Chapter 374: Not Useful Today

Chapter 374: Chapter 374: Not Useful Today

Arik entered the family breakfast room twelve minutes late and alone.

Damian looked up from the tablet beside his coffee.

His son had made very little effort to resemble a visiting sovereign.

Arik wore dark trousers and a black shirt with the sleeves pushed carelessly to his forearms, the collar left open and his hair still carrying enough disorder to suggest Severin had succeeded in removing him from bed but had not convinced him to cooperate with anything that came afterward.

Damian glanced toward the empty doorway behind him.

"Where is Liam?"

"Coming later."

Arik crossed the room and dropped into the chair opposite him.

The smaller breakfast room overlooked the southern gardens, where morning sunlight had begun burning the mist from the lawns beyond the tall windows. A fire remained low in the marble hearth despite the mild weather, more for comfort than heat, while breakfast had been arranged across the table without the excessive formality Edward usually attempted whenever foreign guests were technically present.

Arik reached for coffee first.

Damian watched him pour enough into the cup to concern a physician.

"Why later?"

"He decided that if I had to be dragged out of bed, one of us should at least retain some dignity."

"That does not sound like Liam."

"He also threw a blanket over his head and told Severin he no longer existed."

Damian smiled.

"Better."

Arik took a long drink.

Only then did he notice the second absence.

"Where is Mother?"

"With Liam."

Arik lowered the cup.

"What?"

Damian calmly spread jam across a piece of toast.

"Gabriel decided Liam should not be left alone while you were at the training grounds."

"He is not alone. Half of Severin’s men are outside the suite."

"Apparently that did not satisfy him."

Arik stared toward the door.

"Mother went to my bedroom?"

"Your guest suite."

"He is going to encourage him."

Damian’s gold eyes lifted.

"In what?"

Arik considered the question and apparently decided the list was too long.

"Everything."

"That seems unlikely."

"You married him. You know better."

Damian’s mouth curved.

Arik drank more coffee.

For several minutes, the room remained pleasantly quiet, disturbed only by the faint movement of servants beyond the adjoining corridor and the occasional clink of porcelain when Damian set down his cup.

Then Arik remembered Severin’s announcement.

He frowned.

"Why am I going to the western training grounds?"

Damian continued eating.

"You agreed yesterday."

"I was distracted."

"You were present."

"That is not the same thing."

Damian looked at him.

Arik leaned back in his chair.

"I am a foreign sovereign now."

"Yes."

"So whatever the Agaronian military is doing at the western training grounds is none of my responsibility."

"I did not say it was."

"Then why am I being taken there?"

"Because I want your opinion."

Arik’s expression immediately became suspicious.

"That sounds like work."

"It may require thought."

"Worse."

Damian laughed.

Arik reached for a piece of bread and tore it in half with unnecessary irritation.

"I am not useful today."

"You have declared that?"

"Yes."

"Officially?"

"I can issue a decree if necessary."

Damian rested one forearm against the table.

"I would like to see how Nuria’s council reacts when its emperor formally declares himself unavailable due to laziness."

"They would adapt."

"Rubis would kill you."

"Rubis remained in Deira."

"That has never prevented him from expressing disapproval."

Arik sighed.

The truth was that he had absolutely no interest in evaluating training formations, defense systems, command structures, or whatever modification Damian had decided required a second sovereign’s opinion.

He wanted breakfast.

Then Liam.

Perhaps the gardens if the weather remained good.

If everyone became exceptionally reasonable, he intended to spend at least several consecutive hours without being asked to solve anything.

"I spent more than a year dealing with Nuria," Arik said. "Before that, I spent most of my adult life dealing with Agaron because you kept giving me responsibilities."

"I was preparing you."

"For this?"

"For ruling."

"I rule Nuria now. Preparation is complete."

Damian’s amusement deepened.

Arik pointed the bread at him.

"Do not smile at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I am six."

