family to call a pack, they are remanded to the care and custody of the crown,” Sir Robert added.

The young omega adorably pursed his lips to the side in thought. Oh, Eddie could not wait to ghost his own lips over them.

“Custody? Does that mean I need to go back to the dungeon?” Steve asked nervously.

“No, sweet boy. You are soon to be a citizen of Hawkins. You are my godson, and title or not, you are true Prince by right of birth and noble spirit. You will be given a bedroom next to mine in the royal chambers as you are now a part of my pack,” his uncle explained patiently.

Eddie’s heart began to pound with anticipation. He loved the thought of being so closed to Steve. Eddie would, of course, be ever so gallant and not share Steve’s nest till they were given the blessing from his uncle and properly married and mated.

But surely being this close to each other, they were destined to court and fall in love.

“But…but I’m the son of your enemy,” Steve answered back, his head falling to his chest in shame.

“Yes, he is right! He is still the enemy!” Captain Hargrove screamed as he stood up from the table.

Eddie went to pull out Hellfire, but Sir Robert grabbed his wrist tight. “Let him make a fool of himself,” the older omega whispered to him.

“Our Kingdoms have been at war for nearly a century! Have we gone insane here! Have we lost track of the fact that we have the heir to the enemy Kingdom in our fucking grasps. Giving him a bedroom next to the King! HA! He should be rotting in the dungeon while we negotiate a fucking ransom,” the enraged young alpha continued.

Eddie rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth, but before he could counter, his omega began cackling.

“Weren’t you fucking listening? Or are you deaf as well as a fool,” Steve yelled out.

Eddie smiled widely at Steve’s haughtiness. For the alpha could tell he was not normally a docile little thing.

He watched as the omega rallied what was left of his strength and sat up straight to confront the bully that had been taunting him the entire trial, who beat him and then cowardly lied about it.

“Don’t you talk back to me. I’ll…”

“Oh, shut the fuck up. You literally don’t have the knot to do it,” Steve snarled out like an animal.

Eddie flared with pride. He could sense a change occurring in the young Prince. The potion was still active, and in his tired mind, Steve lost his restraint…and Eddie loved it.

“You dare question my nerve and my masculinity! I’ll…I’ll…I’ll…”

Meanwhile, in the dark…

“You’ll what? What could you possibly do to me? I’m already a blind beggar, whose family doesn’t fucking want him. There is literally nothing you can take from me at this point,” the omega laughed out.

Steve honestly didn’t know what possessed him to taunt a powerful alpha like this. Even if the King and Sir Robert were telling the truth that Steve would not only live here in their castle and even be a guest rather than a prisoner, it certainly didn’t mean he had their protection to say or do something so heinously stupid.

But the potion and his tongue wouldn’t stop.

“You still have your hearing. I can take that from you,” Billy growled out cruelly without hesitation.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Steve responded dryly without missing a beat.

“Don’t tempt me omega. With or without the King’s blessing I will…”

“The King’s blessing doesn’t matter to you, but the respect and discipline of your men at arms does,” Steve interrupted.

He tried to bite his tongue, to will his mouth and brain to stop. Steve was free of the charges, but it seemed the potion was determined to make him spill not only the truth but all his feelings.

“Enlighten us dear boy,” the King asked, his voice amused.

Steve took a deep breath through his bloody nostrils and breathily laugh. Maybe the King will keep him on as the court jester since Steve was making an excellent fool of himself.

“Because the Captain over here is scared. From the moment he threatened me, his scent turned fearful, like piss on the floor of a slaughterhouse. He doesn’t have the guts to deafen me himself, and if he ordered another to do it, well…that doesn’t look too good now does it.”

“My men follow my orders without question…”

“Then why did your heart rate quicken,” Steve pointedly asked, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

“You can hear Billy’s heartbeat?” Prince Edward asked quietly.

“I can hear everyone’s heartbeat,” the omega whispered.

The room boomed with a sound no one but him could perceive. For everyone, every single person; from the guard’s to the courtier’s to the royal’s, their blood and that all important muscle…hastened.

“I’ve heard stories that when one loses a sense their other senses will sharpen,” the King whispered dumbstruck. “I had no idea it was this strong through.”

Steve shrugged his shoulder, “It came my second year in the forest. I could hear rabbits from miles away. When I traveled I discovered that people’s hearts get faster when they are scared, or when they lie, or when they feel…”

The omega couldn’t help the blush and turned his head to the side to keep from looking at Prince Edward subconsciously.

