Ives woke late — Vetis reported that Arien had long since gone out hunting. Still, there was time to catch the lesson. Lately, the alpha slept a great deal, recovering from long, heavy, sleepless nights. Age was beginning to make itself known, and such relentless service to crown and state weighed hard on a lord no longer young.

Ives had led the delegation that traveled through all the neighboring kingdoms, negotiating with their rulers and hunting down rebels. He was the most experienced among delegation and managed to win the kings over to Thibault’s side. The rebels were captured, and agreements were reached.

The loyalty of the neighboring realms was sworn to the House of Coriel.

It had been terribly hard on Ives. Yet harder still was knowing that his little northern star — his soul — was growing up without him. After every journey, despite Thibault’s pleas, the alpha hurried back from the capital to the North.

Back to Alian.

A few years earlier, the crown’s task had finally been resolved, and Ives knew he had done everything as it should be. He could not have acted otherwise. He would have done anything — even signed in blood — so long as he could come to Thibault certain that the rebels would be crushed everywhere, and that the Coriels would sit on the throne forever. And once that certainty was secured, he asked for a quiet life.Thibault allowed it.

Ives came into the courtyard and was nearly knocked off his feet.

“Father!”

Alian had grown — he was five now. The alpha adored his child. Whenever he was home, he spent all his time with him: walking, playing. In recent years, they were hardly ever apart.

Alian was a healthy, sturdy boy, the very image of Ives himself. He was the most beautiful child in the world. Ives loved his soft dark hair, his bright gray eyes, every freckle. Everything. Because he was his long-awaited, beloved son.

After showering the laughing boy with kisses, Ives lovingly smoothed his coat. He worried a little — he knew that today there would be a riding lesson. No one dared teach the boy anything without the alpha’s permission, yet Ives was painfully weak when faced with his son’s tears and pleas. And Alian truly wanted to learn to ride. 

The instructor, quite young by Ives’s standards, was the finest rider there was. But young man did love to sleep and now was nearly running toward the alpha and his small student.

“My apologies, my lord! Have you been waiting long?”

“No, not long,” Ives shook his head and studied the instructor closely. A moment later, he smiled and kissed his son at the temple. “My little star, go to the stable and check on your pony.”

The alpha set his son down, and Alian ran toward the stables. Ives couldn’t take his eyes off the small figure until the boy disappeared from view. Only then did he turn a serious gaze on the instructor.

“Be extremely attentive and watch Alian’s every move. If anything happens to him, you will answer with your head.”

“My lord!..” the young alpha exclaimed.

“Don’t take offense,” Ives softened slightly. “Life has taught me to fear many things. Have you ever seen a child break his neck falling from a horse? I have. And it was my first son.”

The instructor swallowed nervously.

“So I want to protect Alian from every danger possible.”

Ives watched closely as his little boy was taught. Alian stared at the pony with wide eyes, clutched the saddle nervously, then burst into loud laughter. The instructor hovered over him, afraid to step away, but explained everything clearly. Alian, though he fooled around now and then like any child, listened and tried hard to do everything right.

That was, until he heard someone riding up.

“Papa!” the boy cried out happily, and every word the instructor had been saying was instantly forgotten.

Ives sighed and turned toward the approaching group. Arien reined in his horse and dismounted. Behind him came the hunt master, the southerner Aidan. The lord glanced at him briefly — the man seemed not to notice his master, merely lowered his head slightly and kept his distance, cold and detached, much like Arien himself.

“You’re up early. Good morning,” Ives said, but his husband did not reply, only cast a dark, fleeting glance in his direction.

After Alian’s birth, the omega had taken a long time to recover. And when everything finally settled, he grew utterly indifferent to his son. The alpha had to name the child himself and to care for him alone. One morning the lord noticed his husband strolling down the street. With short hair. When asked why he had done it, Arien merely pressed his lips together.

“I wanted to. What will you do about it?”

“Nothing,” Ives shrugged — he could not forbid his husband from changing his hair. Since then, the younger Lord Boriel always wore it short.

With the instructor’s help, Alian slid down to the ground and ran up to Arien, clutching at his trouser leg. He looked up at his papa with eyes full of hope.

“Papa, I can almost ride a horse now! I’ll go hunting with you! Look!”

