Page 16 of Ruined by His Alpha King (Reluctant Fae Princes #3)

Stamel

Their first journey on the thalmway was a tumultuous one.

Stamel would have much rather taken the several days’ journey and flown the legs of it.

He pitched forward, head between his knees and breathed deeply to overcome the sense of staying still in one place with movement around him. “I curse your brother-in-law for this.”

“With that little stunt you pulled, he’s your brother-in-law, too.” Seidrik drummed his fingers on the arm of a rather ostentatiously padded settee that had been bolted to the floor.

“Drat.” Stamel sat up and leaned back, taking slow, calculated breaths. “I had intended to menace you most of the way.”

“Oh joy,” Seidrik said, his tone growing bored and surly. It’d always been a mask he wore to cover his nerves.

From Croatens to Liaberos, the journey by thalmway was a half day, and they’d been told to expect them of the afternoon, in time to wash up for dinner.

There, Alluin was sure to have the most bland and uninteresting meal he’d ever seen.

The king must have thought salt too spicy.

Perhaps bland would be nice after his day of riding rails as smooth as silk on a countryside that rolled with curvaceous and almost-lewd shapes.

“Would you look at those rocks over there?”

“Let me guess, they, too, look like a bottom.” Seidrik sighed and glanced over. “Oh.”

Stamel delighted when Seidrik raised a brow.

The phallic monument was either a natural feature worn away over time or some long-gone deity’s fertility sculpture.

It was equally likely one of the goddesses mandated a king have it erected for some inane reason that ultimately meant little other than a punishment.

It was fanciful thinking to hope Alluin’s only legacy would be a giant cock and bollocks.

As the hours waned and the noonday sun raised high in the sky, warming the cabin to something slightly above comfort, he removed his shirt and fretted that none of the windows of the unit could open.

He’d voice his concerns later to Nemiah if they ever met.

Seidrik, for his part, seemed content to sit in one spot with that wearied expression sweating away.

When they rose above the horizon, spotting the pale and golden gilded spires of the Liaberos castle, Seidrik sat up straight. “Put your shirt back on. The last thing I need is speculation.”

“Speculation,” Stamel wheedled as he stuffed his tunic on and back into place. “Bollocks. Nobody would assume you’re the type to be bothered with sex.”

“And I wish to keep it that way.” Seidrik tidied up his hair which had grown a few shades paler in the time he’d spent in Croatens. Stamel would torture him endlessly if he were to darkwash it once more.

“Why is it that you, being older, haven’t been introduced to many ladies? Virion was practically old by royalty standards. How old was he, twenty?” Stamel slouched as Seidrik gave him a put-upon glare.

“Royalty is typically alpha and omega. Being beta, the selection of females is…sparse. What options presented to me were more interested in alphas than myself.” Seidrik sniffed imperiously and shrugged.

“That, and Father wanted to personally select my partner based on who could offer him the most, and nobody has yet to offer him a daughter with enough financial backing. Honestly, I assumed he was searching for a wife for himself before I could have mine. ”

“Sounds about like Alluin.” Stamel huffed and Seidrik shrugged. “There were a match or two that he considered, but their families backed out—assuming that Alluin might be the intended groom, I supposed. Wouldn’t know how that particular rumor started.”

“Oh. You devious little jewelfly.” Stamel grinned, and Seidrik’s cheeks colored before he turned his head away.

“I thought you wanted a wife and to have children.” Stamel toyed with some dust on the windowsill.

“I kept hoping there’d be a female I could perform for, as it were. The only time I came close was when—” Seidrik closed his mouth, and his cheeks went deeply pink.

“When, what?” Stamel crawled over toward him and reached out, poised to pluck at one of his tender nipples.

“When I sat about imagining an alpha.” Seidrik huffed at the admission.

“Which alpha?” Stamel grinned.

“Does it matter?” He leaned away but cried out in shock when Stamel tugged at his shirt and found a pink nipple, giving it a flick.

“You! Happy? All these years, I’ve avoided you because I wanted you.

It’s like that ridiculous kissing thing you did made a mark of claim upon me and no matter what I did, it was you that came to mind. ”

“Very happy. Now smarten up, my blushing bridegroom. We wouldn’t want people speculating.” Stamel braced himself as the thalmway slowed with a shudder, rails screaming as the weight of the carriages behind them put force into their forward momentum.

