Chapter Text
"Is that all?" Wooyoung squinted at his friend's offering of three small copper coins and a loaf of questionable bread. He pushed back his waist-length hair away from his post-coital sweaty face, crossed his arms and pouted.
He'd swayed countless people with the power of his pout, but after a decade of being his friend, Changbin was immune to his charms. "I'm a palace guard, not the keeper of the treasury." Changbin rolled his eyes and gestured at his meager lodging. He was ranked just high enough to have a private room instead of sharing a bunk in the barracks. "It's what I have to offer. But if you don't want the bread--"
He reached for the loaf and Wooyoung held it out of his range. Wooyoung scolded his friend, "An offering to the Goddess is sacred and cannot be revoked. Hallowed be Her name." He nudged Changbin with his foot, prompting him for the appropriate response. If no one observed the sacred rituals regarding omegas, then he would be no better than a common beta whore. Life was hard enough as a pathetic omega without that additional stigma.
"Oh yes, hallowed. Hallowed." Changbin yawned, stretched and scratched his at flank, his spent cock resting against his thick thigh. For a beta, he was quite well-formed with hard-earned muscles and twinkling eyes, Wooyoung thought, allowing himself to be sentimental for a moment. Of all of his regular devotees, Changbin was the only one who thought that the Goddess’s envoy should have an orgasm as well while they worshipped together. His face was still shiny with omega slick. "The Crown Prince was looking for you again."
Wooyoung’s handsome face scrunched up with dramatic disgust. "Ugh. Don't remind me. He keeps sniffing and snuffling around me like a pig." He fanned the air away from his nose with his hand to emphasize his point. He could still smell the pleasant scent of their coupling, sweat, salt and musk. It was a far cry from royal Alpha stench. Betas never could understand the complicated language of scents that only Alphas and omegas were privy to. "Pigs smell a lot better. He reeks like old fish rotting in a privy. Burns the shit out of my nose." Wooyoung scrubbed at his nose, at the memory. Just because everyone said something was inevitable, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t run as fast and as far away as he could to try to avoid his fate, he thought.
"He showed up after you left the other day and said,” Changbin took a breath and imitated the lofty pompous tones of the royal Alpha. “‘I have a message for all of you. No one may touch Wooyoung except for myself. If I get a so much as a whiff of any of you sniffing around him, I'll cut off your hands and put out your eyes. That omega is mine. I must go to war to save this kingdom soon, but let my fleet-footed omega know that I will have him once I return. He will be my reward for victory and I want him to savor the thought.’” For once, Wooyoung was stunned speechless, aghast and Changbin continued, "You could do worse than be mated to the heir to the throne. I mean, you could marry me." He chuckled a little but it sounded forced and tinny to Wooyoung’s ears.
Wooyoung allowed himself a moment to think about that, then scoffed. "You're a beta. It would never work. I'd fuck you to death during my heat."
Changbin rubbed at his jawline and then sniffed his fingers. "Worse ways to die than between omega thighs.” Wooyoung slapped him on the shoulder for being gross. “Ow.”
Wooyoung said softly, "I like you too much to marry you."
"You wound me with your favor." Changbin smiled and Wooyoung wished that they’d been born into different bodies, into different fates. Regret tasted as bitter as waxy mint tea.
"Goddess, I'm so tired.” Wooyoung slumped face first into the straw mattress. “Did he really say that in front of all of the guards?” Changbin nodded. “How am I going to make enough money to pay for food for Papa now? Is he trying to starve me into sitting on his dick?”
“Possibly. I know I’m risking certain death being here right now.” The straw rustled as Changbin left the mattress to fetch a wet rag from his washing basin. “You might have to go into the town to find more worshippers.”
Town citizens didn’t treat Wooyoung with the respect that a Goddess’s envoy deserved. They looked at his thick leather collar with pity and acted like they were doing him a favor by allowing him to give them a handjob. “They’re so rude about it. They pull my hair. At least you're considerate and spray it on my back." Wooyoung groaned and gestured at his backside. "Well?"
Changbin sighed and sat back on his bed. "You already act like you are a snooty royal. Do you have to meet another worshipper today?" He stroked his fingers down Wooyoung’s honey-toned skin, cleaning off dried sweat and slick and Wooyoung shivered at the intimacy. He didn’t have to be that sweet, Wooyoung thought. I’m nothing special.
