It was obvious that the sorcerers had not been expecting any visitors, judging by the way a young apprentice startled horribly as soon as he saw Donghyuck in the doorway.
"Y-Your Highness!" He spluttered, quickly lowering himself into a deep bow. Donghyuck just stiffened, awkwardly nodding before gesturing for the servant to rise.
"Yeah, yeah, it's me... you don't have to be all formal or regal with me or whatever, just please don't tell the king I was down here, okay?"
The apprentice nodded hurriedly. "Whatever you say, Your Grace."
Donghyuck winced at the title, giving one last tense nod before he ventured further into the lair, Renjun and Jeno staying close behind him.
"Uh, hello? Scary witch guy?" Donghyuck called out. Renjun elbowed him in the side in reprimand, causing the omega to whine out in pain.
"He has a name," Renjun hissed, and Donghyuck just responded with his own glare.
"Okay, well no one has ever told me his name, so how the fuck am I supposed to know what to call him?"
"His name is Jaemin," Jeno cut in, exasperatedly. Donghyuck stuck out his tongue at Renjun childishly before clearing his throat and trying again.
"Um... Jaemin? Are you in here?"
"Ah, so I suppose I am who you were referring too when you asked for the 'scary witch guy'?" A strange voice said, amusement in his tone. Donghyuck turned and watched as a figure stepped out of the shadows and approached their trio, a grin tugging at his lips. Donghyuck vaguely recognized him as one of the people that had been in the room when he arrived through the portal—he was the rude one who had bluntly told him to forget about everything in his world when he had been distressed and crying in a puddle of potion.
"Uh, yeah... you're the guy who opened the portal to my world, right?" Donghyuck muttered. Jaemin tilted his head, all nonchalance.
"That would be me, Your Highness. How may I help you?"
Donghyuck shifted on his feet, scratching at the back of his neck. "Um... I came to ask you about opening the portal to my world again, so that you can send me back home."
Jaemin narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously. "Is that so? Did you get the king's approval to come here?"
Donghyuck stiffened, letting out a sharp nervous laugh. "Uh, duh, of course I did."
Jaemin didn't look convinced in the slightest, but he seemed to decide that it was ultimately not worth his time.
"Well, I hope you know that me opening the portal for you will not be nearly as easy as you may think."
Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "Well... why not? You just need to do whatever little spell you did before to open it again, right? Seems simple to me."
"You seem to be poorly miseducated about the complexities of magic and spells, Your Highness," Jaemin laughed sharply, "it is not nearly that simple. I would have to wait for the right moon cycle, gather all the ingredients to make my potion, and summon forth all of my apprentices... and even then, it still may not work."
Donghyuck deflated a little, his shoulders dropping. "Really? But why?"
"Magic is a very finicky thing, Your Highness. It is not just a tool that we can easily use and abuse, it is a living force that acts at its own whim and carries out the will of destiny. If the magic decides that you are not meant to return, then the portal will not open for you, for it obeys the goddess of fate and no one else."
Donghyuck scoffed, crossing his arms. "Well that's stupid. I thought the whole point of magic was to have the power to change fate and destiny."
"A power like that would be too dangerous, and could disrupt the flow of the universe," Jaemin sighed, "magic is meant to allow us to do great things beyond our measly human capabilities, but it cannot change fate."
"Well... I don't belong here in this world anyways, so I shouldn't have too much trouble with the fate thing. I'm sure destiny wants me back in my own world more than anyone else."
Jaemin just hummed noncommittally. "How arrogant of you to assume what the goddess of fate wants, based only on your limited human capacity of understanding her ways."
Donghyuck scowled at him. Renjun and Jeno stood silently behind the queen, exchanging a glance and debating on whether to not to intervene.
"Okay, well if you're quite done being so condescending and rude, can you answer my question? Are you able to open the portal again or not?"
"I can try, if that is what you wish, Your Highness. But you will have to give me some time," Jaemin said calmly.
