Chapter 107: Birthday Spoils

Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Birthday Spoils

Nero’s fingers remained against Sebastian’s shoulder for another moment before Jax, who had been suspiciously quiet while finishing the last of his breakfast, leaned forward across the table.

"So," he said, fixing Nero with bright purple eyes, "did you test your birthday gift?"

Sebastian nearly inhaled his coffee.

Nayra’s head snapped toward him. Then toward Nero. Then very slowly toward Sebastian.

The smile that spread across her face was immediate and vicious.

Sebastian lowered his cup with considerable care.

Nero, meanwhile, did not react at all.

"Yes."

Sebastian turned his head.

Nero reached calmly for another piece of toast.

Nayra pressed her lips together.

Chris looked down at his plate.

Dax appeared mildly confused by the sudden tension around the table, which was perhaps the only thing preventing Sebastian from leaving the room.

Jax frowned.

"And?"

Nero glanced at him. "It works."

Sebastian closed his eyes.

Nayra made a strangled sound into her coffee.

"What exactly," Sebastian asked, choosing each word with exceptional caution, "are the two of you discussing?"

Jax looked at him as though the answer were obvious.

"The car."

Silence.

Sebastian opened his eyes.

"The car?"

"The one Dad gave Nero yesterday."

Nayra gave up entirely and laughed.

Sebastian looked across the table at Dax.

Dax, apparently having finally understood why half the room had malfunctioned, leaned back in his chair with the faintest suggestion of amusement around his mouth.

"I gave him a car."

"So I gathered."

"A new one," Jax added helpfully. "Custom chassis, enlarged cockpit, reinforced seat rails, adjusted steering column, modified pedals. They had to redesign half the interior because he doesn’t fit into the standard model."

Sebastian slowly turned toward Nero.

Nero looked entirely too innocent.

"You tested the car?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Yesterday morning," Nero lied without a blink.

"You never told me about that."

"You didn’t ask."

Nayra laughed harder.

Sebastian kicked Nero under the table.

Nero caught his ankle between his feet and smiled.

"Was it good?" Sebastian asked dryly.

"The handling is excellent."

"Wonderful."

Nayra covered her mouth.

Jax stared between them now, beginning to realize there was a joke he had not been invited into and deciding, with impressive teenage instinct, that perhaps he did not want an explanation.

Dax resumed drinking his coffee.

"The first one lasted eight years."

Nero raised an eyebrow. "It still works."

"It has nearly two hundred thousand kilometers on it."

"And?"

"And I decided you could have another."

Sebastian knew about Nero’s first car vaguely, though he had never realized Dax had given it to him.

"At eighteen?"

Nero nodded.

"My first one."

Dax’s gift, apparently, had been less ceremonial than most royal presents and considerably more personal. Nero’s height made ordinary performance cars impractical without modification, so Dax had commissioned the first one shortly after Nero gained full driving clearance, and now, eight years later, had apparently decided the tradition deserved repeating.

Jax was watching Nero with the intensity of a man examining a strategic resource.

Nero noticed and leaned back in his chair.

"What do you want?"

Jax blinked.

"Nothing."

"You’ve asked about the car three times since yesterday."

"I like cars."

"You also spent twenty minutes examining the gifts in my office."

"I was curious."

Nayra rested her chin against one hand. "He wants something."

"I know."

Jax looked betrayed by the alliance.

Sebastian smiled into his coffee.

Nero studied his younger brother for several seconds.

"What is it?"

Jax hesitated.

That alone confirmed everything.

"I don’t know yet."

Nero laughed.

"You haven’t decided which of my gifts you intend to steal."

"I wasn’t going to steal anything."

"Acquire with emotional leverage, then."

"That sounds unnecessarily criminal."

"You are almost sixteen. Everything you do sounds criminal when described accurately."

Chris finally intervened.

"Leave your brother’s gifts alone."

Jax sat back.

"I was only looking."

Dax glanced at Nero. "Give him whatever you don’t want."

Jax brightened.

Chris turned toward Dax.

"Do not encourage him."

"I’m solving the problem."

"You created three children who think redistribution begins with whoever owns the larger room."

Nayra looked mildly offended. "I have never stolen from Nero."

Nero glanced at her wrist.

She looked down at the silver bracelet she had been wearing since entering the room.

"That was years ago."

"You took it from my room."

"You weren’t using it."

Sebastian laughed.

The breakfast room had shifted completely now, the earlier concern around his health replaced by a kind of domestic chaos that felt strangely easy to sit inside.

Lucas checked the time on his phone a moment later and pushed back his chair.

"We need to go."

Trevor looked toward the clock and sighed. "Conference call."

Lucas stood, smoothing the front of his dark green jacket before coming around the table toward Sebastian.

"I want to talk to you later."

Sebastian looked up.

Nothing in his father’s expression suggested concern.

"What about?"

"Staff, mostly. Your office has continued functioning while you were in Saha, but some decisions need you now that you’re traveling again." Lucas rested one hand briefly on Sebastian’s shoulder. "And we need to discuss your duties as Marquis and heir before people start assuming your transition means you’ve withdrawn from everything indefinitely."

That made sense.

Sebastian had been away for six months, and even with Melanie managing most of the practical work, several responsibilities attached to his title could not simply remain suspended forever.

"Later today?"

"If you have time."

"I do."

Nero’s hand tightened almost imperceptibly behind Sebastian’s chair.

Lucas noticed.

"So does he," Sebastian added before Nero could claim otherwise.

Nero smiled without shame.

Trevor came around to hug Sebastian before they left, then gave Nero a brief nod that carried considerably more trust than it would have months earlier.

Lucas did the same after a moment.

Sebastian appreciated it.

Once the door closed behind them, Jax immediately returned his attention to Nero.

"So, the gifts—"

Nero laughed.

"You are relentless."

"You don’t even like half the things people send you."

"That does not automatically make them yours."

"It could."

Nayra reached for another strawberry.

"I want to watch this negotiation."

Sebastian glanced toward the clock.

"We’re supposed to meet Dean and Theo later."

Nero’s expression softened instantly at Theo’s name.

Jax groaned.

"There goes my bargaining window."

"You can come," Sebastian offered.

Jax considered it.

Nero stood and rested one hand on Sebastian’s shoulder while the other disappeared casually into his trouser pocket.

"First," he said, looking at his younger brother, "you can show Sebastian the car you are pretending not to covet."

Jax was on his feet before Nero finished speaking.

Sebastian laughed.

Apparently, the birthday gifts were going to occupy considerably more of the morning than expected.