I stood, offering a hand to her. “It is time for the consummation, bride.”
The color in Guinevere’s cheeks faded slightly, making the rouging that her maids had given her stand out starkly against her skin.
“Is it that time already?” she asked, eyeing my hand suspiciously for a moment before her shoulders dropped and she slid her hand into mind.
I expected her honeysuckle perfume to sour with the impending doom of the situation, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was sweet as it flowed up to my nose.
Was that anticipation I could smell? I couldn’t be sure as bedding an omega was not an accomplishment I could boast about.
There was too much risk of bonding with someone who was not meant to be my queen so I had made it a rule to avoid omegas almost entirely when I could.
Many had pushed me to court a queen long before Guinevere’s appearance during the feast half a fortnight ago, but something deep within me had kept me from actively pursuing anyone.
Now it all seemed to make sense. I almost wondered if Merlin had cast a spell on me before fleeing in the middle of the night all those years ago to make sure that when he finally brought my bride through the threads of time that I would not be married.
“Do we have to,ah,consummate?” Guinevere asked me quietly as we led the jeering onlookers through the halls of the castle in the direction of the suite where the deed would be done.
I glanced down at her, frowning. “We do. Our marriage will not be a true marriage unless consummation occurs.”
Guinevere’s shoulders stiffened slightly.
“I just never thought I would…” she trailed off before gesticulating in the direction of the suite. “Getmarried.”
She said the word as if it was a dirty thing.
“Why?” I asked, surprised by her tone. “Is it not natural for one to marry eventually?”
Guinevere shook her head. “In my time some never do it.”
“Even omegas?”
She paused. “No, most of us find packs or an alpha,” she said with a sigh.
I paused my questioning as we came up to the double doors that led into the bedchambers and would eventually lead to the final part of the night.
Behind us, Leodegrance had gathered the crowd around him. “We wish this happy couple a long and prosperous life full of many fat babes!”
The crowd shouted and laughed their approval as I gently tugged on the ring of the door and pulled it open.
It was much quieter on the other side of the thick wood as I rounded on Guinevere who had gone mute upon hearing the cheers of the crowd.
“Why did you never find an alpha?” I asked softly, curiosity winning out over the instinctual urge to make sure every person out in that hallway knew Guinevere was my omega chosen for me in the same way I had been chosen to pullExcaliburfrom the stone all those years ago.
Guinevere shrugged, her eyes glued to me rather than whatever lay behind me. “Never felt the need to. My mom always taught me to be independent—to not rely on anyone the same way she never relied on anyone.”
“And was she an omega?”
Guinevere huffed a laugh. “No. She was a beta—one of the very few differences between her and the Queen Adelaide of this time. She was always surprised that I came out the way I did. Our entire family was full of betas, so she always just assumed my omega designation came from my donor.”
The term was odd and she must have seen the confusion on my face because she hurried to explain.
“A donor is someone who donates their,um, sperm to someone so that they can have a baby without having to get married.”
I had a feeling I was going to regret my next question, but I could not help but ask. “What is ‘sperm?’”
The word was even odder than the first one and judging by the flush in Guinevere’s face told me nearly everything that I needed to know.
“I don’t quite know the preferred term for it in this time, but it’s a man’s…” she pointed to my waist, avoiding my gaze as I followed her finger.
