The Phoenix raised its wings, and a heavy, solemn ringing rang out over the frozen courtyard, causing the crowd of strange creatures to fall silent, bowing their heads before the majesty of the moment. Alpha stood next to him, cold and silent, and Omega felt his body tremble treacherously in the heavy silence, and his heart began to beat in a furious, painful rhythm. Each beat echoed in his temples.
"Let the ritual begin," Phoenix said, his voice, deep and melodious, filling the space between the walls of the castle.
Omega closed his eyes, fighting panic, but not a word of the solemn speech reached his consciousness. Only a dull fear filled everything inside, causing his palms to sweat and his legs to buckle.
And then, barely opening his mouth, barely audible, so that only the one standing next to him could catch his words, Omega whispered:
"Please... don't mark me..."
His voice was a broken whisper, full of despair and hope, fragile as the last cracked thread.
Alpha did not answer, only squeezed his hands a little tighter.
Phoenix, not noticing their hidden struggle, continued:
"Let the ancient right of Alpha to its chosen one be sealed, let blood unite their souls for centuries..."
And at that moment Phoenix said a name out loud for the first time:
"Serak, heir of the Sevrin line, now takes Omega for himself by right of strength and blood."
The name Serak sounded over the courtyard like a bell.
Omega, hearing this name for the first time, felt his heart squeeze into a lump. The name sounded just as he had feared, so merciless, so powerful, so eternal.
Phoenix fell silent.
The crowd held its breath.
And Serak slowly lowered his head to his neck.
The Omega didn't even try to resist. He stood there, paralyzed with fear, feeling Serak's hot breath touch his skin, his fangs sliding along the soft flesh, searching for a place to bite.
And when the fangs broke through the skin, the pain flared like fire, tearing him apart from the inside.
He gasped in pain and humiliation, in how deeply, how inexorably this act was ending his destiny.
"I am married. He is my partner forever."
He felt the blood slowly trickling down his neck, hot, sticky, alive.
But the pain was not the only thing that engulfed him.
Serak had changed, too.
Omega felt Alpha's breathing change. The man moaned languidly, his scent became heavier, richer, and it was as if the very essence of this man had changed its rhythm.
The moment his fangs sank into Omega's body, Serak's own mark flared on his tongue.
Their blood mixed, giving neither of them a way to escape.
"Is it possible to place a mark without penetration?"
But the Phoenix lowered its wings, as if closing an invisible arch above them, and solemnly said:
"The union of lovers is sealed. Blood has accepted blood. From now on, you are one."
The crowd around broke out in a jubilant roar.
The guests clapped, someone made strange animal sounds, someone growled, someone beat their hooves on the stone, someone rattled chains, and all this roar merged into a heavy, oppressive wall of sound, from which one wanted to hide in a crack in the stone and disappear.
Serak, without even looking at Omega, unclenched his wrists, freeing him, as if letting go of an obsolete thing that no longer needed attention. His hand was heavy, but, deprived of this touch, Omega felt only emptiness, penetrating to the bones.
Without saying a word, without casting a glance, Serak turned and walked away, to where the courtiers and servants were already waiting for him, lined up to receive congratulations.
Omega was left standing alone under the flower arch.
The dress fell heavily on his thin shoulders, blood slowly trickled down his neck, leaving crimson stains on the snow-white fabric.
He did not know how long he stood like that, forgotten by everyone, surrounded by merriment in which there was not a grain for him.
It seemed to him that the world around him had lost its shape: flowers blurred before his eyes, sounds were muffled, turning into a muddy mush, the ground trembled under his feet.
He was alone.
Completely alone.
Feeling the approaching heat.
And suddenly he thought: maybe all this was a mistake, maybe it would be better to remain a beggar on the street, eat scraps, sit in dirty cages, than to go through this?
But he could not stop the new owner. He was bought, which means they can do whatever they want.
A thin, cold hand fell on his shoulder, and Omega shuddered. The same woman who had led him to the altar stood next to him. Her face remained as impassive, indifferent, as if everything that was happening was a normal, everyday matter for her. All that had changed in her was that she bowed as a sign of respect for the new mistress.
"It's time," she said shortly, squeezing his shoulder tighter than was necessary.
Omega did not resist.
He had no strength, his body had already begun to feel the heat.
He followed her as if in a fog, dragging his legs along the path strewn with petals that now seemed bloody to him. The crowd parted before them, someone bowed their heads in respect, someone smiled predatorily, someone simply looked, but none of these looks brought either sympathy or warmth. He glanced one last time at his "own" Alpha, but he, squeezing his nose as if he could smell a disgusting odor, continued to talk to the other creatures.
Omega's heart continued to crumble.
They walked through the courtyard, paved with time-darkened slabs, and came out into an annex attached to the main building of the castle.
It smelled of dampness and stone dust.
The woman stopped in front of the lattice door, opened it with the jingle of keys and, without saying a word, nodded for him to enter.
He entered.
And only when the iron door slammed shut behind him with a creak, only then did it dawn on him.
He was put in a cage again.
Not the one in the dungeon.
In a cold, empty room, where drafts howled in the cracks between the stones.
The dress he was standing in was stuck together with dirt and blood.
The Omega dropped to his knees, feeling the fabric greedily absorb the dust of the floor, leaving dirty, dark stains on it.
He did not cry at first. He simply sat, bent over, clasping his hands around his trembling shoulders.
But then, when his chest became so empty that the pain became unbearable, he parted his lips and the first, muffled, convulsive sob, mixed with an animal groan, burst from his throat.
And then the second.
And the third.
And then the sobs poured out in a bitter and uncontrollable stream.
And the body continued to burn and desire the warmth of its Alpha.