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And she doesn’t look like an omega.

At least, not the way that I would think. She stands with her head tipped up; her gaze sharp. She actually looks…confident? Her body is just as curvy as mine, if not more, and she wears a soft black dress that hugs her hips and bust like it was made for her.

I don’t think I’ve ever looked like that in my entire life.

“Hello?” she prompts, waving her hand in front of my face. “Are you—”

But at that moment, there’s a sound at the other end of the hallway. This time, the omega doesn’t try to block my path as I start to run, but it doesn’t matter either way.

Augustus’s hand darts around my wrist, catching me instantly and starting to tug me back. His touch once more sends my body into a state of total disarray, my skin sparking, sweat beading up on the back of my neck.

I want to give in to him instantly. To curl my body against him and let him wrap me up in his arms. Ideally, those arms would carry me back to his bedroom.

But I resist the urges, berating the voice in my head that’s begging to be his.

Augustus’s hair is mussed, and he’s breathing hard, like he had to run from across the castle to get to me. His dark eyes search my body, as though he’s worried I might be harmed. When they finally settle on my eyes, he holds my gaze, his voice dripping with anger. “If you want me to throw you in the dungeon with the other prisoners, I will. What did I tell you about—”

“Brother.” The omega interjects, and he turns to look at her for the first time since bursting onto the scene, blinking as though he really didn’t realize she was standing there. “No. I got her from her room.”

“You did.” He deadpans, clearly not believing her. He drops my wrist, which I am both happy for and furious at. Crossing his arms, he stares his sister down. “The guard didn’t see you come, Aurora.”

“Yes, well, maybe he would have seen me if he had been at his post,” she responds, gambling so blatantly with that statement that it makes my face heat. Her eyes dart to mine, and I give her the slightest nod. “What did you expect? For me to wait around for him to come back? Who knows how long that would have been.”

“How did you get her out?” Augustus challenges.

I step in, “The door was unlocked.”

“It was?”

“You can go check it right now,” I say, inching even closer to his sister, like us standing next to each other might make it believable. “It’s not locked.”

He continues looking between the two of us like he doesn’t believe it for a moment.

“You told me to come see her,” his sister protests, which sends another flush of awareness through me. He told his sister to come see me? What does that mean? Does it mean anything at all? “And now you’re here, harassing us when all I’m doing is obeying your orders.”

She puts an extra emphasis on obeying your orders that makes it clear she thinks it’s a ridiculous thing to do. Augustus sighs, his jaw shifting for a moment, then he relents.

“Fine. You can spend one hour out of the room with Aurora. But I am assigning a guard to both of you, and you’d better not think of dodging them.”

“How could a little old omega ever do something like that?” Aurora asks, batting her eyes at her brother, and I watch in amazement as Augustus actually chuckles at this. Shaking his head, he darts one last look at me before turning back down the hallway and barking at a guard to stay with us, no matter where we go.

Turning to his sister—Aurora—I stare at her, incredulous.

“What?” she asks, her voice getting sharper again. She takes a step away from me, regaining her space. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“I just can’t believe you talk to him like that.”

“Believe it or not, I am his older sister,” she says, her face softening as she looks down the hallway in his direction. “And there was a time before all this that I was in charge.”

As children, the biological determinants for your caste aren’t totally set yet. They can usually tell which kids are alphas, omegas, and betas based on scent and behavior, but it does have a little wiggle room. Which means, of course, that lots of siblings are in for a rude awakening when they go through puberty and find themselves suddenly cast far below their siblings in the social rule.

I imagine it—little Aurora bossing around little Augustus. Did their parents ever think Aurora might have been an alpha, too? That they could have had two leaders in their brood? Or did they assume, from the outset, that she would be an omega, and treat her that way?

The dynamics of the entire thing must have been altered too by the fact that they weren’t just normal children. They’re royalty. Aurora is a princess, and I am nothing.

“Come on,” she says, as though she can hear what’s happening in my head and is already bored by it. “Brother wants me to get you some clothes. I can get you some clothes.”

Chapter 10 - Augustus