Chapter 71: The Cold Prince Has A Heart
Rhydian;
"Alpha..." Bram’s voice calls softly, and I feel something tight and ugly flood my chest.
"Why are you doing this?" I demand. Turning to him and cutting him off.
He blinks at me, and his silence infuriates me.
"You’re an Alpha. You’re at the top of the food chain! You can get whatever you want. People are meant to respect you. You are meant to be worthy of the attention that comes with an Alpha..." I begin, but he cuts me off.
"Not here!" He screams, and I pause.
"Not under your mother! Alpha, Beta, Omega... Even Premodial. Nothing matters under your mother. I’m her subject, and that is all I am. She has power over me. Over my family. Over all of us. Who am I to reject her? If even you can not, who am I to?" He adds, and I swallow as his words hit me.
I watch tears fill his green eyes as he battles to maintain composure.
"No Alpha wants this. I never thought I would someday have to serve another Alpha. Carry his children. I... I grew up as the pride of my family. An Alpha. I excelled at everything I was ever taught. My parents dreamed that I would help them rise in society, but look at me now. I have no choice but to do what I’ve been told. I can never go back to what I was." He adds, and my brows crease.
"What do you mean you can’t go back to what you were?" I question, and a teardrop escapes his eyes as he looks up at me.
"All I am now is your pet. I can not blend with the Omegas, and I can never return to being a true Alpha." He replies, and my brows crease.
I turn to look at him properly as my mind races.
"I don’t understand," I confess, and he takes a deep breath.
He pulls off his robe, and I’m about to look away from his body, but my eyes catch a ghastly scar that runs across his stomach. A long, thick scar with lines on both sides that suggest he was torn open and then stitched back up.
My heart drops into my stomach as I wonder how and why he got such a scar. It... It looks like it must have hurt a lot.
"Alpha 26." He says, and my eyes flick back up to his face.
"The twenty-sixth and only surviving victim of your mother’s ambitions." He replies, and I stagger as an idea of what he’s about to say hits me.
"Twenty-five Alphas and Twenty-six omegas have died in the queen’s quest to create an Alpha who can bear children for you." He says, and I feel my mouth run dry.
"For three years, I have been a subject. Tested, stretched, probed, torn open and sewn back up repeatedly. For three years, the only mission I have had to hold onto is helping you bring forth pure Alpha children. I am an Alpha, but I have been given the womb of an Omega. I am a taboo to society, created just to serve you. Tell me... where in all this do I get the luxury of having shame?"
His words run an icy blade through my heart as I stare at him.
"There is no turning away from this. At least, not for me. If you refuse to sleep with me... If you do not get me pregnant, she can not hurt you. But me? She has my parents. If I do not give her what she wants, she can and will get rid of my parents and i. Do you now see why I have no shame? Do you now see why I am not worthy of the attention being an Alpha gives me? Can you see now that I am not at the top of the food chain? If anything, I am just an object to be devoured by the people on that food chain. So please... Let me do what I’ve been trained to do, so I can survive..."
I swallow as he falls to his knees, with sobs racking through him, and I stare blankly at him with disbelief tugging at every thread of sanity in my mind.
No... This is too much. Mother... She wouldn’t... no... There’s just no way...
This can’t be real.
But deep down I feel it is...
What... What do I do?
I can’t... I can’t send him away.
*********
Elian;
"It seems Alpha Rhydian has taken a shine to you," Alana says as she places a tray of fruits on my bed, and I scowl at her before reaching for grapes and hurriedly stuffing my mouth with as many fruits as it would fit.
I didn’t realise I was hungry till I saw food.
"I must admit, it is weird. I never thought there was hope for him. Coming from such a horrible place, I thought he was as closed off as his mother." Alana continues as she moves about the room adjusting the curtains, a nd I force myself to swallow some of the food in my mouth so I can speak.
"How are you so sure he’s changed?" I muffle past my full mouth, and she turns to look at me with an expression that loudly says.
’Are you kidding?!’
"There’s no way he’s acting. If only you could see how worried he was. During the two days of the trip, he hardly left your side. Every time you twisted and turned in your sleep, he was there to make sure you weren’t sleeping in a way that would hurt any body part. I’ve never seen him like that before. There’s also the fact that he risked his life by sucking the venom out of you, even though I warned him not to." She replies, and I freeze.
"He... what??" I demand, and she shrugs before walking to the table and pouring me a cup of water.
"I haven’t told you the best part. Not once did he let any of the guards touch you. He carried and bathed you while you were unconscious. He’s been coming to check up on you, and you woke up today after he fell asleep by your side for three hours." She says as she hands me the cup, and I freeze.
"Huh?!" I respond in shock, and Alana smirks.
"You heard me. Seems the cold prince has a heart after all."
"But I fear there’s trouble." She adds, and my eyes narrow as I stare at her suspisiouly.
"What trouble?"