"How much time?"
"I'm not sure yet, I will have to gather information from the royal stargazers and see where the moon is at. Perhaps a month or two, based on the most recent moon cycles."
"A month or two?" Donghyuck gasped, "that's so far away... are you sure you can't do it any sooner?"
"I cannot, Your Highness. You will just have to be patient and wait."
Donghyuck huffed, pacing across the floor anxiously. One to two months was too long, and there was so much risk that came with him staying that much longer. The alpha traitor was still out there, and Mark was still working hard to court him. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to escape both death and romance, he had barely managed it in the time he'd already been here.
But if Jaemin was right, then he didn't really have much of a choice. He would just have to grit his teeth and wait, and hope for the best.
"Yeah okay, fine. I'll wait."
"Wise choice," Jaemin drawled sarcastically. Donghyuck shot him one last glare before turning on his heel and beginning to walk away, Renjun and Jeno hurrying to follow behind him.
┈ ୨ 👑 ୧ ┈
A couple more days passed slowly and agonizingly, with Donghyuck growing more and more bored and tired with life in the palace. Since he had been working so hard to stay away from Mark and interact with him as little as possible, he found that there was really not much for him to do to entertain himself. He took his usual walks in the garden, he went to the library every once in a while to read through the occasional painfully cheesy romance novel, but other than that he was forced to just lounge around and let time slip by.
One day while he was out in the gardens, kneeling and looking at his favorite rose bush, Mark happened to walk in. Donghyuck froze as soon as he spotted him, launching himself back up onto his feet and trying to make a break for it, but then Mark was grabbing his wrist and yanking him back towards him with a force he hadn't used since the night they first met.
"Ow, hey!" Donghyuck whimpered, trying to wiggle out of his strong grip, but the king just grabbed his other wrist and pulled him in close, forcing the omega to face him directly.
"Why are you avoiding me?" Mark spit out immediately, his gaze intense as he scanned the omega's face. Donghyuck huffed and pointedly looked everywhere except the king's eyes, still weakly struggling against him.
"I'm not avoiding you," Donghyuck muttered. Mark scoffed, his jaw clenching in mild frustration. Donghyuck followed the movement with his eyes and tried not to melt into the concrete beneath him, praying that his scent didn't spike and give him away.
"You haven't even looked me in the eye since we arrived back in the palace. Even now, you refuse to meet my gaze," Mark sighed, "what's the matter? Did I do something wrong?"
Donghyuck's heart sank, guilt hollowing out his stomach. He had never meant to make the king feel at fault for his sudden shift in behavior. He just didn't know how else to keep his feelings under control.
"You didn't do anything wrong," he mumbled, shifting on his feet. Mark softened a little, his thumb gently stroking over the pulse point on Donghyuck's wrist. Donghyuck blushed immediately in response, internally cursing himself for being so weak and susceptible to Mark's flirting.
"What is it then, Donghyuck? You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
Donghyuck bit the inside of his cheek and huffed quietly. "Yeah, I know."
"Then talk to me, beautiful. Tell me everything that's bothering you."
Donghyuck folded like a house of cards. He distantly wondered if Mark had any idea how attractive he was, how easy it would be for him to get Donghyuck to do pretty much anything.
"I don't... um..." Donghyuck choked out, eyes darting around the area nervously, "I'm just anxious still, I guess... about the intruder and stuff, and how we haven't found him yet."
It wasn't a complete lie. He did still lay awake at night, jumping at any slight indication that someone was outside his room, lying in fear of being attacked in his sleep again. That wasn't the real reason why he was avoiding Mark, but what the king didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
Mark frowned at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Donghyuck. I know how scary that must have been for you... I should have done a better job of protecting you."
Donghyuck shook his head. "It's not your fault, it's okay."
"No, it's not," Mark sighed, "my job is to keep you safe, and I've come close to failing too many times already. You don't deserve to have to live in fear, and I accept the full blame of not doing more to help you be at ease these past days."
