To ruin an Omega

Chapter 160: Curiousity and the cat

MADELINE

I walked back toward the ballroom slowly. My heels clicked against the marble but the sound felt distant, like it belonged to someone else. The conversation with Cian replayed in my head. The way he had looked at me. That flash of fear in his eyes when I finished healing Fia.

It bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

But I couldn’t tell why that look had been on his face. I had done nothing to warrant it.

He was just probably bothered…. Bothered about what has happened to Fia.

My phone rang. I pulled it from my clutch and looked at the screen. Aldric’s name glowed there, predictable and unwelcome. I sighed and answered.

Because if I didn’t, it was just going to be a problem later.

“I’m behind you.” He said when I put the phone to my ear.

I stopped walking and proceeded to turn. And there he was, standing in the corridor with that smile. The one that made me want to wipe it off his face. I frowned at him.

He ended the call and walked toward me. When he was close enough, he said, “Keep walking and please smile. At least pretend you don’t despise me at least.”

I obeyed and immediately started walking again. Just like he asked, I let my expression soften into something more neutral. He fell into step beside me.

“So how was it?” he asked.

“How was what?”

“You helped heal Fia. How grateful was my nephew?”

I stopped walking again and turned to face him fully. “That is what you are curious about?”

“Of course.” He tilted his head slightly. “I did promise to help reignite your love story. Remember?”

The words hit wrong. Too casual. Too confident. Like he actually believed he had any control over what happened between Cian and me.

“Oh please, you want to be Alpha of Skollrend,” I said, keeping my voice low. “But you don’t have the balls to come out as public enemy number one. Which I will never get. Because your brother had no problem showing his teeth. Why won’t you show what beast you are?”

Aldric’s smile didn’t falter. “There was so much about everything you don’t know about. Even my good nephew is seeing everything through rose colored glasses.”

I waited and let him continue.

“But while you can distrust me all you want,” he said, “know this. I want you by his side.”

“Because I am easy to control.”

“Exactly.” His smile widened. There was no shame in it. No pretense.

It was the one thing I was grateful for about the man. Once he didn’t have to hide his colors with you, he could be honest. Mostly at least.

I looked at him for a long moment. “An Omega cannot be that hard to contain? Is she really that free of a bird? I would hate that she has so much power even against you. Given I am a great witch and I am still at your mercy.”

Something shifted in his expression. Not quite concern but something close to it. “Well… I know nothing about her. Her origins for example. She is very suspicious of me and I want to keep this as mostly bloodless as I can.”

He paused. Looked at me more carefully.

“And there is something off about her.”

My attention sharpened. I stared at him. “What is off about her?”

His eyes gleamed. “I see the light in your eyes. What did you notice?”

“Show me your hands and I will show you mine.”

Aldric laughed softly. “She performed the miracle you were supposed to perform.”

I blinked. “What does that mean?”

His smile returned. “It might sound crazy. But she alongside the healers at Skollrend managed to break the spell of an alchemized poison.”

The words landed hard. I felt my breath catch. “That isn’t possible.”

But even as I said it, my mind went back. To the healing spell. To that resistance I had felt when I tried to close Fia’s wound. It hadn’t been random. Hadn’t been accidental. It had felt intentional. Like something inside her had noticed what I was doing and pushed back.

Aldric snapped his fingers in front of my face. The sound pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at him.

“What are your cards?” he asked. “You look like you have discovered something.”

I hesitated. Weighed my options. Then decided honesty was worth more than secrecy right now. “If what you are saying is correct, then it wasn’t entirely in my head.”

“Go on.”

“When I performed the healing spell on the Omega,” I said slowly, “it felt like she was fighting back against my magic.”

Aldric’s expression sharpened. Interest flickered across his face, bright and hungry. “Interesting.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. A vial. Small. Glass. Filled with dark red liquid that caught the light.

Blood.

“Your father is still good with blood spells, is he not?” he asked.

I stared at the vial. “Whose blood is that?”

“The lovely Omega.” He held it out toward me. “I want to know every secret her blood hides. Secrets she might not even know herself. So send this to your father.”

I didn’t move at first. I just looked at the vial. At the blood inside it. Fia’s blood.

This was crossing a line. I knew that. Blood magic was invasive in ways most people didn’t understand. It revealed things that were meant to stay hidden. Private things. Personal things. Using someone’s blood without their knowledge or consent was a violation that went beyond simple betrayal.

But I thought about the resistance I had felt. About the way Cian had looked at me with fear in his eyes. About the fact that Fia had somehow helped break an alchemized poison, something that should have been impossible for an ordinary Omega.

What was she?

Aldric was still holding the vial out. Waiting. Patient in that infuriating way of his.

I reached out and took it. The glass was cool against my palm. The blood inside moved slightly, thick and dark.

“What exactly do you want to know?” I asked.

“Everything.” His smile returned. “Her lineage. Her talents. Whatever makes her different from other Omegas. Whatever makes her dangerous.”

Dangerous. The word sat heavy between us.

I closed my fingers around the vial. Felt the weight of it. The responsibility. The wrongness of what I was agreeing to do.

“My father will have questions,” I said.

“Tell him whatever you need to. Just get me my answers.”

I nodded slowly and slipped the vial into my clutch. It settled next to my phone, hidden but present. A secret I was now carrying.

Aldric’s hand came up and patted my shoulder. The gesture felt almost friendly. Almost warm. But there was nothing warm about him. Nothing genuine.

“You’re doing the right thing,” he said.

I didn’t believe him. But I didn’t argue either.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

“Not for now.” He stepped back and put some distance between us. “Go back to the ballroom. Be seen. Have fun. Be sociable. Take it all in before you stitch up Morrigan and become indispensable once more.”

“And you?”

“I have other business to attend to.” He turned to leave. Then paused. Looked back at me. “Madeline. Whatever you discover about her, tell me first.”

It wasn’t a request.

“Understood,” I said.

He left. Walked down the corridor and disappeared around the corner. I stood there alone, my clutch heavier than it had been a few minutes ago. The vial of blood pressed against my phone. A reminder. A burden.

I thought about Fia. About the way she had looked lying on that bed. Pale. Vulnerable. Unconscious.

Guilt tried to surface. I pushed it down. Buried it beneath practicality. Beneath survival. Beneath the need to understand what I was dealing with.

If Fia was dangerous, I needed to know also. If she had abilities that could threaten me or my plans or my future with Cian, I needed to know.

This was necessary.

I repeated that to myself as I started walking again. Headed back toward the ballroom. Toward the music and the lights and the people who had no idea what had just happened in these quiet corridors.

My hand tightened around my clutch. The vial inside pressed against my palm through the fabric.

Necessary.

I would send it to my father first thing in the morning. He would perform the blood spells. He would uncover whatever secrets Fia’s blood held. And then I and Aldric would know exactly what I was dealing with.

The ballroom doors appeared ahead. I smoothed my dress. Checked my expression. Made sure nothing showed on my face that shouldn’t be there.

Then I stepped inside. Back into the party. Back into the performance.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about the resistance I had felt. About the way Fia’s body had pushed back against my magic. About what it meant.

What are you, I thought. What are you really?