The Mogoru Empire was just as impressive as one might imagine a territory that had earned the title of empire would be. Structures that boasted the vast wealth and excessive strength of the Empire. All of the victories that had led up to the establishment of the vast land that could so easily swallow the Roan Kingdom if they decided to do so.
As impressive as the Henituse procession was, it still paled in comparison to excess surrounding them. Especially when the crown prince sent personal knights to accompany the carriage through the streets.
Cale was just about as calm as he was capable of being.
The reality that his new fiance was imperial crown prince Adin hadn't actually settled down inside of him quite yet. Being engaged to the prince of his own kingdom had already felt nearly impossible to escape, the prince of the Empire? Ha. It was some sick god's joke.
It bothered him though.
He couldn't quite understand why Adin had chosen him as a fiance. The more time that he had to consider the situation, the more it struck him as odd. Yes, Adin had gone out of his way to scent him when they met during the rescue but there was hardly any affection there. As for political benefits, Cale had none to offer the Mogoru Kingdom.
He was a noble from the Roan Kingdom, an onconsenquensial and comparably small kingdom of mediocre military strength. He wasn't even a noble in good standing, even a cursory look into his reputation would offer nothing to Adin.
He didn't need to be politically minded to understand that much at least. Especially when his own lack of worth as a political partner was probably the primary reason behind his previous engagement being annulled.
That was the other issue.
Bob.
What the hell was he even supposed to feel about his childhood friend coming back in this situation? Especially when sent by his ex-fiance?
He tried, really tried, not to imagine that Alver was jealous. Or otherwise discontent with Cale being engaged to someone else. It was such a petty thing to desire when he was facing such immediate danger.
If imperial crown prince Adin had felt perfectly within his rights to scent Cale when they were nothing but strangers, it wasn't difficult to imagine what else he might do as Cale's fiance.
One way or another, he needed to get out of this situation.
He wanted to trust in Bob's ability to help him, in fact, there was a part of him that couldn't help but trust Bob. The dependable figure that had supported him during the lowest moments in his life. The person who had never betrayed his trust.
Yet in the face of his daunting fate it was difficult to believe that even Bob could do anything about it. Even with Alver's full support and efforts, this was the Mogoru Empire. The Roan Kingdom had no power here.
He had no power here.
Cale had spent the majority of his life dreading a feeling of powerlessness. Having his will and autonomy stripped away in favor of someone else being allowed to dictate his life. Feelings of anger and fear consumed his heart until he was unable to see what was in front of him clearly.
In the face of all of his worst fears becoming a reality, Cale had to wonder if this fate was inevitable. If all his struggles over the years had never meant very much of anything at all. It had a particular sting to it when he thought about how his fears had very likely cost him a relationship with someone he actually loved.
He thought about it sometimes.
Would Alver have loved him if he hadn't been so unpleasant? If Cale had been able to see what was in front of him instead of what he feared that Alver would be, could he have somehow earned the prince's heart?
It was a miserable prospect to ponder. The miserable years of fear and hatred had already cost him so much, the idea that they could have also cost him a love that he truly desired.
Cale didn't like thinking about it.
He couldn't help but think about it. Couldn't help but wonder if things had been different if he'd clung to Alver or dramatically confessed his disgusting feelings. Would Alver have opened his heart to him, just a little bit? Or was it always hopeless? Was there no reality in which Alver was capable of holding any romantic feelings for Cale at all?
He wasn't sure which option was more wretched.
Cale didn't acknowledge Bob as the cloaked man wordlessly joined Cale's personal attendants and guards up to the crown prince's palace.
Adin was waiting there with a disgustingly fake smile. Cale had half a mind to show the gross bastard exactly what he thought of smiles like that.
He was emitting pheromones in such a choking way that made Cale wonder how betas didn't smell the rancid stench. Cale felt a familiar part of himself keeling under the force of it. Pleading with him to instinctively submit to the stench.
Cale looked him straight in the eyes without allowing his arrogant stance to so much as twitch.
It was with some satisfaction that he spotted irritation flash through Adin's eyes. He'd probably anticipated that he could dominate Cale with smell alone.
What a fucking loser.
It was a strangely freeing thought to have.
Adin was a loser.
He needed to rely on things like his position as prince or his abilities as an alpha, otherwise he would never have been even granted the opportunity to meet with Cale. Much less become his fiance.
What a pathetic bastard.
Cale's face contorted into a mocking sneer, sincere feelings of arrogance building up inside of him as he looked down on the powerful bastard who had the world at his fingertips.
