Chapter 197: The Knotty Omega
THE OMEGAS OF SKARDOS: CROWN SNATCHERS, LOVE TRIANGLES, AND A TEACUP HEARD AROUND THE CONTINENT
Written by: Yours Truly
Oh, my delicious little scandal-starved wolves of Skardos. Pour yourselves something strong, light your hearth fires, and sit your asses down, because The Knotty Omega has enough tea to flood the River Vael.
This month’s edition is answering many of our unspoken questions. We are EATING today.
The Knotty Omega has been banned in four kingdoms across Skardos, and yet, those are the highest demand kingdoms. That’s called range, darlings.
That "classified" war summit to unite Skardos against Orosia? The Knotty Omega was there.
To the Nightspire intelligence officer who tried to track down who writes The Knotty Omega last month: your king trades in secrets for a living and even he can’t figure out who I am. Good luck.
Let’s begin with the headline that shook the very foundations of polite society:
A NOBODY STOLE THE CROWN. AN ACTUAL, LITERAL NOBODY.
Drakenfell, the most ancient, most feared, most annoyingly prestigious pack in Skardos, has crowned a new princess. And no, it is not Agnes Viremont. The betrothal? Shattered. The Viremont alliance? In shambles. The woman who walked away with Dexmon Drakenfell’s crown, his mark, and presumably his sanity?
Serena Frostborne.
Frostborne. Haven’t heard of it? You’re not alone. The pack that no longer exists. As in, the kingdom that was wiped from every map six years ago. As in, a woman who had nothing, came from nothing, and somehow walked into the most guarded bloodline on the continent and left with a crown on her head before the sheets were cold.
She’s beautiful. Stunning, actually. White hair, green eyes, the kind of face that makes you forget what you were about to say. Yours Truly has confirmed this through no fewer than four independent sources, three of whom used the word "breathtaking" without prompting. One of them was a guard who should not have been providing commentary.
The question is: how?
How does an unknown girl from a dead kingdom dethrone an actual princess? How does she walk past Agnes Viremont, a woman who had been planted in Drakenfell for months, and snatch the crown right off the dinner table?
Did she bewitch him? Is it magic? Is it the matebond? Is she just that pretty?
Yours Truly does not have a definitive answer. But I have theories. And my theories have sources.
THE AGNES OF IT ALL
Now, before you go feeling sorry for our dethroned Viremont princess, let Yours Truly pour you the REAL tea.
Drakenfell sources, confirmed and cross-referenced, reported the following:
Agnes Viremont used a dark magic called Viper’s Kiss on Dexmon Drakenfell.
Yes, you read that correctly. Dark. Magic. On. The. Crown. Prince.
For those unfamiliar, Viper’s Kiss is not some cute party trick. It is nasty, illegal, and designed to strip a man of his own mind. Dexmon Drakenfell, the sharpest tactical mind of his generation, could not remember Serena’s name while under its influence.
Let that sink in.
Agnes had him. She had control. She had months, access, and a direct line to the throne. And what did she do?
She changed her mind.
Because apparently, when Garrett Darkhowler entered the picture, Agnes pivoted so fast she left scorch marks on the marble. One look at the Darkhowler heir and our girl Agnes decided the Drakenfell Prince was last season’s fashion.
Meanwhile, Serena walked in on the consequences of Agnes’s little spell. Multiple times. Picture this: you are mated, crowned, marked. You walk into a room and see your mate with another woman because his brain was chemically rewritten. Two times. And somehow, she didn’t light Agnes on fire.
(She can do that, by the way. Light people on fire. We’ll get to that.)
Serena broke the matebond. The pain of that alone is enough to hospitalize most wolves.
NOW, HERE’S WHERE IT GETS COMPLICATED. OR BETTER. DEPENDING ON YOUR APPETITE FOR CHAOS.
Serena Frostborne is from Frostborne. You know who else is from Frostborne? Garrett Darkhowler’s Heir. The same Garrett Darkhowler currently mated to the very woman who poisoned Serena’s mate.
Yes. One and the same.
And they grew up together. Possibly childhood sweethearts.
Yours Truly has confirmed, through summit sources, that Garrett and Serena were seen together at the War Summit. He hugged her. She smiled at him. The kind of easy body language that suggests history, not politics.
Is Agnes about to get her crown stolen a second time? Is Garrett Darkhowler carrying a torch he forgot to put out? Or is this a coincidence wrapped in nostalgia wrapped in spectacularly bad timing?
