Page 54 of The Omega Princess

“Oh, that’s bullshit,” I said. “That’s—” I shook my head. “What’s it got to do with the dress?”

“It’s vintage,” she said. “It belonged to my grandmother. It’s my roots.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead.

I considered. “All right. Well, you stay here, and I’m going to go explain to the Queen, and it’s going to be fine.”

“My grandmother was in the DAK, you see, and we’re here honoring them at the luncheon, and so I wore her dress—”

“I do see,” I said. “I do. It’s lovely, really, quite a tribute. The Queen will agree. She’ll… I don’t know, maybe she’ll make something out of it. You can be in photos together. You’re twins. She’ll want to honor your grandmother.”

“Maybe,” she said.

“Definitely,” I said.

But when I got over there, the Queen was already not pleased with Sinclair, because he was pocketing his cigarette butts again—something about the environment, even though no one was asking him to litter—and he smelled like an ashtray.

I explained about the dress.

The Queen shook her head. “No, we won’t acknowledge it.”

“We won’t?” I said. “The press is going to acknowledge it. They’ll ridicule her.”

“Better they ridicule her than call attention to the fact she’s a commoner omega, Devlin!” The Queen glared at me. “I have told you already that we have a palace position on this question.”

“So, you’re just throwing my omega under the bus?”

“If you tell any member of the press that dress is a tribute to some common woman, you’ll be throwing the entire peerage under the bus,” said the Queen.

And that was the final word on the matter, apparently.

I went back to Eleri to explain it to her.

Her face drained of color as I went through it. She shook her head earnestly. “I never meant to make the Queen angry. Now, she’s slighted and she thinks I’m going against the palace, and—”

“You are a commoner omega,” I said. “I don’t want you to deny your heritage. That may be the palace’s position, but it’s not mine.” I sighed. “But even so, it’s best we keep to what she says about this.”

“I won’t say anything,” she said, with a little nod.

I felt like shit, like I was betraying her. I’d never felt as if my loyalties had been divided quite this badly before. I’d usually been able to put the palace first without it hurting anyone else. But this, above my omega? It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Luckily, I didn’t have to give any speeches at this luncheon, so it was unlikely we’d have to address the press. We’d just get through it, and we’d deal with the fallout tomorrow.

We all sat down at our assigned places. We were dining in a big room. There were a number of round tables set up here and there, and they liked to divide up the royals amongst the tables. Since Eleri was new at this, though, I’d managed to convince everyone it was best if she stayed with me.

So, we were seated at a table with the president of the DAK, several local magistrates, and a senator. The conversation was polite, if stilted, but Eleri did a wonderful job. I think they were all charmed by her.

She was very charming, so pretty and so magnetic. Anyone would want to be close to her, I thought.

Later, the Queen got up to deliver her speech. She talked for some time about how great the organization was, and how lovely the tradition of the luncheon was, and how she was honored to be the guest here, things like that.

After, the press asked questions.

“We hear that both you and the new omega princess are wearing light purple to honor her commoner grandmother,” said a reporter. “Care to comment?”

“Is it true the palace is acknowledging that commoners have designations?” said another reporter.

“Is it the palace’s position that designations may crop up in any bloodline, as research is beginning to indicate?” said someone else.

The Queen smiled at the reporters, but she was furious.

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