“Desire.”

The courtiers began to murmur among themselves again, and Steve made out a couple sentences along the lines of, “The boy is gifted.” “What a great asset he’ll be to the King.” “I certainly won’t invite him to play cards anytime soon.”

Steve giggled. As if he was actually going to be around long enough to be an asset to anyone. King Wayne, like his own father, would evitability get sick of him and throw him to the wilds once more.

“What else can you do?” Sir Robert asked curiously.

“I can smell poison. Sir Owens taught me how to identify them. I’m actually really good at that. In fact, there is someone in this room right now that has a lethal dose of belladonna,” Steve replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Poisonings and political assassinations were common in his father’s court. But apparently, by the shocked screams and clanking of the guards’ armors as they grabbed their swords, it was completely unheard of here.

“Who?” the King demanded as Steve heard his and Prince Edward’s chair scrape on the stone floor.

The singing sound of rapiers being drawn followed.

“Barricade the doors. Let no one out,” Prince Edward ordered.

Steve heard the courtiers around him cry in alarm as the guards shuffled around the outer edge of the Great Hall. The mass of foot steps gathering here and there as the crowd swayed. Steve figured they were being rounded up in the center.

“Who,” the King repeated, this time calmer. “Prince Stephen, dear godson, please show us who has the poison. Walk among my people and point them out. Joyce and Sir Lucas will be at your side to protect you.”

He felt the tiny physician lean around him, her strong hands still gripping Steve’s shoulders keeping him back against the chair.

“Can you stand?” she asked softly.

“You can lean on me. I’ll help you walk,” the kind knight that soothed him earlier, Sir Lucas, spoke.

Steve turned his head up to them and nodded. For he knew if he spoke the potion would answer that he was at the very last of his strength. Standing up, Joyce and Sir Lucas took both of this arms, but unlike when he was dragged here, they were gentle as they held him between them.

The omega took in a shaky breath as he took in the many smells around him.

Between everyone’s natural scents, now leaking with fear and some anger, and the courtiers’ penchant for perfumes, it was hard for Steve to lock down the owner of the poison.

“Your highness, the potion could have worn off early,” General Hargrove, taking the opportunity at Steve’s hesitation, protested.

“Would you like to test my potions yourself General and find out,” Joyce quipped next to him.

Steve smiled at the jest and was about to add that the General’s heart was fast…but wait…he caught it again. The belladonna.

The omega took a hesitant step forward, his guards moving with him. Walking slowly to the other side of the court, Steve inhale strongly as he followed the scent. As he approached the crowd, the omega could hear the swishing of velvet and satin; the timid movement of leather boots and silk slippers on the stone floor as everyone started inching backwards away from him.

Steve didn’t blamed them. Not only was he about to expose a potential murderer, but he smelled really bad himself.

“Do you want me to start bringing people forward one-by-one, my Prince?” Sir Lucas asked.

Steve shook his head, he didn’t want people to move and disturb the air further, “No thank you, and please call me Steve. I am no longer a Prince.”

The omega could just make out Prince Edward whisper under his breath, “Not for long for little omega,” from far behind him.

What was this court playing at? Before the potion could beckon him to confront the Prince, he smelled it once again. Turning his head, Steve concentrated on the man, an alpha, standing not four feet from him. Steve could tell he was tall by the way his blood hummed in his body.

But not only that, but his breathing was fast, nervous; terrified even. Cemented by the fact the blind omega could practically smell the perspiration dripping from his forehead. Steve inched forward, nearly stumbling as the fatigue, like heavy hands on his shoulders and forehead, pushed him down. Fighting it, he inhaled and smelled the bundle of poison.

“It’s near his breast pocket,” the blind boy declared, raising his finger towards the noble.

Meanwhile, in the light…

Even if the omega wasn’t under the effects of a truth potion, Eddie would have believed him. For Steve was pointing at Sir Jason Carver, the most pompous, self-righteous alpha, besides the Hargroves that is, that the Prince had the misfortune of having to deal with.

“The General’s right. The potion must have worn off. He’s lying! I don’t have anything on me,” Carver protested.

“Sir Gareth, Sir Jeff, seize him,” Eddie ordered, as he made his way around the table.