Pathetic.
More agitation flashed in Adin's expression as he finally approached Cale, the sickening stench cloying around him as he grew closer. Taking Cale's hand and kissing it with the grace of a prince.
Cale was unimpressed.
"I hope that your travels were peaceful?" He asked, looking up at Cale with golden eyes that were full of calculation.
Cale scoffed and pulled his hand away the second he could do so without causing an international incident. "They would have been better if I didn't have to travel at all."
Ah. Cale realized a moment too late that he ought to have some manners with the imperial crown prince. He was so used to speaking to others with dismissive arrogance that finding his manners was difficult.
...then again... fuck this guy.
Cale was as calm as he could be given the severity of his situation.
But there really wasn't any level of calm that could persuade him to lick this bastard's boots. He would rather get beheaded and end this whole shitty charade early.
He maintained his arrogant stance as he faced down the imperial crown prince, delighting momentarily in the annoyance that flickered across his eyes. Adin straightened up with an amiable smile. "You must be tired from your journey." He opined. "Please, join me inside. We have much to discuss."
What a stupid bastard.
Cale followed after him obediently while his skill crawled with agitation and he suppressed the urge to peel off the skin the scumbag had kissed. His opinion of Adin had already been fairly low after their first meeting but now he was sure of it.
He hated this son of a bitch.
The ridiculous notion that anyone who was tired would want to spend more time in his presence was fucking laughable but this idiot seemed to think it was some special privilege.
What Cale would give to let his tongue loose and tell this royal pain in the ass just exactly how pathetic he appeared.
The pheromones made his body itch. They did what they were supposed to, albeit to a lesser degree with Cale's suppressants, but there was no level of arousal that would ever allow Cale to endure the attention of this pathetic idiot.
Perhaps it wasn't entirely Adin's fault that Cale hated him so much.
Cale had, since the tender age of five, developed a very strong bias against alphas. It had taken quite a bit of time, research, and literally falling in love for him to begin to unwind that prejudice. But that didn't mean that the chains of bias had left him entirely.
No, they had been waiting underneath his skin. Barbed and angry and full of every misgiving that Cale had ever had about the 'superior' sex. Meeting an alpha who so thoroughly fit into his stereotype of the 'worst kind of alpha' simply awoke the long held hatred inside of him.
A hatred that he had never been able to fully express because Alver, despite his faults, had never actually been the monster that Cale deemed him to be. Now with a target that so deserved his rage and misgivings, it was all Cale could do to restrain himself from exploding within a catharsis driven rage.
He wanted an alpha to hate. And Adin was, admittedly, a disgusting person. It was just as simple as that.
What wasn't simple was the not-so-subtle way that Adin increased his people and gently discouraged Cale's people from following them deeper into the palace. He hadn't gone as far as to demand it yet so Cale had responded to each blatant hint with the obtuse nature of a true trashy moron.
It was actually becoming quite entertaining to watch the dissatisfaction grow behind Adin's eyes. It was probably the only thing that Cale could claim to enjoy about him.
He was so indisputably hateable that Cale was able to take serious sadistic glee in fucking with him. He silently vowed to be a thorn in Adin's side for the rest of however long their relationship should last.
That was perhaps his single comfort in the quite real fear that his interactions with Adin might not be brief and short-lived.
"Have a seat."
Cale scowled. While it was true that it would be borderline inappropriate for someone in Adin's position to introduce the word 'please' into his vocabulary, Cale resented the order. He was quite tempted to remain standing simply out of bullheaded stubborn hatred.
He did succumb to the demand though. He was picking his battles for the time being and there was still a big gaping hole in his knowledge that itched at every corner of his senses.
Why the fuck was he even here.
Of all the omegas on the continent. Perhaps it would make more sense if Adin had requested he become a concubine or something similar, but to take the position of the crown prince's consort? To potentially become the 'empress' of the Mogoru Empire?
It didn't make any fucking sense and Cale didn't buy into Adin's 'love at first sight' bullshit spiel.
So now he had to get the bastard talking.
He sat across from Adin in the luxurious reception room he had been led to. The table between them was already adorned with anything he might desire after his long travels but Cale had very little intention of eating or drinking anything. Adin was a slimy bastard and Cale had been to one too many bars to consume anything without it being prepared by an individual he trusted.
Besides, it was gratifying that Adin looked once more annoyed that Cale turned his nose up to the food and drink as though it were below him. Cale had a very expressive way of ignoring food. A trait that had made him quite well-resented by the cooking staff of the Henituse household but it was a talent for making even the most gourmet of feasts seem like trash under his critical gaze.
