Chapter 40: A Strange Boldness

Merrick’s back remained flat against the wall, Aaron’s forearm a bar across the space near his collarbone, not quite pressing into his throat but close enough that every breath felt like an invitation to danger.

"No," he finally said. His voice was shaky, so shaky that Merrick was even surprised he could produce a sound. "No one sent me, my prince.. No one. I was assigned the morning rotation. That is all."

Aaron’s eyes stayed locked on his face, dark and unconvinced. The suspicion had not eased. If anything, the proximity seemed to sharpen it.

"Then explain the scent." Aaron’s voice stayed low, rough with leftover sleep and something hotter. "You’ve been empty air for years. Every suppressed omega in this house smells like nothing. This morning you walk into my room smelling like you’re up to something, and you expect me to believe it’s a coincidence? Why the hell are you here unsuppressed? Are you trying to seduce me?"

Merrick’s pulse slammed so hard he was certain Aaron could feel it. The honest answer rose immediately, desperate and suicidal: Yes. For five years. Yes. He could feel the shape of it on his tongue, but he swallowed it.

Saying yes would end whatever thin safety he still possessed. It would turn a missed dose into deliberate offense. And it would give the second prince every reason to have him removed, reassigned, or worse. In a house that already treated omegas as manageable resources, an unsuppressed servant who admitted to wanting one of the heirs would not be given the benefit of the doubt.

"No," Merrick said, and hated how quickly the denial came. "No, my prince. I would never— It was never my intention. I missed the evening dose, and I take full responsibility. The scent is only the result of that lapse. I did not come here to... to attempt anything. I apologize. It will not happen again."

Aaron stared at him in silence.

The assessment that followed was slow and thorough. Aaron’s gaze moved from Merrick’s face to the pulse jumping in his throat, then lower, taking in the rigid servant posture, the tremor in his hands, the faint but undeniable omega signature that years of chemical restraint had previously erased. He inhaled once more, deliberate, sorting the weak sweetness from the leftover traces of the woman who had left and from his own unresolved frustration.

Something in his expression shifted.

The scent was there. It was omega. It carried the soft, inviting edge that biology designed to pull. But it did nothing to him. No flare of the bond-hunger that had been riding him since the kiss with Levi. No heat beyond the ordinary irritation of a disrupted morning. Compared to the stubborn, infuriating pull that still pointed toward the Hill omega even under suppressants, this was simply...irrelevant.

Aaron’s forearm loosened.

He stepped back in one controlled movement, putting space between them, and turned away as if the proximity had suddenly become more trouble than it was worth. Merrick remained against the wall, breathing carefully, while the second prince crossed to the discarded clothes near the bed and began dressing with short, impatient motions.

When Aaron spoke again, he did not look at Merrick immediately.

"You will resume the suppressants today. This morning. Before you perform another duty in this wing." His voice had flattened into something closer to an order than a conversation. "If you appear near me again carrying even a trace of that scent, I will assume the lapse was intentional. You do not want me to decide it was intentional. Am I clear?"

"Yes, my prince." The answer left Merrick automatically. He nodded once, too quickly, then again. "Completely clear. I will go to the distribution room at once. I will correct it. It will not happen again."

Aaron finally glanced at him. The earlier suspicion had banked, replaced by the more familiar restless irritation of a man whose morning had already gone wrong in too many directions. He jerked his chin toward the door.

"Dismissed. Take the tray with you. And Merrick—"

The use of his name, rare enough to register, cut through the fear.

"Do not test whether I am bluffing about the consequences. I am not in the habit of repeating warnings."

"Yes, my prince."

Merrick pushed away from the wall on legs that felt unreliable. He collected the tray with hands that still trembled, kept his eyes lowered in the proper posture, and crossed to the door without turning his back fully until he had to. The latch gave under his fingers. Cooler corridor air spilled in, calm and ordinary after the charged heat of the room. He stepped through, pulled the door shut with deliberate care, and only then allowed himself to lean his shoulder against the opposite wall for a single stolen second.

His heart was still slamming.

The encounter replayed in fragments: Are you trying to seduce me? A part of him wished he had simply said the truth, maybe he might have gotten an answer that he hadn’t expected. But denying was probably better, it was best safe than sorry.

He had been ordered to resume the suppressants. He had been warned, clearly and without ornament, that another unsuppressed appearance would be treated as deliberate. The consequences had been left unspecified, which somehow made them heavier. Aaron did not waste time on elaborate threats. When the second prince said a servant would not like the result of testing him, the household had learned to listen.

Merrick straightened, adjusted his grip on the tray, and started walking.

The logical path was immediate and obvious, go straight to the distribution room, swallow the dose, force the returning scent and the sharpened wanting back under control before they complicated his life any further.

And yet.

Under the fear and rationality, something else moved, something else was stirring inside of Merrick. Aaron had smelt him, had felt his presence, and his scents invitation, that surely must have done something to the Alpha. Perhaps if he came back with a stronger scent, maybe that would be enough...

He didn’t let himself think too much, he was getting too excited just by thinking of the possibilities. He could still feel the ghost of Aaron’s grip on his arm, his body heat, and that rich Alpha smell. He wanted all of it!

He had been told to take the suppressants and stay away if he failed. He had nodded, agreed without any hesitation. And yet, for some reason he couldn’t explain, Merrick walked straight past the distribution room, he was skipping today’s dose as well.