So, when the passenger cars finally lined up with the dismounting platform, Stamel stared out at the welcoming… A single royal carriage sat waiting, not a person in sight with fanfare or a celebratory smile. The di sappointment must have been evident on his face when Seidrik snorted.

“I thought you understood that I was no longer in my father’s favor, not that I had it much to begin with.

They do not celebrate my presence.” Seidrik stood and opened his own door as the carriage stopped, and shouldered a bag that he’d set aside with gifts from Croatens to King Alluin.

The trinkets he carried were mostly some exotic fragrance oils and a very ornately embroidered tunic done in the official Liaberian white and gold with tribute to the sun done over much of it.

Seidrik had accepted it gratefully on Alluin’s behalf, but voiced that his father would likely never wear it, and would happily dispose of it. This he said in private to Stamel, of course.

They disembarked and crossed the platform, loading into the carriage without so much as a greeting. Even the attendants avoided conversing with Seidrik—whether it was because they believed themselves better than him or because they were instructed not to speak to royalty was beyond Stamel.

They rode through the gilded streets, storefronts and people milling about in varying degrees of wealth and ostentation. Stamel wondered how far beyond the main street the riches continued, and what their poor had to endure.

When they reached the castle, their belongings were sent up to Seidrik’s wing, no question asked as to where Stamel would stay.

Seidrik had been an instrumental factor in his promise to Liaberos to rebuild their guard and train.

Seidrik, himself, had been trained in combat, though how effective it was… that had yet to be seen.

The arrival lacked any sort of excitement or celebration, and it wasn’t until the dinner chimes rang and they’d cleaned up, putting on evening attire, that they saw Alluin sitting bored and alone at the end of his grand table.

He glanced up, his cold and featureless face morphing into displeasure, then amusement as he turned his gaze to Stamel.

“Welcome, Prince Stamel. It is a pleasure to host you.”

“And a pleasure to be given the opportunity to stay here at your lovely palace, King Alluin.” Stamel swooped himself into a cordial bow, not so low as to appear of lesser class but also low enough to show off his horns as he displayed them, as royalty did when able.

Alluin is a fucking suckup for alphas. At the display of horns, Alluin gave a genuine smile and welcomed Stamel to his side. “Come, sit, you must be tired. I apologize for there not being a welcoming party at the platform. I wasn’t certain it would be today.”

That’s a lie. Ingred verified their arrival.

“It’s of no matter. I wouldn’t want to waste precious Liaberian resources on the likes of myself.

I am merely royal blood and lineage. I hold no station but prince in name.

” Stamel rose to his full height and approached, letting an attendant pull his chair back.

For a moment, he almost beckoned Seidrik over, but caught himself as his mate took a seat farther down the table.

“Seidrik was so kind to me over the visit, and he bonded with Askara and the goddess quite well.”

That caught Alluin’s attention, and he turned his gaze sharply toward Seidrik. “I was under the impression that Seidrik’s prayers had been insufficient to our Mother Goddess.”

“They were, assuredly. He was so ashamed and felt unworthy of her love. Touching, really. She blessed him with kind words and has urged him to raise his head high.” Stamel laid it on thick as he reached for a goblet of wine that an attendant sat before him and poured cool water atop to make it weaker and more palatable .

“You’ve made yourself a good influence on my wayward son, I see.

Alas, my hopes for him have run thin as of late.

His refusal to speak with our mother pained me, and to hear the news of his abnormality before the kingdom…

” Alluin sighed as if he actually cared about his son.

Stamel had a theory that Alluin had almost regarded him as competition.

“I cannot take the credit. He is inundated with fine blood and a mind keener than he lets on. If given opportunity, I see his mind adding fine tactics to your guard.” Stamel took a long sip and set his goblet down, leaning away as an attendant brought by the potage.

His family never bothered with the pre-salad stew, but Alluin loved overcooked, bland food.

He waited, as he was taught, for Alluin to take a bite, then proceeded to eat with Seidrik following in tow. Though, from the corner of Stamel’s gaze, he could tell that Seidrik merely pushed the thick, white stew around aimlessly.

Alluin dabbed at his lips and swallowed with a hum of satisfaction. “He has the fine makings of a strategist, but alas not the station for it. The goddess has declared him an accessory to our lineage.”