I ignored Nicholai and his weak attempt to ignore my orders. “I am the one who decides when the royal breeder’s job is done. Notyou! How dare you go behind my back while I was sick on the bathroom floor?! How dare you think so little of me that I wouldn’t want to see him off myself!”
“But… Your Majesty, he’s but a lowly farmer. An alpha. What does it matter to you what happens to him?” Brennan’s confused tone only made me boil with more anger.
“He is a human being!” I snapped. “He deserved to be thanked properly by me, theking, before he was sent back home!”
“We did it to protect you, Your Majesty,” Clive lied easily. “Alphas are known to be protective of their young.”
“Exactly, Your Majesty,” Jerold nodded. “We must protect you at all costs.”
I stared each of them down. “You failed to act according to your status, blindsiding me, and making me look like an inconsiderate king. I’ve always prided myself on being just and reasonable. You no longer have the right to fire or banish anyone from my palace. And,” I paused for effect, seeing all their mouths open and ready to protest. “You’re all stripped of your duties for one week because of thislittleincident.”
“But, Your Majesty,” Clive pleaded.
“I will hear nothing further from the four of you. If I even see you this next week, I will only prolong your leave of absence.”
Elias, who had been my pillar of support during this heated exchange, slowly tugged on my sleeve, urging me to come with him. I followed, now drained of energy as I left my disobedient and incompetent advisors in the hallway.
Suddenly, I found myself sitting on my bed, my door locked behind Elias as he approached me with concerned eyes. “They threatened to take Garreth from me,” he whispered, now kneeling in front of me.
“Who?” I asked numbly.
Elias chuckled, but it sounded pained as he started crying again. “Everian’s alpha father.”
I really should learn all the guards’ names, but beforeGus… I never thought of an alpha’s name as important.
“He’s not going anywhere,” I vowed. Just because I couldn’t be with my alpha didn’t mean Elias had to suffer the same fate.
“Do you mean that?”
I nodded. “They had the power to take Gus away because of my safety. They have no power to remove a guard that I want to keep.”
Elias stared solemnly at the floor as he muttered, “Gus was so calm when they took him away. So… dignified somehow.”
My heart ached all over again as I pictured Gus’ gentle eyes as he accepted his fate. He wanted to be here. Helovedme. I was sure of it. Yet, he kept his anger down and proved once again just how perfect a man he was.
“He told me to take care of you,” Elias continued, and that broke me. A cry of anguish tore through me as I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces, each shard piercing through every single nerve in my body.
“I need him back, Elias,” I croaked, my throat hoarse from yelling and crying.
“You can’t, not yet. Right now, you need to stay strong for your baby. That’s what Gus would want.”
He was right, but it still felt wrong to just go about my life like my heart wasn’t missing, because it was. Gus had taken my heart with him, and I didn’t even know where he lived.
“Can you hold me for a bit?” I pleaded, needing my best friend’s touch.
“Always.”
A month had passed, but the pain was still there. I doubted it would ever go away. I didn’twantit to go away. The pain was my one proof that Gus truly did exist, and that what we’d shared had been real. His mark on my butt was my visual of his touch, of his claim on me. My growing belly was another sign that our love was true and not a figment of my imagination.
Elias and Briar had been my unwavering support these past few weeks, always there to offer me encouragement and help my mind focus on other things than Gus. Not that I didn’t think of Gus all day, every day, he was like a limb I was now missing and had to learn to live without. I just didn’t want to. I wanted him back. I wanted his kind eyes on me as we ate in companionable silence, wanted his quick smiles, and easy affection.
I searched the row of books on one of the many shelves in the library, still not finding what I was looking for. Elias had suggested I should read a book about pregnancy to be prepared for the next stages before I had to give birth, so here I was, looking through the many books we had stored. Many of them were several decades old and dusty. A navy-blue cover caught my attention, so I grabbed it and looked at the front. It was one about different plants and what to use in tonics and so on.
I placed the book back on the shelf and noticed one with the wordomegaon it. It was higher up on the bookshelf, and I hadto stand on my tippy toes to wiggle it free. As I caught it, two other books came tumbling down, one in a soft leather binding and one in a hard cover.
PlacingtheOmega’s Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirthdown on the armchair next to the bookshelf, I carefully bent down to pick up the two books from the floor. One was an old book about birds, and the other didn’t have any title on the front. Curiosity took over, and I held the soft leatherbound one close to my chest as I grabbed the pregnancy book for later. With the books in hand, I walked back to my chambers, wanting to read them in peace.
Last week, Clive had insisted I eat more eggs for protein, so I snapped at him and ordered my advisors to stay away from my wing in the palace, which naturally meant I rarely left said wing. I hated my advisors for sending Gus away, and each time I had to look at their conceited faces, I wanted to throw my herbal tea at them.
