°:. *₊ ° . ☆ °:. *₊ ° . ° .•
The halls of the Northern Palace were no longer filled with the sounds of triplets playing; they were filled with the heavy, suffocating scent of a family coming apart at the seams. While the search for Celine had ended in her rescue, the internal war within the palace walls was only just beginning.
*The Return of the Ice Princess had been announced back in the palace . *
It had taken Arion and Kyon five agonizing hours to travel back from the Western border. Between them sat Celine, her face still flushed a deep, feverish pink. She wasn't just recovering from the trauma of the cellar; she was lost in the memory of the Elite Mountains. Every time she closed her eyes, she felt the warmth of Lowell's hand and the soft, reverent pressure of his lips against her skin. At ten years old, she had found her first crush in a fugitive Prince, and the frustration of being pulled away from him made her magic pulse with a restless, flickering cold.
But as the carriage pulled into the palace courtyard, her personal feelings were swept aside. The atmosphere was grim. Maids were whispering in corners with worried expressions, and the head butler stood with his head bowed, looking as though he had failed a sacred duty.
"What happened?" Celine asked, her voice sharp and authoritative. "Where are the twins?"
She didn't wait for an answer. She ran toward the residential wing, her boots clicking against the marble. When she reached the hallway where their rooms were located, she stopped dead.
Calix was sitting on the floor, leaning against Kenzo's closed door. He looked small and fragile, clutching his sketchbook to his chest with a look of profound sorrow. He had been sitting there for hours, waiting for Kenzo to come out so he could apologize again for being "weird." He didn't understand that Kenzo wasn't hiding out of hate, but out of a terrifying, biological hunger.
*
*
*
Inside the room, Kenzo was a wreck. His body had grown too fast, his muscles aching from the surge of Alpha hormones. He had spent the day biting into his pillows, his fangs leaving deep, jagged punctures in the fabric, trying to satisfy an urge he couldn't name. He had fallen in and out of a restless, feverish sleep, haunted by the scent of jasmine.
The moment he heard Celine's voice in the hall, a spark of joy pierced through his delirium. He scrambled to his feet, grabbed a black cloth mask to hide his extended fangs, and threw open the door.
He lunged forward, throwing his arms around Celine in a desperate, silent hug, burying his masked face in her shoulder.
"Kenzo!" Celine gasped, hugging him back.
Calix stood up, his eyes lighting up with hope. He reached out to touch Kenzo's hand, his fingers trembling. "Kenzo, I—"
Kenzo flinched back as if he had been burned, pulling his hand away with a sharp, involuntary hiss.
Calix's hope shattered. His sensitive heart couldn't take the sudden, cold distance. "I'm sorry," Calix whispered, his voice cracking. "I already apologized for being weird. I'll be better, I promise."
As the stress reached its peak, Calix's chimera nature betrayed him. His white tiger tail and ears flicked out, trembling with distress. Celine immediately pulled Calix into a hug, glaring at Kenzo's masked form. "Kenzo, what is wrong with you? Look at him!"
Kenzo couldn't answer. He turned and retreated back into his room, slamming the door.
" Celine , did I do something wrong again? Is it because I had bitten him back then?" Calix said, his voice cracky .
" No Calix , you didn't do anything wrong." Celine whispered, patting Calix's head .
*
*
*
That night, Calix's desperation turned into a dangerous stubbornness. He waited until the palace was silent, then slipped into Kenzo's room. He refused to listen to Kenzo's muffled, mean commands to leave.
"I'm not going," Calix said, standing in the shadows of the bed. "I know I'm a weird shifter. I know being a chimera is gross to you. But I'm your twin."
"Get out, Calix," Kenzo growled, his voice sounding like a predator's. "Get out before I—"
Calix didn't listen. He lunged forward, throwing his arms around Kenzo in a forceful, needy hug.
It was the final straw. The proximity, the scent, and the physical contact snapped Kenzo's control. His eyes bled into a feral, luminous red. He lost the ability to see Calix as a brother; he saw him only as something to claim.
Kenzo grabbed Calix, his strength overwhelming, and dragged him onto the bed. Calix felt a brief moment of relief, thinking Kenzo was finally hugging him back—until a sharp, agonizing pain erupted in his shoulder, just inches away from the scent gland on his neck.
Calix let out a choked sob, his body stiffening as Kenzo's fangs sank deep into his flesh. It wasn't a lethal bite, but it was a marking. Kenzo had somehow fought his hunger enough to avoid the lethal gland, but he had still claimed his twin with blood.
"Kenzo... it hurts..." Calix sobbed, his struggle weakening as his body began to react to the Alpha's venom.
As the pain peaked, Calix looked up at Kenzo with blurry eyes. "Do you... forgive me now?" he whispered. Before he could hear an answer, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
*
*
*
The moment Calix went limp, the red faded from Kenzo's eyes. His fangs retracted, and he stared in horror at the bloody marks on Calix's shoulder.
But the nightmare was only beginning. The stress of the bite and the surge of Kenzo's pheromones had triggered a reactive heat in Calix. A scent began to fill the room—a smell so sweet it was intoxicating, a powerful, legendary Omega fragrance that was far too strong for a ten-year-old.
Kenzo was paralyzed with guilt. He knew that if Kyon or Arion found out what he had done—that he had marked his own twin in a feral rage—they would send him away. They would ship him to the harshest primary military academy until he was an adult to beat the "beast" out of him. The thought of being separated from Calix for years was scarier than any punishment.
He quickly cleaned the wound and pulled Calix's shirt up to hide the marks, his hands shaking. He sat on the floor, guarding the bed, breathing in the sweet pheromones of his unconscious twin, trapped in a secret that felt like a death sentence.
*
*
*
In the South, Lorcan woke up with a pounding headache and a heart full of hope, expecting to find Aiden's arms around him. Instead, he was in his own bed, alone. Aiden hadn't touched him. Aiden knew that a claim made in a drunken stupor was no claim at all—and he knew that Arion's shadow was always watching.
In the guest wing, Asher was sitting up in bed, his face pale and his voice raspy. The needles had done their work, but the recovery was brutal.
"You're a sadistic bastard, Aiden ," Asher croaked, glaring at Aiden who was standing by the window. "Next time, just give me the damn suppressants. I don't need your Northern 'acupuncture' ever again."
Aiden didn't look back. He just watched the sunrise over the Southern sea, his mind already drifting back to the North. He could feel it in his blood—something had happened to his brothers.