Instantly, the guards whom the Prince had known since he was a pup, swiftly made their way over and grabbed the struggling alpha by both of his arms.

As Eddie approached the scene, he saw his omega struggling to stay standing as he leaned more and more on Joyce and Lucas. His wonderful little Prince fought valiantly but now it was time for him to rest.

“Sir Lucas, sit Prince Stephen down back. Protect him with your …,” Eddie stopped as he got his first real whiff of the omega’s scent.

For behind the dirt and grime; the sweetest cherry wine the alpha ever smelled drifted from his little Prince. It rolled like a soft summer breeze around his senses, making his mouth drool, his nose flare, and his eyes…oh did they darken with desire.

He needed this little omega.

Eddie needed him safe and away from these vipers. Eddie needed him clean and warm and feed while he rested peacefully, not a care in the world, in Eddie’s nest.

Eddie needed to slither up the omega’s body, kissing him and making him squirm while he slowly opened his thighs. The Prince bet his skin was extra sensitive to the touch, especially when he…

“Eddie, if you would be so kind as to search Sir Carver,” his uncle’s impatient voice pulled Eddie out of his instinct induced trance.

The Prince reluctantly looked away from his omega, who was being helped back his seat, to his uncle. However, Eddie then rolled his eyes as he saw Billy sauntering over.

“I’ll search him, my Prince,” the other alpha volunteered, his hand resting on his sword.

Eddie gripped Hellfire tighter and moved closer to Carver, “That is not necessary Billy. Return to your seat.”

“I am the Captain of the Royal Guard. Not only that but Sir Carver is a noble, an alpha, a friend. He has more valor that anyone that I know. Unlike that vermin…” Billy snarled as he turned to point at Steve.

Eddie popped Hellfire out of his sheath with his thumb and was about to draw her fully when…

“SILENCE,” the King yelled. “Eddie, search Sir Carver.”

Eddie could truly feel his uncle lose patience with House Hargrove. Good. They have been thorns in their sides long enough.

Snapping Hellfire back, Eddie turned and met the satisfyingly scared eyes of the fellow alpha. He was wearing ostentatiously opulent blue velvet robes, but right where Steve, his magnificent little Prince pointed, was a bulge in his breast pocket.

“What do we have here, Jason,” the Prince hissed as he pushed aside his robes and grabbed a large white pouch.

Walking back to the royal table, Eddie struggled not to look at Steve, otherwise he would surely be lost in the omega's scent once again. Standing on the other side of the table, his uncle and Sir Robert stood up and leaned over as Eddie presented the evidence.

Slowly, Sir Robert pulled open the draw string, to see the telltale dried purple flowers. Enough to kill everyone here and even their Secrets, four times over.

“Your highness, I swear it wasn’t for you! It was for the omega stable girl. She’s going around and slandering me by saying that she’s pregnant with my child but its not true…it’s not true…” Sir Carver yelled, pleading for his life.

Eddie immediately saw blaring red.

How dare one of his citizens, a noble at that, attempt to lay a hand on one of the omegas in the Crown’s care. The Prince, like his uncle, took his vow seriously that all omegas, especially those living here would be free of the advances and threats of disrespectful and dangerous alphas like Carver.

“Your highness, he is telling the truth about the poison not being for you,” Steve volunteered weakly, “but…but the part about the girl’s child not being his…well that’s a lie.”

“Sir Robert, please start your investigation into which omega it is. Please be sure she is kept safe and comfortable while we discuss with her, her wishes and on how we can best support and provide for her and her child,” his uncle spoke softly.

As angry as Eddie still was, he took comfort knowing that the omega would now be protected from Carver’s plot. Her safety, like Steve’s, was the Crown’s priority.

“Sir Carver, you will be put on trial for attempted murder in two weeks’ times, in the meanwhile you will be remanded to the dungeon,” the King hissed, his voice and scent dripping with anger.

“No, no, no, please your highness. She’s just an omega,” Jason pathetically pleaded as Sir Jeff and Sir Gareth began dragging him away.

The crowd parted as they looked to the disgraced alpha noble with distain and anger. Everyone except Billy that was. The Captain of the Royal Guard just looked to Eddie with flared nostrils, his eyes narrow…his scent full of wrath.

But then chillingly enough, he turned his gaze to Steve.

