{Two days later }—{lorcan departure}
The North did not say goodbye with warmth. As the Southern ships docked at the icy piers of Elysium, a bitter wind whipped through the harbor, carrying the scent of salt and the impending loneliness of a long winter. The political fallout of the Southern Gale had reached its final, crushing conclusion,Lorcan was to return to the Southern Isles immediately to begin his transition as the future sovereign, replacing his disgraced father.
But Lorcan was only twelve. He was too young to wear the crown, yet too old to remain a child in the snowy sanctuary of the North. The regency council had decreed a grueling six year apprenticeship. Six years. To a child, it was a lifetime. To a boy in love, it was an eternity. On the morning of his departure, Lorcan didn't go to the Great Hall for a formal farewell. Instead, he slipped into Aiden's private training chamber one last time. The room smelled of cold iron and mountain pine, the scent that had become Lorcan's oxygen over the past few years.
Aiden wasn't there. he was already at his morning tactical drills. Lorcan walked over to the wooden bench where Aiden's spare training tunic lay discarded. It was a simple, grey garment, sweat stained and worn, but to Lorcan, it was more precious than the Southern gold he was returning to. He pressed his face into the fabric, inhaling deeply. It was there—the sharp, grounding scent of the Alpha he was leaving behind.
With trembling hands, Lorcan tucked the tunic into the bottom of his trunk. Then, he spotted something else,a silver backed brush on the vanity. He reached into the bristles and pulled out a few stray strands of Aiden's dark, silken hair. He tucked the strands into a small locket, snapping it shut against his chest.
"I'm taking a piece of you with me," Lorcan whispered to the empty room. "Because I don't know who I'll be when I see you again."
As Lorcan stepped onto the deck of the royal galleon, he was met not by his father—who was currently being transported in a guarded cabin but by his mother, the Queen.
She was a woman of marble and silence. She had watched the Aiden situation from afar for years, her disapproval a cold, stagnant pool beneath her composed exterior. She had never spoken of it in the North, choosing to maintain the dignity of the Isles while on foreign soil. But the moment the ship cleared the harbor and the spires of Elysium became mere needles on the horizon, she turned to her son. Her gaze was as sharp as a glass shard.
"You look pathetic, Lorcan," she said, her voice like the clicking of pearls. "Wiping your eyes for a Northern brute. Do you think a leader is made of tears and sentiment? You have spent too long in that den of tigers. From this moment on, you will not speak his name. You will not write to him. You will learn the art of the South,how to rule through elegance and peace . If I see that Northern influence in your posture again, I will ensure the regency council extends your training indefinitely."
Lorcan didn't flinch. He felt the weight of the locket against his skin and the stolen tunic in his trunk. "I am the future of the Isles, Mother. But my heart is my own."
The queen's eyes narrowed. "We shall see how long a heart lasts in the Southern heat without water."
•••
Back in the palace, the mentorship of Calix had taken a turn that was, in many ways, more terrifying than the previous aggression. Lily had realized that fear caused Calix to flee,to truly control him, she needed to make him dependent.
She sat with Calix in a sun drenched sunroom, a plate of honeyed pastries between them. She wasn't holding his hands tightly today. Instead, she was speaking in a soft, melodic whisper.
"You know, Calix," Lily said, her eyes fixed on the boy as he tried to draw a bird. "The reason you hurt Kenzo wasn't because you're a monster. It's because you're unprotected. Your Papa is a King,he has no time for the intricacies of a Chimera's mind. And Kenzo...Kenzo is just a boy. He can't help you when the mana starts to hurt."
Calix looked up, his amber eyes wide and vulnerable. The mention of Kenzo's pain still made his stomach churn with guilt. "I don't want to hurt him again."
"Then you must listen to me," Lily purred, leaning in. "I can teach you how to lock that mana away so it never spills out accidentally. But you must keep our lessons a secret. If you tell Kenzo or Celine, they'll get worried, and worry leads to stress, and stress leads to...well, you remember the bite, don't you?"
Calix's hand shook, the charcoal stick snapping in his grip. Lily's softness was like a silken web, wrapping around his insecurities. She wasn't scaring him with shouts,she was brainwashing him with the idea that he was a danger to his own family, and that she was his only shield.
"I'll be good," Calix whispered, his voice tiny. "I'll be a good student."
Lily smiled, and for a second, her pupils seemed to sharpen into slits. "I know you will, darling."
The first few months of Lorcan's absence were a blur of agonizing silence for Aiden.
He had thrown himself into his studies with a ferocity that worried even Arion. He was ten, turning eleven, but he was already tackling the curriculum of a fifteen year old. He spent fourteen hours a day in the training halls and the library, pushing his body to the point of collapse.
But the silence was the worst part. Every time he passed the guest wing, he expected to smell strawberries. Every time he went to the library, he looked toward the alcove where he had once held Lorcan's waist.
One evening, while hunched over a tactical map of the borderlands, Aiden stopped. His left ear began to itch—that same, persistent sensation he had felt before. He rubbed it aggressively, a scowl on his face.
"Where are you, Lorc?" Aiden muttered to the empty study.
He realized, with a sinking feeling in his gut, that he didn't just miss a friend. He missed the person who made the North feel like home. He missed the way Lorcan's presence calmed the restless, aggressive Alpha energy in his blood.
He looked at the calendar on the wall. Year One: Six Months.
The realization hit him like a physical blow. He would be sixteen when Lorcan returned. He would be a man. And Lorcan... Lorcan would be eighteen, a full grown Omega Prince.
"Six years," Aiden whispered, his voice echoing in the stone room. "I'm going to be so far ahead of you by the time you get back, Lorcan. You won't even recognize me."
But as he closed his eyes, he could still feel the phantom sensation of a soft waist beneath his hand. He realized he wasn't just working to get into the Academy,he was working to become a man strong enough to go to the Southern Isles and bring his strawberry scented shadow back home.
The winter was long, the study was cold, and for the first time in his life, the Crown Prince of the North understood what it meant to have a heart that was half empty.
"And certainly an empty stomach." Aiden rub his growling stomach with an awkward smile ." I think I should go get food….PAPA!" Aiden shout out softly.