"You appear to be dissatisfied, my love." Cale wanted to punch him. Hard. "Is there something the matter?"
'I've been sent here against my will because my idiot father is an ignorant buffoon and you're an arrogant twit. I find you nauseating and if you keep flaunting your disgusting pheromones into my face, I will cut off your dick and feed it to you.'
Cale smiled.
It wasn't a kind smile.
"Take a wild guess."
There was something obnoxious about Adin's smile before he spoke. "I imagine you have reservations due to your previous fiance."
Cale wasn't expecting that.
Despite his every instinct to keep his genuine responses hidden, Cale tensed. His gaze shook before he regained his composure, trying instead to dissect what the hell the bastard meant by that.
Did he know about Cale's feelings? That certainly didn't make any sense. It was rather publicly known that the pair of them were on poor terms since long before the engagement ended. It was difficult to believe that some bastard from so far away would know anything about the intimate details of their relationship.
Besides, now that Cale's panic was subsiding, he caught the hint in Adin's tone.
The tiniest suggestion that there was something wrong with Alver.
Cale suppressed the urge to scowl and decided to use his momentary lapse to his advantage. Feigning far more irritation than he truly felt towards Alver, Cale sneered. "What about him?"
He wondered how Bob would feel witnessing a scene where two people were so obviously about to shit-talk his liege. He felt a touch apologetic about it but it couldn't be helped.
Adin smirked. It was an expression full of smugness. He really thought he'd tugged on the right string to catch Cale's favor.
What a stupid bitch. Cale was quite happy to use his arrogance against him.
"It must have been difficult to deal with his persistent and unappreciated advances." Huh. Was he that arrogant? Adin's tone was consoling and confident but the words were dangerous. They weren't words that could be easily spoken about a foriegn kingdoms royals. Cale had a certain disregard for etiquette but it wasn't that he was unaware. Just that he chose to behave in a crude manner.
Did Adin think he was an idiot? Or was he just so confident in the confidentiality of their conversation that he didn't care what he said? Or was this how little he thought of the Roan Kingdom?
Cale had a sneaking suspicion that it was a shitty mixture of all three.
Cale calculated his reply carefully.
It was public knowledge that Alver was the one to unilaterally end their engagement so what possible reason would Adin have to assume that Alver was the one with unrequited feelings. Cale's thoughts flickered to the letters he never replied to, certainly someone without all the facts could make an assumption based upon that, but it would mean that someone within the palace or the Henituse estate was likely providing the Mogoru Kingdom with information.
Neither prospect was ideal. Although there was certainly more of a risk to the security of the kingdom if it was the palace.
Adin thought he was a crass idiot who couldn't put together that much information.
Well, he could certainly play into the stupid bitch's expectations.
Cale propped his legs up on the table, kicking some dishes in the process, and leaned back leisurely in his seat. "Finally, someone fucking gets it!" He let out a barking laugh. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have some asshole simpering for your attention all the fucking time?"
Cale mentally replaced the person he was talking about with Adin, making his agitation and cathartic relief all the more realistic.
He was able to enjoy the look of annoyance that danced behind Adin's eyes at his antics as well. A smirk spread across his face. What did the stupid bitch expect when he proposed to the lout of the Roan Kingdom? If he was going to break etiquette so completely, Cale was going to be just as ignorant and spoiled as was expected of him.
"It must have been difficult." Adin said in a patronizingly comforting way. The stench of his pheromones grew more suffocating and Cale had to wonder if the crazy bastard was getting off on this.
He must be seriously insane.
"You can tell me anything." Adin continued, smiling in that winning way that surely made him appear sincere and charming to the public. "I'm always willing to hear about the things that trouble my love."
Ah.
There it was.
He was barely bothering to hide his intentions. Just how fucking stupid did he think Cale was?
This was about Alver.
One way or another, Adin had determined that Cale would be a good piece to use against the crown prince of the Roan Kingdom. If he truly believed that Alver had feelings for Cale, it was all the more reason to use him. This farce of a proposal, the bullshit story about love, the shallow attempt to 'bond' with Cale over a 'mutual enemy'.
All a way for Adin to get the upper hand in some stupid political battle for superiority.
Cale felt a new and unique hatred for Adin.
Up until this exact moment, he'd hated Adin because the bastard represented everything that Cale hated about alphas. Now he hated him because the stupid bitch wanted to pose himself as a threat to someone that Cale loved.
