Chapter 4

Chapter Four

They traveled to Cleghorn with Royce’s mother and sister.

The trip on the helicopter took half an hour, and Haydn spent it getting to know his husband’s relatives while said husband was looking out the window, contributing next to nothing to the conversation.

At least, unlike some people, his relatives seemed nice enough.

Royce’s mother, Vagrippa Cleghorn, was a beta. She must have been in her late sixties, but she still looked lovely, her face barely lined.

Belinda Cleghorn was exceptionally pretty, her omega scent sweet and inoffensive. She was twenty-one, with the same black hair and black eyes her eldest brother had. Apparently she also had another brother, a male alpha four years her senior.

“Aksel is coming home soon,” Belinda told him excitedly. “Now that the war is over, his deployment will end.” Her eyes were bright with joy. “I miss him so much.”

“We all do, dear,” Vagrippa said, shooting her eldest son a look Haydn couldn’t quite read. “He should have never left.”

Royce’s jaw was locked. He said nothing.

Haydn wondered about the strange tension between the mother and the son, but he didn’t ask. He barely knew these people.

At last, they arrived.

Haydn got out of the helicopter and stared at the handsome mansion. It was smaller than his father’s palace, but not by much. It wasn’t as tall, but it was more sprawling.

“Welcome to Cleghorn, Haydn,” Vagrippa said. “Your new home.”

Haydn gave her a faint smile. He doubted he would stay here long enough to start thinking of this place as a home.

His cocked his head to the side as he noticed someone standing on the steps that led to the front door.

As they approached, it became obvious that the person was a male omega. He must have been around Haydn’s age, maybe older, but he smelled unclaimed, which was unusual for an omega over thirty, especially one that was so beautiful. And he really was. Light brown, wavy hair, large green eyes, a very lovely face with delicate bone structure and perfect skin, and a petite, fit body curvy in all the right places: this man looked like a picture-perfect omega.

“Lucien!” Belinda said, grabbing the omega’s hand and leaning in to kiss his cheek. “Allow me to introduce you to—”

“Belinda,” Vagrippa said sharply. “It’s custom for the man of the house to introduce his spouse himself.”

Belinda flushed, looking apologetically at her brother.

Royce didn’t look like he cared one way or the other.

“This is my husband, Haydn Schaefer,” he said, putting a hand on Lucien’s shoulder. “This is Lucien,” he said, giving the omega a soft smile.

Haydn pursed his lips, annoyed. This is Lucien? Really? He wasn’t even going to explain who the omega was?

He breathed in deeply, trying to rein in his temper, not understanding why this bothered him so much. But taking deep breaths only served to make him more aware of Lucien’s sweet scent. The scent of a fertile unclaimed omega. Lucien had clearly had his heat very recently; that was why his scent was overwhelmingly sweet.

Haydn noticed that Royce was watching him carefully, his eyes slightly narrowed. At first he was confused before realizing that Royce must have felt protective of that omega.

It rubbed Haydn the wrong way for reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Did his husband think he was so uncivilized that he couldn’t control himself around an omega fresh out of heat? He was hardly a green alpha who’d recently popped his first knot.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Haydn said in his nicest voice, stretching his hand out.

After a moment, Lucien smiled at him tentatively and grasped it. “You are very lucky,” he said. His voice was pleasant and melodic. A perfect omega voice. “Royce is wonderful. The best man I know.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Royce said with a laugh, his eyes fond as he gazed at the omega.

Lucien grinned at him. “No, I’m not—” He let out a pained sound and yanked his hand out of Haydn’s grasp, his scent spiking with anxiety and wariness.

“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” Haydn said, shrugging apologetically. “Sometimes I don’t know my own strength.”

Royce laid a hand on Haydn’s shoulder, gripping it a little too tightly. In clear warning.

Haydn stiffened. The touch seemed to be burning him even through the layers of his clothes.

