Chapter 64: Sleeping Beauty

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Sleeping Beauty

Sebastian was sitting on the edge of Nero’s bed.

He had been there for almost half an hour, watching the enigma sleep with the growing suspicion that somebody had exaggerated the concept of temporary sedation and accidentally placed the Crown Prince of Saha under an ancient curse.

Roberta and Hale had explained what happened.

Nero had asked for a sedative three days earlier after admitting that controlling his instincts had become exhausting, then proceeded to sleep with the dedication of a princess sealed inside a tower while half the medical staff periodically checked that the most powerful enigma alive was, in fact, still breathing.

Sebastian had considered mocking him immediately.

Then Roberta showed him the blood work.

The numbers had been less amusing.

Maintaining the level of pheromonal support necessary to drag Sebastian back from imminent berserk, stabilize the transition, and keep his receptors from tearing themselves apart had strained Nero far more than the bastard had admitted, particularly after Hale confirmed that Nero had been awake for more than seventy hours by the time he finally requested medication.

Sebastian had wanted to be angry.

He was mostly irritated.

Partly because Nero had apparently decided that exhaustion only counted when his body threatened mutiny, and partly because Sebastian himself had spent the last three days feeling progressively better while Nero slept through all of it.

The improvement had been significant enough that Roberta finally allowed Sebastian to wander around the villa without an escort as long as he kept the monitoring bracelet on and did not attempt anything she described as "heroic, stupid, or royal."

Sebastian had pointed out that he was not Sahan royalty.

Roberta had replied that Sebastian had already proved his tendencies.

So Sebastian had walked. Through the library. Across the glass corridor overlooking the lower gardens.

Into the winter room where Nero kept several citrus trees that had absolutely no business surviving at this altitude.

He had even spent nearly an hour on one of the covered terraces while Hale pretended not to monitor him from inside.

And throughout all of it, Sebastian had kept thinking the same increasingly annoying thing.

He wanted Nero back. Awake. Talking. Interfering.

Following Sebastian from room to room as though personal space were merely a foreign custom Saha had declined to recognize.

The villa felt wrong without him.

That realization was disturbing enough that Sebastian had avoided examining it too closely.

Instead, he returned to Nero’s bedroom.

The room was quieter than the medical suite had ever been, curtains half drawn against the afternoon light while the storm from earlier in the week had finally given way to a pale blue sky beyond the windows. Nero slept beneath dark sheets, one arm resting loosely across his abdomen, white-blond hair spread across the pillow and over one bare shoulder because apparently even unconscious he insisted on looking offensively attractive.

Sebastian leaned slightly closer.

Nothing.

Not even the faint tightening between Nero’s brows that usually appeared whenever Sebastian moved unexpectedly nearby.

"Unbelievable," Sebastian murmured.

The monitoring device on the bedside table showed perfectly normal vitals.

Sebastian looked at Nero’s face again.

There were people who became less impressive asleep.

Nero was not one of them.

His lashes were absurdly pale and long, his features softened without the constant amusement or calculation moving behind them, and there was something almost unfair about seeing a man capable of destabilizing governments sleeping with his mouth relaxed against a dark pillow.

Sebastian frowned.

"You’re very annoying."

Nero continued sleeping.

Sebastian waited.

Still nothing.

That was when the terrible idea arrived.

He had learned recently that Nero’s brain responded poorly to unexpected affection.

Sebastian found himself wondering whether that remained true under sedation.

Probably not.

Still.

Scientific curiosity had justified worse decisions.

Sebastian shifted farther onto the mattress, bracing one hand beside Nero’s shoulder so he would not put unnecessary pressure on his own still-recovering body, then studied Nero’s face for another second.

"This is entirely your fault."

No response.

Sebastian leaned down and kissed him.

At first, nothing happened.

Nero’s mouth remained warm and relaxed beneath his, and Sebastian almost pulled away, already preparing several insults about sleeping through the kiss.

Then a hand closed around the back of Sebastian’s neck.

Sebastian barely had time to register the movement before Nero woke.

His fingers spread across Sebastian’s nape, firm and warm, and the kiss deepened with such immediate certainty that Sebastian made a startled sound against his mouth.

Apparently the sedatives had not impaired instinct.

Nero’s other hand moved to Sebastian’s waist.

The mattress shifted beneath them.

Then the room tilted.

Sebastian found himself on his back before he understood how the transition had happened, the dark sheets warm beneath his shoulders while Nero moved over him with the easy strength Sebastian had repeatedly underestimated despite knowing perfectly well how enormous the man was.

Nero settled above him, knees planted on either side of Sebastian’s hips without putting his full weight down, one hand still curved around his nape while the other braced against the mattress beside his shoulder.

Long white-blond hair fell around them like a curtain.

Sebastian stared up.

Nero stared down.

His violet eyes were still heavy with sleep.

There was a visible delay between consciousness and comprehension.

Sebastian watched it happen and grinned.

"Sleeping Beauty woke up with a kiss."

Nero closed his eyes.

A low groan left him.

Sebastian laughed.

"That bad?"

"No."

Nero’s voice came rough from three days of sleep.

"That is the problem."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

Then he became aware of exactly what Nero meant.

His gaze dropped.

Nero immediately looked offended.

"Do not."

Sebastian looked back at him.

A smile spread slowly across his face when his gaze dropped just enough to register the very obvious problem Nero’s loose black trousers were doing absolutely nothing to conceal.

"Oh."

"Sebastian."

"You seem very awake now."

"I hate you."

"No, we established that was inaccurate."

Nero lowered his forehead to Sebastian’s shoulder with another groan, white-blond hair spilling over Sebastian’s chest and across the dark sheets while he very deliberately shifted his hips backward, apparently attempting to recover some dignity without actually moving away from him.

Sebastian laughed harder.

That only made Nero more offended.

"I have been unconscious for three days," Nero muttered against his shoulder. "You climbed into my bed and kissed me."

"Yes."

"And now you are laughing at the physiological consequences."

"You make it extremely easy."

Sebastian raised one knee slowly between them, applying just enough pressure against Nero’s inner thigh to make the enigma go completely still.

Very slowly, Nero lifted his head.

His eyes had changed.

The lingering sleepiness disappeared beneath something sharper, the violet darkening as his attention fixed entirely on Sebastian.

"That," Nero said softly, "was deliberate."

Sebastian’s smile became almost unbearably charming.

"Obviously."