The Captain’s right hand gripped his sword tightly as he looked at the omega like a man crazed with fever and fury. Like the little Prince was the cause of Billy’s every worry and hardship.

Eddie bared his teeth and growled, for while Steve was seated between them, Billy was closer to him. Only a few feet aware in fact.

“Prince Stephen, not only have you proven yourself to be innocent but also genuine, brave, and strong. Now you have saved one of my subjects. Many great rewards will come to you in the following days, but please my dear godson, name anything we can give you now so I may show my appreciation,” his uncle spoke from behind Eddie.

“Anything?”

“Anything, little omega,” Uncle Wayne whispered fondly.

The Prince continued his careful observation of Billy, ready to defend Steve at even the slightest movement Billy made towards him. Still, the long, tired sigh that the omega gave concerned Eddie.

“I wish to rest your highness. In a treeless meadow full of flowers. I wish…” the omega paused and trembled.

Eddie turned to him and took a step forward at the despaired tone of the little Prince.

“I wish to rest from the cold, and the hunger, and…and the dark. I just simply wish for…for rest,” Prince Stephen of House Harrington pleaded.

The court was silent for they all knew what he was asking for. Warrior alphas were buried at the foot of oak trees, so their bodies would one day fortify the arrows made from it’s branches.

But omegas, known for their gentle care were buried in meadows, so one day their sweet scents would bloom once again in the wild flowers.

“I know a beautiful meadow not far from here that I will take you to. There we can enjoy the sound of nature together, with the royal family in attendance if you would like. We can have a picnic,” Sir Robert broke the silence, pretending to misunderstand his fellow omega’s request. “Once of course, Joyce attends to you and you are rested and fit for travel.”

“Yes, my dear boy, you will be given as much rest and food as you desire. And I will ask the servants to keep the royal apartment extra warm for you in the coming months. As I said before, I desire nothing more then to take you into my pack and care for you,” the King reassured warmly.

Eddie could hear the tears threatening to spill in his uncle’s voice. The Prince himself was struggling too, not only with the omega’s request, but also the absolute honesty and rawness in his voice.

“No, my little omega. You don’t need to wander in the dark alone anymore,” Eddie whispered.

The Prince didn’t blame Steve for his desire to no longer suffer. After everything he went through it was understandable if all he experienced in life was pain and rejection. But by the Goddess, the alpha would care for his omega in the coming days so fully, so warmly, so brightly that Steve would soon only want to go to the meadow to pay his respect to flowers and not to join them.

“Steve, sweetheart. Your sight can maybe some day...possibly be restored,” Joyce declared, softly.

The little Prince let out a gasp, a watery gasp so full of the hope. Eddie smiled as Steve looked up to Joyce standing behind him.

“W…what?”

“It’s not a certainty, I would need to run some test and speak with other mages, but if a dark priest took your vision that mean the essence of it may be stored somewhere. If we find it, it can be maybe....be restored,” the physician explained with a smile.

A smile, that while he knew Steve couldn’t see, the omega could feel, for he matched it in brightness.

“I can have my sight back,” he whispered, and Eddie wanted to cry as the most beautiful scent of hope and cherries and sunlight drifted around them from his omega.

It such a gorgeous contrast to utter despair in Steve’s previous request.

“Yes, my little Prince. I swear it on my sword, I will recover your sight,” Prince Edward declared.

Pulling her from her sheath fully once again, Eddie was about to walk to his intended mated and kneel, when Steve spoke softly.

“Did you end up naming your sword Hellfire after all, your highness?”

Eddie stopped in his tracks and his mouth agape at the question. “How did you know the name of my sword? Not even my guards know her name.”

In Hawkin’s, a sword’s name was only spoken to those they are intended to protect, like his family or packmates. It certainly wasn’t public knowledge. The omega looked hurt as his face crumbled and his scent soured. The younger Prince opened his mouth to answer when…

“What are you going to do Prince Edward? Ride into battle, start a war for a fucking omega?” the General snarled out.

Eddie rolled his eyes, his patience at its end and he turned to the General. “Yes, Hargrove. In a fucking heartbeat.”

“Do you want to risk the Great Secret? No, omega is worth that,” Billy yelled out.

The alpha strode fast the few feet towards Steve, but Joyce covered Steve with her body as Sir Lucas drew his sword fast. The young, and still novice knight held it towards the advancing alpha strongly. But Eddie knew Billy was more experienced and skilled.

