Chapter 41: Outside

Levi finished the last of the breakfast tray and set the dishes aside with more care than they deserved. After the successive shocks of the previous day, he had made a simple decision. He would stay here. He would not seek anyone out. He would not walk any corridor that might put him in the path of a prince, a northern Luna, or an Eastridge Alpha with false promises. He would sit, exist, and let the house forget him for a few hours if it was capable of such mercy.

The decision lasted less than twenty minutes.

The door opened without a knock, and Aaron stepped inside as if the room belonged to him, which, in the practical hierarchy of the house, it essentially did.

Levi did not stand. He remained on the edge of the bed, looked at the second prince, and let the internal complaint rise freely.

Of course. Of course the one day I decide to become furniture, the furniture gets visitors. Perfect.

Aaron’s gaze moved over him once, then he took two quick steps towards Levi who still remained unfazed on his bed.

"Are you busy?"

The question was almost casual. Levi opened his mouth to say yes—to invent correspondence, residual duties, a convenient headache, anything that might send the second prince back out the door. The lie sat ready on his tongue. Then he looked at Aaron’s expression, at the clear expectation already forming there, and felt the futility of it.

"No," he said.

"Good." Aaron jerked his chin toward the door. "Then you can keep me company today."

Levi stared at him, eager to know what this Alpha was up to now. Just yesterday he had pushed him away, reminded him that he was a blood debt. Yet here he was today, asking him to keep him company. What exactly did he want?

"That’s against the orders," he said, because someone in the room needed to acknowledge reality. "Your father’s orders. The no-contact rules. The part where I’m supposed to remain in supervised spaces and not be seen privately with any of you. Ring any bells?"

"Father left this morning. Border inspection with two of the allied Alphas. He won’t be back for several days. The enforcers still enforce, but the man who actually invents the punishments is off the grounds. We can break a few rules before he returns."

Levi felt the blood drain slightly from his face the moment he registered what Aaron’s words meant. The Alpha’s presence in the house, however hostile, had still functioned as a kind of ceiling. There were limits and consequences that even the princes had to calculate. With that ceiling temporarily removed, the structure of restraint looked suddenly much thinner. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen to him in the upcoming several days.

Several days of this house without the one person who can overrule the other three. What could possibly go wrong.

Aaron was still watching him, waiting.

Levi forced his voice to stay even. "And if someone reports that you took the blood-debt omega out of the supervised wing for private recreation?"

"Then I’ll deal with it when Father gets back." Aaron’s tone made it clear the future problem was not going to interfere with the present decision. "Get up. We’re going outside."

"Outside where?"

"The fields. Horse riding."

The panic that had cultivated inside Levi suddenly vanished. For a second he sat there, hoping he hadn’t just misheard Aaron. Horse riding? The fields? Outside the walls?! He had not been beyond the immediate grounds of the mansion since the day he was brought here as payment. The world had narrowed to corridors, supervised rooms, the occasional balcony, and the constant pressure of other people’s plans. The idea of open land, of sky that did not end in stone, hit him with unexpected force.

"I don’t know how to ride," he heard himself say.

Aaron shrugged, already turning back toward the door as if the matter were settled. "I’ll teach you. Come on."

Levi stood.

He told himself the agreement was reluctant, that he was choosing the less dangerous option between refusing Aaron and dealing with the consequences of that refusal. However, the truth was simpler and more embarrassing, he simply wanted to leave the walls.

He followed Aaron into the corridor.

They moved through the house at a pace that discouraged interruption. Servants stepped aside. A pair of guards glanced at Aaron’s expression and decided not to ask why the second prince was escorting the supervised omega toward the outer exits. Levi kept his head down and his steps steady, hoping in his heart that they don’t run into any trouble, or any of the other princes.

Near the turn that led toward the stables, they passed Merrick.

The servant was carrying a stack of folded linens, posture correct, eyes lowered in the proper manner. At first glance he looked the same as he had every other day. Levi didn’t pay him any mind, Merrick was acting weird these days, and he was tired of dealing with people’s bullshit. He would have completely ignored the servant if the wind hadn’t decided to be a snitch.

Levi’s steps faltered almost imperceptibly.

The difference he had sensed the morning Merrick delivered breakfast, the thing he had not been able to name, it was no longer subtle. A faint omega scent clung to the servant now, thin but unmistakable, sweet and alluring to those who could sense it. It was not strong, but it was present, and once noticed, impossible to ignore.

Merrick’s gaze flicked up for a fraction of a second as they passed. His eyes met Levi’s, then shifted to Aaron, then dropped again. Something tight and unreadable moved through his expression before the professional mask reseated itself. He adjusted his grip on the linens and continued down the corridor without slowing.

Aaron had noticed too.

Levi felt it in the sudden, brief tension that ran through the second prince’s shoulders. Aaron’s head turned slightly, tracking the servant for a step longer than necessary. For a moment it seemed he might stop, call the servant back and ask him why the hell he smelt like that. But to Levi’s surprise, the second prince did none of that.

Aaron’s attention returned to Levi. He knew that servant had disobeyed him, and while he could easily deal with him at that moment, he had decided not to. He had time for only one omega today, and it was not Merrick.

"Keep walking," Aaron said, low enough that only Levi heard it.

They did.

The outer doors opened onto pale sunlight and a stretch of packed earth that led toward the stables. The air smelled of grass, horse, and a freedom Levi had dreamed of. The omega paused for half a second on the threshold, the open space hitting him with a force he had not prepared for. He had no idea just how much he had missed the outside world until then.

Aaron glanced back at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Changing your mind?"

"No." Levi stepped out into the light. He couldn’t even dream of changing his mind now. "Show me how to ride a horse before your father comes back and remembers I exist."