Arien slowly lowered his gaze to the boy. For a fleeting moment, some strange hope stirred in the alpha — only to shatter the instant his husband spoke.

“Alian, step away.”

The boy obediently stepped back, as he always did. Arien did not look at him and walked off toward the castle. In the child’s gray eyes, tears immediately glimmered, his lips trembling. 

Ives swallowed hard and sank to his knees before his son.

“Then show me — I really want to see,” the alpha said softly, wiping the tears from Alian’s warm cheeks. “Don’t cry, my soul.”

The lesson was ruined — the boy could no longer do anything properly. 

Ives should have long since abandoned the empty hope that Arien would ever be gentle and affectionate with the child. Alian was stranger to him, even though the omega had carried him, given birth to him, and even nursed him. 

At first, the alpha believed things would change. He had done everything he promised: sent his husband away to rest, bought him many books, constantly asked what else he might want. He hired a hunt master for Arien. Little by little, the omega began to recover — but he showed no interest in Alian. The boy, meanwhile, always reached for his papa, but Arien pulled away. 

Ives understood perfectly well how foolish it was to expect boundless love for the child from Arien. He had not wanted him, he did not love Ives. How could the omega love Alian the way he had loved Carlisle? 

Leaving Alian for a short while, Ives decided to speak with Arien. After the birth and Ives’s constant travels, his husband had moved back into his own chamber. The moment the alpha opened the door, he felt sharp gazes upon him. One he was used to; the other made him wary.

“Please, Aidan, leave me alone with my husband. We need to talk.”

The hunt master was about twenty-five — dark-skinned, curly-haired, and very serious. Aidan did his work well, but Vetis disliked him intensely. The old servant begged Ives to drive the southerner away.

“They’re always together! My lord, one day Lord Arien will bring a bastard into your house!”

But Ives did not dismiss Aidan. At first, he had no time for such matters. Later, he realized he would not have the strength to fight Arien over it. The omega hunted often and kept to his own affairs, disturbing no one and behaving calmly. He began to look better — put on some weight, seemed more alive. Surely it was because he no longer locked himself in his chambers and spent so much time riding through the forests. Vetis wrote many times that he feared Arien might leave for good, but the omega always returned to the castle. What was there to complain about?

And now his husband looked lively and refreshed — even, it seemed, in a decent mood and ready to listen calmly. Arien pulled off his gloves and spoke first.

“You want to talk about Alian?” And almost at once, noticing the alpha’s questioning look, he added, ruffling the damp hair beneath his cap, “You never talk to me about anything else.”

“As if you would talk to me about anything else,” Ives replied, stepping closer. For some reason, he found himself watching the way Arien quickly and deftly unfastened the buttons of his coat — but a moment later, catching himself, the lord lifted his gaze straight to the dark eyes. “So—”

“I don’t particularly want to talk to you about that either,” the omega said sharply, narrowing his eyes like a predator. “But my wishes have never mattered much to you, have they? So speak.”

Ives held back a heavy sigh — as he had learned to do long ago, over the years of their strange marriage — and began to speak. 

“I would like to ask you to be gentler and kinder with Alian. You hurt him deeply. He loves you, and your coldness upsets him. So—”

“So I can’t help you with that,” the omega cut in.  “You know very well, my lord, that a child must be loved from the very beginning. I can honestly say I have never felt even a drop of love for him — and still don’t. I won’t speak more plainly than that. And my behavior toward him, my coldness as you call it, is already a kindness. It is the most I am capable of giving Alian.”

“At least pretend,” Ives insisted, though with every word his husband spoke, nausea and pain for his son grew heavier in his chest.

“I can’t.”

“I say nothing to you,” Ives continued, his voice firm. “I allow you to ride through my lands, to hunt, and I pay for any of your wishes, though they cost me dearly. I have no intention of changing this. And in return I ask for one small thing — please, be kinder to the child. But if you are incapable of that, then I will also be incapable of arranging your leisure.”

With these words, Ives bowed politely and left his husband’s chambers, under the weight of his threatening silence. Arien did not come down for lunch, and Ives ate with Alian instead. 

After checking on his son, the alpha decided to ride through the forest for a while — and in the stables he saw Aidan. The man was tending to Arien’s horse, though it was not part of his duties.

