I’ve been so busy up until right now that I never thought of my own future. I think I’ll stay here for a while and then… what?
Maybe the answer would come of its own accord. Keiran desperately wished for that to be the case. He had given everything to this journey. Now it was time for the world to start giving back to him.
And what of Jace?
He snorted at himself.
“Shh!” one of the other omegas hissed.
Keiran hardly heard them. Thinking of Jace made everything inside him slow down. He imagined again the big alpha and his beautiful wolf form, brown as an oak but with flashes of every other color ever found on a wolf pelt, from that milky splash of white on his chest to the black stripe slinking along his spine. The prince was beautiful, as a prince should be. Unfortunately, now that they were in the castle, the divide between them was going to be far more than just that of a name. Prince Jace would be up in the highest level of the castle, where the royals belonged.
An omega servant like Keiran would only ever catch glimpses of him, if indeed they ever managed to cross paths at all. Oh, well. Keiran would never forget the journey, and he would always carry the images he had of Jace in his mind.
When sleep came, it was like falling into Jace’s dark gaze. Keiran went to it willingly and did not stir until he was being nudged awake the next morning.
Chapter 8
“Uh?” Keiran grunted. He cracked his eyes open just a slit, enough to see the face of a pretty female servant blinking down at him.
“Rise and shine,” she chirped, cheerfully. “Today’s the day where you’ll be assigned your job!”
Everything came rushing back to Keiran, and he sat up so quickly that he was briefly dizzy. “Right! Sorry. Where should I go?”
The servant patted him on the shoulder and smiled sympathetically. “There’s no need to rush. Don won’t start until everyone’s present. Help yourself to some breakfast in the dining hall and then join everyone else just outside, please.”
Breakfast turned out to be even better than yesterday’s stew. There were a variety of things to choose from, from oatmeal to sliced fresh fruit, baked eggs, glazed ham with pineapple… Keiran ate as much as his stomach would hold and washed it all down with a mug of fresh tea before sloshing his way back down the hall and outside.
The other omegas sat in the grass, resting in front of Don and another group of people who Keiran didn’t recognize. Each person seemed different and no two were dressed alike.
Ty gave him a smile as Keiran sat down beside him, and then he resumed tearing up the grass with his pointed nails.
After a short time, the last two omegas filed out of the castle, chattering and smiling happily at one another. Dressed in clean clothes, fed, rested, and presentable, they looked like two ordinary people who had been friends for years.
“Ahem.” Don cleared his throat, piercing the pair through his cold, dark gaze. They seemed to take notice of the fact that they were being waited upon and quickly took seats at the edge of the group. “Good. Now that we’re all assembled, I will be assigning each and every one of you to your future jobs. These men and women gathered here have agreed to give you a position underneath them. You are in their debt.”
As if we don’t already know that we’re indebted to every single person here.
Lifting a clipboard, Don barely glanced at the papers held to its surface. “Diego, please come here.”
A small man stood up from the middle of the crowd. Keiran recognized him as being a black bear, who often brought up the rear when they were traveling. He scurried up to stand in front of the advisor and the mixed crowd of shifters, all of whom appeared to be beta or alpha predators.
“I’m here,” Deigo mumbled, nervously.
The advisor rolled his eyes. Keiran’s dislike of him deepened even more. “Yes, I can see that. According to what you’ve told me of yourself, bear, you will be assigned to work in the kitchens beneath Bethany.”
A beta wolf shifter with creamy olive skin stepped forward, assessing the small bear in front of her. She was plump, with her hair worn in a distinctly grandmotherly style. “Can you cook?” she asked.
Deigo shuffled his feet. “I usedta peel potatoes and onions at me Da’s inn.”
“Well, it’s a start. You’ll do. Come with me then.”
The two walked away together as Don glanced at his list again. “Do we have Perdita?”
One by one, the omegas were given their future assignments and then led away by the ones who would be in charge of them. Keiran saw no pattern to any of it and could only guess that Don gave them their new jobs based on what he’d learned of them during his brief interactions. Some were assigned to the library, another to the stables. One headed off to the garage where he would train as a royal mechanic, and another still simply ended up as a cleaner on the 3rd floor of the castle.
And then there were a lucky few who headed away from the castle and back toward the city, to start their jobs there. Ty was one of them. He waved as he scampered off in the footsteps of an immense boar shifter.
In the end, only Keiran was left standing alone. There were no other taskmasters waiting for him, only Don who regarded him with an unreadable stare.
He didn’t talk to me either. Maybe he forgot about me or doesn’t think I’m worth bothering with.
He could believe that very much, knowing what he did about his faults. Except hadn’t he started thinking otherwise on this journey, when he surprised himself by becoming one of the most helpful people?
Drawing on that sense of importance, remembering the rush of pride that pulsed through him when he realized there were others depending on him, Keiran spoke. “Isn’t there a job for me?” he asked.
Don nodded, gesturing with one long-fingered, dark hand for Keiran to approach. There were calluses on those fingers; hefty knobs formed from constant writing. “Oh, yes, Keiran. You have the most important job of all, I think.”
“You know my name?” Keiran shook his head, hesitating. “I never told you.”
