Page 154 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

But when I insisted I had to see him, I was told, point blank, that Prince Dmitri had said he would not see me at this time.

This crushed me.

I called Corentin. He said that he was leaving the castle for some business, that he had some deal he was working on to silence the Banninos, and that he thought the press conference had gone well. I told him that Dmitri wouldn’t see me, and he said, “Sounds like fucking Dmitri.”

“True,” I said.

“Do you want me to stay, my love? Say the word, and I’ll blow all this off. The Banninos can go fuck themselves.”

“No,” I said. “You have to do what you have to do.” I shouldn’t need Corentin, not when I had three other alphas.

Dmitri was out. Should I go to Johannes or Nikolai?

Truth was, I probably needed to be figuring out some way to help the two of them mend whatever the breach was in their relationship. I was the omega. I was supposed to bring them all together, right?

I went looking for Ilse instead.

A servant took me to her, out in the gardens, sitting under a flowing willow tree at a pretty delicately-wrought metal table with chairs to match. The chairs looked like tangles of flowers, growing for the sun. She wasn’t alone.

Cole, the King’s omega, stood up when he saw me, his face wreathed in a big smile. “Oh, Aurelie, I’m so happy to see you.” He reached out to shake my hand.

I put my hand in his, embarrassed.

He put his other hand around my hand, clasping my hand with two of his. “I’m so very sorry you’re going through this. Sit down, won’t you?”

I sat. “I didn’t mean to intrude on the two of you,” I said, looking back and forth between Ilse and Cole. I’d been looking for some girl talk, honestly. I’d missed Ilse. It had just been me and a bunch of men, all of them snipping at each other, for days now.

“It’s fine,” said Ilse. “We’re bored of each other, really. We talk all the time. Nothing to say to each other anymore.”

Cole laughed, smiling at her with an affection that made my heart feel a little tender. “It’s true. We’ve been talking about you all morning.”

I covered my face with both of my hands and groaned.

“I’m sorry,” said Cole, still laughing. “But I have to say that it’s nice to have someone else for the press to chew up besides me for a change.”

That was true. Cole was the first male omega in Valhn since sometime in the 1500s, and that king and his omega consort had apparently been burned at the stake as witches or something. Cole had borne the brunt of all sorts of abuse. The populace was very uncomfortable with a homosexual relationship as the main royal couple, but they made it about other things. They claimed they were worried because Cole couldn’t birth an heir, not that succession even worked like that. They were very upset when Ilse was connected to Cole, saying that she would steal Cole away from the king. It was all awful. I’d seen the stories on social media and in the news. “I suppose I hadn’t quite understood how difficult it’s been for you,” I said to them both. “I didn’t get it, not until it was me. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s part of being royal,” said Ilse with a shrug. “The only thing worse than them talking about you is when they’re ignoring you.”

“Oh, speak for yourself,” said Cole. “I like being ignored.”

“I’ve been worried about you, Aurelie,” said Ilse. “You clearly didn’t take my advice. You ran off with that Corentin person?”

“No, I didn’t run off with him,” I said. I considered. “Well, anyway, it was with the understanding that it was just a break. Dmitri… he’s…” I slumped down in my chair and rested my head against the back of it as I stared at the sky. How did I explain Dmitri?

“Oh, you silly, silly omega,” said Ilse. “I already explained this to you, didn’t I? Cole, maybe you can shake some sense into her.”

“Me?” said Cole.

“Yes,” said Ilse, reaching across the table for him fondly.

He reached out for her and they entwined their fingers.

“Explain to her, sweet boy, about how the omega is in charge of a pack.”

He laughed softly. “Oh, no, alpha, that’s not even remotely true.”

“It is,” she said. She nodded at me. “Aurelie, when you first came here, you were worried that Dmitri wouldn’t let you have other alphas at all. And now, where are we? He’s quite amenable, isn’t he?”

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