Donghyuck blushed and said nothing, staring down at their feet.
"Donghyuck... can you look at me, please?"
Donghyuck really didn't want to. He knew it would be over as soon as he looked into Mark's eyes. His willpower would crumble and he would go running back into Mark's arms, curled up against him and happily accepting any sliver of physical attention he could get.
He was supposed to be getting over his feelings for Mark, not falling at his feet like one of the heroines of the many romance novels he'd read the past few days.
"Donghyuck. Look at me."
Donghyuck whined low in his throat, shaking his head. Before he could even fully process it, Mark was grabbing him by his jaw and tilting his head up, forcing him to look into his eyes. The omega felt like all the air was sucked right out of his lungs, going weak in the knees as he was met with nothing but adoration and concern in Mark's gaze.
Oh god. I'm so fucking screwed.
"There's those pretty eyes of yours," Mark hummed softly, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips as he used his free hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind Donghyuck's ear. The omega was officially gone, putty in Mark's hands.
"I missed you," Mark murmured, caressing Donghyuck's jaw with his thumb. Donghyuck, with his brain-to-mouth filter completely deteriorated by Mark's acts of affection, found himself caught in a rare moment of raw honesty.
"Missed you too," he blurted out, his ears immediately burning red as soon as the realization of what he just said registered in his brain. Mark just grinned and continued gently tracing his fingers over the omega's jawline, never tearing his eyes away from Donghyuck's.
"Then stop avoiding me, silly," Mark hummed, reaching out to playfully ruffle Donghyuck's hair before slowly pulling back. The omega felt all the air flood back into his lungs in Mark's absence, his head still spinning with the ghost of Mark's delicate touch against his face.
"I unfortunately have to go now, I have more meetings and duties to attend to," Mark said, his tone disappointed and regretful, "but, should we have another picnic tonight, here in the garden? I'll make sure there's extra security this time, since our first one was ruined."
"Yeah sure, okay," Donghyuck mumbled absentmindedly, before he could even think about it. His brain was still clouded, completely fogged over with Mark's smoky scent that made him feel dizzy with affection and want.
Mark shot him a bright, excited smile. "Wonderful, I'll have a servant come to let you know when it's time. I'll see you later tonight, Donghyuck."
And then Mark was turning in his heel and strolling happily out of the garden, leaving behind a very flustered, very dazed Donghyuck.
The omega collapsed onto the ground as soon as the king was out of sight, clutching his chest and feeling as his heart hammered erratically against his rib cage.
Okay, maybe it was more than a silly little crush. Maybe... maybe he was really in love.
He was so doomed.
┈ ୨ 👑 ୧ ┈
Choi Suho, the alpha that the guards believed to be the first of the two traitors working with the Red Moon, was brought into the throne room later that day for a trial.
Mark pointedly did not tell Donghyuck and made sure that he would be absent during the ordeal, because the omega had already gone through a lot of trauma with the other traitor, and Mark didn't want to risk upsetting him any further. If all went well today, if they were able to succeed in getting information that would lead them to uncovering the identity of the second traitor, then they'd be able to make the palace safe once again and put Donghyuck's mind at ease. But if the alpha refused to talk... then they would be back at square one, with zero leads and at a loss for how to find their culprit.
Choi Suho sat before the king's throne in the throne room, forced down onto his knees with his hands bound tightly behind his back. His head hung low, so Mark couldn't see the expression on his face as he strode into the room and took a seat on his throne, staring him down from the head of the room.
"Choi Suho," the king said, his voice booming and authoritative, "you have been brought before the royal court today for allegations of conspiring with the murderous gang, the Red Moon. We have reason to suspect that you were behind the attempt to assassinate the queen in the royal gardens, and that you have been planning more opportunities to kill the queen. How do you plead?"