Sources say: unclear. But this is Skardos, darlings. Nothing is ever a coincidence.
GET THIS.
Darkhowler sources, speaking exclusively to Yours Truly, have confirmed the following:
Agnes Viremont had to be physically carried out of Garrett Darkhowler’s study during the War Summit.
After what appeared to be a house arrest situation, her knight in shining armor, the third most eligible bachelor in Skardos, escorted her out because she got into a fight.
Any guesses on who she was fighting?
You would be correct.
Based on the profanity that could be heard across multiple levels of the castle, it was, in fact, Serena. Because apparently these two cannot occupy the same square mile without someone losing a nail, a dress, or their dignity.
Sources could not confirm who threw the first hit. But they did confirm it was loud.
SPEAKING OF KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOR AND ELIGIBLE BACHELORS
And here is where Yours Truly delivers the exclusive of the season:
Finnick Shadowclaw. Crown King of Shadowclaw. The most eligible bachelor in Skardos. The man who hasn’t looked at a woman with intention since his first mate died in his arms years ago.
He was seen carrying Serena Frostborne at the War Summit.
After she rode a dragon.
After she summoned golden arrows from the sky and killed Dark Fae commanders like she was checking items off a list.
After she closed a rift that was pouring an enemy army into the summit camp.
Let that marinate.
Finnick Shadowclaw carried her into his tent. The Drakenfell prince stormed in ten minutes later and was seen carrying her out of the tent.
Love triangle? With the top two most eligible bachelors in Skardos?
Damn, Serena.
THE DISAPPEARING ACT
After the battle, both Finnick Shadowclaw and Dexmon Drakenfell went missing for two months.
Did Serena do something to them? Unclear. But she was spotted in Drakenfell during that time, living her life as normal, though she wears training suits most days instead of gowns. Not exactly traditional princess behavior, but Yours Truly is hardly one to judge. To each their own.
Her redhead friend, also confirmed, has been marked by Shadowclaw’s Beta. A dynamic friendship duo that somehow powerclimbed from rogue omegas to inner circle royalty. Impressive networking, ladies. Truly.
THE SHADOWCLAW SITUATION
Oh, but we are NOT done.
Serena has now been seen in Shadowclaw multiple times. And sources say it is not for "interpack cooperation." Unless interpack cooperation now involves sleeping in the king’s quarters, which, last time Yours Truly checked, it does not.
Shadowclaw sources confirm: she sleeps there. In his castle. In his wing.
And Finnick Shadowclaw just exiled his own cousin, Guinevere Ashford, for being, and I quote a source who wished to remain anonymous, "an absolute bitch" to Serena.
The exile reportedly involved a a thrown teacup at Serena’s collarbone in Finnick’s own corridor.
How do you get exiled from your own family’s castle over a teacup? Ask Guinevere. Or don’t, she’s not here anymore. Bye Guinevere.
THE MARKS
Confirmed. Verified. Cross-referenced. Are you sitting?
Serena Frostborne has two marks on her neck.
Two.
One from Dexmon Drakenfell. One from Finnick Shadowclaw.
Two marks. Two of the most powerful men on the continent. On the same woman. At the same time.
Multiple eye-witnesses have confirmed this in the last three days.
Yours Truly has never, in all my years of writing this column, reported anything like this. Because it has never happened. Not in recorded history. Not in legend. Not even in the trashy romance scrolls they sell in the Nightspire market.
Two. Marks.
AND TO MAKE IT EVEN STRANGER
Garrett Darkhowler was recently spotted with both Serena AND Agnes. Together. Walking. Holding both of their arms.
And here is the part that Yours Truly had to read three times before believing:
Agnes defended Serena.
Her nemesis. The woman she poisoned three times, fought on a floor, and whose matebond she systematically destroyed. Agnes Viremont looked at someone insulting Serena and chose violence on Serena’s behalf.
Called her "my friend."
In a hallway.
With witnesses.
If that is not character development, Yours Truly does not know what is.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
We are witnessing something unprecedented. A dead kingdom’s princess wearing two marks and two crowns’ worth of male attention. A reformed villain defending her former victim. A bachelor king exiling family for a woman who is already crowned.
A love triangle, or possibly a love square, playing out across three of the most powerful packs in Skardos.
Who will Serena Frostborne choose? Or will she keep both?
Because from where Yours Truly is sitting, she’s already won.
I have never once told my readers to brace themselves.
I’m telling you now. Brace yourselves for next month and keep the tips rolling in.
Yours Truly
Anonymous. Always watching. Always right (usually).