Edmund
Cold metal wrapped around my wrists and ankles. They were long enough to let me walk around the room, but short enough to remind me that I wasn't free.
The room itself was comfortable. That was the strange part.
There was a bed. A thick mattress with dark blankets. A table beside it. A chair near the window. The walls were made of stone, but someone had placed rugs on the floor so it didn't feel completely cold.
Anyone else might have thought it was generous.
I knew better.
This was still a cage. And my captor was the great Asher Hollowgrave. The dreadful Alpha of Milanti.
Two weeks.
That was how long it had been since my memories came back. Two weeks of sitting here, unable to run away from my thoughts.
The torture wasn't physical.
It was worse and that was precisely what Asher wanted.
I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes.
Before the war...everything had been simple.
My family had raised me with one goal. Destroy the house of Asher. They spoke about his bloodline like it was poison spreading through the land of Milanti.
When they told me about the plan, I accepted it without question. That was how things were usually done. Unlike Asher's family, we had less Alphas in comparison and so the fear, and respect was much greater in our household.
They would send me to him as an offering of peace. An untouched Omega promised to the most powerful Alpha in the land. My job was simple. Get close to him. Earn his trust. Make him love me.
Then destroy him.
I had believed it would be easy.
I thought Asher would be cruel. I thought he would treat me like every other Alpha I've known. Like a low level property the moment I arrived at his palace.
But that never happened.
From the first day, he was… different.
He gave me my own chambers. He made sure I had guards who treated me with respect. When we ate together, he never rushed me or demanded anything from me.
And he never touched me.
That part confused me the most.
Every Alpha in Milanti took what they wanted from their omegas. It was normal. No one questioned it.
But Asher waited.
One night I finally asked him why.
He looked at me like the answer was obvious.
"You will share my bed when you are ready," he said calmly. "Not before."
I remember staring at him, unable to understand.
"You don't… want to claim me?" I asked.
His lips twitched slightly. "Of course I do. You have no idea how much I want to."
"Then why wait?"
"Because I want you to be comfortable first. I want when I take you, I'tll be the only thing you ever think about."
That answer stayed with me so much that I regretted asking him. It changed something in me.
Days turned into weeks.
We spent time together in ways that had nothing to do with duty. Walking through the palace gardens.
Talking late into the night about stupid things that didn't matter. He touched me occasionally, and during those moments, I wished he would throw away all his virtuous promises and claim me in the same passion as his words.
Slowly, the plan in my mind started to blur.
Every time I looked at him, it became harder to remember that I was supposed to betray him.
I delayed it.
I told myself I needed the right moment.
The truth was that I didn't want to do it anymore.
But my family noticed.
One night a message reached me.
A letter disguised as a threat.
They reminded me about the one person I cared about before coming here.
My lover.
He was an omega like me.
We had grown up together. We shared literally everything.
Our relationship was something the world of Milanti refused to accept.
Two omegas loving each other.
It was considered unnatural. A disgrace.
So we hid from the world. Comfortable in our own cocoon.
We loved each other and to us, that was enough.
When my family found out about us, they didn't punish me right away. They saved it as leverage.
And when the time came, they used it.
Their message came in the heat of our relationship.
Finish the plan.
Or he dies.
I sat with that choice for an entire night.
By morning, I already knew what I had to do.
The memory of that night still makes my chest ache.
Asher stood in front of me, completely unaware of what was about to happen.
We had been talking earlier and that night was supposed to be the night he finally claimed me. But I knew it. I knew that if I let Asher touch me, I would never be able to go through with it. He had already taken over my senses, I couldn't let my lover die because of my foolishness.
When I stabbed him, I saw the shock on his face first.
Then the pain.
It wasn't physical pain because he was an Alpha and pain registers to them differently.
The knife was barely a weapon in comparison to his physical strength. Like I simply prickled his chest with a pin.
It was the look of betrayal in his eyes when he realized what I had done… I will never forget it.
He stared at me like he was seeing someone else.
"Why?" he asked.
My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped the blade.
I forced myself to speak.
"I would never love a brute like you."
The moment the words left my mouth, I hated myself.
But I needed him to be angry.
I needed him to hate me enough to kill me.
Because by then my family had already broken their promise.
They had killed my lover anyway.
The message reached me only hours after I stabbed Asher.
He was gone.
The only reason I had betrayed Asher was already dead.
Nothing mattered to me anymore.
When Asher survived and destroyed my family, I didn't fight back.
I didn't even try.
When he gave me the chance to explain, I refused.
When he demanded the truth, I spat in his face.
I wanted him to kill me.
So, I ran.
Not because I believed I could escape him.
No one escapes Asher.
I ran because I hoped he would catch me.
I hoped he would end it.
But that didn't happen either.
Instead, he trapped me inside that strange world he created.
A fake reality where I forgot everything.
For a long time, I didn't even know who I was. My consciousness was trapped.
But even then, my body still reacted to him. He would always have that power over me.
I opened my eyes and stared at the chains around my wrists.
A bitter laugh slipped out of my throat.
Of course he wouldn't kill me.
That would be too easy.
Asher wanted me to remember.
Every lie.
Every betrayal.
Every word I threw at him to make him hate me.
And the worst part was that he was succeeding.
Because now I remember everything.
The sound of the door opening broke me from my daze. I expected to see the face of the soldier in charge of watching me. Instead my eyes met blonde hair, piercing emerald green eyes, and an aura that both terrified and warmed my insides…. it could only be one person. Asher.