The alpha stayed silent for a long moment, and everyone in the room held their breath, anticipating the next response. No one knew how he would react—if he would become violent, if he would deny the claims, if he would insult the king and doom him to being unceremoniously executed on the marble floor instead of a traditional execution. The evidence they had against him was damning, undeniable and proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he was involved with the Red Moon, so what he pleaded ultimately didn't matter. The next words he said would determine only how he would meet his end.
The alpha finally lifted his head, and to the surprise of everyone, he wore only a proud grin. Mark looked at him and felt a shudder run down his spine at the cold look on his face, not even an ounce of remorse or fear in his expression.
"I plead guilty, Your Majesty."
The priests turned and whispered to each other conspiratorially. The soldiers all stood tall and still, careful not to let any reactions show on their faces, but when Mark looked to John, he could tell by the slight furrow in his brow that he was also bewildered by the boldness of the alpha traitor.
Mark cleared his throat, regaining his composure and schooling his face into practiced indifference.
"And is it true that you have another ally here in the palace, a partner that you've been working with that is also attempting to assassinate the queen?"
The alpha listed his head to the side, all nonchalance. "That is true as well. Although if you were hoping to get any information out of me, any clues to his identity, then I'm afraid you're solely mistaken. Torture won't work on me, I won't tell you anything even if you kill me."
Mark didn't doubt him for even a moment. Seeing how the alpha responded to the trial, to the previous harsh methods used on him in the palace's prison, he didn't doubt that he wouldn't be able to get any ounce of information out of the traitor.
He gritted his teeth, fighting back an oncoming stress headache. He would simply have to figure something else out, another way to uncover the identity of the second alpha involved.
"Very well. In that case, I sentence you to immediate death, for putting both my and the queen's life at risk."
"Immediate?" The high priest said lowly, looking to Mark, "you mean you wish to kill him here, right on this very floor?"
When Mark turned to look at him, the priest was wearing a look of disdain on his face, as if he was appalled by the fact that the king would force him to bear witness to the taking of a life. Mark merely leveled him with a look, challenging him with a raise of his eyebrows.
"Yes, I wish to take his life right here, right now. If he is conspiring with another alpha guard in the palace, I can't take the risk of sending him back to prison and giving him the chance to talk with his partner and come up with some sort of plan. He mustn't leave this room alive, that is the best course of action."
The priest pursed his lips, looking unconvinced, but the both of them knew it ultimately didn't matter if he disagreed. Mark was the king, his word was law, and the rest of the people in the room had no choice but to obey him.
Mark looked up and called forward the executioner, a lower ranking guard that was usually put in charge of carrying out the punishments of criminals. The young man stepped forward with his sword in hand, not a hint of an expression on his face as he positioned himself next to the traitor. Suho himself still looked unfazed, a small smile still tugging at his lips even with the knowledge that his life would end in the next mere moments.
When the executioner lifted the blade to complete the execution, John turned away. Not because he was scared—he had witnessed the taking of a life many times before, and had even had to take a few himself—but in order to look at his soldiers, watching them and scanning their facial expressions. He was looking for something, anything, that might give their traitor away, some hint of emotion as they watched their partner and ally be killed. Fear in their eyes, a mouth downturned with sadness and mourning, even a look of shock, he searched for it all, looking to each of his soldiers and observing their faces carefully.
Then, finally, he spotted something. A mouth upturned in the hint of a smirk, reeking of arrogance and a feeling of superiority. It was gone the next moment, so quick that John could almost miss it, but it was there all the same, and John had seen it clear as day.
There, he thought, that is our next suspect. For what loyal soldier of the crown would dare smile during an execution of a criminal who had attempted to assassinate the king and queen?
John recognized their target immediately—Kim Woohyun. The soldier that had claimed to have left to refresh his hygiene when the king and queen were attacked in the forest clearing.
All the pieces started to fall into place, and John suddenly felt like a great fool for not realizing it earlier.
Now, all they needed was proof.