Help! Five Beast Alphas Want To Breed Me!!(BL)-Chapter 280: It’s About Time
Koda;
Mother would be so disappointed in me.
Look at how they’re all looking at me like... I’m a weak link.
Perhaps Rhydian notices my discomfort because he suddenly turns to the crowd and speaks.
"Please give us a little space," He orders, and the sound of his voice cuts through the whispering.
People step back instantly, and I watch my little brother grab a strip of cloth and tie it above the wound. He looks up at me with that look he gives when he’s angry about something I’ve done.
"You really want to kill me with worry, huh?" he whispers, and I look away with my chest heavier than anyone’s should be.
"Koda, look at me. You cannot carry Gravemaw if you keep falling apart." He adds, and I open my mouth, but the sound that comes out is a betrayal of the weight I have been carrying for so long.
"I’m tired... All of us are." I whisper, trying to bite back pain, and the crowd exhales a collective pain.
"I’m tired, Rhydian... I... I’m not doing enough, but if I try to give more..." I whisper, and silence falls on the crowd.
To my shock, Rhydian closes the gap between us and pulls me into a hug.
He says nothing... Just holds me there, and I stay frozen.
Rhydian isn’t one to openly show affection or care... In fact, it has never been his nature to know how to show it. And now... he’s hugging me like this... in public??
I slowly, cautiously wrap my arms around him, and just then, the people around start turning towards something.
Heads turn, and I follow their gaze... because if something can pull everyone’s attention at once, it has to be big.
Through the crowd, a figure moves... smooth and deliberate. When I make out who it is, my heart flips, and I almost shoot to my feet... Almost.
MOTHER.
My heart lurches in a way that tempts my legs, and Rhysian slowly pulls away. For weeks, she had hidden herself away from everyone. She retreated into her rooms after the accident and the loss of her beast... she just... coiled into herself and stayed that way.
We needed her, but nothing seemed to get through. I noticed that after some children started visiting her frequently, she began to get better. I have never seen them, can’t identify them... but Mother always speaks so fondly of them and how they make her want to step back into the sun.
And today...?
Here she is in public standing before me, looking as radiant as ever. Although she has lost some weight, she still looks so... beautiful. Like the queen she is.
She kneels before me and stares at the injury in my thigh.
"Oh, my dear boy," she whispers, and her voice flows like honey.
She smiles, and it splits something inside me as she reaches for and caresses my cheek.
"What have you done?" She whispers further, and on instinct, I try to answer; however, my words tangle.
"You—"
"No dear... You only did what my absence made you do..." She says as her gaze drops in guilt, and the sight makes my heart squeeze.
"I have stayed hidden for too long," she adds, and there’s a softness there that cracks my heart open like a walnut.
"It is high time I help. You scoundrels, keep burning up with work. You will consume yourselves if I let you any longer." She jokes as she waves a hand at a maid, and I smile.
I watch as the maid runs off, and Rhydian straightens like he’sfound new strength.
"Queen–" He begins, but Mother cuts him off.
"Do not call me queen today," She says softly with her eyes still on me.
"Call me something useful... Like a worker. Because that’s what I am today. Holiday’s over. It’s time to get my hands dirty and help my people where it really matters." She says, and I smile proudly at her.
She leans forward, and the smile she gives me is small and private. When she reaches out, I want to stand.
Pride and the guilt for letting myself break war restlessly in my chest.
She gently taps at the knee,
"You’ve worked hard enough," she says softly, and it is not pity. It’s not even kindness in the shallow costumes the world uses. It’s more like recognition.
"You’ve led. You’ve made them whole. It’s high time the one who always stayed away comes to help put it back together." She adds, and her maid, who ran off, comes back with Mother’s surgical bag, which she hands to Mother.
Rhydian lets out a sound like a laugh and a sob, all cut together. He kneels and takes my hand. "You will disgrace me if you cry in public. You’re an ugly cryer," he jokes, but his voice is raw in the best way. He’s glad. He’s uneasy. He’s my brother.
"Thank you," I whisper to my Mother and Brother, and Mother only smiles as she puts a gauze over the wound, pressing with the tenderness of someone who remembers hands that used to cradle her own.
"If you really want to thank me, from now on... You will stay out of trouble," She whispers to me, and I blink at her.
"And you will stop pretending you can do everything alone."
I want to argue, but I can’t.
"You’ve done enough. I’m here now. We rebuild, together." She says to me, and staring at her beautiful, golden eyes, my vision blurs.
For the first time in a long time, it feels like there’s an answer that doesn’t need to be perfect... only honest.
"About time," Rhydian mutters beside me, and I can’t help the laugh that leads me into coughing.
The wound stings, the people cheer, and finally, Gravemaw is starting to look like it will heal completely and return to its former glory.
Rhydian is right. It is about time.
It truly is about time we get our home up and running again. Gravemaw’s ruin has dragged on for too long.
