The room was dark as Eris laid in her bed, stretching and waving her hand through the moonbeams that made their way through her window as she thought over the events of the day. The abuse that Siffia had suffered that she was partially to blame for. The party that she had all but stolen Siffia away to. The ways that Siffia had quietly thanked her again and again-
And the way that Siffia had looked at her before they were made to leave.
Eris had lived through over twenty one years of her life being exceptionally powerful and beautiful; It would be strange if she hadn’t received almost every look there was to be given. And yet, for some reason, that inexplicable gaze that Siffia had given her earlier had made her heart react more than any other.
If the smiles from yesterday had awed her, then the look from today had moved her.
But towards what emotion, Eris still did not know.
She couldn’t help but laugh derisively at her suddenly foolish self. She was meant to be aloof, someone who couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone unrelated to her, who would easily cut off anything and anyone deemed unnecessary. She’d heard as much said time and time again throughout her life, and she’d easily agreed with such assessments. And yet just a few days with the strange woman named Siffia Heston was enough to make her act in ways she never had before.
More and more, Eris felt herself drowning in intrigue over Siffia. It was an intoxicating feeling. Surely it must be the kind of mysterious sensation that causes researchers to ignore everything and devote their lives to solving something, consumed by it.
It was a thought that should have been scary, and yet Eris couldn’t help but willingly follow along with the way it called to her.
She was no longer busy, having dumped the shackles that had once held her back. Even Eris’s family, who was currently furious with her right now, would have to agree that gaining her first ‘friend’ was a noble and worthwhile pursuit, to a degree. Perhaps they would even be willing to cease their pestering of her for a short while with this.
“...My time with her is becoming more and more rewarding, it seems…”
Eris turned to her side, pleasantly closing her eyes at the conclusion she had reached… only to open them once again as her thoughts circled back around.
The question still burned inside of her; What was it that had caused Siffia to make that expression towards her?
She scanned and combed over everything that had led up to that moment again and again, but no matter how she looked at it, it just didn’t make sense. Even the topic, the supposedly ‘taboo’ mixing of omegas, seemed to make little to no sense in the situation. The only thing that Eris could think was that such a thing might possibly have been some kind of hidden passion of Siffia’s, but then why look her way over such a thing?!
Again and again, Eris frustrated herself as she poured over it, until she finally laughed at how maddeningly she was acting.
“Ah… I truly am getting nowhere. I suppose the only way to learn the truth is by asking the person involved.”
Yes, Eris very much liked that idea. Another reason, another excuse, to come and visit her yet again.
Eris smiled and closed her eyes once more, plotting out tomorrow’s impending visit to Siffia.
***
Siffia batted her eyes tiredly as she stumbled her way into her room. Her weary legs carried her through the darkness towards her bed on pure memory, ceasing to work once their job had been accomplished, and all but dropping her onto her destination. A sound, half sigh, half anguished moan, escaped her lips, coming out absolutely mangled amongst the sheets. Her feeble fist hit uselessly again and again against the innocent mattress.
She swore that this day had felt more stressful than most of her days during the war.
Her time with Eris had been so delightful that it all almost felt as if it were a dream. In contrast, her time at home had felt like walking on a bed of needles, both before and after. At least her father had shooed her nosey brother away when she’d returned, so Siffia had only had to deal with one of them. For a moment, she’d sincerely thought the action to be a blessing.
However, the way that her father began to relentlessly pester her for every little scrap of information that she had about Eris and the relationship between them afterwards was like diving into an ice bath.
Siffia knew she should have expected as much from her father, but the way he even dared to hopefully ask if she’d caught either of Eris’s brother’s eyes the day she’d stayed the night made her grimace; And the way that he implied that it was even fine for her to be sold off to either one of them as a mistress instead of a main wife made her face fall even further. She’d already been perfectly aware that her father was looking to sell her off, but the greedy, hopeful look in his eyes while he lectured her was disgusting. Of course her father would want to sell her off to someone of wealth and status like a Margrave’s house, but the thought of him trying to offer her without a care to what lows she might suffer, combined with the fact that he was trying to use her precious friendship with Eris to achieve such goals, made Siffia want to scream.
