Charles paced back and forth as he and his counterpart finished setting up camp.
He was...torn.
The other Alpha was arrogant and patronizing and completely infuriating. And if he had been anyone else, Charles would have done his best to put him in his place already.
Charles thought back to the man's ultimatum and saw red. To be ordered about and obviously expected to actually follow such orders...
Who did he think he was? Was Charles not also the same? They were the same person, and for his counterpart to treat him so dismissively was...was...
"Will you be useless this entire time or do you plan to find us some food?"
Charles grit his teeth and turned slowly to stare at the lounging man.
"I must be hard of hearing because I cannot have just heard you suggest that I should hunt for the both of us."
"It would not have been necessary if you had packed more."
Charles stared at him. He hadn't packed more because he had not expected to be in company for so long in the trip. He thought woefully to his soft heart. If only he had slain the man earlier...
"I certainly did not expect you to follow me and eat the food I packed," Charles said instead.
His counterpart snorted.
"As if you could ever believe me to be so naive as to let you wander off alone. It would be different if you were someone I had confidence in, but as it is..." He shrugged, seemingly seeing an end to the matter.
Charles did not.
"I confess that I do not understand this irrational hatred you possess for me," Charles pushed on. "Are we not the same person? Do we not share the same goals?"
A glare, though a halfhearted one.
"You know full well that it is because we share the same goals that I cannot fully let down my guard around you."
Charles felt his eyebrows climbing into his hair. Well, with a ludicrous statement like that, he could scarce blame them.
"Please," he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am you. I know full well that you would never be able to let your guard down around anyone, not even Master Kenway, despite your feelings for him. It is the unusual strength of your misgivings that I allude you, and it does you a disservice to pretend otherwise."
Oh look. He'd upset the other Charles. Guess his counterpart did not much like reminding of his unrequited feelings for his mentor.
Charles had taken a gamble with that one. His own affections had long been fixed upon Mr. Lee, née Mr. Kenway. He held some mild attraction towards the elder, but as his mentor's son grew and blossomed into an especially talented and lovely and brilliant Omega...
Charles smiled fondly, remembering the first time he'd realized the strength of his admiration for his future wife. To see the young man so happy, playing with Spado and the others...
"My relations with Master Kenway are not for you to judge. And you know full well exactly why I would be a fool to trust you."
"I confess I do not," Charles returned. "I have no interest in your wife, beyond his safe recovery so that I may return to my own home. Why you persist in believing otherwise, I cannot understand."
"Can you not?" his counterpart had one eyebrow raised in sardonic amusement. "You, who have so recently lost a most beloved wife. And now you find a man who is your wife in a different world...can you truly not understand my reticence?"
Oh for the love of--
"No, I cannot," Charles said firmly. "I have said time and time again that your wife is not the same person as my wife. And I am not a cheater. I loved my wife with a passion that I doubt you can even conceive, given the way you treat your own. And I will not betray his trust in me."
The other Charles turned red. "And what is that supposed to mean? You dare to suggest that I am deliberately cruel to my wife? That I seek to harm him?"
Dear God, was the man deliberately being obtuse?
"No! But I do suggest that you are so used to thinking of him as your enemy that you automatically treat him as such, despite the change in his position with respect to you and yours."
"He is an enemy!"
Charles blinked, surprised at the outburst.
"He is an Assassin. I must never let loose his bindings, else he may raise that blade against the Order again. And I cannot allow that to happen. I will not."
His counterpart stalked up to him, suddenly fierce and very, very angry.
"Do you think that I am a weakling and a traitor? Ha! I put the Order above all else. All my relationships, all my bonds, everything dear to me. I know," he laughed bitterly, "I know what you think of me. You and that doctor of yours. And I do not care. I thought up this plan to defang a most dangerous foe and turn my enemy's strength into my own."
He paused at that, briefly looking away into the flames of the campfire.
"I admit I did not realize how magnificent he could be--" and he sounded almost regretful at that "--but it does not change anything. His talents are vital to the Order, and Master Kenway could only trust me to handle his wayward son. Even if he seems to have changed his mind now."
Oh?
The other Charles shook his head. "But that is neither here nor there. My first loyalty is to the Order. Yours seems to be to your son and your own Order, both waiting for you in another world."
Charles nodded. So his counterpart must understand then, why he could not be a danger to him. What had he to gain from stealing this Connor? His greatest desires needed this Connor to be well and whole, and did not the other Charles desire the same thing?
"I do not doubt you when you say you have no ulterior designs on my wife."
Charles blinked, suddenly feeling off-balance. Wasn't that why the man always treated him so disdainfully?
"I am sure you wonder why I have no been more welcoming to you in that case."
Charles could only nod mutely.
"Well, there is a simple answer to that."
