A Dying Boy Knocked on a Lonely Omega’s Door—Then Royal Guards Arrived and Called Him Their Missing Prince

Chapter 5

Perdita looked up to find Commander Blackthorn watching her with an unreadable expression. “That might not be a simple matter,” the commander said carefully. “The court has very strict protocols regarding—”

“She comes.” Prince Kai’s voice was stronger now, carrying the unconscious authority of someone born to rule. “She comes.”

The finality in his tone brooked no argument. Commander Blackthorn inclined her head. “As you wish, Your Highness.”

Perdita felt the world shifting around her. Her quiet, solitary life dissolving like morning mist. “I can’t just leave. I have a life here. Responsibilities.”

“Please.” Prince Kai turned those golden eyes on her, and she saw depths of wisdom that should not exist in someone so young. “I need you.”

And there it was. The truth she had been avoiding since the moment she had opened her door to a frightened child in a storm. She was already lost. Already bound to this boy by something deeper than duty or obligation. The protective instincts he had awakened in her would not be satisfied by simply returning him to safety. She needed to know he was all right. Needed to be certain he was protected and loved.

“All right,” she whispered. “I’ll come with you.”

Within an hour, they were ready to leave. Perdita locked her cabin door with hands that trembled only slightly, knowing that when she returned — if she returned — nothing would ever be the same. Prince Kai slipped his hand into hers as they walked toward the royal carriage that waited at the edge of her clearing. His grip was steady, trusting.

She was no longer just Perdita, the hermit, the omega who had chosen solitude over service. She was now the guardian of a prince, the protector of a kingdom’s future.

The royal compound rose from the mountainside like something from a fairy tale. White stone walls gleaming in the afternoon sun. Towers stretching toward the sky. Banners snapping in the mountain wind. Everywhere Perdita looked, she saw evidence of wealth and power beyond her comprehension.

Prince Kai had awakened as they began the climb toward his home. His small hand remained firmly clasped in hers as his face pressed to the carriage window, his expression a mixture of wonder and trepidation.

“Home,” he whispered, though the word carried uncertainty rather than joy.

The carriage rolled to a stop in a courtyard paved with smooth gray stones. Before the wheels had fully stopped turning, the massive doors of the main hall burst open, and a man came running down the steps with desperate urgency.

Alpha King Magnus was nothing like Perdita had expected. Where she had imagined cold authority and distant nobility, she saw instead a father’s raw relief and desperate love. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his dark hair streaked with premature silver. His golden eyes — so like his son’s — were filled with tears he made no attempt to hide.

“Kai,” he breathed, reaching the carriage just as Commander Blackthorn opened the door. “My son.”

Prince Kai launched himself from the carriage into his father’s arms, and Perdita watched through her own tears as the Alpha King held his child like he never intended to let go. Both father and son were sobbing openly, a raw display of emotion that made her heart ache with its beauty.

“I thought I’d lost you,” King Magnus whispered into his son’s hair. “When they told me what happened, when we couldn’t find you—”

“Lydia saved me,” Prince Kai said, his voice muffled against his father’s shoulder. “She brought me to Perdita.”

King Magnus’s eyes found Perdita over his son’s head, and she saw gratitude so profound it took her breath away. She climbed down from the carriage on unsteady legs, suddenly aware of how out of place she looked in her simple woolen dress among all this grandeur.

“Your Majesty,” she said, dropping into what she hoped was an appropriate curtsy.

“No,” King Magnus said firmly, adjusting Prince Kai in his arms so he could face her properly. “You don’t bow to me. I bow to you.”

And to Perdita’s absolute shock, the Alpha King of the Northern Territories lowered his head in a gesture of respect that sent whispers rippling through the assembled courtiers.

“You saved my son,” he continued, his voice thick with emotion. “You gave him sanctuary when he needed it most. There is no debt greater than the one I owe you.”

“I only did what anyone would do,” Perdita said quietly, uncomfortable with the attention.

“No,” Prince Kai said, turning in his father’s arms to look at her. “You did what you would do. You’re special.”

The simple declaration from a four-year-old prince carried more weight than any royal proclamation.