The Alpha's Auctioned Omega

Chapter 08: Roses

He's asleep.

I went back to the room where Cyrus was; however, I found him asleep on the couch with his right arm covering his forehead. I pressed my lips together and slowly closed the door as I left the room. I do not have any idea about what he wanted to talk about. I'd probably just ask him when he wakes up—if I get a chance to see him again.

"Are you the new maid?"

My back straightened as I saw a maid passing by. She is approximately my age, a bit shorter than me, thinner too, and her hair is red and wavy. She's a human. She stopped in front of me and arched her brow as she glanced at me and at the closed door of the room.

"What are you doing in that room? Did you just come out?" she asked. Her voice is not gentle, but not rude as well.

I can see from her brown eyes that she is waiting intently for my answer.

I adamantly shook my head in response.

She sighed and shrugged. "That's the Alpha King's workplace. You shouldn't be entering that room without him knowing," the maid stated and walked away after rolling her eyes at me. She thought I didn't see her, did she, huh?

...

The next morning, I woke up after a night of good and nice sleep. Aside from the sheets and pillows being so soft, fragrant, and comfy, I dreamt of Cyrus and me together in a garden of tulips of various colors, filled with butterflies, and a ray of sunny sunshine above us. We were just lying down there on the grass while talking about life, chuckling and flirting with each other. Shall I hope for that dream to come true?

Yesterday, what happened was unexpected. I didn't even imagine doing such a thing with Cyrus before. All I thought about was just holding hands with him and having fun together. But that—that wasn't supposed to happen. My inner wolf was intensely in the heat yesterday and I didn't get to control myself anymore. Even Cyrus kept telling me to calm my pheromones, but I didn't even know how to do that.

Nonetheless, it was a blast. I know that experience of mine is the first and last.

I sat down on my bed as soon as I heard several knocks on my door. I tried to sense who could be this intruder, but I couldn't sense its presence. It's Kieran—the mysterious mage no one could sense.

"The door isn't locked!" I shouted in my hoarse morning voice. It's just five in the morning and my throat has already got scarred by scr*aming.

Kieran's slowly opened the door and greeted me with a smile on his face and his dimples saying, “Hi.” I was surprised to see him already wearing his royal chaperone uniform this early. I greeted him back with a languid smile.

Kieran closed the door as soon as he stepped inside the room. He crossed his arms and leaned on the closed door. He winked at me and pulled out a piece of cigarette from the pocket of his trousers and a lighter from the other pocket. I just stared at him as he placed the cigarette stick between his lips and lit it up. If I was a girl who loved cigarette-smoking, unhealthy living men, I would find Kieran hot while smoking. The way he places the cigarette between his lips and lifts it up is unbelievably plausible and attractive. But unfortunately, I am not that kind of lady. I hate it when someone SMOKES cigarettes NEAR me! Is he even thinking? Yesterday, he told me to always keep a good reputation and be a good lassie, and now he's killing me?!

"Did you get enough sleep?" he asked after blowing smoke out of his mouth. His jaw tightened when he did that.

I remained my eyes on him blankly. The smoke that oozed out of his lips turned into red roses’ petals. What's even better is that those petals didn't smell like smoke. They smelled sweet and seductive. I ended up gasping at what my eyes were seeing.

"You're telling me what I'm seeing right now isn't a dream?" I asked in a subtle tone.

Kieran shook his head as smoke seeped out of his mouth again. And just like what happened, it turned into petals and gracefully fell on the marble floor.

"I am a mage, eagle, and also a smoker. But of course, I couldn't smoke outside because the other guards would see me. It is strictly forbidden to smoke inside the royal castle’s premises."

"But YOU ARE SMOKING inside the royal castle's premises?" I retorted.

Kieran pulled the cigarette stick out of his mouth and held it between his thumb and forefinger like that stick was his wand.

"No one's going to see me here."

"Well, sadly, I can see you, Mr. Kieran Edevane." I finally got up from my bed and crossed my arms at him with one of my eyebrows raised. "And why don't you smoke inside your room then? Are you trying to show me your magic skills? Are you trying to impress me, perhaps?"

That was a rhetorical question, but Kieran responded to it like he knew I was going to ask him those.

"And if I am trying to impress you, then what will you do?"

No words came out of my mouth and my mind went blank like water.

He smirked at me and continued smoking.

I just watched him in awe until he finished smoking. Red and magenta petals covered the floor of my room. I didn't even realize that those petals were multiplying.

Kieran dropped the cigarette stick on the floor with all the petals. The stick turned into a rose. A beautiful and beguiling black rose.

"Why is it black?" I asked him.

"You know," Kieran said and knelt down on his knees as he traced his long and delicate fingers on the black rose's petals. "black has always been deemed ugly. Nobody knew black roses existed because they were always focused on the so-called 'beautiful' ones—which are red."

"But amidst this ocean of pretty red petals, everyone's eyes will be on the black rose because it is different. It is something they had never seen."

Kieran looked back at me.

"Maybe black roses aren't really as beautiful as the red ones, but they are different—and that's what matters. They remain on the ground unyielding even when nobody beholds their true worth," he halts for a while. "And that I see in you, Aquilla. You are different."