“Because I never needed to ask,” Don replied. His tone was sharp, almost cutting. “I have already heard all about you from the prince.”
At the mention of Jace, Keiran’s heart swelled in his chest. “Ja… I mean, he did?”
“Of course, he did. You were invaluable to him, and he instructed me to have you stay in such a position.”
This couldn’t be. Could it? There was no way in hell Jace cared enough to actually arrange for Keiran to train as a doctor. Or was there? Keiran held his breath even though that made him feel like he was about to pass out, what with the way his heart was pounding.
“You will be Jace’s personal servant.”
Oh.
Keiran struggled to keep his face blank, but Don was more perceptive than that. “Something wrong with that, little wolf? It’s a great honor to be chosen for that task.”
“I… think I might be a little confused about why that’s such a great honor.” He shook his head, trying to be polite about it, even though Don’s glare made it all but impossible.
“Of course you wouldn’t know, since you no doubt come from some uncivilized little village. Judging by your skin, I would say by the southern border. No vehicles for days. Nothing but forests. Correct me if I’m wrong?”
Far from being offended, Keiran actually laughed. “You’re pretty good!”
And for the first time, Don’s expression softened. He lifted his head and stood a bit straighter, preening over himself. “Why, thank you. I do pride myself on my attention to detail. Now, this is an honor because personal servants are very close to their masters, and Prince Jace has never wished for such a person in his life before. He must value and trust you quite a lot for this to happen.”
He was stunned, full of tingles. All that wondering about whether or not he would ever see Jace, and the prince had made sure it would be so. “Wow. This… this seems like a lot.”
“It is, so you must not
take it for granted,” Don warned. His warning tone was very similar to his regular tone of voice. “It is up to Prince Moody to explain to you his own reasoning.”
“Prince Moody?”
Don smiled. It was a very unsettling sort of smile. “That is what his subjects call him. For good reason, I might add. You will find out in your own time, I’m sure.”
I wonder if he’s only moody when he has to be back in the castle. He certainly didn’t seem like that on the way here.
Keiran looked around, hopeful for a glimpse of the prince. His prince, now. “Is he here to meet me?”
“No,” Don scoffed. “Because he is much too important to stand around and wait for an omega like you.”
Not that Don was any better as a person, since he was also an omega.
“You’ll have to go find him on your own. The others will be getting a tour of the castle today, but I say directions will stick in your head much better if you wander the halls yourself.” Don nodded, clearly feeling clever again. “To that end, Jace has a clear schedule today. He can almost always be found in one of three locations: his chambers, the training grounds, or the royal gardens. As he has given his men the day off again, I would suggest not wasting your time by heading to the training grounds.”
“Alright. Thank you,” Keiran said. “I guess I’ll be seeing you again a lot, since you’re his advisor and all.”
“Yes, you will. And I must say that, despite our differences in personality, I believe that I would much prefer you over any other stray that Jace has brought home thus far. So, welcome to the castle, Keiran.”
“Thank you,” Keiran repeated again.
And then they stood there. Keiran waited for instructions for a moment before figuring out that the advisor really did expect him to figure it out all on his own from here.
Fine. He would use his logic.
Without saying goodbye, Keiran headed back around the side of the castle to the front courtyard and pushed his way in through the doors. The interior was no less intimidating than the exterior, and far more confusing than the servants’ quarters in terms of stimulus. Chatter and shouts and scents all clogged his ears and eyes, practically blinding him. He hesitated there, looking around, thinking that maybe he should ask for directions after all.
This was how it felt when he stepped into the forest for the first time, he remembered. The new area and all the different scents… it was useless trying to find his way through the trails and to visually separate one thicket from another. Abigail made him transform into his wolf form so that he could learn the ways with his other senses before relying on his eyes. Perhaps that was the key here.
Out of the corner of his eye, Keiran caught sight of a child sprinting down the hall in his direction and acted without thinking. He stuck out his hand and caught the kid by the shoulder.
“Hey!” the child barked.
Alpha, Keiran thought. And then he found himself on his back, wondering how they got the vaulted ceiling to seem so full of stars. The back of his head throbbed, but his vision didn’t spin when he sat up, which was a good sign. No blood either.
“Wow,” a voice muttered from nearby. “You must either be really new or really dumb.”
Keiran looked up to find another servant studying him from behind a cart filled with dirty laundry. Her blue eyes twinkled with amusement, a wide smile on her lips. “Why not both?” he suggested.
She laughed. “I like that. So, new?”
“I just got here last night.”
Understanding seemed to dawn upon her. “You arrived with that group, huh? You’re lucky. Jace has been doing this for years. Helped a lot of people. But hey, didn’t your taskmaster warn you about the alphas? Some of them are super nice, but the kids tend to be entitled. Don’t touch them.” She giggled, covering her mouth to do so. “Although a really smart person would have used their nose to tell if they were about to grab an alpha or not.”
“My human senses aren’t exactly the best,” Keiran answered.
“Then I suggest you start memorizing faces, buddy. Were you grabbing someone for a reason?”
