Help! Five Beast Alphas Want To Breed Me!!(BL)-Chapter 190: Gravemaw Welcome 2
Rhydian;
The moment the carriage crosses Gravemaw’s borders, the air changes.
It smells alive... It smells different here. The air smells sweet and heavy with pine and blooming petals.
The sound of distant laughter floods the place, and I look over at Zephan who’s staring out of the open window curiously.
The steady rhythm of drums suddenly takes up the place, and I sit up. It’s rhythmic and from how energetic the drums are being beat, you can feel how happy the people are.
This... certainly feels different from Howleroot.
I draw in a slow breath, and I can almost taste this place’s warmth on my tongue.
I look out at the happy children running by the carriage, and I smile at the excited, curious little faces staring up at me.
"Now, I see where Koda got his bubbly sense of self from." Zephan murmurs, and I chuckle softly.
Back in Howleroot, the walls hum with silence. Servants speak in whispers. The air is always cold, dry, metallic. But here... here everything feels alive.
Children are running about barefoot with petals tangled in their hair.
Men and women are dancing happily to the drums, and flowers are spilling from almost every window.
It’s chaotic, wild and... heartbreakingly alive. How can a place feel so... happy? So... bright??
Our carriage pulls to a stop, and Zephan doesn’t waste a second before pushing the door open.
He steps out, and despite how much he tries to hide it, I can sense the excitement in his movements.
I step out of the carriage, and that’s when I see her. Up ahead. Bright and beautiful.
It’s impossible not to know who she is. Especially with that dangerous resemblance she shares with Koda.
Queen Cassia.
She’s radiant, her blonde hair looks like each strand was made of sunlight. Her smile is tender and unguarded, and in her hands is a crown... not a crown of gold... or metal, but woven twines and flowers.
I watch as she walks gracefully to Father who straightens up the moment she’s before him. There’s something soft in his eyes that I haven’t seen in years.
The hard lines around his mouth melt away as she caresses his cheek. She whispers something to him, and my heart aches when I see the way he smiles.
He never smiles at anyone like that. Not even to my mother.
Queen Cassia reaches up to place the flower crown on his head, and Father bows so she can reach his head. He blushes, and he laughs. It’s a sound that doesn’t belong to a king, but to a man who is completely in love.
For the first time in a long time, he looks... happy.
Zephan leans close, voice low enough for only me to hear.
"Of all of us," he says, smiling faintly,
"Koda is the luckiest. A home like this? A mother like her? It almost feels unreal." He concludes, and I hum in response, though my throat is tight.
Zephan was just being honest, but one thing stood out of all he just said.
"A mother like this."
I remember the mistake I have for a mother, and the ache in my chest makes it hard to speak.
Koda is lucky. Gravemaw feels like something out of a dream... untouched by the wicked darkness of the rest of our world, and that’s all thanks to this wonderful woman he has for a mother.
Queen Cassia suddenly turns toward us, and my heart leaps into my throat as her warm smile grows.
Her steps are light, and her joy is radiant enough to make the world hold its breath. As her beautifully chubby figure moves towards us.
"It’s so good to see you boys." She says in a voice as soft as honey, and Zephan bows deeply to her.
I follow his lead, and before Zephan can stand up straight, she slips a flower crown over his head and cups his face affectionately.
"Welcome to our home, Zephan," she says with her voice like summer rain, and my heart twists.
She turns to me, and when she reaches me, I bow deeper... old habits... she however ignores the gesture and pulls me into a warm embrace.
For a heartbeat, I freeze.
No one has held me like this since I was a child. Her scent is so tropical and rich.
When she pulls back, her smile is soft, and patient. She sets a crown of white blossoms on my head.
"You’ve grown, Rhydian," she says. "But your eyes still look the same." She says, and I smile.
She’s come to see Father a few times at the capital. She more than others... and those times, she got the chance to see all of us.
Although Koda is her only son, she always came bearing gifts for all of us.
I
"Thank you," I whisper but it feels too small for the weight in my chest.
The drums swell again with happy laughter bursting around us, as petals fall from everywhere. Everyone seems lost in joy, in reunion, in the rhythm of Gravemaw’s heart...
But I can’t focus on all that. Because beneath the warmth, beneath the noise, one thought burns through every beat of the drum.
Where is Elián?
I can’t see him among the crowd. I can’t feel his scent in the air either.
I can’t stop my eyes from wandering past all these in search of one person.
The music slows again, and the people stay making way for someone.
His scent hits me like a bomb, and my heart starts pounding furiously in my chest.
Koda emerges from the crowd, but my eyes dart to the small frame following closely behind him like a child would cling to its mother in a busy market.
"Father!" Koda calls as soon as he sees Father, and as he walks over to Father, Elián stands still with his gaze on the ground.
I stare at the forest green robe he’s in. The hems of the fit are decorated in colourful embroidery, and his hair looks trimmed and properly tamed.
He even seems to have added more weight.
My vision blurs the moment I see him, and I let out a shaky breath.
He looks so beautiful...
He slowly raises up his gaze and just as our eyes meet, I feel someone stand beside me, and link their hand with mine.
My heart skips a beat when I turn and see Bram holding on to me and grinning up at me.
My head darts back to Elián in worry, and sure enough, the look in his eyes has shifted to pure disgust.
My heart shatters at the way he looks at me like I’m the most disappointing thing in the world, before tearing his gaze away from me and walking in another direction.
No... It’s not what you think...