"Yes. It's not like I can get pregnant outside of my heat or with betas at all. I need to obtain as many offerings as I can before the Crown Prince cuts off my only way of making money. Don't worry about me, I only take on one worshipper at a time. I am pious." Changbin scoffed at the lie and Wooyoung grumbled, "Alright, other than that one time with you and that tall guy with the pretty face, what was his name again?" He genuinely couldn’t remember. Betas didn’t have memorable scent signatures, nothing that would irreversibly sear into his brain.
"Does it matter?" Changbin sighed again and Wooyoung chose to ignore that.
Flippantly, Wooyoung said, "Not really. At this point, everyone's kind of a blur of bouncing ball sacks, and depressingly small cocks."
Changbin silently thwacked the back of his head against the wall, holding his tongue at the unintended insult as he wiped his seed from the omega's back. Wooyoung continued on, blissfully unaware of the impact of his words, "Until there's a bitemark on the back of my neck, I'm beholden to no one but the Goddess. She takes pity on all her omega children and gives us her blessing to do whatever we need to do to survive. And that whatever included your entire garrison."
Wooyoung rolled over, refreshed by the sponge bath. He took the rag and daubed at his cocklet and vulva lips. Changbin was idly fingering one of Wooyoung’s old scarred up bite marks upon his arm. Wooyoung had a nasty habit of biting during worship, his little omega fangs had left their mark on most of the garrison, but Changbin had the worst ones because Wooyoung knew that the beta would never punish him for acting out. I like you too much, because you let me get away with everything, Binnie. You let me be who I am. A nasty little bitch filled with spite at being born.
"You are their favorite method of prayer." Changbin took the rag and tapped the back of his own neck. "Don't forget to touch up your bite repellant. There's a few new Alphas in the palace who haven't violently vomited up their intestines."
Wooyoung smirked. He’d concocted his own special emetic that clung to his nape skin. When the tiniest bit was ingested, it triggered projectile vomiting that gave him a chance to flee from his Alpha attacker. Unfortunately, it had become a bit of a hazing ritual for the new Alpha palace guards. “It would be nice if people stopped betting on who was going to claim me.”
"It's one hell of a show. People say you're a little cursed by the Goddess."
"I am. It's part of being born this way." He grabbed his little woven bag filled with potions and pills and daubed the bitter concoction on his nape as Changbin held his hair up for him.
"You should sell that stuff for other omegas. Make a living with your brain, instead of your body."
Wooyoung frowned. It was annoying that people thought he had any other options than selling his body under the Goddess’s protection. He wouldn’t survive a day in the Redia Kingdom’s mines with his soft omega body that was built for bearing children and not much else. He couldn’t gain muscle like betas and Alphas. The beta women were relentlessly haughty and hateful towards him, because he fucked their husbands for offerings. He wasn’t trained in anything other than the herbalism that his Papa taught him and he stole all his herbs from the royal gardens. You needed your own plot of land to grow a garden in this land made of clay and stones. Even the shittiest loaf of bread was made from imported wheat and flour. If they were going to war, everything would even more expensive.
Other omegas were happy to be mated and have children until their bodies wore out and they died, but something deep inside Wooyoung rebelled and lashed out at fate. There must be something better out there for me than being locked inside a harem. There had to be. He’d prayed so much to his Goddess; she wouldn’t be so cruel as to ignore one of her most pathetic envoys. "I have to save that option for when my body wears out and no one finds me attractive. I'm not just supporting myself. I have to get ready for the winter. The gardener's hut isn't warm enough for Papa, so I'll add some more reeds and then touch up the whitewash--" Wooyoung set his lips into a thin, strained line. He always had so much to do and so little money to achieve it with. "You don't need to know my home improvement plans."
"But I'll listen." Changbin put his warm hand over Wooyoung’s. "If you want, you can stay for dinner."
Wooyoung smiled. "You just want me to cook for you."
Changbin nodded. "I'm a simple man who knows his strengths and cooking is not one of them. You're so good at everything you attempt; you really do have the Goddess's blessing. You're going to carry around your poor Alpha's balls in a handbasket."
"Now that's an image." The concoction dried down so Wooyoung tied back his hair with a bit of a leather, then fastened on his thick leather collar. I hate this thing, Wooyoung thought. I hate that it tells everyone who looks at me that I’m a useless, soft, cursed creature.
"Be realistic. You're probably going to be the crown prince's concubine. He won't forget you; your scent is in his nose. You might as well enjoy a soft, pleasant life."
"I'd rather die!" Wooyoung snapped without heat at his friend.
"Dying is easy." Changbin tilted his head to the side, his eyes warm and friendly. "Think about how much more miserable he'll be if you thrive without him."