A flash of pain, and Charles clutched his stomach in pain.
"It's a pity, because I truly do not detest you as you think I do. But you are trying too hard, and I cannot allow that."
He yanked the dagger out of Charles's stomach, and Charles dropped to the ground, curling around his wound.
Betrayal bled bitter in his mind.
What was the reason for this? Why? The other Charles had already said he understood, so why had he done this?
"I am not without empathy though, and I am sure you wish to understand why it came to this."
He glanced over Charles's shivering form and, apparently satisfied with what he saw, continued.
"It's really quite simple. My loyalties to the Order means that I am willing to sacrifice anything for it. Even," he said sadly, "my relationship with Master Kenway. He has not visited me, you know, since my wife fell ill. And I can only surmise that he has given up on me for my failure to convert his son from his improper thinking."
He seemed wistful, and Charles would have felt sorry for him if he were not bleeding away on the forest floor.
Charles carefully exerted pressure on the wound, doing his best to staunch the bleeding with only his hands and torn shirt. Damn the man. He deserved any kind of misery he received.
"And I truly do want to convert Connor. He has proven himself to be a most resilient wife and, with training, I am sure he could be a most admirable example. But in the case that he does not..."
He glanced again at Charles's curled form on the ground.
"Your first prerogative is to return home to your son and your Order. And so you are aligned with my wife's interests, not necessarily with my own. If Connor heals and does not adjust his wrong thinking, then you would be a very dangerous liability. And I cannot have that. I cannot tolerate a world where my wife is allied to my alternate self, an alternate self that is unduly sympathetic to him and not so much to his own counterpart."
And here the man glared.
"If Connor were to know his place, then I would not be concerned. But I cannot chance that he stands to gain such power when there is no proof that he has. It is too dangerous, and I will not allow the Order to face such risk. Better that I remove you from the situation early, to prevent any later misunderstandings."
Charles felt incredulous. Misunderstandings? As he lay bleeding on the forest floor? And, if his counterpart had been better with his aim, he would have been dead otherwise.
His scowled in pain at the man. And his blood chilled as the other Alpha withdrew a pistol.
"I am not without understanding and sympathy. And I am sorry to have to do this. But I will not allow you to endanger my Order. And I cannot take the chance that you've learned from your mistakes given that your very purpose here is to help my wife."
Finding Connor 27
Chapter 26
Charles paced back and forth as he and his counterpart finished setting up camp.
He was...torn.
The other Alpha was arrogant and patronizing and completely infuriating. And if he had been anyone else, Charles would have done his best to put him in his place already.
Charles thought back to the man's ultimatum and saw red. To be ordered about and obviously expected to actually follow such orders...
Who did he think he was? Was Charles not also the same? They were the same person, and for his counterpart to treat him so dismissively was...was...
"Will you be useless this entire time or do you plan to find us some food?"
Charles grit his teeth and turned slowly to stare at the lounging man.
"I must be hard of hearing because I cannot have just heard you suggest that I should hunt for the both of us."
"It would not have been necessary if you had packed more."
Charles stared at him. He hadn't packed more because he had not expected to be in company for so long in the trip. He thought woefully to his soft heart. If only he had slain the man earlier...
"I certainly did not expect you to follow me and eat the food I packed," Charles said instead.
His counterpart snorted.
"As if you could ever believe me to be so naive as to let you wander off alone. It would be different if you were someone I had confidence in, but as it is..." He shrugged, seemingly seeing an end to the matter.
Charles did not.
"I confess that I do not understand this irrational hatred you possess for me," Charles pushed on. "Are we not the same person? Do we not share the same goals?"
A glare, though a halfhearted one.
"You know full well that it is because we share the same goals that I cannot fully let down my guard around you."
Charles felt his eyebrows climbing into his hair. Well, with a ludicrous statement like that, he could scarce blame them.
"Please," he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am you. I know full well that you would never be able to let your guard down around anyone, not even Master Kenway, despite your feelings for him. It is the unusual strength of your misgivings that I allude you, and it does you a disservice to pretend otherwise."
Oh look. He'd upset the other Charles. Guess his counterpart did not much like reminding of his unrequited feelings for his mentor.
Charles had taken a gamble with that one. His own affections had long been fixed upon Mr. Lee, née Mr. Kenway. He held some mild attraction towards the elder, but as his mentor's son grew and blossomed into an especially talented and lovely and brilliant Omega...
Charles smiled fondly, remembering the first time he'd realized the strength of his admiration for his future wife. To see the young man so happy, playing with Spado and the others...
"My relations with Master Kenway are not for you to judge. And you know full well exactly why I would be a fool to trust you."
"I confess I do not," Charles returned. "I have no interest in your wife, beyond his safe recovery so that I may return to my own home. Why you persist in believing otherwise, I cannot understand."
