The Male Omega

Chapter 17: Punishment in the Hall

I did not want to be there.

That was all I could think as Rowan helped me down the corridor.

My hip still hurt. Not enough to keep me in bed, Rowan had said, but enough that my steps were careful and slow. He stayed close beside me, one hand hovering near my arm without touching unless I faltered. I knew he wanted to support more of my weight. I also knew he was trying not to make me feel weaker than I already did.

It didn’t help much.

The message had come less than an hour after Xervic left my room. The alpha had ordered Lucan to appear in the east hall. Rowan and I were to attend.

Attend.

As if this were some formal household matter and not the aftermath of me being shoved into stone like something that could be knocked aside without consequence.

I wished Xervic had not called me.

I wished even more that I had been brave enough to say I couldn’t do it.

But I wasn’t.

So now I was here, walking into another bright hall where people would look at me and know.

The east hall was long and cold, lined with tall windows where snowlight spilled across the floor. Several members of the household were already gathered—not the whole family, but enough. Servants stood back near the walls. Lucan stood in the center with his hands clasped behind him, face blank in that stiff way people wore when they had been dragged into obedience.

Xervic stood a few steps in front of him.

He looked exactly as he always did.

Calm.

Composed.

Untouched by the unease making my stomach turn.

When Rowan and I entered, Xervic’s gaze shifted to us briefly.

I lowered my eyes at once.

“Stand there,” he said.

Not unkindly.

Not kindly.

Just an order.

I moved where indicated, stopping beside Rowan near one of the windows. My hip throbbed from the walk. I tried to hide the way I leaned slightly to one side.

Xervic looked at Lucan.

“You laid hands on someone under my authority,” he said.

The hall stayed silent.

I looked down at the floor and wished I could disappear into it.

Not because Xervic’s words were cruel.

Because they were not personal at all.

Not Kyle.

Not my mate.

Not even him.

Someone under my authority.

A problem of order.

A breach of control.

That truth settled heavily in my chest.

Lucan kept his face carefully blank. “Yes, Alpha.”

“You caused disturbance in my estate.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“You will not repeat it.”

“No, Alpha.”

That was all said in the same flat rhythm, like lines in a lesson. It should have made me feel better. Instead it made me feel more ashamed, as if I had been reduced into one more piece of household discipline between servants and schedules and winter accounts.

Then Xervic said, “Kneel.”

A tiny stir went through the hall.

My breath caught.

Lucan hesitated.

Only for a second.

Then he went down to one knee on the cold stone.

I stared.

Not because the punishment was severe.

Because it wasn’t.

But because it happened at all.

Lucan’s face had gone tight with humiliation. One of the servants near the back lowered her eyes quickly. I could feel the household watching, measuring, storing this moment away.

Xervic did not raise his voice.

“You forget yourself too easily,” he said. “You mistake blood relation for permission.”

Lucan’s jaw clenched. “Yes, Alpha.”

“You will remain out of the main family halls for seven days except when summoned. You will not address Mr. Knox without cause. If there is a second incident, the consequence will not be private.”

Private.

That word lingered.

So this—this humiliation, this forced kneeling in the east hall before servants and a few family witnesses—was mercy by Blackthorne standards.

I felt cold all at once.

Rowan, beside me, had gone very still.

I knew that stillness. He did not think it was enough.

If anything, that made me feel worse.

Because Lucan was being punished.

Because Xervic had acted.

Because Rowan was still angry.

Because somehow, in the middle of all of it, I still felt like the source of a mess spreading wider every time someone touched it.

Lucan lowered his head. “I understand.”

Xervic let the silence stretch a moment longer before saying, “Get up.”

Lucan rose at once.

His gaze flicked toward me.

Only a second.

But hatred lived in it now, sharper for having been forced to kneel where I could see.

My throat tightened.

I looked away immediately.

“Dismissed,” Xervic said.

Lucan left without another word.

The watchers began to scatter too, quiet as winter shadows. No one spoke to me. No one needed to. The hall was already thick with the kind of silence that meant talk would come later, behind doors, in servant passages, at private tables.

I wanted to go back to my room.

Instead I stood there too long, not sure whether I was meant to leave. Not sure whether my legs would feel steady enough if I tried.

Rowan touched lightly at my elbow. “Come on.”

I nodded.

But before I could turn, Xervic spoke.

“Mr. Knox.”

I froze.

Slowly, I looked up.

His gaze rested on me, cool and unreadable as ever.

“The matter is settled.”

Settled.

My fingers tightened inside my sleeves.

He meant to dismiss fear, perhaps.

To say there would be order now.

That the issue had been handled.

Instead the word landed strangely inside me, because nothing about this felt settled at all. Lucan still hated me. The household had seen enough to whisper harder. My hip still hurt. My shame still sat heavy and hot under my skin.

Still, I bowed my head.

“Yes, Alpha.”

That was all I could say.

His eyes stayed on me for one second longer, then shifted away. “You may return to your rooms.”

Rowan guided me out.

Neither of us spoke until we had reached the corridor.

Then Rowan said, voice low with anger, “That was too little.”

I flinched.

Not at him.

At the truth in it.

“He was punished,” I whispered.

Rowan looked at me sharply. “And now every person in this estate knows Lucan blames you for it.”

I stared at the floor.

Of course he did.

Of course they all would.

My stomach twisted.

“I didn’t want this,” I said softly.

Rowan’s expression changed at once.

Not softer.

Sadder.

“I know.”

That somehow made my eyes sting.

Because I hadn’t wanted Lucan punished if punishment meant more hatred.

I hadn’t wanted silence if silence meant more fear.

I hadn’t wanted any of this.

I had only wanted not to be shoved into stone like I was worth so little.

By the time we reached my room, my hip was aching again.

Rowan opened the door and let me in first. I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed my hands tightly together, trying to stop the shaking.

It didn’t work.

Rowan noticed anyway.

“Kyle.”

I looked down.

After a long moment, I whispered the only thing that felt true.

“Now he’ll hate me more.”