Chapter 130: Medical Restrictions

Chapter 130: Chapter 130: Medical Restrictions

Roberta’s office smelled faintly of antiseptic, coffee, and whatever citrus cleaner the palace medical wing used on every surface.

Sebastian sat on the examination chair beside her desk with the dark-green collar still around his throat.

Nero had refused to let him remove it.

More accurately, Sebastian had reached for the clasp while they were walking downstairs and Nero had looked so personally wounded that Sebastian decided five additional minutes of indulgence would not kill him.

Twenty-five minutes later, the collar remained in place.

Roberta had noticed it immediately.

She had also decided, with the survival instincts of a woman who had treated the Sahan royal family for years, that it was none of her business.

The scent, unfortunately, was.

Roberta stood beside the diagnostic display reviewing Sebastian’s newest scans while Nero occupied the chair closest to him, dressed exactly as he had been upstairs in cream trousers and the muted blue silk shirt that had survived an entire day of government. His hair was still partially tied at the nape, although enough white-blond strands had escaped to make the arrangement increasingly decorative.

Sebastian had changed nothing either.

He had expected a quick blood sample.

Instead, Roberta had taken blood, saliva, glandular scans, abdominal imaging, pheromonal readings, hormone panels, and enough measurements that Sebastian was beginning to regret telling her immediately.

Claude would usually have been there.

He had returned to Fitzgeralt several days earlier, where his home and family remained, although Sebastian’s transition still occupied an impressive amount of his professional attention. Roberta had already sent him the preliminary data, and Claude had replied twice during the examination with comments appearing on her screen from several hundred kilometers away.

Sebastian glanced toward it.

"Is he going to continue remotely supervising my organs from Fitzgeralt?"

Roberta did not look up. "Probably until you stop developing new ones."

"That sounds unlikely to happen soon."

"No."

Nero leaned forward.

"How developed?"

Roberta finally turned.

"Enough that the scent makes sense."

Sebastian looked toward the scan.

Several structures had become visible more clearly than they had during the last complete examination. His transition had always involved internal changes alongside the glandular conversion, but until now most had been partial tissue formation rather than anything approaching mature secondary reproductive anatomy.

Roberta enlarged one region of the image.

"The additional glands are progressing normally. The reproductive tract is continuing to differentiate, vascularization is good, and there is no sign of abnormal tissue response from the enigma conversion."

Sebastian folded his arms.

"That sounds suspiciously positive."

"It is positive."

Nero’s shoulders relaxed by a fraction.

Roberta continued, "Your scent developing is another good sign. Your body is beginning to produce a coherent omega pheromonal profile rather than only responding to Nero’s."

Sebastian touched the collar absently.

"Is it supposed to appear this suddenly?"

"Suddenly to you. Not biologically." Roberta switched to another graph. "Your markers have been moving in this direction for weeks. Sexual activity accelerated some of the hormonal response, but the foundation was already there."

Nero looked far too interested in that sentence.

Roberta caught it.

Her expression hardened.

"Do not interpret that as a treatment recommendation."

Nero leaned back.

"I said nothing."

"You didn’t need to."

Sebastian almost smiled.

Roberta moved to the next scan.

"The important issue is that you are progressing well, but you are not finished."

That removed the humor.

Sebastian straightened.

"How unfinished?"

"Enough that I am adding restrictions."

Nero’s eyes narrowed.

Roberta looked directly at him first.

"No marking."

The room went quiet.

Sebastian turned his head slowly toward Nero.

Nero’s face had become completely unreadable.

Roberta apparently considered that confirmation that she had chosen the correct first target.

"I mean an actual bond mark," she clarified. "No biting through the gland. No deliberate enigma bonding response. No attempting to complete the conversion through a permanent pheromonal imprint."

Nero’s jaw tightened.

"For how long?"

"Until the gland is mature enough to tolerate it."

"And that is?"

"I will tell you when the scans tell me."

Nero clearly hated that answer.

Sebastian reached over and touched his wrist.

"Continue."

Roberta did.

"No insemination."

This time Sebastian blinked.