Oh. He was going to stab this stupid bitch in the eyes and cut out his damn tongue.
Cale was far more adept at hiding his hatred in adulthood though and redirected his feelings into an impassioned list of complaints against Alver Crossman that were all fictional.
Adin wanted to know Alver's weaknesses? Cale would feed him as many fake weaknesses as he needed to. Amidst his tirade, Cale managed to knock quite a bit of food and dishes from the counter and onto the floor. He quite liked the way that Adin had to bite his own tongue at one point. He was clearly annoyed with the useless litany of information but he listened patiently to his 'love'.
Cale kicked the table as he stood up, this time nearly knocking a glass of wine straight into Adin's lap. It was great to be trash. He announced that he was exhausted and he would retire to his room, sweeping out of the room without waiting for permission and leaving the servants, guards, and attendants to scurry after him.
He could practically feel Adin's narrowed eyes on his back. He wasn't about to provide the crazy bastard with an opportunity to introduce the prospect of 'bed' though.
Not when he knew so clearly what sort of person he was.
Cale quelled the impulse to groan unhappily. How the hell was he supposed to sleep at night? In a palace where Adin had all of the power? He hated to imagine what sort of bullshit he might wake up to.
He kept his chin held high though and allowed for one of Adin's scrambling servants to guide him to his quarters for his stay here. He normally didn't take any joy out of scaring servants but his bias against the Mogoru Empire and all of its citizens grew by the second and he sneered particularly unpleasantly at the floundering servant.
He had absolutely no intention of making him comfortable.
Cale didn't dare to look towards his own servants and guards. He trusted them to follow after him but he didn't know what vulnerability might leak through if he caught Bob's eyes. He didn't know how to fully suppress all of the emotions currently raging inside.
He was just as calm as he could be. Inside of this impossibly large palace full of countless corridors and one crazy bitch in charge of the whole fucking mess.
Cale was a spiteful person by nature. It came with being a man who was stubborn enough to wear a mask concealing his true self for literally years. He was the sort of person who didn't feel the need to endure discourtesy.
Adin wanted to use him as a tool against Alver?
Adorable.
Cale would use that stupid bitch instead.
There was a certain advantage that came with being known throughout the land as crazy, hedonistic, and foolish. Especially when it was up against the type of fool who wanted to wear a likable facade.
Cale only managed to calm down his frayed nerves once he entered his assigned quarters and chased away everyone else. A moment of solitude where he could finally breathe without feeling eyes pinning him to the spot at all times.
Shit. He would need to check to see if this room had any methods of spying on him as well. Cale eyed spots where a communication orb could be easily nestled suspiciously, weighing the idea of completely wrecking the entire room in a 'drunken fit'. It would give him the perfect excuse to find and destroy any methods of spying on him.
It definitely had a certain appeal to it. And the more property damage he could gift to his 'dear fiance' the better.
Just as Cale had just about decided where he would start his rampage, there was a knock against his window. Cale's gaze snapped in the direction and the tension in his shoulders automatically released at the sight of the cloaked man.
He smiled despite the circumstances, heading to the balcony where Bob was waiting without any hesitation.
Cale was going to start by asking for Bob's help finding any methods of spying. He also had half of an idea to lean against his long time friend for support as he complained about everything he hated about this situation.
Cale had a lot of thoughts, here and there, about what he would do when he opened the window.
He didn't expect Bob to immediately sweep him into a hug, holding him so tightly that it stole his breath away.
"Are you okay?"
Cale's eyes widened and a tremble went through him.
No.
No, he wasn't.
He was covering for his fear with anger and indignation but he wasn't anywhere close to doing okay.
Bob always knew when he wasn't okay.
Cale hid his face away in the crook of his neck and forgot how to speak for just a time.
He'd really missed Bob's hugs. Missed the way it felt like all of his fears really could be chased away if he just rested in this precious person's arms.
He missed this.
"I'm sorry."
Cale didn't know why Bob was apologizing but he felt better hearing it. He wanted someone to fucking apologize for the shit he was experiencing. Someone to take responsibility and make it better. He didn't want to face this shit alone.
He didn't want it to be just like when he was nothing but a child who couldn't say no.
"...you better be." Cale replied miserably, desperately clinging to the only comfort he had in this whole miserable empire.
Bob held him tighter in response. Somehow, that helped.
Cale allowed himself to forget his troubles for just a short time.
Held securely in the arms of one of the very few people he truly trusted, all the awful things felt just a bit better.