“Let’s go inside,” Royce said, steering him toward the front door. To onlookers, it probably looked like Royce was being an attentive husband, but Haydn could feel the hardness of his grip. It didn’t hurt, but it could. They both knew it. It made Haydn’s skin prickle.

Once they reached the house, everything was a bit of a blur. He was introduced to the staff and showed around by the friendly housekeeper. His husband accompanied them on the tour but remained silent, stone-faced, watching Haydn with a sharp, strange look in his eyes.

By the end of the tour, Haydn felt like screaming. Or punching someone. His skin was crawling with terrible awareness and he was subconsciously pumping out alpha pheromones for no damn reason. He felt threatened, but he wasn’t even sure why. Everyone was friendly and nice to him, as if he were a real husband of their boss rather than a political match.

When they reached Royce’s office, the beta thanked the housekeeper and pushed Haydn inside it.

The door shut with a hard thud, and they were alone.

“What was that?” Royce said.

Haydn crossed his arms over his chest. “What was what?”

Royce stepped closer until they were toe to toe. Black eyes bored into him. “The way you behaved with Lucien. It was unacceptable.”

“I did nothing. I was nice.”

“Your body language wasn’t nice. Nor was your scent.” Royce grimaced. “Look, don’t take it personally, but you should cut that alpha bullshit out when you’re in this house, especially around Lucien.”

Haydn pressed his lips into a thin line. Lucien this, Lucien that. “Why? What’s so special about Lucien?” His voice was snider than he’d intended.

Royce’s eyes hardened. “It’s not my story to tell. Just stay away from him.”

Haydn glared at him, acutely aware how unsteady his breathing was. How close they were. “Who do you think you are to give me orders? Even my father is less high-handed than you, and he’s an alpha. I am, too.” Part of him was mortified by the immature posturing shit coming out of his mouth. He was better than that, but he couldn’t seem to stop as he said condescendingly, “You’re forgetting yourself, husband.”

Royce slammed him against the door so hard his bones rattled, that familiar scent of ozone becoming overwhelming again.

“Maybe you’re used to people catering to your every whim, but you’re not in Pelugia anymore,” Royce said, his pupils dilated. “This is my house. If I say you should be nicer to Lucien, you will be. Is that understood?”

That low, deep voice and strong scent were doing something strange to him. He could barely breathe.

Before he realized what he was doing, Haydn tilted his head to the side. Baring his throat.

Royce went very still.

Haydn flushed, mortified and confused by his own behavior. Alphas didn’t bare their throats, or at least bared them very rarely as a sign of respect, usually to older alphas they were related to. He had no damn reason to bare his throat to his beta husband.

But before he could retract the offer, Royce lifted his hand and pressed his thumb against the scent gland on Haydn’s neck.

Haydn inhaled shakily and allowed him to scent-mark him. It was the most innocent, non-invasive form of scent-marking, but it was still scent-marking. He could feel the scent of ozone lingering on his skin, very faint but there.

After a short while, the anger receded from Royce’s scent. He let his hand drop, and for a few moments, they just stared at each other.

Haydn forced himself to keep holding his gaze, even though the urge to drop it was nearly irresistible. His body felt off, his knees weak.

“Years ago, Lucien was a victim of rape,” Royce said quietly. “He was in his first heat during a skirmish attack by a group of Pelugian alphas. Your people raped him while he was too lost in heat to even resist. He was fourteen.”

Haydn swallowed. He would like to say that what he’d heard surprised him, but unfortunately, things like that happened all the time during the war, on both sides. He still felt guilty for his aggressive behavior with Lucien earlier. The poor omega must have been scared of alphas, especially Pelugian alphas.

“I’m sorry,” he said, awkwardly.

Royce made a dismissive noise. “I don’t blame you for something your people did when you were a child. But I will blame you if you scare Lucien with your alpha bullshit and cause any bad memories to resurface.”

“Wait,” Haydn said, confused. “You mean he lives here?”

Royce heaved a sigh. “Of course he lives here. He has nowhere to go. He comes from a very old, influential family, but they disowned him after his ‘disgrace,’ especially since he got with child.”

