Chapter 20: The one Father listens to.

Kai did not raise his voice.

He never needed to. The corridor itself seemed to contract around the three of them, torchlight catching the hard line of his shoulders and the unreadable calm of his face. Aaron and Dexter stood frozen in the alcove’s mouth, the earlier fragile understanding between them evaporating under their eldest brother’s stare.

"I asked for an explanation," Kai said, staring down at the two men who had done nothing but give him excuses. "I did not ask for justifications, excuses, or whatever conversation you two were having about feelings in a public hallway after midnight."

Aaron’s jaw flexed. "Kai—"

"No."

The single syllable cut cleanly through whatever protest had been forming. Kai’s gaze moved from Aaron to Dexter and back again, cold enough to frost the air between them.

"You were both ordered to stay away from the omega. Father made the terms explicit. And yet I find the two of you lingering outside his door like dogs waiting for a scrap." His voice remained level, but something dangerous moved underneath it. "Do either of you understand the risk you are taking, or have the bond and your pride made you genuinely stupid?"

Dexter’s expression stayed carefully blank. Aaron’s did not.

"He’s still our—"

"He is a complication Father has already decided how to solve," Kai interrupted. "And you are both compounding it by sneaking around the supervised wing in the middle of the night. If a servant had seen you, if a guard had reported it, if Father had decided to walk this corridor himself, the death order could have been reinstated before either of you finished whatever sentimental conversation you were having."

He took one step closer. The dominance in his scent sharpened, weighing down on the other two like a force.

"And then there is the Eastridge Alpha." Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Elvis. A man who arrived on our territory, petitioned our father, and is already positioned as the reasonable external party who ’saved’ the omega from execution. You want to break rules and posture against one of the strongest Alphas currently under this roof? To what end? So he can smile, report your instability, and watch Father tighten the suppressant regimen further? Or worse?"

Aaron’s hands had curled into fists at his sides. He respected Aaron so much, but right now he wanted nothing more than to punch his elder brother right in the face. He hated how Kai always stood by the rules, how he always acted righteous and all, it made him sick.

"You felt it the same as we did," Aaron said, voice low and rough. "The pull. Don’t stand there and talk like it’s nothing."

Kai’s expression did not change. If anything, it grew colder.

"I felt it. I also understand what it is. Fate toyed with a slave and three heirs for its own amusement. That does not make the slave a future. It does not make him a partner. It does not make him anything except a temporary disruption that chemicals and time can correct." He looked at each of them in turn. "The suppressants are already working. The bond is weakening. The cleanest path, the only path that does not end with further embarrassment to this house—is to let them finish the job and forget him."

Dexter who had never felt an urge to oppose Kai, had finally had enough. "You don’t believe that."

Kai’s gaze settled on his youngest brother. For a fraction of a second something unreadable flickered behind his ice cold face. Then it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

"What I believe is irrelevant. What I know is that continuing to chase an omega under active chemical suppression, while an outside Alpha circles and Father watches for disobedience, is reckless to the point of self-destruction. You are not children. Stop acting like them."

Aaron stepped forward. The movement was sharp, instinctive. "He’s not just—"

"Enough."

Kai did not shout. He simply made the word absolute. Aaron stopped as if he had walked into a wall of pure authority. The eldest prince’s eyes were flat and final.

"Go to bed, Aaron. Whatever speech you are preparing, whatever declaration about bonds and equality and not being overlooked, save it. It changes nothing. The omega is a debt payment on suppressants. You will not see him again. You will not interfere with the regimen. You will direct your energy toward things that actually matter to the future of this pack."

He turned his head slightly toward Dexter. The shift was deliberate.

"And you. Father has already begun reviewing suitable female omegas for you. Dominant lines with strong political value. The kind of match that strengthens the house instead of complicating it. He expects you to participate in the selection process without further distractions. The claim you made in secret will be allowed to wither along with the rest of the pull. Do not give him reason to decide otherwise."

Dexter’s face remained composed, but something in his posture went very still. The silver-haired prince who had spoken earlier of cunning routes and never winning a direct contest looked, for a moment, as if the ground beneath him had shifted.

Kai straightened the cuff of his sleeve with unhurried precision, as if the conversation had been a minor administrative matter rather than the quiet dismantling of everything the last days had built.

"Both of you will return to your rooms. You will not come back to this wing tonight. You will not attempt contact tomorrow. If I find either of you near him again before the suppressants have done their work, I will not intercede when Father decides the original solution was cleaner after all."

He looked at them once more, and then simply turned away.

His footsteps receded down the corridor, until the junction swallowed him and the hallway was left to the two younger princes and the weight of what had just been declared.

Aaron’s breathing was audible in the sudden quiet. He wanted to scream, to break something and just unleash all this anger elsewhere. But he knew better than to cause a commotion in a place they were not allowed to be.

Dexter spoke first, voice barely above a whisper.

"He’s wrong."

Aaron did not answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the empty corridor where Kai had disappeared, the old, familiar rage coiling tight in his chest—not only at the dismissal, but at the ease with which their eldest brother had reduced Levi to a problem scheduled for erasure.

"I know," Aaron said eventually, the words scraped raw. "But he’s still the one Father listens to."