Chapter 73: Done Deed

Levi stood in the doorway and could not move.

The first thing he saw was Aaron, naked, heavy with drink, collapsed across the bed in the loose, unguarded sleep of someone who had taken far too much wine. The second thing was the fresh claim mark on the side of Merrick’s throat, still raw and shining in the low light. The third thing was the clothes. His clothes.

The soft shirt and pants he had handed over three days ago when a servant asked for laundry. He hadn’t gotten them back, and he had wondered about it in passing and then forgotten. Now it sat on Merrick’s body, wrinkled and pulled half-off, soaked in his scent.

The gift in Levi’s hand slipped from his fingers and hit the floor with a dull sound. He was supposed to be here earlier than this, but the artist had delayed him. Maybe if he had arrived even a minute earlier, just maybe—

No, there was no need to think about any of this. The deed had been done, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He stared at Merrick, and he felt his emotions arrive in no useful order. Shock first, so complete it emptied his lungs. Then a hot, disoriented anger that had nowhere clean to land. Betrayal sat under both of them, sharp and confusing. Had Aaron known? Had he planned this? Or had this servant done something to him—drugged him, tricked him? It had to be the latter, Aaron wouldn’t sleep with Merrick, right? He had told him that he didn’t care about the servant.

Levi’s voice, when it came, sounded strange to his own ears.

"What are you doing here?"

Merrick was still half under Aaron’s arm. He looked up, eyes wide, the new mark stark against his skin. For a second he seemed to search for a story that would fit. What left his mouth was thin and useless.

"I only came to wish the prince a happy birthday."

Something in Levi snapped.

He crossed the room before the thought finished forming. His fist connected with Merrick’s face hard enough that the impact traveled up his own arm. A tooth hit the floorboards with a small, wet sound. Merrick tumbled sideways off the mattress, stunned, one hand flying to his mouth. Blood showed between his fingers. How was this omega that strong?

Levi did not give him time to recover.

He followed him down and hit him again—same hand, same raw force. Merrick’s head knocked back against the leg of the chair. The servant made a broken noise and tried to push himself up. Levi’s knee found his chest and pinned him there, fist already rising for a third blow.

"I know it was Kai who marked you."

Those words stopped everything.

Levi’s hand stayed in the air. Air moved in and out of his lungs too fast. Merrick lay under him, mouth bloody, eyes bright with pain and a sudden, desperate cunning.

"I heard him say it," Merrick rasped. "While he was still awake enough to talk. The second mark isn’t his. It’s Kai’s. And If you don’t let me go, I will tell everyone. I will walk into the middle of this house and say it where Flora’s people can hear it. And every person in this territory will know exactly what you are—."

Silence filled the room.

Aaron slept on, heavy and unaware, the smell of wine and sex and the wrong claim still thick in the air. Levi’s knuckles throbbed. Blood from Merrick’s mouth had spotted the cuff of his sleeve.

Levi should not have cared about the threat. He personally didn’t care about Flora’s family, or Flora himself. And he had grown past the point of caring about what people said about him. He had survived way more than whatever damage this little secret was going to cause.

However, he understood how devastating this would be for not only Kai, but the house in general. He had just managed to climb his way this high, if this got out, the Alpha would probably demand his head out of rage. The wedding was only nine days away, and the northern guests were already in the house. If the truth of Kai’s mark became public tonight, the damage would not stop at Levi, It would take the brothers with it.

He looked down at Merrick for a long moment, unsure if he should continue hitting the man until he was dead, or simply just listen and let him go. After a second of thinking, Levi lowered his hand, then he stood up and stepped back.

Merrick scrambled away at once, wiping blood from his chin with the back of his hand, the borrowed shirt still hanging open on his frame. He did not thank anyone. He simply put distance between them and watched Levi the way a cornered animal watches a larger one that has decided, for now, not to finish the kill.

"Get out," Levi said.

His voice had gone flat, and he could barely contain his fury.

Merrick did not wait for a second invitation. He gathered himself, gave Aaron’s sleeping form one quick, complicated look, and fled through the still-open door.

Levi remained standing in the middle of the room. The gift lay near the threshold where it had fallen, and the air was thick with a scent that made the omega nauseous. Aaron shifted once in his sleep and did not wake, and Levi remained still watching him while doing everything to stop his hands from shaking.

When he managed to regain himself a little, he walked back and closed the door, picked up the wrapped gift with fingers that did not feel like his own, and set it on the table beside the empty bottle. Then he sat on the edge of the chair Aaron had occupied earlier and stared at the second prince’s sleeping face.

He shouldn’t be this angry, should he? He asked himself, still unsure of his feelings for both Aaron and towards what had just happened. Tears gathered in his eyes, but Levi didn’t let them fall. There was no need crying over spilt milk. The deed was done. Aaron had claimed another omega. And the secret of Kai’s mark was no longer safe.