“And your parents took him in even with a child?” Haydn said, a little surprised by such kindness. No matter how unfair it was, rape victims were not treated kindly by society, neither in Kadar nor in Pelugia. It was beyond fucked-up and old-fashioned, but omegas’ purity was still very valued. The Cleghorns were old money. It was surprising that they had taken in a disgraced, disowned omega with a bastard child.

Royce shook his head. “Lucien lost the child due to too much stress. My father took pity on Lucien and claimed him as his second spouse.”

Haydn’s eyebrows flew up. He was bewildered for a moment before remembering that in the Kadarian society an alpha was permitted to marry multiple people as long as the alpha could provide for additional spouses. “Wasn’t Lucien fourteen at the time? That’s gross.”

“My father wasn’t a pedophile,” Royce bit out. “The marriage was on paper only, to give Lucien some respectability.”

“Did it?” Haydn said softly.

Royce grimaced. “Yes and no. People didn’t forget anything, but Lucien is accepted into polite society, as part of our family. He still prefers to stay at home.”

“So he’s actually your stepfather,” Haydn stated.

Royce let out a laugh. “We’re almost the same age. I’ve never seen him as one. But Belinda does see him as a parental figure—Lucien even nursed her, because our mother didn’t want to breastfeed.”

Haydn nodded thoughtfully. Now Belinda’s affection for Lucien made sense, as did Royce’s protectiveness. “Thank you for telling me this,” he said. “I appreciate it. And I promise I’ll be more careful around him.”

Something like surprise flickered in Royce’s eyes, as if he hadn’t expected Haydn to be a decent enough person to make such a promise. It was a little insulting.

“Thank you,” Royce said.

Haydn just nodded. He looked around and raked a hand through his hair, searching for something to say.

“Could you show me to my bedroom?” he said. “I know your housekeeper told me where it is, but I’m not confident I can find it again. The house is huge.”

“Of course,” Royce said, opening the door and guiding him out of the room with a steady hand on his back.

Haydn had to suppress the urge to shrug it off. After fourteen years of fighting a war, it was difficult to accept a hand on his unprotected back. But he had to accept it. This man was his husband. They needed to learn how to get along if they hoped for the peace to hold. It was bad enough that they’d nearly come to blows a few minutes ago. They needed to do better than that.

“It’s here,” Royce said, stopping in front of a door on the second floor. “My room is at the end of the corridor if you need anything.”

Haydn turned to him and hesitated. But they needed to talk about it, to establish that they both understood where they stood. “Do you expect us to have sex?” he said bluntly.

Royce stared at him.

The silence stretched, becoming awkward.

Haydn crossed his arms over his chest.

Finally, Royce said, “Don’t take it personally, but I don’t find alphas attractive.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Haydn gave a clipped nod. “Okay. So I presume this is going to be an open marriage?”

A tiny wrinkle appeared between Royce’s brows.

It was taking him an inordinate amount of time to answer such a simple question.

Haydn raised his eyebrows and laughed a little. “Surely you don’t expect us to be celibate for the rest of our lives?”

Grimacing, Royce said, “I know. I just don’t really like the thought of other people touching my stuff.”

“Excuse you? I’m not ‘your stuff,’” Haydn said, though he was somewhat amused. “I can’t believe you had the nerve to lecture me on my alpha bullshit. Are you sure you don’t have a knot?”

He expected Royce to laugh it off.

Instead, his expression became very strange. Hesitant. Wary.

Haydn’s amusement faded. Wait, what?

Before he could say anything, Royce pushed him inside the bedroom. Closing the door, he turned and regarded Haydn with solemn dark eyes.

“How committed are you to the peace?” Royce said. “Do you truly want it?”

Haydn cocked his head to the side, taken aback by the change of subject. “Of course I’m committed,” he said with a brittle smile. “I’m so tired of this war. I’ve been killing people since I was sixteen, Royce. I might be good at it, but it’s not something I actually want to do.”

