Chapter 68: A Small Victory

The servants came for him mid-morning with empty crates and a short written order. The servants handed the note to him, and after reading and giving a short nod, the three men immediately got to work.

The old Alpha’s decision from the study had already filtered down through the household. He was no longer a common servant, and was not exactly family. However he mattered enough to get a better room on the second floor of the family wing, closer to the princes and further from the kitchens and laundry where an omega could disappear for hours without anyone noticing.

He helped the servants pack in silence. He would miss this room, a lot of memories had been created in them, but staying here would make him feel like a slave still. He had fought hard to get where he was at the moment, and sentimentality was not about to get the better of him.

He was halfway down the corridor with one of the crates in his arms when the air changed.

Elvis stepped out of a side hallway as if he had timed the exact moment. The Eastridge Alpha looked rested, freshly dressed, and entirely unbothered by the fact that he was supposed to be packing his own belongings. The bruise along his jaw from Aaron’s fist had already faded to a faint shadow. He smiled when he saw Levi, the same polite curve of mouth that never reached his eyes.

"Levi." Elvis’s voice was warm, almost congratulatory. "I hear congratulations are in order. You played your cards very well."

Levi stopped. The servant carrying the second crate hesitated, then kept walking after a sharp look from Elvis. They were alone in the corridor within seconds.

"I don’t owe you an explanation," Levi said. He kept his tone flat. "And I don’t want to talk to you. Excuse me."

He made to step past but Elvis’s hand closed around his upper arm before he could take the second step. The grip was firm, familiar, and just tight enough to stop him without leaving an immediate bruise. Levi pulled once. The hand did not move.

"Careful," Levi said. He met Elvis’s eyes and let the warning sit there. "Putting hands on the mate of the crown princes is a punishable offense. You might want to remember that before someone decides to notice."

Elvis laughed again, softer this time. He did not release him at once. His thumb pressed once against the inside of Levi’s elbow, a small testing pressure, before he finally let go.

"I see how it is," he said. "You’ve decided to play whore for all three of them. Clever. A little greedy, but clever." He stepped back half a pace, still smiling. "You won this round. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is where things end. Prepare yourself for the retaliation, Levi. I don’t like losing what belongs to me."

Levi adjusted the sleeve of his shirt where Elvis’s hand had been. He didn’t like the sight of Elvis, his touch simply made him sick, and he just couldn’t wait till when he wouldn’t be able to see or sense the Alpha anywhere within this household.

"Make sure you take everything that belongs to you when you leave," he said. "I don’t like the smell of nuisance around."

He walked past him without waiting for an answer. Elvis didn’t respond, he simply stared at Levi with rage in his eyes. His little pet was slipping from his fingers, and he hated that he was losing him to those cheeky bastards. Still, he wasn’t done playing, and Levi would soon come to know that Elvis also had a card to play.

The corridor ahead was quieter. Levi kept his eyes forward and his breathing shallow, counting doorways the way he had once counted them with Merrick’s hand-drawn map. He turned the corner toward the family wing proper, and suddenly stopped.

Dexter stood further down the hall, silver hair neat, expression unreadable. He was speaking to someone in a low voice, head slightly tilted in the particular way that meant he was already three steps ahead of the conversation. The person opposite him was smaller, dressed in the plain black of the household staff, posture carefully correct.

Levi recognized that structure, it was Merrick.

He raised an inquisitive brow, and felt his mind race at the sight of the two casually having a conversation.

Dexter’s pale eyes lifted and found him at once. The conversation with Merrick stopped mid-sentence. For a single stretched second the third prince simply looked at him, and his eyes assaulted Levi like he had committed a crime. He hadn’t spoken to the omega since he left the medical wing, he was still mad Levi got marked by Aaron.

Merrick turned as well. The moment their eyes met, the servant’s carefully neutral expression cracked into something raw and furious before he forced it blank again.

Levi stayed where he was, one hand still resting against the wall for balance. He forced himself to move. He straightened, kept his eyes forward, and walked past them without slowing. He felt Dexter’s gaze follow him the entire length of the corridor, and felt Merrick’s hatred like a second scent in the air, but he did not look back.

***

The new rooms were larger than the old ones. The bed was wider. The window looked out over the formal gardens instead of the service courtyard. A proper wardrobe stood against one wall, already half-filled with clothes that had not been there the day before. Levi set the crate down, closed the door, and stood in the center of the floor for a long time.

He had won the round, Elvis would be gone by morning, and he could finally sleep without worrying about being murdered in his sleep.

He was supposed to be ecstatic right then, but the hatred he had felt looking at Merrick and Dexter together disturbed his thoughts more than he wanted it to. The two of them were an odd combination, seeing them together simply felt disturbing.

What were they discussing? Levi wanted to know, but he convinced himself that it wasn’t important. He shouldn’t bother himself with what Dexter was up to, he wasn’t exactly interested in the third prince the way he was with his other brothers. And right now, he should be celebrating his win against Elvis, not thinking of Dexter and a common servant.