Yes, My Alpha: Mother of an Empire

Chapter 28

It was nearly evening by the time they crested the hill that led down to the imperial camp. The sun was slowly beginning to settle over the distant Alsike mountains and the sky was slowly being painted in hues of purple and orange. Stopping at the top of the hill, Ophelia and Darius stood there for just a moment.

Darius's arms were still wrapped around one of Ophelia's, he had taken to holding it some time ago, his head rested against her arm. He let out a long sigh letting go slowly, he didn't even bother hiding his displeasure. Ophelia felt a bit awkward herself having gotten too used to both of them so freely touching each other. To have Darius not doing that made her feel strangely exposed. She took a deep breath collecting herself, rather than lingering on those thoughts she tried to focus on what she would need to do from this point forward.

She would need to train and educate herself, the first step would be to work toward becoming an officer. To be honest, Ophelia had no idea how she was going to do that. But she'd figure that out when the time came. She looked over at Darius who hadn't moved, he was still standing close to her and she felt his fingertips grazing against hers. He wanted to hold her hand, but, it was best not to. There would be too many questions because of that.

"You know." Ophelia spoke, "This is the first time in a long time I've had something to come back to." She observed Darius looked from the camp to her. He didn't say anything, he just smiled at her. His fingers grazed against hers quietly before he began walking towards the camp. "Come along Reeds." He called, "Alright." Ophelia replied following after Darius.

It seemed that despite her expectations just a few days ago, what was going on between the two of them was only just getting started.

When they entered the camp, it was set abuzz by their arrival. Particularly Darius's arrival of the two of them. "Commander?!" Several soldiers exclaimed thrilled to see that Darius had returned seemingly in one piece. "And uh..." The cadets stared at Ophelia who stood nearby, "Reeds." Ophelia introduced herself, "Right..." The cadets seemed uncomfortable. "I'm going to excuse myself, commander." Ophelia announced, Darius held a neutral expression, "You're dismissed, cadet." He replied half-heartedly he was unable to hide the displeasure in his voice. General Duval seemed to have spotted Darius and helped escort him to the strategy tent while batting away any soldiers who seemed to want to crowd around Darius. 

Ophelia let out a long sigh as she walked away looking around the camp. She passed by the infirmary tent and heard a familiar voice, "Reeds?" She turned looking into the tent she saw Cadet Hyde sitting on one of the many cots. "Hyde?" She replied walking into the tent, it had been hard to see but once inside she kept her surprise to herself when she saw the bandages that covered part of Hyde's face.

"Good to see you alive." He greeted a bit weakly, "I wasn't sure if those Clover bastards got you." He remarked, "I managed to outrun them." Ophelia replied sitting down on the edge of the cot. "Outrun men on horses? Why doesn't that surprise me." Hyde replied in a quiet tone. "The storm helped drive them off." Ophelia explained, "What happened?" She asked. "Well they went to attack Ambros-... I mean General Hart but... I got in the way." Hyde held a hand up to the bandaged side of his face. "The... The doctor says I'm not likely to see out of this eye again." A bitter smile was on his lips. 

It was then Ophelia noticed the tear stains on his face and the swollen red skin around his good eye. He had been crying... Hard. 

"It's funny isn't it?" He laughed, "I tried to take your life and I lost an eye..." Tears trickled down his face. "Like one of those stories they tell at church," He remarked quietly. "Hyde I was exhausted when you tried to push me off that cliff and I still managed to dodge you. You weren't going to take anything from me." Ophelia spoke, "Besides, it's fairly obvious you didn't come up with that idea by yourself." Ophelia remembered the cadets that snickered with each other watching Ophelia from the cart. 

Hyde let out a shaky breath and didn't say anything. Ophelia rested a hand on his shoulder, "Judging from how you talked... He hasn't been here to see you has he?" Ophelia questioned, Hyde shook his head silently. Ophelia frowned deeply, "You deserve better than that." She told the upset alpha man. Hyde didn't say anything and stared at Ophelia quietly before looking away. It didn't look like he wanted to talk right now and Ophelia decided to stop before she lectured him. Hyde didn't need to hear that at the moment. Ophelia let out a breath through her teeth, "If you need someone to talk to I'm a good listener." She offered getting up slowly. 

"You're a lot better than me Reeds." Hyde spoke up softly, "Of course I am." Ophelia replied with a confident teasing smile. "We already know what chair I'll be sitting in." She teased, Hyde let out a short laugh. "How was it being around him for so long?" He asked, Ophelia dusted her pants off and took a breath. "he overheard what I said to you and gave me hell for it." She confessed Hyde's expression contorted from one of secondhand embarrassment to amusement. His laughter leaked out of him, seemingly much harder than intended. Apparently, the mental image of Darius giving her hell was just amusing enough.

Then, a pained expression formed, and Hyde started to cry, tears trickling down his face, "it hurts..." he said softly placing a hand on his bandages again. Ophelia frowned disliking the sight greatly even if Hyde had attempted to push her off of a cliff. He was just misguided he wasn't so hateful at heart.

"I'm going to go get cleaned up, I'll see if I can't find some Saint John's Wort." Ophelia offered, "Why?" Hyde asked, "It's good for pain." Ophelia explained, "Oh, thank you." Hyde thanked her with a meek smile on his lips. "Don't worry about it, I know what it's like to hurt and not have help," Ophelia replied, Hyde's lips closed and he nodded quietly. 

Ophelia went to leave but then Hyde spoke up, "Reeds." he called, "Yeah?" Ophelia turned back to him, "General Lewis got your rucksack." He told her, Ophelia's eyes widened, "Really?" She asked feeling pleasantly surprised, "Yeah. You might want to visit him, he's been moping around camp without you." Hyde told her with a smile on his lips. "I will, he has my stuff." Ophelia joked. Hyde smiled weakly and shook his head knowing that Ophelia would've visited Lionel anyway.

Everyone in camp knew how close they were and they weren't wrong in their assumption. Ophelia, in the back of her mind, had been worried about the old man. Leaving the infirmary tent Ophelia headed for the usual location where Lionel would have his tent at. Regardless of where the army settled in Lionel always liked to set his tent up near the blacksmith's tent. Ophelia once asked why and he said the sound of hammering soothed him. Ophelia guessed that made sense, after all, Lionel's father was a blacksmith.

Managing to locate the tent, Ophelia lifted the flap carelessly walking in. Lionel was curled up on his cot clearly sulking. Normally Loniel would be at the strategy tent by this time of day but it looked like he decided to turn in early. He was facing away from the entrance of the tent and Ophelia approached. She leaned over the sullen general, his eyes slowly moving from the tent canvas to her. He lay there for a moment before his eyes widened, "What's the matter old man?" Ophelia asked with a smile, instantly Lionel sprang to his feet.

Ophelia didn't even have time to react when Lionel grabbed her into a huge bear hug lifting her off of the ground. "KID!"