“Back away from him,” Eddie growled as he too advanced, Hellfire flashing in the light.

“General remove your son from this court,” the King ordered.

“Especially not this for this pathetic vermin. War in the name of a fucking omega?” Billy continued roared.

Chaos rained in the court as all the guards drew swords. Supporting who, Eddie did not know, but what he did know was that he needed to get Steve out of here.

The Prince made a beeline for his omega when he suddenly stood up. Carefully, Steve removed Joyce’s hands and gently moved her aside before turning towards the Captain. Eddie could see the magnificent defiance in Steve and halted a mere foot away from him. Ready to jump in to defend, but also ready to support his omega in his moment of triumph.

“Ironic words coming from an omega just like me,” Prince Stephen hissed, his knuckles clenched.

The court was silent once again…save for Billy’s whimper.

“What?” the General growled out, seething with anger. It looks as though the elder Hargrove now believed in the potion’s effectiveness after all.

Steve turned around; his jaw tight as he shook with anger to now face the General.

“Yes, William Hargrove. I knew something was off with his smell, but now that I am close to him, there’s no hiding it. He’s been using herbs to cover and change his natural scent…his omega scent.”

“NOOOOOOOO! HE’S LYING FATHER,” Billy wailed out, terror permeating the air.

A fearful omega now that Eddie knew what smell to search for. He almost felt bad for him.

“We both know I’m not lying. And you’re not stupid, General. You must have suspected your son was hiding something all along,” Prince Stephen continued, his voice fierce.

Although Eddie couldn’t hear heartbeats, he could hear the harsh breathing from his omega, from Billy and finally, the General.

“He’s no son of mine,” the Hargrove alpha, the only Hargrove alpha declared.

Neither Eddie, nor his uncle or Sir Robert had time to scream at the General for his discrimination or heartlessness… for another scream, a fierce scream echoed from behind the Prince.

Billy yelled out in fury as his sword clashed against Lucas’s own sword, hard. Using his other hand, the newly exposed omega struck the young knight right in his nose, making him drop to the floor. Prince Edward would never forgive himself for not being quick enough to pull Steve out of the way.

Billy grabbed the other omega, Eddie’s omega, by his shoulder and pulled him to chest. His sword, shining in the red stained glass behind gleamed as he held it to the young Prince’s throat.

Meanwhile, in the dark…

“I should have killed you the moment I saw you,” Billy threatened in Steve’s ear.

But he refused to shudder.

The omega refused to cower…at least not to a boy. The same boy Steve could have easily became.

“It won’t change what you are. What we are,” Steve countered, as he tilted his head back, feeling the dig of the sharp steel against his skin.

“I’m not like you,” the other omega growled back.

Steve could hear the despair and the lie in his voice through.

“No, you were smarter then me. You had the brains to hide it and the guts to keep the lie going,” Steve answered, truthfully.

It was a natural truth through.

Steve could feel the lingering effects of the potion, but surely it had run it course. Maybe…just maybe he could lie his way out of this. For Steve now had something worth fighting for.

Hope.

“How many years did you have to sneak out and find the herbs? You’re smart enough to know not to go to Joyce or another physician. How many people did you have to bribe or hide from to keep from noticing?”

“Shut up, you pathetic…”

“It must have been exhausting,” Steve interrupted, unscared, even as Billy pushed harder on the blade.

“Let him go,” Prince Edward…his Eddie hissed.

While Steve was disappointed that Eddie didn’t remember him, Steve was happy that the older Prince was doing well and cared for all omegas and their welfare. For why else would the alpha’s protective and frantic scent be so overbearing.

“Captain, release my godson at once, or so Goddess help me,” the King growled.

Steve heard him draw out a sword, this one broader, followed by a thump as the older alpha himself leapt over the table.

“Or what? I’m already dead. My father’s going to kill me,” Billy whimpered, his voice wet.

Steve could feel the other omega’s body tremble as he broke down. Even with the sword still against his neck, he felt sorry for Billy.

“We can protect you. Your father will not hurt you,” Sir Robert tried as his footsteps echoed as he walked around the table. “I swear it.”

“You can’t promise me anything. You don’t…YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” Billy screamed as he started inching backwards.

Steve followed with careful steps, keeping his quivering neck as still as possible. Until, not the potion, but his own conscious, compelled him to speak.