If only I had waited a few seconds and just talked to her first, I could have spared myself a knot on the back of my head.
“I’m supposed to be heading to the royal gardens. Can you point me in the right direction?”
She didn’t ask what his reason was for going. All she did was nod and flash a smile. “Sure. There’s a couple of gardens and a big area out back that we call a garden too, but the royal garden is private. For royalty only, obviously. The only entrance is on the third floor. Go up the stairs here and head right at the landing…” The list of directions that followed was impossibly long, leaving Keiran more confused than he was when he started. All he could do was hope he got the gist of it. “And then when you reach that door, it leads outside and down a staircase to this really fancy enclosed garden. Surrounded on all sides by the castle walls. If that’s not where you end up, you’re in the wrong place.”
Keiran thanked her and moved on before she could try and help him any further. If he couldn’t find it on his own, he’d ask someone closer to just walk him there.
It turned out not to be much of a problem, however. After a few wrong turns, he picked up on a slight breeze and a scent of flowers that blew gently through the halls; following the scent to their source, an ornate and heavy metal door, he pushed through and found himself indeed standing at the top of a very long staircase draped with ivy. Silver blossoms covered the ivy, and the sweet scent came from their petals.
Keiran strained his ears but heard nothing, not a single insect or bird chirping. “Quiet,” he murmured to himself. The sound dissipated, muffled by the thick garden below. He descended, examining the lay of the greenery beneath him. Statues rose beside hedges covered in precious flowers, and untamed flower stems protruded over the pathway. Trees rimmed the outer perimeter of the garden, obscuring quite a bit of the wall once he stood on the ground.
I saw a clearing over by that fountain from the top of the stairs. If I was Jace, I think that’s where I would want to be.
Picking his way over to the grassy clearing, Keiran called out, “Ja… uh, Prince Jace? Are you out here? It’s Keiran. Your… servant!”
The idea of being Jace’s servant, destined to perform whatever task the prince wished, made heat coil tight in his stomach. Of all the times to be turned on, this wasn’t it. He couldn’t help it, though. He had been attracted to Jace since the very beginning and now for this to happen; it was a blessing and a curse all wrapped up in one.
Keiran stopped in his tracks and clenched his fists, pulling in a deep breath and focusing on the pain of his nails digging into his palms. No. He was in control of himself. He wouldn’t walk up to Jace with an erection poking out the front of his slacks.
A few moments of focusing brought him back in control, so he continued on down the remainder of the path while being careful not to tread on any flowers or vines. “Jace?” he called out again, softer than before as he emerged out into the clearing from behind a wall of bushes covered in tiny scarlet blooms.
Jace lay in the middle of the clearing, cheek resting on his folded arms. Every inch of him glistened bronze in the sunlight, completely exposed and bare—he wore no clothing. In fact, his clothes had been scattered around him as if he had ripped the garments away as fast as he possibly could. Keiran saw everything. The supple line of his back. The ridge of his spine, and the jutting angles of his shoulder blades. His ass was as round and firm as two apples.
Keiran couldn’t look away from it. His legs lay somewhat spread, which meant that Keiran could see between those parted cheeks to Jace’s shadowed opening, and he could see a glimpse of…
“Hello,” Jace purred.
Chapter 9
He sensed Keiran’s approach as soon as the omega first set foot on the steps at the top of the garden. Though he wasn’t sure if the omega sensed their budding connection, Jace felt it as he would a new li
mb. That connection signaled trouble in their future, but he reasoned quietly to himself that it wasn’t the first time a royal took on a lover unsuited for his status in life.
Look at me, he thought. He’s been my servant for less than a day and I’m already considering bedding him.
He didn’t feel quite as bad when he felt the faint flush of warmth pulse through Keiran. It seemed the omega did feel something for him and that feeling was lust.
“Hello,” Jace rumbled when he felt Keiran had stood there for long enough. “Why don’t you come join me?”
He closed his eyes while waiting for an answer, enjoying the warmth on his skin.
Keiran stammered, “Oh… um… maybe I… maybe I shouldn’t. I mean. You’re. Not dressed.”
“You had best get used to the sight. Or would you rather quit your job before it even begins?” He tried to keep his voice light, but it proved difficult when he could feel the omega’s eyes roaming uncontrolled over his body. “It’s just nudity. Surely you’ve seen a naked man before?”
Whatever the omega said, it came out incoherent. Jace turned his head so that he could press his face against his arm, stifling a laugh. He felt lighter than he had in months, all because of this unique man.
“Come again?” he teased.
“I… I said… I have, but… none that were so… you.”
Jace bit his arm, muffling more laughter. Oh, this was too easy. He needed to do it more often if it felt this good. With Keiran around, he suspected he would have these chances quite a bit. The omega was so quiet and awkward and shy, and yet somehow so competent and in control. It really was quite fascinating.
“Well, thank you. I need no other approval in the world now that I have yours. Please, Keiran. Would you sit? I’ll wear that robe if you want me to.”
“There’s a robe?”
“Over on the fountain. If you’ll fetch it for me, I will wear it to ease your discomfort. I really don’t want to chase away my servant on his first day at work.”
Royal Affair Page 7