If this weren’t her father, the very person who held power over her fate, she might have actually slapped him by now for the scandalous words that he’d been spouting. It was already hard enough for Siffia to simply bite her lip and sit still as he spewed out aggravating statement after aggravating statement.
And what he’d told her to do at the end…
“I’ll make it simple for you. Next time you meet with Lady Eris, plead with her to allow you to stay another night at the Margrave’s estate. Make up any excuse you have to. And then, once you’re there, you will sneak into whichever son’s room that you prefer and take a prepared aphrodisiac. You may be piss-poor as an omega, but even your weak and lacking pheromones would be enough to affect an alpha if you caught them by surprise.”
…Hearing such things, it was only inevitable that she would finally march out of the room with a disgusted huff. She found herself quite admirable for only leaving things at that, considering how much she wanted to rain down the full force of her magic upon him in that moment. Thankfully her father hadn’t chased after her for her rudeness. She had no idea what she would have done to the man right then if he had.
Rolling onto her back, Siffia looked up at the ceiling. Her hand waved with a slight twist, and soon a nearby candelabra flickered to life, strange blue lights dancing coldly amongst their tips. She stared at her now illuminated hand, tracing the nail marks that she’d dug into herself during the conversation. A soft ‘tsk’ escaped her lips, displeased that such a trace remained of the horrible talk with her father. She knew full well that the magic coursing through her would make quick work of such a thing, and yet somehow she wanted it removed even faster. Perhaps if she put some kind of medicine on it, or-
Suddenly she sat up, her eyes flying towards the table that she’d been seated at with Eris earlier. There, on the sparsely adorned tabletop, the small tin of ointment still sat, considerately left behind by Eris after she’d treated her wounds. She lunged out of bed for the relic, grabbing it up and hugging it to her chest like a precious treasure, as if it might disappear and prove everything false at any moment.
Her wounds on her wrist and arm were already gone, but like a sweet reminder, this tin alone existed to tell the tale of the valiant kindness of Eris rescuing her, along with the warmth of her treating Siffia's wounds afterwards.
She clutched the tin tighter, feeling her heart beating as if trying to become one with it. She couldn’t help but shake her head and laugh at herself as if she were crying, choking down the overwhelming feeling that was currently washing over her.
The terrifying order from her father to use an aphrodisiac to entrap one of Eris’s brothers… She’d seen them once or twice from afar at several important noble functions. They were both handsome and practically screamed of alpha authority just by looking at them. Truly, perhaps they would be every omega’s dream.
However, Siffia knew that given the option, she’d rather throw her pheromones at Eris instead of them, no matter what the consequences.
She was perfectly aware of how odd it was, how against the norm the feelings that she’d begun to harbor inside of herself were. She’d lived through enough rumor and gossip to hear the occasional disdainful retelling of the romances between two omegas. Distracted as she might have been at the time, she too had heard the derisive reactions of the ladies at the tea party earlier.
And yet, when she thought about two omegas spending a night of passion together… the only thing she could think was how amazing it would be if that could be her and Eris.
It felt silly to acknowledge, really. In a way, it almost felt as if it hit her like a smack to the face. She’d always looked up to Eris, always seen her as the ideal omega, something that she could never become. Even though she should have been jealous, Siffia had always harbored pure hearted admiration for Eris, unable to possibly even envy such perfection.
Suddenly having such disrespectfully lustful inclinations towards her was certainly a surprise, enough that it almost felt like she’d betrayed Eris’s kindness.
“...Is it only natural to feel this way because of how kind and beautiful she is…?”
For a moment Siffia seriously considered it, wondering if such a thing might just be true. But the next moment she tugged at her hair, feeling horribly foolish, as if she’d just tried to pin all of the blame for her impure feelings on the victim, Eris. She flopped back down onto the bed and flailed for a while, until the sudden sound of something metallic tinkling to the floor woke her out of her crazed actions.
“Oh…”
She bent over, gently picking back up the tin of ointment and holding it up, turning it this way and that in her hand. The longer she looked at it, the more sullen her face became.
“Ah… How am I ever going to face Lady Eris now…?”