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She lifts a brow dubiously.
Right. Honesty.
“It’s only that the queen likes to pretend that the scandal of my birth never happened.”
“Scandal of your birth?” She leans forward, but not in that way some people do when they’re hungry for you to spill a different sort of tea. There’s concern in the tightening of her brows. In the slight squint of her eyes.
“I’m assuming this isn’t about the queen wanting to control the narrative?” She presses and then blinks, seeming to realize something. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to share if you don’t want to.”
I chuckle. “This conversation is getting deeper, faster than I expected, but no. It’s not an instance of her wanting to control the narrative. Not really. She calls me by my middle name so she won’t have to remember that my father bonded with a commoner and allowed her to choose my first name. Instead of choosing a nobleman’s name, she chose Taiyo, which was her father’s name. A fisherman.”
“I didn’t know your mother is a commoner,” she muses. “All I know is that your father was an earl. I read he passed a few years ago. I’m sorry.”
Pain slices through me, but I was prepared to talk about him. “Thank you. He was a great Dad, even if he was exiled to France for his choice in my mother. He was a romantic, though. Believed in love. Wanted my mother all to himself. Took them years before they finally formed a pack. It was after I was born.”
“Exiled to France?” Her eyes widen once more. “That’s why you have that bit of an accent, then. You grew up there?”
I nod. “To be honest, I loved it. My mum still lives there with her pack. I visit as often as I can. It sure beats being the Royal Outcast.”
“The Royal Outcast?” She scoffs. “I see your version of outcast and raise you mine. At least yours hasroyalin the title. Mine doesn’t. I’m just a loner. A scholarship kid in an Academy filled with Haves who hate that a Have-Not managed to infiltrate their ranks.”
“You’re a scholarship kid?” I ask, genuinely surprised.
Her lips slam closed, and her shoulders hitch up, and I realize I have the same effect on her as she seems to have on me. She’s shared more than she wanted to and she’s worried how what she’s shared will land.
“I didn’t realize anyone who didn’t have theproper pedigreehad been selected to enter the Mating Trials.” I say it as lightly as I can, with a teasing lilt so she’ll know I’m unbothered.
She raises her hand, gifting me with a smile so sheepish that the last bit of tension inside releases, and I laugh. “Guilty,” she admits. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You didn’t ask.”
Losing the urge to resist, I reach out to cover her hand with mine. “I may not have asked, but I’m glad I know.”
As soon as I touch her, my Alpha instinct roars at me to claim her already. It’s much too fast, and also,why haven’t those rut suppressants we took last night kicked in yet?
We took them precisely because our reaction to her was much too visceral. Or at least, I know it’s whyItook them. Knowing we needed to avoid any lapses in control during the Trials, even Wolf agreed it was necessary after he scented her.
Maddie looks up at me through her lashes and sighs, her hand beneath mine stiff with nerves. “Well, at least for me, this is just another place I don’t fit in. Only with a bigger audience.”
“You can say that again,” I scoff, giving her hand one last squeeze before I have to force myself to let her go. “And just so you know, I would never blame someone else for the circumstances of their birth. Not after having lived my life being shunned by everyone in the court except for Wolf and Kaz.”
She falls silent for a moment, those intelligent green eyes flicking from one of mine to the other. “My parents are devastatingly poor,” she admits freely. “I wouldn’t even be here if my literature instructor hadn’t sent in a tongue-in-cheek essay about the Omega system to the nomination committee.” She gives a nervous laugh. “And honestly, I’m just hoping I can stay long enough to earn a little bit of compensation to help them keep a roof over all of our heads.”
She bites her lip and looks down into her lap. My heart hurts for her.
“So, that’s my story, Tai. I guess you’ll probably send me home now?”
I keep looking directly into those eyes, wondering if it’s good or bad that after one date, I’ve already got a feeling I’m looking at the Omega who will eventually become part of our pack. “No, Maddie. I don’t think so.”
She grins sweetly to herself, thinking I can’t see it with her head bent.
Omega Mighty, she’s the sweetest fucking thing, and I’m dying to sink my teeth into her.
I ball my fists in my lap beneath the table and clear my throat. “Who have you got next?”
Surprise flashes in her eyes as she lifts her face back to mine. “Wolf. Tomorrow, I think.”
“That’ll be fun,” I tease with just the slightest hint of sarcasm in my voice. “Good luck with him.”
She tips her head to the side, but before she can ask, our thirty minutes together is up. The butler returns, and I’m whisked away to my next date, knowing it doesn’t matter who I’m seeing next because unless something significant changes, she’s the only Omega I’ll be thinking about today.