Nero did not.

That told Sebastian far too much.

Roberta looked between them.

"I am aware that sigmas and enigmas can regulate fertility far more precisely than ordinary dominant types. I am also aware that Nero can choose whether his reproductive pheromonal response is fertile."

Sebastian turned fully toward him.

"You can choose?"

Nero looked at him.

"Yes."

"That would have been useful information during our unlimited-question negotiation."

"You never asked."

Roberta closed her eyes.

"I am beginning to understand why Claude went home."

Sebastian laughed.

Nero had the decency to look marginally chastened.

Roberta pointed toward him with the stylus.

"Whatever control you possess, use it. Sebastian’s new reproductive organs are developing, but development is not the same thing as readiness for pregnancy."

Nero’s amusement vanished entirely.

"I wouldn’t risk that."

"I know. I am making sure both of you understand that fertility needs to remain suppressed until I clear it."

Sebastian looked at the scan again.

The concept remained strange enough that his mind refused to settle on it for long.

His body was apparently capable of moving toward something that, six months earlier, had been anatomically impossible.

Roberta softened slightly.

"This is not a warning because something is wrong. Quite the opposite. Everything looks good. I want it to stay that way."

Sebastian nodded.

"And the other restriction?"

Roberta gave him a look.

Sebastian already knew.

"Unnecessary rough sex."

Nero shifted in his chair.

Sebastian stared straight ahead.

Roberta continued with professional calm that was becoming increasingly difficult to believe.

"You may have sex. Normal sexual activity is not harming the transition, and your physiological response has actually been favorable."

Nero’s attention sharpened again.

"But," Roberta added, "I do not want another examination because one of you decided architectural surfaces were an interesting substitute for a bed."

Sebastian looked toward the window.

Nero looked nowhere.

Roberta’s gaze moved between them.

"No prolonged positions that strain Sebastian’s lower back or hips. No ignoring pain because pheromones are masking it. No excessive force while tissues are still changing, particularly with knotting involved."

Sebastian rubbed his forehead.

"This consultation is becoming unnecessarily specific."

"I had to prescribe you anti-inflammatories before a constitutional meeting."

"That was one time."

"I would prefer it remain one time."

Nero’s mouth twitched.

Roberta pointed the stylus at him again.

"You are not helping."

The smile disappeared.

Sebastian almost felt sorry for him.

Roberta returned to her desk and saved the restrictions into Sebastian’s file.

"Once the internal development stabilizes, the glands mature, and your scans confirm the reproductive structures can tolerate the full hormonal cycle, I do not care what you do."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

Roberta sat down.

"I mean that sincerely. Mark each other. Have children when you actually want them. Destroy every piece of furniture in the Crown Prince’s private wing if that is somehow necessary for your relationship."

Nero looked interested.

Sebastian immediately said, "Ignore that part."

Roberta lifted one hand.

"I especially do not need details."

Sebastian laughed.

"For your professional boundaries?"

"For my peace of mind."

She closed Sebastian’s file.

"I have already learned substantially more about both of you than I wanted."

Nero glanced toward Sebastian’s collar.

Roberta saw that too.

"Keep the collar. It is harmless."

Nero looked absurdly satisfied.

Sebastian sighed.

"Of course that is the one thing you approve without restrictions."

"It fits properly, it isn’t interfering with the gland, and apparently it makes him cooperative."

Roberta nodded toward Nero.

"That makes it medically useful to me."

Sebastian looked at his fiancé.

Nero’s violet eyes gleamed.

"This is now physician-recommended."

"It absolutely is not."

Roberta leaned back in her chair.

"I am refusing to participate in whatever comes next."

Sebastian stood, adjusting the hem of his white knit shirt over his dark-green trousers.

Nero rose beside him.

As they reached the door, Roberta called after them.

"One more thing."

Both turned.

Roberta looked directly at Nero.

"Keep suppressing fertility."

Then her gaze moved to Sebastian.

"And if he starts looking too pleased with himself, remind him I can prescribe abstinence."

Nero opened the door without another word.

Sebastian followed him into the corridor laughing.