Three Kings

1

The intense scent of smoke wasn't what woke Louis up, nor was it the muted sounds of detonating bombs- no, he had gotten used to that- it was a shrill scream that made him sit up in his small bed.

Louis tugged on the falling sheets that threatened to expose him to the cold. He sighed as the owner of the annoying sound eventually marched up the stairs and made its way into his room. The door busted open, revealing Charlotte, his seemingly ecstatic beta sister. "Louis!"

His forced smile seemed to portray the excitement he attempted to impose, seeing as Charlotte's joyous expression didn't falter. "What Lottie?" Louis yawned.

She dangled a single sheet of paper in the air. "The King sent this himself, it has the Royal Crest and everything! Apparently, the princes are looking for their mate. They're choosing omegas to represent each of the Three Kingdoms, so they've invited you to come to the election and represent Carthe. Oh, Louis, the King doesn't just send letters to everyone you know-"

"I can read, Lots," Louis mumbled, grabbing the paper and skimming over it.

"Come on, Louis. Be excited!" she squealed and jumped around, "you're going to be the Luna!"

After reading the letter he walked out of his room, Charlotte trailing after him. "You do know they probably sent this letter to every omega in Carthe. If the King was choosing people personally, I would be the last person he would even consider," Louis said, making his way down the stairs.

"I read the letter, no need to be so pessimistic, Lou!" a voice yelled from the kitchen, "I almost burnt down the house again and I'm not stressing!"

Louis made his way toward the voice and set the letter down on the counter, watching his older sister, Felicite, scrub viciously at a charred pot.

"I'm a male omega who lives in a brothel in Carthe, the Kingdom with the sole purpose of testing out weapons and training soldiers. That doesn't sound very royal, now does it? I'm not going, I'd be wasting everyone's time," he said, grabbing enough potatoes to feed everyone in the house and setting them in the sink, "now go wake everyone up, Fizz, it's almost 9."

Felicite dragged herself up the stairs and sighed loudly, "I wish I wasn't a beta, an alpha voice would be great right now. Talk to him, Lottie!" Louis ignored her comment and began preparing the potatoes to be cooked.

"Well... if the King doesn't want to give anyone in Carthe a chance then he doesn't have to," Charlotte began, looking through the deteriorating cabinets, "but he sent a letter here, so that means you have a chance, Louis. You're the only omega in the house, you should seriously consider going." Charlotte grabbed a frying pan and placed it on the stove top. "Just think about it."

---

Breakfast was going relatively normal, with just the sounds of forks scraping against the plates to fill the silence. It was always the most peaceful time of the day before the clients came. All of the inhabitants of the house sat together to share a meal in the comfortable silence, that is until Charlotte cleared her throat.

"So a letter came in requesting for Louis to be at the election."

Louis shrank in his seat as all of the nine heads were turned towards him, making him extremely uncomfortable under their gazes.

"Aw, you're all grown up now," Louise, a beta who has been working at the house for as long as Louis could remember, said with a genuine smile.

"Uh. Thanks," he mumbled, too busy glaring at Lottie to properly address everyone's comments of excitement.

The whole table grew in conversation until the dull thump of Jay's fist against the wooden surface immediately stopped all of the chatter.

"Settle down, ladies, we have business to attend to," her eyes passed over everyone's face from her seat at the head of the table, the power in her voice unwavering, "today I want Charlotte and Danielle cleaning, Louis will be at the front desk, and the rest of the girls will be on duty."

Felicite let out a quiet sigh, but not quiet enough, as it caught her Mother's attention. "Is there anything you have to say Felicite? Any complaints on how I run this household? " Jay spoke, using her alpha voice with a raised brow.

"No, Mother. Sorry, Mother," Fizzy said, looking down at her plate, pushing her food around.

Louis scoffed as he watched the interaction between his sister and Mother, the latter always taking the opportunity to prove that she was the alpha of the house.

"Just because you've been chosen to put the Prince's cock in your mouth to see if it fits, doesn't mean that you can disrespect me, Louis," Jay growled, picking up some eggs on her fork, "you're lucky that you're an omega, or else you'd be on shift for the rest of the month, but we don't want any pregnancies, do we?"

"No, Mother," Louis said, glancing down at his plate.

"Good, now everyone go get ready. We've got a busy day ahead of us."

---

The King sat on his throne, passing the time by coughing wildly as he waited for his sons to come into the throne room. Queen Anne watched him with concern, squeezing his hand when the coughs got especially violent.

King Desmond had been sick for about three weeks or so and wasn't getting any better despite his Alpha tendencies to heal quickly. Although Anne has been optimistic in the presence of those asking of Desmond's health, she knew that her husband is not riddled with just any simple illness, as none of the best Doctors in the Three Kingdoms could figure out what was happening to King Desmond. The uncertainty made the Queen and King take drastic measure.

When the sound of the King's coughing became joined by the noise of the door opening, Anne and Desmond both brought their attention to two of their identical sons that walked into the luxurious room.

"Good evening Father, Mother," their eldest son, Harry said, swiftly walking towards them with his brother Edward.

Their Father's coughing stopped as he spoke up, "where is Marcel?"

"I-I'm here, Father!"

Everyone turned their attention to Marcel who was opening the door to the throne-room with his foot, his arms overfilled with books and papers. After a couple of more seconds occupied with the Prince struggling to make his way into the room, Marcel dropped everything.

"O-Oh dear."

"Just leave it, Son. Someone bring the Prince's things up to his bedroom," the Queen said, rubbing her temples.

Marcel helped the maids gather his things, thanking them quietly and walking towards his father.

Edward cleared his throat, "you called us, Father?"

The King nodded at the reminder of the gathering. "Your Mother and I have taken the liberty of sending letters to all of the Omegas in the Three Kingdoms-" The Alpha interrupted himself with another fit of coughing.

Anne rubbed her husband's hand, speaking up in his place, "you boys are old enough to start looking for your mate. We've arranged for each of you to go to your future kingdoms and choose which omegas you want to be considered candidates."

A maid brought over a small cup of medicine for the King, who took it and drank it quickly.

"As you can see-" The Queen sucked in a breath, giving her sons a weak smile. "-your Father is not in the best shape of his life."

"We're not trying to be pessimistic, I just want to meet the future queen before I die," Desmond said, looking at each of his sons. "You boys will leave in three days time and are expected to return only once you bare a selection of Omegas that are worthy to become Queen and provide children. The Omegas may stay for as long as it takes for you boys to find your mate. Understood?"

Edward and Harry nodded, standing tall with their heads held proud. They both looked over at Marcel, who nodded with a big smile on his face.

"You're all dismissed." The King nodded at his sons.

Anne only spoke up once the doors shut. "Do you think they'll come back in time?"

"We can only hope that they will."