While flipping through his manuscripts, he was reminded in his little tête à tête with Enzo of the research he had abandoned. It held his curiosity before. And so it made it easy to push away to the corners of his library but now he felt it was a necessity to find out the truth.
The capital city in the Empire of Sonhrai carried the archives and chronicles of shared histories and interweaving researches between the three empires. It is very literally the main hub of education.
At first, he thought, how could such a thing be weaponized. One day, he will be emperor and he would need something to make his rule stand out. He needed to mold his curiosities into the strengths of his empire. And their Empire of Carolingian, already known for their odd alpha and omega dynamics, has particular needs. He wondered if he answered the question to why their females tended to be omegas and males tended to be alphas that this would be his shining landmark.
A great alchemist, from the eastern empires, named Shen Wei, wondered why their empire was so different from the rest of the world. He traveled the lands, marked down cultural nuances, and what may have divided the people into such a way.
And what he found led to his execution. His manuscripts were banned in all empires in every dynasty. Few people even remember such findings existed but Jonathon did.
What Shen Wei found out is that their dynamics were set up at birth but not fully. Female omegas, for example, did not have to have children but they could not produce the bodily fluids necessary to impregnate like a female alpha could. But vice versa? Rare but possible. People attributed it to how female omegas existed so Shen Wei tested whether omegas could impregnate other omegas.
His findings found truth that yes, in fact, omegas could. And if that were true, did that mean alphas could carry the children of omegas? Did bygone eras of dynamics ultimately just mean levels of fertility? Then alphas should be able to carry the children of other alphas.
Two hundred years ago such findings were not capable of being understood. He was sure even now it wasn't but it didn't need to be understood. The basic premise was clear, much in the case of Marcel Soriano-Orozco, who very likely is still an alpha. But if his fertility levels were closer to an omega, his body would change to perceive the shift.
Where someone might've thought he found the act of intertwining bodies enough to heat his body, it was the act of gripping his hair, his neck, feeling his pulse thrum under his lips.
Was there no one more powerful than an alpha who could fill another alpha's belly with child?
He tucked his manuscripts away to be better read another day.
And prepared himself for another evening out in the desert. The sun burned his eyes again as Captain Boucher stood outside waiting.
"Where did you go last night?" the Captain growled. "No one said they saw hide or tail of you."
"I stayed in the camp," Jonathon said honestly and shrugged. "I just wandered around."
"Well, we set up for a venture in the city, but if you want to just wander around be my guest," Captain Boucher answered, his large muscled biceps looked like rocks that could crush the prince's head to mush. "Or is there something else catching your interest?"
"I would like to read some historical books popular to this area," he said to the captain. "I know their language well enough to read without translations."
The Captain appeared mildly interested before disinterest flooded his eyes. He shrugged. "Even better."
The camel carriage, a kajawa, waited for them to leave the camp. His guards redressed in basic military robes and they rode into the city where the smells of fresh bread, hot foods rushed into his nose as he inhaled the delicious air.
When they reached a shop with handbound books, he left the carriage with Captain Boucher still at back. He pushed away the curtain entrance and found various figures of wealth perusing the literature. But the one who stood out the most was a man with a striking, imposing figure. His limbs were long and shoulders expressing the posture of nobility and royalty. He seemed to notice them just as quickly.
"Fuck," the Captain at his back said as the figure turned to them with a gleefully mean expression. "Do not speak your name. You're mute as of now."
"Captain," Minister Cissé said curiously. "This is strange to see you in a place of learning and open education. I thought your people were against that."
Captain Boucher's smile appeared to be hurting him. He returned, "I'm leading around a translator from our empire who's visiting. Although he's mute, his writing works for our needs."
"So comfortably formulaic of a reason," the Prime Minister drolly said. "He does look educated and not much of a soldier. I just can't imagine why you would sneak someone like that into our city. Odd, isn't it?"
"He's popular in some areas of our empire."
"Ah, indeed."
The prime minister hadn't believed a word of Captain Boucher's and the prince could tell that the captain was starting to sweat.
"Congratulations, Prime Minister," Enzo Casas appeared out from the blue greeting the minister. "I hear your son was granted marriage by the Empress to one of the Emperor Consort's children. Blessed be. May many daylights and midnights shine upon you."
The prime minister primped under the attention and then sniffed before shuffling out the shop either disarmed or unconcerned with the identity of the prince.
"How did you know that would work?" the prince said as the prime minister snapped outside the shop.
Enzo told him, "When someone hears of marriage in Sonhrai, everyone is supposed to happily congratulate him no matter who what or where they are."
Just as he spoke, they could hear the multitudes of "Congratulations!" "Blessings upon you!" like thunder. Some of the customers within the shop left just to congratulate the minister.
With a few more minutes to search, he was able to find the historical indexes of the eras before the empress and a few more that caught his interest. The shop owner thanked them and laughed as he counted the pouch of gold.
When they stepped out of the shop, someone had given the minister tea to drink and a comfortable chair to sit in as they congratulated him. A forced smile sat on his face as he thanked their thanking. His glare veered right on them as they ducked into the carriage.
Disaster diverted.
Until knuckles rapped outside the carriage.
"Captain, could we speak with you?" a guard requested.
"There's a question--?"
"I mean, is it a need to--?"
Captain Boucher sighed before leaving the carriage.
As the camel stood up and began to travel back to camp, the two sat in the carriage not awkwardly but certainly not comfortably. Without Captain Boucher, it felt as if there were things neither of them were going to speak aloud. When the carriage came to a stop, the prince exited the carriage with books in tow.
Not another word was said between them.