Royce’s eyes seemed to look right into his soul.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he nodded. “Then you must know the difficulties we will face. I’m not a beta. I’m an alpha.”

Haydn would’ve liked to say that he was shocked—and he was—but the strongest emotion he felt was relief. Now everything finally made a little more sense. His strange reaction to this man was a little more understandable now. The way his skin crawled with awareness and alertness, the way he bristled from having Royce in his personal space: it all made sense.

Royce was eyeing him warily, as if he was expecting him to be angry. Haydn wasn’t sure why he wasn’t. Mostly, he was disturbed.

“Why did your prime minister pick you? I specifically requested a beta.” Did Taube not want this peace to last?

“He doesn’t know,” Royce said. “No one outside my family does.”

Haydn frowned. “I don’t really understand why you would pretend to be a beta. There are more alpha politicians than there are betas.” He sniffed carefully. “You smell like a beta.” Though now he was wondering if the smell of ozone and wet soil that appeared in Royce’s scent when he was angry was his true alpha scent.

Sighing, Royce loosened his tie and stepped out onto the balcony.

Haydn followed him.

They watched the scenery for a while.

It was pretty here, Haydn had to admit. The estate was beautifully situated on green hills sloping quite gently down to the sea. There was a tall forest in the distance, its green and red trees visually spectacular, especially in the reddish rays of the setting sun. The four moons of Eila were visible on the darkening sky.

“Are you aware that during wartime, all Kadarian alphas under the age of thirty-five have to serve ten years in our army regardless of whether they want it or not?”

Haydn turned his head and looked at Royce’s profile. It was a handsome profile: strong, stubbled jaw, straight nose, sensual mouth. It was a pity he was an alpha.

“I’m aware,” he said. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Royce’s gaze was fixed on the setting sun. “I used to have an older sister. She was an alpha, and she was drafted when she turned seventeen. She died a few months later.” He pursed his lips. “My mother was inconsolable. I was eleven at the time. When I presented as an alpha a few years later, my mother was scared she would lose another child to this war. She somehow managed to get an illegal beta implant and had me implanted with it. It masks my true scent and somewhat hinders my senses, but now I have to live with it if I don’t want her to get in trouble for falsifying my presentation documents.”

Haydn furrowed his eyebrows. “You don’t get children tested after they’re born?” That was how things had been done in Pelugia for centuries. Everyone already knew who they were going to present as from early childhood.

Royce shook his head. “Testing children is against the law. In that regard, we are a traditional society. Presentation is still an event for every child, and we think that knowing who you will present as just takes all the fun out of it.”

Haydn drummed his fingers over the railing absentmindedly. “But isn’t your brother in the army?”

“Yes. Aksel is eleven years younger than me. By the time he presented as an alpha, I was already an adult. I forbade my mother from falsifying his documents and making him pretend to be something he isn’t.”

Ah. That explained the strange tension between Royce and his mother.

“I see,” Haydn murmured. “It must be a relief for you that the war is over.” If Royce’s younger brother died, that would have likely been on his conscience forever.

Royce gave a clipped nod.

“For all it’s worth, I think you did the right thing,” Haydn said.

Royce looked at him, a long look that made something in Haydn’s stomach squirm.

“You’re different from what I expected,” he said at last.

Haydn chuckled. “In a good way or a bad way?”

“Good.”

Haydn grinned, batting his eyelashes exaggeratedly. “Why, thank you, husband mine.”

Royce gave a snort. “Definitely more ridiculous.” He turned toward the door. “I’m sure you’re tired,” he said. “I certainly am.”

“Yeah,” Haydn murmured. “Good night.”

“Good night, Haydn.”

As the door shut behind him, Haydn smiled a little to himself, looking at the sunset. Royce hadn’t even bothered to extract a promise from him that he wouldn’t tell his secret to anyone. That implied that he believed he was trustworthy. It pleased Haydn, more than he could express. Although their relationship had started off rocky, maybe he and Royce could actually become… friends?

What more could one ask of a marriage between two alphas?

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