Omega's small body bounced with every bump the cart hit. With each jolt, Omega groaned softly but did not wake up. His breathing remained deep and steady. Before leaving, the merchant warned that this sleep could last several days, and if they tried to wake him up prematurely, he might not wake up at all.
Alpha sat opposite him, his back straight, almost motionless. He didn't know what to do with his hands. He would clench them on his knees, then move them to the armrests, then back again. His gaze kept slipping to the window, where bare fields and sparse trees flashed by, then returned to Omega.
He didn't know what to expect when he opened his eyes. What would he be like? The carefree boy with shining eyes and embarrassment in his voice, with a bright laugh, whom he remembered from the party many years ago? Or a man in whom nothing remained of that child, only pain, emptiness, and echoes of loss?
Alpha didn't know what he feared more: seeing the old boy in him or the boy lost forever.
Ten years. In ten years, he had taken everything he could take from him: his home, his family, his name, his very ability to choose. And now this sleep, deep and silent, seemed to be the last thing he had left.
He looked at the pale face, the parched lips, the sparse strands of hair stuck to his cheek.
Somewhere deep inside, a thought flashed through his mind, one he would never allow himself to voice: if he could get anything back, he might not have returned this boy's land before the war.
But now that was impossible. He had made his decision. And he was not going to let him go, under any circumstances.
The wheels clattered dully over the stones, the harness jingled, and the sky darkened outside the window. Fatigue gradually took over, and even the alpha, accustomed to sleepless nights, began to feel his eyes closing.
He looked at the omega one last time. He was lying quietly.
The alpha rested his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together, and lowered his head. It didn't take much for him to fall into a short, restless sleep. The cart rocked gently, the air grew cooler, and the horses slowed their pace.
He could allow himself to relax for a moment.
The road home was long, and this time not only for his body, but also for what he once called his heart.
A small bird landed on the alpha's face, its delicate feathers tickling his cheek slightly. There was no reaction, so the bird grew bolder. With a light movement, it ran its feathers along his eyebrows, nose, and lips, and when it reached his sharp ears, it stopped, apparently afraid of pricking itself.
When the alpha thought that the bird had flown away and he could continue his restless sleep, the little creature began to disturb the alpha with renewed vigour. Now the bird touched not with its wings, but with its beak, pecking at the places it had caressed just a minute ago.
But how could such a tiny creature fly into a carriage hidden by magic?
"Sir?"
It talks too? Yes, now he is travelling through previously untamed places where things never seen before can happen. What can I say, a week ago, while sailing the sea and exploring uninhabited islands, he met mermen. The male mermen were no less beautiful than the mermaids, their pale skin and mesmerising voices, not to mention the mind-numbing pheromones, broke half the crew. But the alpha was unyielding. For him, having seen paler skin and more persistent pheromones, he didn't care about second-rate omega mermen. Nothing could break him from his search for his omega.
His omega...
"Sir, I want to go home."
The bird's whimpering voice brought him back to the present.
Alfa paused, then regained all the sensations he had previously dulled. He had definitely fallen asleep sitting up, but opened his eyes lying down. Glancing around the carriage, he jumped up in surprise, immediately hitting his head.
"Ouch, are you hurt?" chirped the bird, its voice still tearful.
The golden feathers, which had recently looked like a complete mess, were untangled by hand and smoothed against his back. His carelessly worn dirty clothes were cleaned of dust, but not of the ingrained dirt.
Yes, his appearance was pitiful, but that look, ah, that youthful look.
Before him was not a bird with clipped wings, not a nameless omega swollen with hunger, and not the wife of a lord mad with lust. No.
"I seem to have forgotten where I'm going," he said, tilting his head slightly, his beautiful locks following suit, and the sunlight touched his pale face, giving it a bright, sunny glow. "Sir, remind me who you are and where we are going?"
The enchanted alpha could only stare, seemingly unable to hear anything, his eyes fixed on her scarlet lips.
"Oh, perhaps this is rude of me, allow me to introduce myself first."
When was the last time he heard so many words from him, so many awkward sighs?
'I am the youngest son of the king of the southern lands, Kaelan O'Kelan. And who are you?"
"Me?" Her heart fluttered, and the heat throughout her body only grew. "My name is... I..."
"Apparently, you did hit your head on the ceiling pretty hard." Such harsh words sounded like music to the alpha's ears.
What is my name? Who am I?
"I... my name is...' Glancing at the omega once more, he turned away to collect himself. 'My name is Serak Sevrin, I am the king of the eastern lands."
A greedy sparkle flashed in Serak's eyes.
"And I fell so deeply in love with you that I stole you from everyone in O'Kellan Castle."
Stunned, the omega sat down opposite the alpha, his eyes fixed on him. His rounded eyes seemed large on his emaciated face.
A slight tremor ran through Serak's entire body. He was prepared for the omega, no, his Kaelan, to wake up much later, and he would be able to come up with a decent excuse for what was happening now.
But fate, as always, laughed at him.
Fell in love? Stole? Complete nonsense.
"My dear father would never allow his only son to be stolen from a guarded castle."
"Indeed, but"
"So you're lying? Forgive me for being rude, but you don't look like the king of the eastern lands!"
"What?"
Stunned, the alpha wanted, out of habit, to slap Kaelan across the face for such insolence but Kaelan continued.
"You look like a bandit! Your appearance makes me think that you don't need me as much as you need my family's money?"
"..."
The omega looked confidently at his clothes. With a slight movement, as if he hadn't been starving for the last few months, he tore off the bottom button of his shirt and handed it to the frozen Serak.
"I will take pity on you and give you a button from my cloak. With it, you can upgrade all the weapons in your band, my dear sir."
Needless to say, they wouldn't have given him a crumb of bread for that button.
"And don't you dare slander the royal family of the eastern lands!"