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Chapter SixMAIRWEN
The castle spun around me. Partly because it had been almost a day since I'd had a meal I'd managed to keep down, and partly because of the incredible pace Lady Beatrice Cadogan set. She was half my size, and yet her mincing steps carried her through the twisting halls, up and down the endless staircases, as though she had a pair of wings to rival her brothers'. I couldn't catch my breath to ask her the questions that raced through me with every soaring and empty hall we passed through, every vast staircase we swept down and climbed up, all the ancient castle wings we crossed into, the dozens of faces we passed who stared eagerly.
I was sweating as we entered the colossal kitchens, down in the belly and feet of the castle. I was sure I looked more like the harried men and women who labored in the steam and blaze of the kitchen stoves, their faces flushed and brows dewed. This kitchen was the liveliest place I'd seen yet in the castle, full of more activity than all the other wings and halls combined, and I helped myself to a rare pause in Lady Beatrice's speech to gasp for air and take the space in. The room smelled understandably wonderful, warm loaves of bread being pulled out of ovens, herbs hanging from the rafters, meat sizzling on spits.
And in the middle of it all stood a tall, broad woman, barking orders and sampling salt. She glanced up at us, her eyes narrowing. She looked to be about middle-aged, the same as my mother, but somehow more vital, powerful. Almost as powerful as our alpha, I thought.
"This is she?" the woman snapped.
I looked over my shoulder before I remembered, of course I would be the she in question, the newest and most notable arrival to the castle. Which was all wrong, if I gave it too much thought.
Lady Beatrice nodded, gesturing between the slow approaching woman and myself.
"Omega Cadogan, Cook Gui
"Mairwen," I declared, determined to hold onto my name.
Cook Gui
She grabbed a bound notebook from a worktable and brought it to the doorway where Lady Beatrice and I were safely out of the way of the workers.
"No changes tonight," I said quickly, because I wasn't stupid, but I helped myself to a glance at the open page of the notebook I was passed.
Meat, meat, meat, potatoes, bread. I snorted without thinking, and Cook Gui
I nodded, because it made sense, and there was something decidedly masculine about the simplicity of the fare. "Roast the potatoes with sprouts and carrots. And…" I stalled, searching around me, patting at my pockets and finding a pencil I kept for notations as I read. I scribbled in the margins. "A sauce for the fish. Tart juice and bitter greens."
I was not an ideal omega, and if I stopped to think of the days ahead, the months and years, there were more expectations I was terrified of failing than those I had any hope of meeting. But I did quite like pla
I mumbled a few more notes, scribbling a recipe onto the page, and then tapped the pencil against my pursed lips. "This will do for tomorrow." I reached to turn the page and check the next day, but Cook Gui
"You can look your fill at the rest of the week tomorrow morning. I've work to attend to now," Cook said, frowning down at my notes. But her frown faded into speculation, and I squared my shoulders, confident in my choice.
"It's time to take you up to the nest," Lady Beatrice said to me, turning from the kitchens. She was definitely smiling now, although it might've been at Cook's expense. Or even mine. "I see you have your hands busy, Gui
"I can carry a few—" My words died on my tongue at the arch look Beatrice gave me. Offering to carry my own meal up to the nest was not the act of the alpha's omega. I tucked my hands behind my back and followed in silence, back up through the winding stairs and halls of the castle, sweat dripping down my spine, my toes pinched in my shoes.
I missed Lord Cadogan's wings. Going up to the towering height of the castle was so much worse than descending from it, and I was embarrassed by my own huffing and puffing when Beatrice's steps finally slowed outside of the large single door at the top of the turret.
"After the rut has concluded, we will likely find you your own permanent room," Beatrice said, pulling a key from the chatelaine that clinked against her hip. "Until that time, you will sleep here with the alpha."