He had to steady himself as he nearly tripped into the dungeons, shutting himself tight and then settled himself with some ink and paper. Now that he had met the Prime Minister, there was an opportunity to be made. In turn, he could gain the opportunity for travel to the city of Hada. Certainly, the infamous man who hated westerners more than the desert hated rain would be amenable to destabilizing the Carolingian Empire with the help of a tortured mute trapped in the dungeons of their militant camp. His suspicions wouldn't change any result in the matter either. And there was something he realized as he strode the town, escaped and re-entered the camp, no one was truly winning this war. There was only one way everyone could get what they wanted.
His father could no longer be emperor.
"Find a way in."
The Sarakh asshole told Donte without any way or measure of what in was and he didn't even have the courage to tell him to his face. He used Castillo Reviere to tell him the captains were hiding something and that he would be the main point of contact from now on.
His belly stretched as he heard something would be going down soon in the palace. And it was a reminder that what they needed was for the military to crack or shift in power to leave space for the Empress to wrangle control. He never cared about politics or was invested much in imperial powers but if anyone could procure a legitimate marriage with Akuhetenan for him, it was the empress.
So, he listened through windows and couldn't hear a thing between Berman's son and Julianna. Then, he thought the new commander would be a wealth of information but all the alpha did was sleep and ask her omega to suck her cock.
And then, the mystery stowaway, an average imprisoned criminal that shouldn't have stood out, caught his eye, just as Berman had begun to act strange. With jumpy eyes, the commander couldn't even sleep a full night as if he were waiting for the axe to fall. But tonight, for whatever reason, the commander was happy.
Berman groaned as he released and his wild thrusts, striking at whatever target he wanted leaving Donte to fake his moans. He slid out of the older man's hold and readied for a bath near the relief servant quarters minding his steps when he twisted back around the corner catching sight of Captain Casa's brother in a tryst with an unfamiliar soldier.
A recently enlisted blonde soldier would've stuck out to him, or Johannes. Definitely Johannes, at least. They tended to be the youth of nobility.
He followed the blonde soldier to the paths where the dungeons were and realized who he had seen wasn't a soldier at all. And if he were a criminal, he wouldn't have had free reign as the guards merely nodded him.
He peered in closer at the guards and noted their uniforms had strange colors underneath until a symbol poked out the sleeve.
It was the crest of the royal family. These guards were royal family guards and it didn't take much for him to connect who the "criminal" actually was. Donte crept back into the commander's quarters and rifled around his dresser as the man snored. The man wasn't foolish enough to leave real evidence behind.
And then he found it.
The purchase of an anchor, listed in the known codewords used for their Empire's assassins, sent to the Crown Prince's mansion in the mainland.
It wasn't too complicated once he knew what questions to answer. Why would the crown prince being here concern the commander? He wasn't nationalist or patriotic. Did it have to do with the rumors? Of the Crown Prince working in illegal channels?
And then he froze. Sarakh told him what the codewords were to look out for. Did this mean the empress and the Ouagadou knew who the traitor was? Was Sarakh the traitor?
Donte shook his head.
All he had to do was sent the missive that its been found.
He used one of Sarakh's contact and sent a message through one of the legionnaires policing the city. Castillo Reviere would have to make another appearance to get the message through.
The next morning, Castillo Reviere had measurements done of the relief servants. His service for the needy and while everyone presumed he was sleeping with them, he was gathering information for that damned Sarakh.
"I can't believe you're married now."
"Another lost handsome man, such a waste."
"But he might be happy now?"
The two relief servants stared at Isaiah's puppy dog eyes and sighed as Castillo Reviere finished their measurements.
"And besides," Isaiah said. "He'll still do our clothes for us."
"Always and forever, sweethearts," Castillo winked as Dorian and Johannes swooned. "I need to have a business conversation with Donte over our shared grievance."
"Akuhetenan is such a sweet man."
"Using his friend to send love messages."
And the three relief servants left them in the quiet of the canopy.
"You read the message?"
Castillo pinched his nose bridge and then said, "Are you sure this is real?"
"You're going to have to be the one to tell him and show him the invoice of what the Emperor is doing against him, behind his back. You're only going to be wasting me and your own time stumbling around asking questions you don't want the answer to."
"You're sure, sure, because, absolutely sure, of the truth is necessary," Castillo exhaled sharply. His brows furrowed and he leaned on his haunches as if this conversation gave him physical pain. "He's the--of the empire. That one? And you want me to say--all of that."
"What's wrong with you?"
"I just got married," he retorted. "I have two beautiful husbands waiting on me. I can't die yet."
"Don't fuck up then."
"Don't do anything until I verify that this invoice is true," Castillo said pointedly. "There's got to--to be a paper trail somewhere, and he may not believe me if I tell him his father is trying to kill him. I wouldn't."
"Don't be so sure. Not everyone's father loves them."
"So," Castillo stood up and sighed. "I know you have trauma here. I do too. Family collapsed. All of them murdered. Same old same old. But, this is a big deal. Even if Kinya can work with this, and he can, you might be made as the fall if this doesn't work out."
"Or, maybe, I won't be the only one of us two married by next season."
"You see, your idealism is concerning me."
Donte chuckled. He corrected the other man, "It isn't idealism. It's that some natures never changed. Berman's greed. The emperor's fears. Even if it isn't true, it is true in some capacity."
"Keep in contact."
"You too."
The weaver made a grandiose exit with all the relief servants crying and mourning his leave with a dirty look tossed at Donte, as if he were the reason he left so fast.
But all Donte could do is lean back and feel the big worm in his stomach shake. He patted the thing down. With the way things were looking, it wouldn't matter if it's an omega or an alpha.
It was going to be the last of the Bermans.
He chuckled at the thought until it grew into full-fledged laughter, even Dorian tossed a concerned look over at him.
It was too funny. Nobility and all their bullshit. And for what?
To be right back in the gutter with the rest of them.
It was time they all had their face covered mud.