"Can you not?" his counterpart had one eyebrow raised in sardonic amusement. "You, who have so recently lost a most beloved wife. And now you find a man who is your wife in a different world...can you truly not understand my reticence?"
Oh for the love of--
"No, I cannot," Charles said firmly. "I have said time and time again that your wife is not the same person as my wife. And I am not a cheater. I loved my wife with a passion that I doubt you can even conceive, given the way you treat your own. And I will not betray his trust in me."
The other Charles turned red. "And what is that supposed to mean? You dare to suggest that I am deliberately cruel to my wife? That I seek to harm him?"
Dear God, was the man deliberately being obtuse?
"No! But I do suggest that you are so used to thinking of him as your enemy that you automatically treat him as such, despite the change in his position with respect to you and yours."
"He is an enemy!"
Charles blinked, surprised at the outburst.
"He is an Assassin. I must never let loose his bindings, else he may raise that blade against the Order again. And I cannot allow that to happen. I will not."
His counterpart stalked up to him, suddenly fierce and very, very angry.
"Do you think that I am a weakling and a traitor? Ha! I put the Order above all else. All my relationships, all my bonds, everything dear to me. I know," he laughed bitterly, "I know what you think of me. You and that doctor of yours. And I do not care. I thought up this plan to defang a most dangerous foe and turn my enemy's strength into my own."
He paused at that, briefly looking away into the flames of the campfire.
"I admit I did not realize how magnificent he could be--" and he sounded almost regretful at that "--but it does not change anything. His talents are vital to the Order, and Master Kenway could only trust me to handle his wayward son. Even if he seems to have changed his mind now."
Oh?
The other Charles shook his head. "But that is neither here nor there. My first loyalty is to the Order. Yours seems to be to your son and your own Order, both waiting for you in another world."
Charles nodded. So his counterpart must understand then, why he could not be a danger to him. What had he to gain from stealing this Connor? His greatest desires needed this Connor to be well and whole, and did not the other Charles desire the same thing?
"I do not doubt you when you say you have no ulterior designs on my wife."
Charles blinked, suddenly feeling off-balance. Wasn't that why the man always treated him so disdainfully?
"I am sure you wonder why I have no been more welcoming to you in that case."
Charles could only nod mutely.
"Well, there is a simple answer to that."
A flash of pain, and Charles clutched his stomach in pain.
"It's a pity, because I truly do not detest you as you think I do. But you are trying too hard, and I cannot allow that."
He yanked the dagger out of Charles's stomach, and Charles dropped to the ground, curling around his wound.
Betrayal bled bitter in his mind.
What was the reason for this? Why? The other Charles had already said he understood, so why had he done this?
"I am not without empathy though, and I am sure you wish to understand why it came to this."
He glanced over Charles's shivering form and, apparently satisfied with what he saw, continued.
"It's really quite simple. My loyalties to the Order means that I am willing to sacrifice anything for it. Even," he said sadly, "my relationship with Master Kenway. He has not visited me, you know, since my wife fell ill. And I can only surmise that he has given up on me for my failure to convert his son from his improper thinking."
He seemed wistful, and Charles would have felt sorry for him if he were not bleeding away on the forest floor.
Charles carefully exerted pressure on the wound, doing his best to staunch the bleeding with only his hands and torn shirt. Damn the man. He deserved any kind of misery he received.
"And I truly do want to convert Connor. He has proven himself to be a most resilient wife and, with training, I am sure he could be a most admirable example. But in the case that he does not..."
He glanced again at Charles's curled form on the ground.
"Your first prerogative is to return home to your son and your Order. And so you are aligned with my wife's interests, not necessarily with my own. If Connor heals and does not adjust his wrong thinking, then you would be a very dangerous liability. And I cannot have that. I cannot tolerate a world where my wife is allied to my alternate self, an alternate self that is unduly sympathetic to him and not so much to his own counterpart."
And here the man glared.
"If Connor were to know his place, then I would not be concerned. But I cannot chance that he stands to gain such power when there is no proof that he has. It is too dangerous, and I will not allow the Order to face such risk. Better that I remove you from the situation early, to prevent any later misunderstandings."
Charles felt incredulous. Misunderstandings? As he lay bleeding on the forest floor? And, if his counterpart had been better with his aim, he would have been dead otherwise.
His scowled in pain at the man. And his blood chilled as the other Alpha withdrew a pistol.
"I am not without understanding and sympathy. And I am sorry to have to do this. But I will not allow you to endanger my Order. And I cannot take the chance that you've learned from your mistakes given that your very purpose here is to help my wife."
Unbelievably, he actually did look regretful.
Oh bugger that.
"I really am sorry."
And a shot rang out.