"You're so good with your pretty words and yet, so stingy with your coins."
"I'll tell the men to tithe generously. Hallowed be Her name." Changbin scratched at his jawline thoughtfully. “And Wooyoung, smear some of that stuff on your collar too. You’ll need another line of defense. Trust me. I might not be able to smell madness, but my other senses are very good. He won’t give up on claiming you.” Wooyoung clutched at the thin sheet and Changbin sighed, gathering him into a hug. Changbin gave the best hugs, Wooyoung thought. “Let me braid your hair so it won’t get in our food.”
Several months later.
Bells rang out, clanging and echoing in the streets. Four bell chimes meant a message from the war front! Wooyoung shot to his feet; a piece of winter kindling fell through his cold, numb fingers. He fought his way to the public plaza through the other anxious families, his heartbeat pulsed in his ears and his sandals slapped against the cobblestones. The plaza was filled with a nasal cacophony of fearful scents. Pheromones.
An old beta woman asked, her voice trembling with apprehension, "How many soldiers did we lose?"
The messenger cried out, "None! The Crown Prince was challenged to a ritual duel and was defeated in single combat. Everyone is coming home alive!" Wives and mothers sank to their knees in prayer to the merciful Goddess for the lives of their loved ones while old men muttered about the future of their humiliated country.
"What about the Crown Prince!?" Wooyoung called out to the mounted messenger. "Does he live?"
"The Crown Prince was captured, yet lives." The rider finally said, his lips flattened into thin line at Wooyoung's oddly enthusiastic query. The messenger wheeled his horse and rode off towards the other plazas.
Captured! The Crown Prince was captured! A tickle of a delighted giggle escaped Wooyoung's lips, a tiny titter before he slapped his filthy callused fingers over his mouth and ran away from the plaza as fast as he could.
When he was out of earshot and hidden in the relative safety of the royal gardens' potting shed, Wooyoung laughed until he cried. He pressed his fingers over the frenzied bite marks indented into his leather collar. The Crown Prince had attacked him right before leaving for battle and the only thing that saved him from a lifetime of misery was the bite repellant that he’d smeared on the collar. Like Changbin had told me to do. Just in case. It was an honor to be attacked by royalty, the other palace servants whispered. Wooyoung knew better; that’s why he’d invented his bite repellant.
Omegas were allowed to resist, allowed to fight back and flee, but that was only because Alphas found their feeble struggles amusing. But Wooyoung was fast. Fast and far nimbler than the pampered crown prince who stank like old fish marinated in rotten barley beer. He’d run too fast and too far into the woods surrounding the palace grounds for the Crown Prince to find him before he had to leave to fight the Pirate King’s forces.
"That Alpha bastard lost. He lost and the whole kingdom knows. They know! He's emasculated and humiliated!" Wooyoung cackled, tears of relief leaking down his cheeks. "Finally, I'll be free of him! I hope they keep him and his soft greasy fingers in chains forever!" Wooyoung laughed again, kicking his heels against the dirt floor. "Thank you, Pirate King. This is the best day of my life!"
Someone wrenched the potting shed door open and daylight flooded the little room. Wooyoung’s lips formed an ‘O’ shape and he uttered, “Oh?”
An Alpha palace guard that Wooyoung hadn’t bedded stood outside of the building, a stern expression on his face and Changbin stood impassively behind him. He stared past Wooyoung as if unable to meet his eyes. Oh no. This wasn’t good. "Are you Wooyoung, the crippled gardener's son?" The stranger asked. Wooyoung nodded. "You are summoned to the war room. Your king orders your presence."
Wooyoung's mouth opened to protest and the guard shoved a cloth gag in between his teeth. The stranger bound his wrists and ankles, then flung him over their shoulder like a burlap sack of grain. Wooyoung's breath whooshed out of him and he went limp. Changbin watched helplessly, unable to interfere.
Out of the corner of his eye, Wooyoung saw his meek, mild father watching his capture. Not all Alphas were hulking brutes of muscle and arrogance, his father was gentle and kind. Wooyoung sold his body to honor the Goddess but mostly to keep his father fed after a mule cart accident left him with a twisted leg and a limp. He loved his Papa, with all his heart. His father had the oddest expression on his face, as if he'd just bitten into an expectedly bitter fruit that made his eyes water. Papa! Wooyoung’s father turned his head away from his only son and he did not look back.
