[Aleric]
I woke slowly, drifting up from a haze of heat, instinct, and something that felt far too close to longing. The first thing I felt was warmth beside me. A small, steady breath. The faint scent of herbs mixed with something sweeter — the same scent I spent with that night four years ago.
Rin.
I turned my head.
He was lying beside me, exhausted, hair damp against his temples, the blanket slipping off one shoulder where my marks still reddened his skin. His lips were parted slightly, trembling with each shallow breath. He looked nothing like the composed, sharp-tongued herbalist I remembered in the palace.
I had dreamed of this sight thousands of times. Now that it was real, it made my chest tighten painfully.
Carefully, almost hesitantly, I reached out and brushed the stray hair from his forehead.
How did it start?
How did he, of all people, become the person who ruined every defense I had?
I remember the first time I saw him — the sharp-tongued herbalist dragged into the palace to fix my unstable pheromones. He bowed stiffly, spoke politely with that sharp, restrained tone, and kept his eyes lowered whenever he addressed me as Your Highness.
He annoyed me.
That was what I kept telling myself, anyway.
Annoyed… interested… irritated… curious… obsessed.
I never knew where the shift happened.
Maybe it was the first time his cool fingers brushed my skin adjusting a vial and I felt something in me jolt.
Maybe it was the fact that he never softened his tongue, never fawned, never acted intimidated even though I outranked him by blood and birth. Rin never cared that I was a prince — he treated me like a troublesome patient.
And I… wanted him to look at me more.
Each time he left my chambers, I found myself waiting for the next visit. Each time he spoke to me, I wanted to pull more words from him. Each time he fixed my pheromones with that faint, intoxicating scent clinging to his clothes—
I wanted him closer.
I tried to deny it. Smother it. Control it.
Then came the banquet.
A scent—sweet, intoxicating, dizzying—cut through the hall. I followed it down the corridors like someone possessed.
The day I returned from an expedition, I rushed to the his quarter just to see him again.
Only Sir Rowan,a guard that I assigned to him before I left bow and tell me:
"Herbalist Rin has resigned and left the palace, Your Highness."
Something inside me snapped.
He left me without a word.
He disappeared.
He vanished so completely it felt deliberate.
That was the moment I realized it wasn't obsession anymore.
I wanted Rin. Needed him. Needed the annoying little herbalist who scolded me and steadied me and smelled like something I didn't know how to live without.
I spent four years tracing footsteps that vanished. Four years chasing rumors that turned to dust. Four years imagining every possible reason why he left.
None of those fantasies prepared me for the truth.
Finding Vareth.
Finding twins.
Finding his twins.
Two bright children who looked like him.
When the younger boy's potion wore off by the river and golden eyes stared back at me—
My breath stopped.
Golden eyes.
A trait only the royal bloodline possessed.
My blood.
My heir.
And Rin… Rin was not a beta.
He was a dominant omega.
And the scent and that omega from that banquet four years ago — the scent that had nearly destroyed me —
It was his...it was him..
It had always been him..
My throat tightened as I looked at him again now, sleeping so peacefully after the chaos of last night. The scent of his heat still clung to the sheets. My marks were fresh on his skin. His warmth seeped into my bones in a way that terrified me.
Because this wasn't obsession anymore.
It was something deeper. Wider. Far more dangerous.
A sharp tapping hit the window.
I forced myself out of bed, retrieving the message tied to the pigeon's leg. One glance at the inked words and my entire posture stiffened.
"Urgent. The king's condition has worsened. Return immediately."
Of course.
The world always demanded something from me.
I turned back to Rin.
Even exhausted, even vulnerable, he had that same stubborn, beautiful expression that made my heart ache and my temper flare all at once.
I leaned down, unable to stop myself.
My lips brushed his forehead — light, almost reverent.
Rin stirred faintly, eyelashes fluttering. I froze, waiting.
But he didn't wake.
"Sleep," I whispered. "I'll be back."
Not a command.
Not a threat.
A promise.
"Wait for me, Rin."
I stood, pulled on my clothes, and left before I lost the strength to stay.