Was there something between the hunt master and the omega? Ives had thought about it, but did not give it much weight. He understood that his husband did not love him at all, and Arien could like young alpha. Yet his husband’s scent had not changed. The omega was very faithful. Just not to Ives. And what they might talk about endlessly was not a question he pressed.

Aidan bowed respectfully and melted into the shadows of the stable. The alpha did what he had intended — the cold pinched his cheeks, he breathed in the frosty air deeply and savored it. He missed his North constantly.

He returned closer to nightfall, already imagining how he would sink into the bed Vetis had prepared for him. But when the lord lay down, he heard the door to his chamber open slightly. Then Alian peeked inside. 

“May I come in?”

“Of course. Did you have a nightmare, my little star?”

“No, it’s just…” The small omega hesitated for a moment, then suddenly hurried into the room and slipped into the bed, crawling under the blanket close to his father. He looked up with wide, clear gray eyes and asked softly, almost pleading, “May I sleep with you?”

Ives nodded, and his son, squealing happily, pressed close to the alpha. In response, the lord wrapped an arm around the boy and kissed the crown of his head.

“Papa didn’t manage to go hunting today, did he?” Alian suddenly asked in a quiet, completely wakeful voice. That was what had been troubling the child. Ives’s heart clenched painfully.

“Why do you think so?”

“He didn’t want to talk to me,” the little voice trembled with tears. “Does that mean he’s upset about something? Or… did I upset him?”

“No, of course not! It’s just… that’s the way papa is. You’re wonderful, the very best. Let’s sleep now. Maybe tomorrow papa will be kinder.”

Alian believed him and soon fell asleep peacefully, nuzzling into his father’s chest. And Ives knew he had lied to his son — he did not know what would have to happen for his husband to love the boy. For now, the lord resolved with all his strength to love the child for two — his love would be enough.

For half the night, insomnia tormented Ives. He did nothing but listen to Alian’s soft breathing and gently stroke his hair. Sleep came only toward morning, but he was awakened by hurried footsteps and raised voices.

The alpha lifted himself, when the door to the chambers flew open and Arien strode in — in a nightshirt, and clearly irritated. Behind him hovered Alian’s nurses.

“What happened?” the alpha finally asked.

Without explaining anything, his husband walked straight up to the bed — and the lord noticed the anger in his eyes. Arien pressed his lips together and sharply turned to the nurses.

“He’s here. Watch him better instead of waking me for nothing!” the omega snapped harshly. The servants immediately bowed their heads and murmured apologies.

“You thought Alian had disappeared?” Ives asked when his husband was already about to leave.

“I didn’t think anything,” Arien cut back. “Those fools came running in and started whining that the boy was nowhere to be found. They dragged me out of bed.”

“Then go,” Ives said quietly. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

Arien froze for a moment, but still left without saying a word. For a time, the alpha thought the omega would not speak to the boy at all, as usual. And he was surprised when Arien came down to breakfast and even addressed Alian. 

“If you want to go somewhere, Alian,” the omega said coldly and sharply, looking straight at his son, “then at least tell your servants, or someone else. Why do we have to search the castle for you in the middle of the night?”

“But I wanted to sleep with father.”

“That needs to be said aloud. I have no intention of roaming the castle at night because you suddenly wanted something. Do you understand me?”

“I do. I’m sorry, papa,” Alian apologized, lowering his head obediently — and after only a brief moment of sadness, decided to seize the chance and blurted out, “Can I go hunting with you?”

For a moment, Arien froze with his fork in his hand and frowned. Then, as if nothing had happened, he resumed eating.

“No. You’re too small. And besides,” — Ives was pierced by the sharp, cutting look of dark eyes, — “the lord may forbid hunting.”

Alian immediately turned toward his father, and the alpha suppressed a sigh — how cunning Arien was! Under his son’s gaze, he had no choice but to answer. They had an agreement, if it could be called that, that the omega would treat the boy better. And Ives understood that for his husband even this conversation, even this hint of concern, already counted as “kindness.” 

“He can’t forbid it, can he?”

“I can’t,” the lord replied through clenched teeth and ruffled his son’s hair, never taking his eyes off his husband.

The corners of the omega’s lips twitched in something like a smirk — though it was hard to catch — and he returned to his breakfast. He won.