The guard dropped him upon a plush woven carpet and pushed his head down, forcing him to kneel. His precious bag filled with his bite repellant and other precious pills, potions and ointments fell from his waist and Changbin picked it up. He bit at his lip, tucked it into his jerkin and then left the room to stand guard at the entrance, leaving Wooyoung alone in a room with gilded strangers.
The war room smelled like sweat, roasted meats and expensive incense, offerings to the God of War and Victory. All the gods had forsaken them this day, Wooyoung thought hysterically. Even his precious Goddess had turned Her face and favor away from him. "This is Wooyoung, the crippled gardener's son, Your Majesty." The rough guard announced.
"Let me see his face," the king haughtily ordered. The guard grabbed a fistful of Wooyoung's long black hair and wrenched back his head. The King of the Redia Kingdom sat upon a gilded throne, clad in the finest embroidered silks and regarded him thoughtfully.
What did I do? Wooyoung thought, panicking. Why is the king looking at me like that?
"Yes." King Yoo came to a decision, rapping his fingers against the throne armrest. "You are handsome enough to be one of my by-blows. Was your mother one of the chambermaids or a kitchen wench? I lose track of where I've sown my seeds. Not that it matters, I suppose. One omega hole is as sweet as another. You also have my family's distinctive eyelid folds." Wooyoung blinked in surprise. The king had one single and one double eyelid, just like himself. "I declare that you are now Prince Wooyoung, second prince of Redia."
A strangled noise of disbelief escaped Wooyoung’s gag. The king laughed at him; he had a dusty chuckle like dry leaves crackling against each other. "The barbarians have offered us a deal. One royal hostage for another. They thought to outfox me, but I kept one of my bastards hidden from the Queen’s eyes. A spare heir.” The queen was a fearsome, bloodthirsty omega who craved power at all costs for her son, and herself. Wooyoung respected her ambitions as a fellow omega, but now his blood ran cold in his veins at her name. This had to be a joke!
”I acknowledge that you are my son; my royal blood flows in your veins. The Pirate King drinks the blood of his captives, savoring it like fine wine, so he will know your linage is true by the taste." Wooyoung's eyes widened even further with horror. The barbarian Pirate King was going to drink his blood? I’ll take my chances with the bloody-handed queen! He shook his head, his fear of being devoured by a foreign devil greater than the fear of defying his own king. The guard pushed him into the carpet and stepped on him to hold him in place. King Yoo continued, "You are protecting the most valuable treasure of our kingdom, my precious son. Your half-brother."
Fuck that! Wooyoung thought and he squirmed underneath the guard's foot. His collar slipped as he struggled and the alpha holding him in place smelled his pheromones. It was a tremendous breach of protocol to lose control of your scent around your social betters. "You dare to let out your scent in front of your king?"
"He's terrified. Rightly so." The king's nostrils flared as he inhaled Wooyoung's scent. "And right on the cusp of his heat cycle." Oh fuck! He can smell that? I was going to go lock myself in the root cellar again for my heat.
Wooyoung whimpered at the inherent threat and the king sneered, "Sorry, little one. No matter how much you beg, I can't claim you or knot your needy hole. We're family. If I did such a thing, my bitch of a Queen would make both of our lives very short ones."
"The Crown Prince put a protective edict on this one." The guard reported, still pinning Wooyoung to the carpet. “He wished to claim him.”
The king shrugged. "Ah well. It can't be helped. He'll have to trade his favorite toy for his freedom. My son is a bit of a pervert, isn't he? Trying to claim his half-brother. That just proves how strong my line is. Even unconsciously, we yearn for blood purity and strength." King Yoo looked down his nose at Wooyoung with lazily slitted eyes. "You may be a pathetic omega, but you are going to do your sire a great honor. I'll try to remember your name when I make an offering to your Goddess."
"He needs to look like a pampered royal brat." King Yoo ordered, wafting Wooyoung's terrified stench away from his nostrils. "Bathe him, shave him, coat him in perfume and dress him in some of the Crown Prince's second-best robes. “Be sure to replace his collar with something more-- flimsy, then make the exchange according to royal protocol. We will announce his coronation in all the ports and cities by carrier hawk. The entire country will know about the new omega prince. Drug him too. I can already tell that he's thinking about running away.” The king purred, "If you try to run, my little princeling, I'll execute everyone who ever loved you and have their heads mounted on the city gates as a warning to other willful omegas. The palace children will whisper your name as a curse because your legacy will be pain."
Wooyoung sagged in defeat and the king smiled. "Good boy.” He drained a goblet of wine and then waved them away.