“I don’t know! But that’s exactly why I should be sitting in on these meetings; to find out the answer.”
“And to end up in another argument with your father, in front of visiting dignitaries?”
The words felt like a stab of betrayal. “You agree with him,” he accused Kentario. “You think I’m too soft to be king.” It wasn’t just Ryu’s stature that had led to the rumours about his gender. He’d also heard people say he was too gentle to be an alpha, and therefore unsuitable to be a king.
“Not at all.” A begrudging smile settled on Kentario’s face. “I was actually thinking that you’re turning out to be a very wise young man. And for what it’s worth, I think Sou’s an idiot for trying to hide the uglier sides of life from you.”
“Then why do you get to know about all this, if I don’t?”
A shadow passed through Kentario’s eyes. “I’ve been trained to kill people from the age of twelve. I think we’re well past the point where anyone thinks I’ll be offended by the king making brutal decisions about the country.”
“Goddess, I can’t wait until I turn eighteen. Then at least I’ll have the legal right to make a few of my own decisions.” Ryu heard a snort of laughter, though he resisted the urge to scowl at his bodyguard.
“Can’t wait to be an adult and run your own life?” Kentario said. “Famous last words.”
CHAPTER TWO
Ryu had just finished dressing for dinner when a knock sounded on his bedroom door. “Come in.”
The door opened, and his father appeared, dressed in a similar suit to his own, tie neatly knotted around his throat, glittering cufflinks at his wrists. The King was an alpha, almost as tall as Kentario and with twice the muscle mass that Ryu possessed. His dark hair was combed back from his face, his short beard trimmed neatly.
But the upcoming dinner was another one of the growing list of things that Ryu and his father disagreed about. According to his parents, it was a vital necessity to have a formal dinnerevery single night, even when it was only the three of them. Ryu could understand the need for formality when there were visiting nobles at the palace, or even for the weekly dinner they shared with the Amagarda family – though that was typically held on a Wednesday, and today was Monday. But in his eyes, if there was no one else around, it would have been perfectly acceptable to eschew a suit and tie in favour of jeans and a t-shirt.
Heaven forbid he have the luxury of a single night off.
“You’re ready,” his father observed, with a momentary hint of a smile. “Excellent. I know it’s a little out of the ordinary, but Danag has requested an urgent meeting before we go down for dinner. And he’s specifically asked that you attend.”
That was unusual. Danag Amagarda was Kentario’s father, the stern patriarch of the Amagarda family, but as the king’s bodyguard, the vast majority of his duties revolved around the king. It was a rare thing indeed for him to require the presence of the crown prince in any of his business.
“What’s the meeting about?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but it’s got something to do with Cael. And from Danag’s tone, I got the impression it’s not going to be good news.”
Ryu felt an immediate burst of sympathy for Cael. He was Danag’s youngest son, sixteen years old, and the first omega to be born to the family in over three hundred years. He’d earned his father’s disapproval simply by being born, and whatever this new crisis was – serious enough to pull the king away from his dinner – it was not likely to go well for the poor boy.
Ryu shrugged, not sure how he could be of any help, either to Danag or to Cael, but it was clear that the invitation was not optional. “Lead the way,” he said, following his father out of their opulent apartment.
On the lower level of the palace’s residential wing, Danag and his family were waiting in one of the plush meeting rooms, a wide, wooden table in the centre of the room. Kentario and his sister, Emica, were sitting patiently at the table, while young Cael was scowling and slouching up the far end of the room. But Ryu was surprised to see that Maro Landis, the Captain of the Royal Guard, was also present. What on earth could be going on that needed both himself and the head of palace security to attend?
Three minutes later, Ryu had his answer. He flinched as Danag’s massive hand slammed down onto the table, hell-fire sparking in the man’s eyes as he glared at his youngest son. A thick scent of spice filled the room, an alpha’s clear declaration of displeasure.
“You arenotgoing to move to Palarn, you arenotgoing to studymarine science, of all things, and you arenotgoing to abandon your duty to the crown!”
Ryu stared at the table, profoundly embarrassed for Cael. Having his dreams crushed by his father would be bad enough, but for the argument to happen in front of the king and queen was simply humiliating. It still wasn’t clear why he’d been called in to witness this, though presumably Captain Landis was there simply to make an example of the young man.
“The Amagardas have protected the royal family for more than three hundred years,” Danag carried on. “We have fought in wars, we have defended the palace, we havebledanddiedto protect the throne. Your duty as my son is to join the Royal Guard and dedicate your life to protecting the king and queen. And now you tell me you want to throw all that honour and tradition down the drain to go and stare atfish? What about your brother and sister?” he asked, gesticulating to where Kentario and Emica sat, their bodies rigid, their faces expressionless. “They’ve both followed family tradition, joined the Guard, made something useful of their lives. Why can’t you be more like them?”
Ryu glanced across the table at Kentario, seated opposite him.Hewould never have to worry about dishonouring the family name. He was the epitome of everything an alpha was supposed to be; tall, muscular, and a brutal opponent in the fighting ring. Emica was a beta, but she’d still managed to come top of her class in her first year of training as a member of the Royal Guard.
Looking up suddenly, Kentario caught the stray glance from Ryu and subtly shook his head. All of them knew, from long experience, that when Danag got on a roll, it was best to simply let him continue his rant until he ran out of steam. Even the king and queen seemed content to let Danag have his say before trying to resolve the situation.
But then, against all good sense and the wisdom of experience, Cael raised his head defiantly and looked his father in the eye. He was a tiny slip of a thing, five feet three inches tall, with a thin, wiry build that was nothing at all like the hulking muscle carried by both his father and his older brother. But what he lacked in size he more than made up for in spirit.
“The Royal Guard,” Cael said, softly but clearly, “has over one hundred loyal members who diligently safeguard the throne. You protect King Sou, Kentario’s assigned to Prince Ryu, and Emica has just completed her first year of training. There are no other royal children. Prince Ryu is only seventeen; he hasn’t even been matched with his soulmate yet, never mind actually having children of his own. I am notabandoninganything. The royal family is protected as well as they could possibly be, and me hanging around here and marking time in an endless queue of foot soldiers monitoring the palace gates is not going to achieveanything. Besides which, you’ve looked down on me since the moment I was born, for no other reason than that I’m an omega. To be honest, I thought I would be doing you a favour by getting myself out of your hair, since you seem so damn ashamed of me just forexisting.”
By the Goddess Selene, that kid had some balls on him, Ryu thought. He meant the compliment metaphorically, of course, since omega males didn’t actually have balls. While they had a penis, as all males did, regardless of their secondary gender, omega males’ internal reproductive anatomy closely resembled that of omega females; they had a vagina and fully functional ovaries that allowed them to bear children.
Danag was momentarily speechless, struck dumb by the emphatic denouncement of his youngest child. But it didn’t take him long to recover.
