Chapter 106: Family Breakfast

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Family Breakfast

There was no after.

Sebastian had taken a shower, changed into fresh clothes, and informed Nero with enough seriousness to make the threat credible that if he attempted to drag him back into bed one more time, Sebastian would reinstate marital chastity and personally extend it beyond the wedding out of spite.

That had finally persuaded Nero to behave.

Relatively.

He stopped trying to undress Sebastian.

He did not stop following him through the dressing room, touching his waist whenever he passed behind him, or pressing lazy kisses to the back of his neck while Sebastian attempted to button a dark green shirt without becoming distracted enough to lose track of what he was doing.

By the time they left Nero’s private wing, Sebastian wore tailored black trousers, the green shirt, and a lightweight cream jacket, while Nero had chosen charcoal trousers and a black shirt open at the throat. His long white-blond hair remained loose down his back, brushed but not styled beyond that, mostly because Sebastian suspected Nero had spent the time normally reserved for grooming attached to him instead.

They reached the breakfast room twelve minutes after Chris’s call.

Sebastian stopped inside the doorway.

Apparently everyone had gathered.

Nero’s private breakfast room occupied the eastern side of the palace, smaller and considerably warmer than the formal dining halls below, with tall windows overlooking the gardens and a long oval table already crowded with silver coffee pots, fruit, pastries, bread, eggs, cured meats, yogurt, and enough additional dishes to suggest nobody in the kitchen had trusted the royal family to survive until lunch without options.

Lucas and Trevor sat near the windows.

Dean and Arion had apparently already eaten with Theo earlier and were absent, which Sebastian privately considered an act of betrayal.

Dax and Chris occupied the other side.

And beside them were Nero’s siblings.

Nayra looked up first.

At twenty-three, she was only two years younger than Nero and had inherited Christopher’s coloring almost perfectly, with long dark hair, equally dark eyes, and elegant features sharpened by the unmistakable presence of a dominant omega. She was tall enough to tower over most people, though being raised beside Nero had probably destroyed any realistic understanding of what constituted tall.

Jax sat beside her, one elbow near his plate and a mug held between both hands. At fifteen, nearly sixteen, he had the same dark hair as Chris and enough of Dax in his face to make the family resemblance obvious, particularly when he raised his head and revealed bright purple eyes identical to Nero’s.

His school uniform jacket had been abandoned over the back of his chair.

Sebastian looked at it.

"You actually skipped school for this?"

"I received permission."

Nero’s hand settled against Sebastian’s lower back.

Jax added, "Official permission."

"That sounds suspiciously defensive."

"I made a reasonable request."

Nayra leaned back in her chair. "He reminded the administration that his brother is the Crown Prince and birthdays are technically family obligations."

"I did not phrase it like that."

"You heavily implied it."

Jax ignored her and took another drink.

Sebastian smiled despite himself.

"Worth a day off?"

Jax’s purple eyes shifted toward Nero, then Sebastian.

"So far."

Nero squeezed Sebastian’s waist once before guiding him toward the table.

The room felt unexpectedly normal.

That was the first thing Sebastian noticed once he sat down.

Lucas and Dax were not arguing.

They were perfectly capable of behaving around each other when Sebastian was healthy, and nobody believed his life was in immediate danger. Most of their genuine clashes came when fear entered the equation, because Lucas became fiercely protective and Dax became equally intolerant of anyone interfering with Nero’s decisions, which usually resulted in both men deciding the other was the obstacle rather than the situation itself.

This morning, apparently, civilization had returned.

Dax was reading something on a tablet while drinking coffee.

Lucas was discussing a transport issue with Trevor.

Neither appeared interested in starting a war before breakfast.

Sebastian appreciated the improvement.

Chris looked at him over the rim of his cup.

"You made it."

"Barely."

Nero pulled out the chair beside Sebastian and sat with absolutely no guilt.

"We were delayed."

Sebastian turned his head.

"You were delayed."

Nero smiled.

Lucas looked up then, his attention moving over Sebastian carefully without making the inspection obvious.

That was another improvement.

Sebastian looked healthy enough that apparently nobody felt the need to interrogate him before he had coffee.

"You slept well?" Lucas asked.

"Yes."

The answer was technically accurate.

Trevor’s mouth moved slightly around the edge of his cup, but he wisely said nothing.

Nero placed a plate in front of him containing eggs, fruit, toast, and considerably more food than Sebastian would have chosen for himself.

Sebastian watched the accumulation.

"I can serve myself."

"I know."

"You continue saying that while doing the opposite."

Nero added a small portion of potatoes.

Sebastian removed the pastry and placed it onto Nero’s plate.

"That is enough."

Nero looked at the pastry.

Then at him.

"You need energy."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

Across the table, Nayra’s eyebrows lifted almost imperceptibly.

Chris suddenly became very interested in his coffee.

Sebastian felt heat climb into his face.

"You need energy too."

"I have plenty."

"That is precisely the problem."

Jax looked between them.

"Did I miss something?"

"Yes," Nayra said immediately.

"No," Sebastian answered at the same time.

Jax considered both responses and apparently decided he valued his peace because he returned to his breakfast without asking another question.

Dax finally lowered his tablet.

"You’re walking normally."

Sebastian looked at him.

"That sounded dangerously close to a medical assessment."

"It was an observation."

Lucas glanced at Dax, then Sebastian.

"He does look much better than he did the last time we saw him."

There was no challenge in the comment.

Dax nodded once.

"He does."

Sebastian paused.

There it was. Proof that the universe had not ended.

Lucas and Dax could agree on something involving him without immediately preparing arguments.

Trevor seemed equally aware of the miracle but kept his expression neutral.

The conversation moved easily after that.

Nayra had returned from a diplomatic assignment specifically for Nero’s birthday and intended to remain in Altera for several more days. Jax complained about the schoolwork waiting for him tomorrow and argued that royal family obligations should excuse assignments as well as attendance, which Chris rejected before he finished the sentence.

Lucas asked Sebastian about the flight back from Villa Petrana, but there was no panic behind the question now that he had Sebastian sitting directly across from him, eating breakfast and looking like himself again.

Sebastian answered without irritation.

There was nothing worth reporting beyond Nero hovering enough to qualify as additional cabin equipment.

"I was attentive," Nero corrected.

"You checked whether I was breathing while I was reading."

"You were very quiet."

"I was reading."

"You could theoretically do both."

Sebastian laughed.

Nayra looked at her brother.

"You’ve become worse."

Nero seemed pleased by the assessment.

"I have Sebastian now."

Sebastian nearly choked on his coffee.

"That is not how possession works."

Nero rested an arm along the back of Sebastian’s chair and leaned slightly closer.

"It is working remarkably well from where I’m sitting."

Lucas heard that.

Sebastian expected some immediate parental objection.

Instead, his father looked at Nero for several seconds, then at the hand resting near Sebastian’s shoulder.

Nero was not restraining him.

Sebastian was not uncomfortable.

Whatever Lucas thought of the possessive phrasing, he apparently recognized the distinction.

He returned to his breakfast.

That affected Sebastian more than he expected.

For months, everyone around him had been worried enough that every decision seemed to invite scrutiny.

Now he was sitting at Nero’s table, surrounded by both families, and nobody looked as though they expected him to collapse.

The normality was strangely precious.

Nero’s fingertips brushed his shoulder.

Sebastian looked sideways.

Nero was watching him again.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That is never true."

Nero leaned closer, lowering his voice enough that the others would have to make an effort to hear.

"I like this."