"You were considerably more cooperative at six."

"That is a lie."

"It is."

Arik ate the bread.

Damian watched him with the quiet satisfaction he had been carrying since his eldest son returned to Agaron.

Arik noticed eventually.

His eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That is Liam’s answer when something is definitely happening."

Damian picked up his coffee.

"You seem well."

Arik’s expression shifted.

There it was.

The actual conversation hidden beneath the training grounds and breakfast.

"I am."

Damian nodded.

He had known from the day Arik opened sovereign gold eyes as an infant that Goliath existed somewhere inside his son.

He had never feared the old emperor simply because he had existed before Arik.

Not then.

The Gate had made that distinction more difficult.

Arik had disappeared into Nuria and emerged changed enough that even Damian, who had raised him, had occasionally searched his face for signs that the son he knew had been swallowed beneath decades of unfinished history.

The height had changed.

His body had changed.

His ether had become something vast enough to answer an imperial Core.

Memories had returned that belonged to another lifetime.

Then he had found Goliath’s original body and reclaimed the final piece of ether that had remained there.

Damian had expected that to alter something again.

Instead, Arik was sitting across from him with uncombed hair, complaining that being asked to inspect a military installation interfered with his intention to be useless.

Damian found that profoundly reassuring.

Arik noticed the look on his father’s face.

"Oh, gods."

"What?"

"You are sentimental."

"I am your father. I am permitted."

Arik stared at him.

Damian finally laughed.

"You were worried."

The amusement faded only slightly.

"Of course I was."

Arik stopped moving.

Damian set his cup down.

Arik looked down at the coffee in his hands.

Damian continued more quietly.

"I knew you were still my son. Knowing and worrying are not mutually exclusive."

Arik’s thumb moved slowly against the rim of the cup.

"You thought Goliath might take over."

"I thought there was a possibility that too much memory, too much ether, and too many unfinished instincts might make it difficult for you to know where he ended and you began."

Arik was silent for a moment.

Then he looked up.

"And your conclusion?"

Damian’s mouth curved.

"You are refusing to inspect a training ground because you are lazy."

"I prefer resting."

"You once climbed out of the academy because Mezos mentioned pastries."

"That story has become dangerously widespread."

"You threatened to issue a sovereign decree protecting your morning."

"It was a legitimate option."

Damian leaned back, openly amused now.

"My conclusion is that Goliath never stood a chance."

Arik stared at him.

Then snorted.

"He was me."

"Yes."

"Technically."

Damian raised one eyebrow.

Arik immediately looked annoyed.

"Do not use that against me."

"You use it constantly."

"That is different."

"How?"

"I am your son."

Damian smiled.

"Exactly."

Arik realized too late that he had walked directly into that.

He sighed and reached for more coffee.

"So I still have to go to the training grounds?"

"Yes."

"This conversation achieved nothing."

"It achieved quite a lot for me."

"I am delighted."

"You do not sound delighted."

"I am foreign royalty being forced into unpaid consulting."

Damian laughed again.

At that moment, the breakfast room doors opened.

Gabriel appeared first.

Liam followed several steps behind him, wearing a soft dark sweater and light trousers, his hair still slightly disordered from sleep.

Arik immediately straightened.

Damian noticed.

So did Gabriel.

Liam looked toward Arik.

"You started without me."

"You abandoned me."

"You were kidnapped by your father."

"I was scheduled."

Gabriel walked toward the table.

"That is considerably less dramatic."

Arik’s eyes remained on Liam.

"I am being forced to inspect training grounds."

Liam paused.

Then looked toward Damian.

"Why?"

Damian smiled.

"I wanted his opinion."

Liam looked back at his husband.

Arik gave him a deeply aggrieved expression.

Liam’s mouth curved.

"Oh, no."

Arik narrowed his eyes.

"Do not side with him."

"I was going to say you look very useful today."

Damian laughed so hard he had to put down his cup.