What the Lightning Gave Us - Preview

Rating: Explicit, ABO, Alpha Kara, Omega Lena.
Description:  Medieval AU. Lena has heard it said that she's destined to be Kara's mate.
Tags: Soft Supercorp. Eventually some angst and darker themes later on [not in this preview].  

Lena had always feared the sound of thunder and the jagged forks of lightning that looked like weapons driven into the earth. It reminded her of the noises of battle, and her homeland, of broken churches and green glens and fairy circles, and all of the frightening screams of her mother, who had bundled her up and sent her away when she was small. 

After living to see thirteen summers, she was too old to be so terrified of the sound, but at the first clap of noise, she took up the candle at her bedside and hurried to Kara’s chambers. She ran barefoot down the cold hall, listening to the wind howl against the stone, and opened the latch to Kara’s door. 

Her visits to Kara’s room never lasted long in the daytime, because they spent most of their hours roaming outdoors or reading in one of the parlors, but Lena sometimes sprawled out over the thick furs on the bed with a book while Kara sat in front of a map, or dipped her quill and scratched out a letter to her parents in the south. 

Kara was the niece of Non, the Duke of Kandor, and the daughter of Zor, the one true King of Argon. Lena had lived with the Duke for most of her life as his ward and became fast playmates with his niece. They had grown up together, with Kara coming to stay at the castle for the summer seasons, and going away again when the days began to darken. 

At the end of the winter, Kara returned at the time of the first flowers, and Lena had gotten into the habit of checking each morning for the blooms of spring when she was waiting on Kara’s arrival. Duchess Astra often taught Lena how to behave like a lady, and Lena followed every teaching, from how she dressed and sat down to meals to how she spoke as lightly as a bell - but she tended to forget herself whenever Kara was present. There were no other young omegas to talk to at Non’s court, and Kara brought out Lena’s more reckless nature. 

Kara ran around the castle grounds barefoot in the ripped trousers of a peasant, and climbed trees and jumped into lakes and cheered Lena on when she did the same. 

Lena never thought of herself as a different creature when she and Kara were both up to mischief. The alpha was one year her elder, and she often thought that if she spent enough time in Kara’s presence, she would miraculously turn into an alpha too, and then she could understand what the fuss was all about, and why the strange bulge between their legs gave Kara more freedoms to do as she liked.

She noted the stark differences in how she and Kara were dressed for bed when she lifted her candle. The alpha wore a loose tunic while Lena was dressed in pretty bed clothes, white silks and a full set of small clothes.
 

Another crack of lightning lit the sky and Lena gasped from it, nearly upending her candlestick holder from fright.

 

Kara stirred at the noise and found her face in the darkness. “Lena?” She whispered, and shifted upright to check on her as she trembled. “What is it?”



“I thought you might play at being my mate tonight and hold me,” Lena whispered. She proposed the idea without having the slightest clue as to its immodesty.
 

They had sometimes played at fantasy games during the day, where Lena would follow Kara around and pretend to be her omega, and Kara would bring her gifts, the same as her uncle brought to her aunt.
 

Lena had heard maids and other servants whispering that it was her purpose in life to be Kara’s mate, though it was in complete innocence that she curled in beside Kara. She knew nothing about mating, or why it would be considered wrong to be found in Kara’s bed. 

“I would be a good mate,” Kara whispered and rolled over to throw her arm around Lena’s shoulder. “I’m strong.” 

“You are strong,” Lena agreed and snuggled into the alpha’s arms, which were muscular, but nothing to brag about when compared to the arms on other alphas she had seen. She just had to trust that in time that Kara would outmatch them. 

“Has the storm frightened you?” Kara whispered near her ear, and Lena gave a nod that made the alpha hold her closer and stroke her hair. 

“I will protect you, Lena, no matter the threat,” Kara vowed and sat half upright as if to watch for some unseen dangers and guard her omega while she slept.
 

It comforted Lena, and she fell asleep with the conviction that Kara meant it, that she would fight even the storms in the sky if it meant soothing her, and that Kara would someday be a good mate. 

The next morning, Lena woke earlier than the servants and returned to her own bedroom to wash and dress herself. 

It was a strange thing that from that moment onward, she grew a little more aloof around Kara, a little more resistant to give in to her wild games in the forest.
 

Lena went along, but she no longer dirtied her fine gowns, because she liked how Kara stopped and watched when she passed by. She carried a blanket to the lakeside when Kara wanted to swim, and sat down upon it while the alpha splashed and played and called to her. 

“Don’t you want to swim?” Kara called, dripping all over from the fabric of her clothes, and hard to see under the wet hair that hung in her face. 

“No, I’ll stay right here and watch you,” Lena answered.


Though she did on occasion steal a pair of Kara’s trousers and one of her more worn tunics to swim, Lena made a conscious effort not to engage in rougher play with the alpha from that point on. 

It was possible that this was the doing of Kara’s Aunt Astra—some part of her lesson on how to be a presentable omega, but Lena felt it was worthwhile, because she wanted to please Kara. She liked flipping through her books and shooting coy glances at the alpha, who acted foolishly just to get her attention. 

Lena became a great observer of Kara and how she trained at melee and archery, and she often took up a bow to surprise the alpha with her exceptional aim. 

“I might not go to war at your side, but you would be pressed to find an alpha who is my better,” Lena teased, and Kara wholeheartedly agreed that she possessed a natural eye for string-drawn weapons. She also kept a little satchel of throwing stones on her person that were carved with runes. They might have been a gift from someone she had forgotten. 

For the most part, Lena and Kara enjoyed the relationship of playmates until the alpha was called away to the south, and after that they did not see each other for the passing of several summers.
 

Lena became acquainted with loneliness while Kara was away, and it seemed like the rain and foul weather stretched on through many of the days, as if it the sun believed its own coming depended on Kara’s arrival.

She was of age to mate by the time Kara returned — delicate and lovely in her ivory white gowns, her curls darker than raven’s feathers and topped by a coronet of tiny rosebuds.

Kara appeared all the alpha when she dismounted her horse. Her chainmail hauberk gleamed, her brawny arms were a boast of her strength, and her long blonde hair was free and windswept. 

It might not have been custom, but Lena shrieked and ran to her and the alpha lifted her around the waist. 

“I missed your company, Lena. Won’t you come with me up to my room while I settle in? Invite your maid to come with you,” Kara urged and began to tug her satchels from the back of her sleek charger.