“Beingmyomega’s maid elevatesyourstanding?” I asked. I thought it was all a joke.
Espen sat down in the stone chair, and leaned towards me. “Well, we don’t have a precedent when it comes to a General’s omega. Before the fall of Kanna, when kings ruled theOaklands, being an omega king’s or queen’s omega-in-waiting was a great privilege.”
I bit my lip. “But I am not a king, and neither is your General. Besides, Axel and I are not even mated.” Espen huffed.
“You are sleeping in his chambers. He has to mate you. He has no choice,” he said. He made it sound as if this was a fact of life. He crossed one leg over the other. He looked so confident, like he belonged in these lavish chambers. I felt like an imposter.
“How could he? I am not a wolf,” I said. A moment of silence followed. “What would that mean for the heirs of this country?” I asked.
“This is not a monarchy. Leaders are chosen by merit, not by birth.”
“Still, a druid in such a high ranking position. Would that not be a problem?”
Espen stood up. His steps echoed, back and forth, on the stone floor. Not loudly, more like taps. Espen moved as if skipping a little with each step he took. “Gabriel, you do not understand our way of life. We follow General Axel, because he rebuilt the city. He traded for goods with faraway kingdoms, he took in werewolves and all manners of magical beings from the empire and beyond. He gave us a home in a pack or a town. Means to feed ourselves, places to fish and to hunt. If he wants a druid, he will have a druid. Gabriel, if he decided to give you the Evergreen Isles to make you king of the druids, we would take it for him.”
I found myself rocking the chair, not certain how to respond.
“Are there more magical beings like us- I mean, like me?” I asked.
“He allowed in all manners of magical beings, given they will defend the Oaklands when the time comes,” he said. “But beings fully made of magic are rare.” I nodded.
Most magical beings borrowed their magic. They were born with gifts that lasted a lifetime. They needed no magical source to sustain them. But druids, we needed the earth. We called on it with every breath. Our magic was no gift. It was our sustenance, our life force. Much like sorcerers. Even in a land filled with magic, we remained an anomaly.
I stood up from my chair. I grabbed Espen’s hand. Soft and tanned. Not as small as mine, but not calloused or rough. Nothing like my alpha’s. He stopped his pacing.
“If Axel makes the rules, what makes you so certain he will mate with me? What if he wants to use me and then take a wolf for a mate after he is done? What if he lied to me about taking responsibility for bedding me?” I asked. “Or what if he wants to make me his omega, but he stops treating me kindly? What if he hurts me, and I want to leave?” I looked into his eyes. No part of me actually believed Axel would do it, but I was not foolish enough to trust any alpha simply because I cared for them. Love could be blinding me from anything I did not wish to see.
“He burned alphas at the stake who abused their omegas. Beheaded betas who misled women, without taking responsibility,” he said.
“Anyone can pass judgement on others and claim virtue. Powerful men don’t always practice what they preach,” Espen grabbed my other hand as well.
“We do not follow laws or rules, Gabriel. We follow our General. But we will not follow someone who does not live by his own rules. If he beds you, he mates you, unless you refuse.”
He pulled me into a hug. It comforted me. I sighed, my shoulders still tense, but dropping. He was so convinced of their sovereign’s righteousness. That had to stand for something. It had to be enough for now.
When he let go of me, he was once again smiling. “We are to go to your chambers now, your grace. Your hair needs some work. We have other plans for today, since you have no shift,” he said. I let myself be dragged out of the room.
“Please Espen, no titles. Let us be friends.”
Several hours and outfits later, I found myself being dragged through parts of the castle I never knew existed. Passages and alleyways grey and damp as any other, with not a soul to see but us. Espen clothed me in the finest silks and a heavy maroon cloak. Felt and golden clasps, necklaces made of crystals I did not even recognise. And he left me wondering what all of it was for.
I imagined a ceremony of sorts, a ritual that required traditional attire of the highest quality. Instead, dolled up and ready for what was to come, I was told it was time to escape the castle for a day. Our first stop was the kitchens, with guards waiting for us outside the door. Espen claimed I wanted to eat the southern imperial coconut pie I had requested that morning. A claim that was made believable by my endless demands the night before, as well as the fact that Espen did in fact order the kitchen staff to dig into their supply of exotic fruits to make me the southern delicacy I desired.
Upon entering the kitchens through the entrance for the omega of the house, we kept close to the walls. We were not spotted as the entrance was out of sight, and out of use. At least until we stepped through the doors.
My job was not to alert the kitchen staff of our presence as we moved through the pantry. A task made near impossible when the soles of my boots clicked with every step that I took. It was during the pounding of dough that we managed to sneak behind a sack of flour, unseen.
We made our way through the pantry, only to be met with another obstacle. A trap door, nailed shut. We spent far too much time, and far too many close calls, removing the nail so we could finally continue our escape. It was discarded coconut shells that saved us, as we managed to use them to pull out the nail. And with that, we entered corridors and chambers that had not been used in years.
This maze led us outside, through stone decorated by stone; each turn we took leading us to a place indistinguishable from the last one.
At last, sunlight was in sight, at the end of a long hallway covered by a canopy of creepers and moss. There, in the sunlight, freedom appeared at last. How Espen could navigate the forgotten castle wing was as much a mystery to me as what awaited on the other side of the hallway.
“Inge?” Framed by sunlight, he appeared as an angel. Fur boots and a brown pelt. Dark hair glistening in the sun. A frown on his face.
“Took you long enough,” he said. “And why on earth did you come from the empty halls?”
Espen stretched his arms up high. We were in a small courtyard, green and well maintained. A place that was less cramped and not as deserted as the hallways we came from.