I nodded, but my head ceased its dizzy bobbing as the door opened. The room was huge! It was round with beamed, peaked ceilings and an intimidatingly huge bed sitting on a platform of stairs at the heart. To my left, an enormous balcony faced the island, small specks of homes folding into the green hills. To my right, a large arched window faced the sea, with a cushioned bench that tempted me closer.
The few nests I'd built had been for myself, in my bedroom. They were small and personal, smaller than the bed I was now gaping at. The alpha's bed had four short, decorative posters, and the beams of the ceiling had a number of hooks, but I had no notion where to start on building a cozy nest for Lord Cadogan and myself in such an enormous space.
"Your things will be brought here by the end of the day or tomorrow," Beatrice said, moving slowly into the room. I noticed, with a little resentment, that she wasn't busy catching her breath. She was used to these endless staircases, and probably the enormous rooms too. "The maids will bring you a selection of linens for the nest, but you'll have to give them instruction on what more you'll need. You won't see Ronson before di
She turned in the room, eyeing it critically. I had thousands of questions. Did the alpha sleep here normally? There were a few bits of evidence, like the open wardrobe of clothing and a pair of dusty boots by the door, but the room didn't look very personal. Was there a particular way I was meant to build a nest to share with a dragon in rut? Except I should've known that already.
"The nest will keep you busy," she said, pursing her lips and studying me with a hawkish look.
"Of course, yes," I said, wondering how obvious my complete lack of preparedness was to her keen gaze.
She nodded her head in one firm jerk and then marched toward the door I was blocking. I ducked out of the way before she plowed right through me.
The room felt even larger once I was left alone. With Beatrice's fresh omega scent gone, the deeper woodsy and smoky alpha notes teased at my nose and my tongue. Yes, he slept here. The room was clean and sparse, but it smelled like him. I wet my lips and glanced over my shoulder, making sure I was alone again as I pulled and yanked on my dress and the tight stays beneath it that were now uncomfortably soaked with sweat.
Maids would be arriving with food and materials to build a nest I had no notion of how to construct. I wanted to strip myself free of my confining garments and roll into those clean and crisp looking sheets, see if I could reach the corners of the bed as I stretched—I suspected not. But I didn't want to be caught sweating like a pig and lazing about, not when I was so sure the entire castle—and probably the island—was waiting to see what absurd mistakes I would make.
Still, a bit of fresh air would be nice. It was cooler by the sea. I crossed to the balcony, grunting as I opened the doors made of wrought iron and poured glass. They creaked, and I gasped as a chilly burst of air rushed around me, making the world a little clearer and cooling the sweat under my layers of clothing.
I had never seen the island from such a high vantage point, and it took my breath away. Bleake Isle seemed enormous. It was all I'd ever known of the world, but from here in this high tower, looking down on the grid map of the village in the distance, almost able to make out the distant edge of the island where docks waited, it revealed itself as a small kingdom.
Still too large to be ruled by you, I thought, lips twisting wryly.
But the alpha had chosen me. Perhaps to spite Adelaide and Hugh Gamesby. Perhaps because my inability to keep my mouth shut had made him see me as an ally.
I know I did make the right choice, Mairwen Posy.
I flushed and closed my eyes as the wind rushed over me, sharp with sea air but familiar too, with the woods and the hay from the farms and the meadows of wildflowers.
Lord Ronson Cadogan had chosen me as his omega after half a century of refusing others. He claimed he'd made the right choice, even as every other omega and beta likely thought he'd made a terrible mistake.
I wanted to believe him. Him and not them. But it wouldn't be so simple. I wouldn't blossom into the perfect omega just because he had stopped in front of me and declared me his choice. If I wanted his choice to be right, I had to help prove it so.
The door opened, and a flurry of maids called to me, their arms laden with fabric and pillows and cords and hooks. I smoothed my hands down my wrinkled skirts and straightened my shoulders, turning on my heel and determined to start now.
Build a nest for the alpha, Mairwen. I swallowed hard and fought my blush. For you both.