As he made his way through the tables, young omega women sat up and preened each time they thought he might be heading their way… only to wilt in disappointment as he bypassed their tables. He was aware of the muttering going on around him as everyone tried to guess who he was going to ask to dance.
Finally, he arrived at Duke Kirian’s table, and he gave his son Tadashi a polite smile. “May I have the honour of this dance?” he asked, offering his hand.
The look on the young man’s face was priceless, as was the expression on his father’s face.
“Um… yes! Thank you. I’d be delighted.”
Tadashi stood up, allowing himself to be led out to the dance floor. Ryu had been tutored in formal dancing since the time he was twelve, and it was an easy task to match the beat of the music. Tadashi was no slouch in that department either, and after a few minor fumbles, he settled in to following Ryu’s lead, the expression on his face simultaneously delighted and embarrassed. No doubt he wasn’t used to this sort of attention from someone who ranked so far above him.
But scarcely two minutes later, it became suddenly and sharply apparent that a peaceful dance was not on the cards for this evening. “Oh, look, that’s so cute,” a loud voice said from nearby, high and strident, and dripping with sarcasm. “Two omegas dancing together! Isn’t that sweet?”
Ryu glanced up, seeing that the woman – a beta in her mid-twenties – was looking directly at him. It took only a split second to decide to ignore the insult. He’d had far worse before, and he happened to know that the woman’s soulmate had refused to marry her. The man was an alpha and had decided he wanted an omega wife to carry on the family line. Bitterness was a great motivator for cruelty.
Unfortunately, Tadashi wasn’t nearly as able to brush off the comment. He froze, eyes wide, mouth dropping open. “How dare you insult His Highness like that?” he said loudly.
“Let it go,” Ryu muttered to him. “It’s not worth it.”
“Insult him? I’m merely acknowledging what he really is,” the woman said, and Ryu suddenly wondered just how much she’d had to drink. No noble in their right mind would dare to be so brazenly offensive, no matter what rumours might be circulating behind his back.
Tadashi pulled away from Ryu, taking a step towards the woman. “You have no right to speak to His Highness like that. The Royal Guard should have you removed from the palace.” He might have been an omega, but he had the backbone of an alpha.
The woman was a good head taller than Tadashi, and Ryu was a little dismayed to realise she was also a fraction taller than him. It made it rather hard to come across as authoritative, prince or not. She stepped closer to Tadashi, looking down her nose at him. “Me? I’d think anomega malehas far less right to be here than I do.”
Tadashi smirked. “Then by your own logic, you think you have more right to be here than the crown prince?” Ryu had to admire the man’s silver tongue. He’d managed to point out the flaw in the woman’s opinion, without actually agreeing with her description of Ryu as an omega.
The woman’s smug veneer vanished. “How dare you!” she screeched, and then Ryu’s concern turned to pure shock as she reached out and shoved Tadashi back, making him stumble into a wealthy Duke standing just behind him.
The whole situation turned to chaos in a split second. Tadashi shoved her back, while Ryu dived between them to try and break up the impending fight. The Duke tried to grab Tadashi, while the woman’s alpha dance partner tried to restrain her, and then suddenly the two alphas were laying into each other, and Ryu felt a sharp blow to his shoulder as he tried to stop the whole thing turning into an all-out brawl.
All of a sudden, the struggling nobles were forcefully separated, and Ryu felt a flood of relief as he realised that Kentario had just arrived. His bodyguard grabbed both Tadashi and the woman by the arm, dragging them apart with as much effort as it would have taken to swat a fly. “Enough!” the huge man bellowed. “How dare you assault the prince!”
A moment later, Ryu realised that the entire dance floor, including the musicians, had gone deathly silent. By Odin himself, his mother was going to have a fit about this one…
“What the hell is going on?” Kentario demanded, not releasing his grip on either person.
“The lady called His Highness an omega,” Tadashi said, his voice fearful now. Kentario was a sight to behold, eyes flaring with rage, and he stood a good six inches taller than anyone else in the immediate vicinity.
“So you thought you’d start a fist fight?”
“It’s not Tadashi’s fault,” Ryu tried to tell him. He’d asked the man to dance to try andimprovehis chances of getting married, not destroy them completely. But Kentario wasn’t listening.
“You put your own arrogance above the safety of the crown prince?”
“It wasn’t his fault!” Ryu insisted again, then, seeing that he was about to lose this battle in a bad way, he suddenly changed tack. “Mister Kirian, would you be so kind as to accompany me to the royal stand?” he asked loudly. “So I can apologise properly for the disruption to your evening?”
Tadashi glanced fearfully from Ryu to Kentario, lost for a reply. Ryu could detect the omega’s scent now, hidden before beneath an expensive cologne; a tangy rush of citrus and musk that was nature’s way of letting him know that a nearby omega needed assistance and comfort. But instead of the rush of protectiveness that most alphas would have felt at such a moment, Ryu just felt sorry for the man. To his own consternation, Kentario’s scent was far more enticing, a deep, earthy flavour that broadcast to anyone within range that he was pissed off and willing to pick a fight – a scent that made Ryu feel safe beyond measure, as the object of Kentario’s protective instincts, and nudged at an insistent desire to curl up with the man in a quiet corner somewhere. It was just one more detail in the confusing quagmire of Ryu’s gender, and similar instances in the past had succeeded in making him doubt his own biology, for all the external signs that he was an alpha. Alphas were supposed to respond to the scent signals of omegas, not other alphas.
Thankfully, Kentario released Tadashi at Ryu’s words, then guided the woman a safe distance away before releasing her as well.
“This behaviour is disgraceful,” he said. “I would expect far better from those who have been honoured with noble titles.” He included both alphas in his scathing glare. Thankfully, neither of them seemed inclined to pick a fight with Kentario, and they both muttered an apology.
“Mister Amagarda,” Ryu said, trying to regain control of the situation. “Perhaps you could escort the lady away from palace grounds, since she’s clearly not able to mind her manners this evening.”
Kentario bowed. “As Your Highness wishes.” He gestured towards the exit, his eyes glaring daggers at the woman. She obediently turned and walked away, head held high as she tried to shrug off the embarrassment.
“This way, please,” Ryu said to Tadashi, eager to be off the dance floor and away from so much attention. But even so, as they made their way through the crowd, every eye was watching them, and on impulse, Ryu decided to toss a little more approval at the omega – if only to bolster hischances of being accepted by his soulmate’s family. “You have the heart of a lion,” Ryu told Tadashi, aware that people would hear the comment. “Any alpha should be honoured to have you as their soulmate.”
Tadashi blushed bright red. “I’m flattered you think so,” he replied.
