Chapter 10: Complications

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Complications

Nero looked at Sebastian and placed his cutlery down with enough elegance that Sebastian had to move his eyes before regretting even stepping into this room.

"Depends," Nero said. His low voice made Sebastian’s stomach drop. "If it’s political, please spare my sanity. My secretaries are already ruining the day."

He raised his phone.

Another notification flashed across the screen.

Sebastian almost sighed in relief.

Nero had not mentioned their agreement. Had not reminded him that seven years ago Sebastian had been told to come to him if he ever wanted anything beyond obligatory conversation.

Nothing.

"Right. Well, you should pay for the trauma of Melanie waking me before sunrise."

Nero smirked and leaned back, wiping his fingers with the silk napkin.

"So that’s why you look like shit."

Sebastian raised a brow. "Thank you. And here I thought you might need someone to talk to before every ambitious politician and their mother swarms you with marriage proposals."

"Ugh. Fine." Nero looked him over. "You look like dignified shit."

Sebastian’s face flattened.

Nero smiled.

"But they already started."

"The proposals?"

"Three."

"It isn’t eight."

"My suffering inspires efficiency."

Sebastian reached for his coffee. "You say that as though you’re being persecuted."

"I haven’t finished breakfast, and people are already trying to marry their relatives to me."

Nero shrugged and reminded Sebastian that this man in front of him was the tallest he knew. Seven feet five.

"When everyone thought I was merely a dominant alpha, the problem was manageable. Everyone knew a dominant omega would be the obvious choice. Now they’ve discovered I can theoretically make secondary gender irrelevant."

"Tragic."

"You’re enjoying this."

"A little."

Nero’s phone illuminated again.

He turned it facedown.

Sebastian nodded toward it. "How bad?"

"Two official proposals. The third came directly from a mother with photographs of her daughter, her daughter’s accomplishments, her horse, and their summer estate."

"Perhaps it was a package deal."

"The horse was the most appealing part."

Sebastian laughed before he could stop himself.

Nero’s eyes flickered toward him.

For a few minutes, talking became unexpectedly easy.

The physician responsible for the leak had already been detained. Sahan authorities were investigating how he had retained restricted childhood records, while Dax and Christopher had decided immediate confirmation was preferable to letting the media build conspiracy theories around authenticated documents.

Christopher was apparently also preventing Nero from speaking to journalists.

"One article says you can change someone by touching them," Sebastian said.

"I saw that."

"Another says eye contact is enough."

"I liked that one."

"Of course you did."

Nero smiled. "Imagine the possibilities."

"I’m actively trying not to."

Something eased.

Sebastian barely noticed at first.

The pressure behind his eyes had followed him since waking, accompanied by the restless heat beneath his skin and the constant tension through his shoulders.

Now warmth moved through him softly and slowly.

Almost like stepping indoors after standing too long in winter.

Sebastian shifted in his chair.

The sensation seemed to press against the edge of his awareness rather than originate inside him, gently quieting the agitation that had plagued him for days.

His shoulders loosened.

Finally, the suppressants must have decided to work.

Late, but he was hardly going to complain.

Across from him, Nero checked another message.

Sebastian leaned back more comfortably.

"What exactly can you do?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Nero’s thumb stopped.

"With the classification," Sebastian clarified. "The media makes it sound as though you can point at someone and reorganize their biology out of spite."

"I probably could reorganize several people out of spite with adequate funding."

"Nero."

Nero narrowed his eyes at Sebastian. "Do you have brain damage, too? I mean, you are handsome enough to be forgiven for stupidi–"

Sebastian hit Nero with the balled-up napkin.

It struck him directly in the chest.

Nero looked down at it.

Then slowly lifted his eyes.

Sebastian took another drink of coffee.

"Finish that sentence and I’ll aim higher next time."

"You assaulted the Crown Prince of Saha."

"You’ll recover."

"I may not."

"You’re seven feet five. I think you can survive linen."

Nero picked up the napkin between two fingers and dropped it beside Sebastian’s plate.

"Violent."

"You were calling me stupid."

"I was going to call you stunningly stupid. There was nuance."

Sebastian ignored him.

The exchange felt almost disturbingly familiar.

Before Alamina. Before that balcony. Before seven years of carefully reduced contact, Nero had been around constantly because Dean had been around constantly. Holidays, family estates, royal residences, and military gatherings where the younger two inevitably appeared where they were least wanted.

Sebastian had watched Nero grow from an unnervingly tall child into an even more unnervingly tall teenager whose abilities required half the adults around him to pretend they were not concerned.

He knew the basics.

Nero could alter the secondary gender of someone he bonded.

Could make an alpha compatible with him rather than being limited to finding a naturally compatible dominant omega.

And, under specific circumstances, he could transfer dominance.

Sebastian had heard enough arguments between physicians to know that the latter ability was dangerous.

For Nero.

Possibly dangerously so.

Which was why Sebastian frowned at him now.

"I know what you can normally do."

Nero’s amusement faded slightly.

"Normally?"

"You know what I mean. Changing secondary gender through a bond. Transferring dominance if you decide risking your own health is a reasonable hobby."

"It isn’t a hobby."

"You say that like I didn’t watch you test half your limits before you were twenty-two."

"I was conducting research."

"You gave yourself a fever for three days."

"The research produced results."

"It produced Christopher threatening six physicians."

"That also produced results."

Sebastian almost smiled.

The warmth beneath his skin deepened again, spreading quietly through his chest and shoulders. Even the tightness at the base of his skull had begun to dissolve.

He rolled one shoulder experimentally. He was feeling much better now.

Nero’s gaze followed the movement for a fraction of a second before returning to Sebastian’s face.

Sebastian noticed nothing unusual about it.

"So," he continued, "is there anything in those records I don’t know?"

Nero leaned back.

"That depends on how much you remember."

"More than I wanted to."

"Flattering."

"Dean talked."

"Dean talks when bribed."

"Dean talked for free."

Nero looked genuinely betrayed by that.

Sebastian continued before he could complain.

"I know changing someone isn’t instant. I know compatibility still matters even if you can force the biology to adapt. I know dominance can be transferred, but it puts strain on you." His expression sharpened. "And I know Dax banned you from attempting it casually."

"He banned me from attempting it without medical supervision."

"That is not the correction you think it is."

Nero’s mouth curved.

Sebastian rested his forearm against the table.

"What don’t I know?"

For the first time that morning, Nero considered the question properly.

Sunlight had shifted farther across the dining room, catching in his pale hair and turning several strands almost silver where they fell over his shoulder. Outside, someone tested part of the reception sound system, a brief pulse of music carrying through the closed windows before disappearing again.

"There are details," Nero said eventually.

"Useful."

"You asked a broad question."

"Then narrow it, and for love of God, don’t mention the flame sword."