“I understand Billy. Goddess knows I understand,” Steve whispered. “To have such crushing expectations placed on your shoulders. To pray to be one thing, to be one simple thing that would solve all your problems…”

Steve had prayed to the Goddess in the months, hell years, leading up to his presentation that she would be merciful. He knew Billy, he could feel Billy, did the same.

“An alpha.”

Billy trembled again behind him, shaking in a sob that Steve knew all too well.

“It’s not fair,” the other omega whimpered out.

“No, Billy it’s not fair that your father made feel like you had to hide who you are,” Sir Robert gently spoke. “Alpha, omega it doesn’t matter, a parent, a father should love you just as you are.”

“Yes, Sir Robert’s right Billy. If Eddie had presented as an omega, I would have loved him just as fiercely. And I will love you just the same, as an omega in my care, you will not know anymore fear,” the King added.

Prince Edward didn’t speak, but his protective pheromones now tinging with sorrow for Billy spoke volumes.

Steve could feel the Billy’s resolve and anger lessen with each passing kindness, something the Captain probably never received from his own father, much like Steve himself.

“Omega or not, I survived in the wilds for years. Omega or not, you rose through the ranks to become Captain of the Royal Guard,” Steve continued as calmly as he could.

For his adrenaline was waning, and his fatigue was returning. His energy was slipping, but if he sagged down, if his knees so much as twitched, Steve would surely be in the flowered meadow before long.

“My godson is right; nothing needs to change. You will still be Captain, maybe even General one day,” the King reassured.

“Just let my omega go Billy,” Eddie growled through gritted teeth.

Steve smiled at the declaration. Not that he believed it. Surely the Prince just didn’t want any harm done to his uncle’s godson.

“I…I smile every time I think of those summer days we shared…Eddie,” Steve whispered.

If something did go wrong, if they couldn’t talk Billy down, then Steve just wanted Eddie to know how much he loved that memory.

Maybe, maybe even perhaps, loved him.

Meanwhile in the light…

Even though Eddie’s hindbrain; blaring at him to kill the threat to his mate.

Even though Eddie’s desperation; to protect and claim.

Even though Eddie’s shear madness of emotions and pheromones.

A thought…a memory came back to him. A memory of summer days, of a muddy campsite, of a basket of cherries and bouquet of flowers, of wooden sword fights and shooting stars.

Of a boy with a bright smile and gorgeous brown eyes.

“Stevie,” Eddie breathed, as he finally remembered.

At the nickname, the omega gave that same smile. That same smile that had been nagging at Eddie since the moment he saw Steve.

They did more than meet before. They laughed before, shared food, played in the cool stream in the many summers long past.

And now the Goddess brought them back tog….

“BILLY KILL PRINCE STEPHEN AND I WILL NAME YOU MY SON AGAIN,” the General thundered out.

And Billy didn’t hesitate.

But then again…neither did Eddie.

With a roar, the alpha lunged forward and grabbed the Captain’s wrist. Eddie’s grip was like wild iron, pulsing and hot as he pried it oh so slowly away from Steve’s neck.

Billy gave a half growl, half whimper as he fought to deliver the killing blow. Omega or not, he was strong…but Eddie was in his instinct.

And Goddess help anyone who gets between an alpha and their omega.

Breath by trembling breath, inch by painstaking inch Prince Eddie snarled as he pulled Billy's sword farther away from his Stevie. Eddie tightened and tightened his grip, even through Billy’s pain screamed and the crunch of bones snapping under his strength.

The Prince didn’t let go…not until the sound of the sword clattering on the stone floor rattled throughout the Great Hall.

His Stevie, his omega, his wonderful and brave omega waited for just the right moment to elbow Billy in the throat before weaving out of the other omega’s grasp.

Finally letting go of Billy’s wrist, Eddie grabbed the neck of Steve’s tattered shirt and pulled him right where he belonged…his arms.

Sir Robert and the King himself jumped in right at that moment and tackled the struggling Billy to the ground as Eddie held Steve to his chest, dragging him away from the mass of writhing bodies.

“Stevie, Stevie…oh Goddess Stevie, I got you. I got you,” Eddie whispered into the omega’s hair.

Weakly, Steve clutched Eddie’s vest, trying to stay upright as the alpha held him up.

“You remembered,” the omega breathed as his head fell onto Eddie’s chest.

