Asher
The room started spinning. Then the walls of the building began closing in. The atmosphere became very dark and the sound of gunfire blazed through the walls.
Edmund looked around in confusion.
"What's happening?" he asked.
I didn't answer him.
My chest felt tight. Something old was clawing its way out of me. An emotion that I've tried over and over again to suffocate. The same emotion that marked the beginning of my suffering.
The floor cracked with a loud sound.
Edmund stumbled and grabbed the edge of a table. "Asher?"
My voice came out louder than I expected.
"I SAID, ON YOUR KNEES!"
The force of it echoed through the room. Edmund's body reacted before his mind could catch up.
He dropped to his knees.
The moment he did, the world shifted.
The hotel room had vanished. Stone pillars rose around us. The tall ceiling of the royal hall stretched above our heads.
Edmund looked around wildly.
"What… where are we?"
I stepped forward slowly.
"You dare speak to me in that manner after all that your family has done?"
His eyes widened. He moved backward on his knees, fear crawling across his face.
"Asher… what are you talking about?"
I stared at him for a moment. That was when it hit.
Then I started laughing.
It was a deep laugh. Mixed with amusement and pain.
"That's right," I said, wiping the corner of my eye. "I took away your memories when I created that little world."
Edmund froze.
"I guess it's time for you to take a trip down memory lane."
I snapped my fingers three times. Three times on the left, and three times on the right.
The moment our gazes met again, his body stiffened.
His breathing grew uneven. His hands started trembling as if he was about to have a seizure and his face drained of color.
His body collapsed on the floor, and then, slowly, he bowed his head and dropped fully to the ground in a revered manner.
"That's right," I said quietly. "Bow down to your Alpha."
His shoulders shook.
"Do you remember now?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
"Do you remember what you did to me?" My voice hardened. "How you thought you could run away from me?"
Still, silence.
I took another step closer.
"After everything your father did to me. After everything you did to me."
Edmund remained on the floor, trembling.
The large doors of the hall suddenly opened.
Guards rushed inside. The moment they saw me, they dropped to one knee.
"What are your orders, sire?" one of them asked.
I didn't look at them.
My eyes stayed on Edmund.
"Take him to the low chambers," I said. "Make sure he's bound properly."
"Yes, sire."
Two guards stepped forward and grabbed Edmund by the arms. He didn't resist. He didn't even lift his head. Good, because if he did, I would have lost the last ounce of normalcy left in me.
They dragged him away. The hall grew quiet.
I stood there for a while.
Then I turned and walked toward my chambers.
The room was massive. It had high stone walls. Dark curtains and a large bed at the center.
The same bed you were going to claim him on.
I sat down slowly.
The memories returned and my already tight chest felt even tighter, like it was going to burst.
Flashback
Years ago, Milanti was divided between two powerful families.
Mine.
And Edmunds.
As the prime Alpha, my family conquered and possessed more territories, power, and military strength. We had more Alphas than Edmund's family combined.
Our rivalry had lasted generations. Blood had been spilled on both sides.
Then his family offered peace.
They said the bond between an Alpha and an Omega would unite the houses.
Edmund was the Omega chosen for me.
I remember the first time I saw him.
He stood in the palace courtyard. Those blue eyes bore into mine, filled with so much innocence. It was that same innocence that drew me to him.
Days passed.
Weeks, months even.
He stayed by my side as tradition demanded. Shared meals. Even trained with him, which was a taboo considering the fact that Omegas did not venture into any form of military training or service. I waited to claim him, and waiting wasn't a thing a powerful Alpha like myself did. I wanted him to get comfortable with my presence and my touch.
Slowly, I began to trust him.
Slowly, I began to care. But alas, I was but a fool. A blundering fool indeed.
His family never wanted peace.
They wanted power. I should have known, I really should have but I had strong principles about fair hearing and look where it got me.
Their plan was simple.
Send Edmund to me. Let him earn my trust. Let me fall in love.
Then find my weakness.
Destroy me from the inside.
I didn't see it coming.
Not until the night everything fell apart.
I remember the room clearly. This very room.
The candles.
The sheets. That was the night I was supposed to claim him, but I didn't know he had other plans.
The place where he struck me throbbed as my brain relived every single thing that happened that night.
Edmund stood over me, his hands shaking as he held the dagger.
For a moment, I thought he regretted it.
For a moment, I thought he might save me.
But his family's plan failed.
I didn't die.
And I destroyed them. Every single one of them.
Every member of his house was chained under my rule. They still are, locked somewhere in my dungeon beneath the castle walls. But he doesn't need to know that, and he never will! I'll make sure of that.
What pained me most was the fact that still… I was willing to forgive him.
I gave him the chance.
All he had to do was stay. I was ready to hear all his reasons. However treacherous they sounded.
All he had to do was tell me the truth.
Instead, he spat in my face.
"I will never love a brute like you," he said.
Those words hurt more than the blade he drove into my chest.
Then he tried to run.
That was the moment my patience ended. The impetus for a lowly Omega to treat me like that.
I captured him.
But killing him would have been too simple.
Too quick.
So I created something else.
An orb.
A separate world.
A place where I could control everything.
I erased his memories..
Then I placed him in that world and watched.
Day after day.
Year after year.
I watched him live like a normal man.
Watched who he was going to become. Even with his memories wiped, he was still the same cunning, sharp mouthed menace.
At first, it satisfied me.
But over time… the anger returned.
The betrayal was still very much real.
And today, I finally lost my patience.
I leaned back against the headboard of my bed.
My eyes stared at the ceiling.
Somewhere beneath the palace, Edmund was locked in chains.
And now he remembers who he was and who I am.
I'll take it all from him! Every. Single. Thing.