The Alpha King’s Last Regret

8

Kade King

I rode away from the Omega Fortress with anger clawing my ribs and confusion gnawing my skull. Well, I have already been accustomed to that type of feelings. No Majesty is bred for peace, certainly not the lone son of the true Alpha King. Fear was my cradle, cruelty my tutor, a golden throne my cage. I am a man born of grief and raise in hate.

I am Kade King Majesty, the single heir of a murdered monarch. Had death hasn’t been too cruel, I might have shared the burden with maybe a siblings; instead, I was forged in solitude and taught that spilled blood is a fair tax and that people, especially omegas, are coin to be spent. And I believed it all, until I met her.

Five years ago I used a soft eyed omega to break Drizzel Uriah. I paid her in moon coins, left without backward glance, and vanished to Moonspire Citadel. There the five year Rite carved power into my bones and immortality into my veins.

I thought that was all it would take. Use her, forget her, and move on like she never existed. But I was wrong. So very wrong. For five long years, I have found myself haunted by her.

By that one sincere smile. By the innocence in her eyes, the way she looked at me like I was worth something more than a crown.

And her hair… gods, that long hair. I used to dream of running my fingers through it, of tangling myself in the softness I never deserved.

Every night, it was her. That Omega. The one I never should have touched… and yet, the only one I have never been able to let go of.

When I returned last week after five good years of being away, ready to be King and rule, I stood on the same veranda where we had last seen and I felt my lungs seize. Where was the naïve girl who had given me her heart and soul?

My Beta, my aides, even the palace court ladies spoke in deflections, they won’t breathe a word about her. They are all chosen by my mother So I shattered protocol. A king stepped into the Omega Fortress. I found My Omega harder than iron, loss smoldering in her eyes. Her mother's portrait hung like a gravestone; the hush of her rooms tasted of funerals. Only one person could explain what has taken place in my absence. My mother, Luna Queen Lysander.

Tonight, under the moonlight, the royal motorcade slides through wrought iron gates into the castle's middle wing, my private dominion.

Leif, my Beta, opens the car door; and I step onto steps polished enough to mirror stars. Overhead, Xerox watches from a balcony. Our gazes meet, two predators measuring and at last he bows.

I looked away from him, heading into the vaulted passage and at once aides in night blue livery sprint to greet me, each dropping to a knee, but I ignore them all.

I walked pass, heading to my private chamber when the crack of heels echoes, a warning shot of perfume and iron.

“Where have you been, Your Majesty?” The Queen's voice purls through the corridor, smooth as silk drawn over a blade.

“Out,” I say, not slowing down.

A sharp breath, half scoff, half snarl came from her.

“Do not tell me you come from the omega ghetto.”

The anger in her voice stops me. I turned and level a stare cold enough to frost stone. Nearby maids bow instantly, faces to the floor.

“How many time will I mention to you… that it wasn’t a Ghetto. It is a Fortress. Do not use vulgar words in my domain, and if I have, Mother?”

“King…”

“I asked you a question.” My steps eat the space between us.. “If I walked the Omega Fortress, what would you do?”

A thin line forms at her mouth, but her chin lifts, in helpless rage..

“I see You have not yet healed from Moonspire Citadel’s ordeal. I understand. It is five years of rituals. You should rest.”

She moves to pass but I fling a truth like a dagger.

“I want her.”

Queen Lysander halts. The pearls at her throat seem to pulse.

“What?”

“You heard. I want her. I can’t forget about her and it’s driving me insane.”

Color drains from her skin instantly but still, her reply glides out calm and lethal.

“You are a king. Omegas exist to be used and discarded, not cherished. You cannot love her.”

Love. That one word and wound. Drizzel was a game; Pearl Gem is something else. I have convinced myself all along that Drizzel is the woman I love and cherished, that, until I met someone I am obsessed with. I can’t get her out of my head. All through the five years of being away, all I ever wanted was her. Maybe it’s not love. Maybe it is just an obsession after all because deep down in my gut, I love how My Omega makes my mother feel threaten. I’d use her to get my mother pain and negotiate.

“I do not love her. It's a convenient fiction.” I finally replied quietly.

“You can not feign it, either,” She says, voice as soft as falling ash. “As prince I only allowed that dirty plan because you are hellbent on making Drizzel Uriah mad but now You are someone else. As king you know how many people want your downfall?, will you compel me to repeat sin?”

Her diction is needle precise, threatening and begging in equal measure. I clench my jaw.

"Five years ago you promised she would walk away unharmed. You lied.”

Steel sparks in her eyes; the corridor seems to shrink. After a moment she bows, lashes sweeping marble.

“I kept her alive. That was my oath, and I honored it.” She straightens, ice crystallizing in every syllable. “Do not force me to make her shed nore tears. You can not have an Onega. She can never be yours.”

With a swirl, smooth movement, she departs, courtiers scurrying after her like frightened doves.

Silence floods the hall, thicker than smoke. Five long years had passed but the damage seems to have been done, Yet I am no puppet now. The crown presses on my brow, heavy but mine. I will unravel the secrets buried in my absence, mend what I shattered, and chain peace to my throne or I might as well continue to live in nightmare till eternity.