The older Prince chuckled as he grasped Steve’s cheek and directed his face up. Eddie needed to see all of him.

“Sorry it took so long…I…I…”

Eddie drifted off, for the trance, the scent like cherry wine hit him again. It drifted, so much more strongly now that the omega was in his arms, his grasp. Like his crown, it encircled the alpha’s head, filling his senses, bringing out his primal hindbrain like a blood thirsty wolf.

It howled at him to claim his mate. Claim his omega. No one would dare lay a hand on his omega once he was claimed.

Billy wouldn’t dare. The General wouldn’t dare. The Goddess and Death herself wouldn’t dare take his omega…if the alpha bit him.

The alpha needed to do it. He needed to claim.

Need.

Need.

Omega. Sweet Stevie. Delicious. Claim. Protect. Cherry Wine. Omega. Claim. Bite. Claim. Omega. Need.

“Alpha.”

The omega was growling as his nails dug into the alpha’s back sharply. His teeth, white against the dirt and soiled bandage creeping up towards the alpha’s mating gland exposed on his neck.

His omega was in his instincts too.

“Alpha, alpha, alpha please,” was all he could whine. “Bite me.”

Cherry wine.

Eddie roared as he swooped his head down and took the omega’s own mating gland, pulsing and perspiring into his mouth. The alpha cared not for the dirt, nor blood as he bit down with his teeth.

The Prince was all instinct and hindbrain. All alpha and his maddening need to claim.

Gone was chivalry. Gone was the plan for a courtship. Gone was reason.

Only instinct and claiming…and honey.

Eddie snarled as his teeth broke the skin and he tasted the thick honey, the nectar below the omega’s mating gland. It gushed in his mouth, golden and sweet again…like cherry wine.

“NO EDDIE,” his uncle yelled.

But Eddie was gone. Only the alpha remained. And the alpha only wanted to ensure there was no question that everyone knew this was his omega.

His.

“MINE.”

Meanwhile, in the dark…

“YOURS,” the omega whimpered.

And whimpered, and whimpered some more as he felt his alpha claim him.

From the moment the alpha pulled him into his arms, Steve could feel the slick and madness taking over his body, his senses.

He thought the truth potion and its beckoning was strong. It was mere cheap wine compared to the desire, the scent that took of Steve.

Gone was the insecurity. Gone was the timidness. Gone was the knowledge that he was merely a blind omega beggar.

He needed the alpha. His alpha.

Even as the alpha drained him and took what was his. The omega knew it wasn’t enough.

Steve needed everyone to know that Eddie, his Eddie belonged to him…and him alone.

Finally, as the blood dripped down and alpha retracted his teeth. The omega followed his instinct and need, and pulled himself up by Eddie’s vest.

“MINE.”  Was the only warning Steve gave his alpha before he too claimed what was his.

And he too sunk his teeth into his alpha’s neck and tasted that nectar sharp and sweet like rum and cinnamon and smoke.

He felt Eddie’s strong callused hand come up and grasp the back of Steve’s head. Keeping it in place as he soothed him.

“That’s its omega. Take what you need. Good omega. My omega. My Stevie.”

It was delicious, and the room, the always dark room, was spinning. His bite was not as strong as his alpha’s, he was too weak, too tired, too…too tired. Feeling the nectar drip down his cheeks, Steve gave his mate his alpha one last bite.

He barely had the strength to unhook his teeth before his legs gave out. Eddie scooping him up and holding him close was the last thing he remembered…before darkness.

True darkness.

Took him…and Steve knew no more.

Meanwhile, in the light…

As Steve went limp in his arms, sleeping peacefully after the potion and the trauma of that mating bite, reason come back to Eddie.

“Oh, oh Goddess,” the alpha whispered in horror.

The Prince couldn’t describe what had happened. One moment Eddie was fully committed to protecting Steve and his honor. To doing a full courtship, slow and steady and smooth.

The next, his feral mind taking over reason and his hindbrain acted in complete instinct.

“Eddie what have you done,” his uncle asked equally in dread.

This just wasn’t done here in Hawkins, especially not by the Prince. But Steve asked him to do it. Begged him to do it, and Eddie would never deny his Stevie, his Cherry Wine anything.

“I claimed my mate,” Prince Edward Munson replied fiercely as he tightened his hold on the omega.

Steve’s blood, his mate’s blood and nectar dripped down from his chin.