Chapter 30: Emergency

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Emergency

Lucas had chosen one of the smaller sitting rooms in the main residence for the confrontation.

Sebastian suspected that was deliberate.

The larger family rooms were too formal, full of staff traffic and inherited portraits that made every argument feel like a constitutional dispute. This room faced the eastern gardens instead, with deep sofas gathered around a low marble table and tall windows overlooking rain-dark evergreens. A fire burned beneath the stone mantel despite the early afternoon, warming the room against the cold that settled permanently into northern Fitzgeralt.

Lucas sat at one end of the sofa in a pale gray sweater and dark trousers, blond hair falling loosely around his face.

He had not touched his tea.

"I am not angry that you told Trevor first," Lucas said.

Sebastian, sitting opposite him in an armchair, did not believe that for a second.

"Of course not."

Lucas looked at him.

Sebastian sighed. "Fine. You are not only angry that I told him first."

"Correct."

"That distinction feels unnecessarily hostile."

"You hid the fact that you were developing berserk markers for three years."

Sebastian looked toward the fire.

"Yes."

Lucas started counting on his fingers. "You hid the escalating suppressants. You hid the military reports. And then, when you were finally forced to tell one of us, Trevor happened to walk into your office first."

"That part genuinely was not planned."

Lucas folded his arms.

Sebastian had faced military councils with less judgment directed at him.

"I had two hours," he said. "Claude was notifying the household either way."

"And you were going to wait until minute one hundred and nineteen?"

"Probably."

Lucas closed his eyes. ℴ

Sebastian winced.

That was worse than shouting.

"I’m sorry."

Lucas opened them again.

The disappointment there struck more cleanly than anger would have.

"I know you are."

Sebastian leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.

"I didn’t tell Trevor because I trust him more or because I thought you couldn’t handle it."

"I know that too."

Lucas’s voice softened.

"That makes it worse."

Sebastian looked down at his hands.

There were things he could say that might explain the last five years better.

He could tell Lucas about Dean and Arion’s warning after their honeymoon. About the temple visions and the possibility that Nero could change Sebastian into a siren-type dominant omega.

He could tell him about the dreams that had begun two years later.

About waking with memories of places he had never visited and grief for deaths that had never happened.

About Nero dying in his arms.

He could tell Lucas that the possibility of becoming like him - of carrying another life across a broken timeline, or changing the shape of one entirely - had terrified Sebastian enough that he had spent years refusing to touch anything that might make those visions real.

He would not.

Because Lucas would hear only one thing beneath all of it.

My son may have inherited this from me.

And Lucas had spent enough of his life carrying guilt for events that had happened before Sebastian had even been born.

Trevor understood that.

It was why Trevor had promised silence.

Sebastian would not hand Lucas another reason to blame himself for something no one understood.

"There was no solution," Sebastian said instead. "That was the important part."

Lucas’s mouth tightened. "You’ve said that."

"Because it matters. If there had been a compatible omega, I would have told you."

"You keep saying that as though the only useful thing I can do as your father is solve the problem."

Sebastian went quiet.

Lucas looked away toward the windows.

"You know what the worst part is?"

"I suspect you’re going to tell me."

"I would have worried."

Sebastian’s jaw tightened.

"Yes."

"I would have checked on you too often. Trevor would have become unbearable about your security. Dean would have called until you blocked him, then called Melanie."

"That is exactly what I was avoiding."

Lucas ignored him.

"We would have been frightened, Sebastian. All of us."

His voice remained calm, but there was an ache beneath it now.

"And perhaps we couldn’t have changed a single laboratory value. But at least you wouldn’t have spent three years pretending nothing was wrong whenever you walked into this house."

Sebastian swallowed.

"I wasn’t pretending all the time."

Lucas gave him a look.

"That was a terrible defense."

"I realized it halfway through."

Lucas’s expression softened despite himself.

Sebastian reached across the small space between them and took his hand.

"I am sorry."

Lucas looked down at their joined hands.

"I know why you did it."

"That sounds dangerously close to forgiveness."

"It isn’t."

"Unfortunate."

"I’m still furious."

"That feels more familiar."

Lucas squeezed his fingers once.

Sebastian let him.

The sitting-room door opened before either could say more.

Trevor entered without knocking.

He had changed since the morning into a dark traveling suit, the jacket already fastened, his phone in one hand and a tablet tucked beneath his arm. His expression told Sebastian immediately that the day had managed to become worse.

Lucas looked up.

"What?"

Trevor closed the door behind him.

"Sirius moved the council."

Sebastian straightened.

"To when?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Lucas frowned. "I thought they were still coordinating with Saha."

"They were. Dax confirmed participation."

Sebastian’s attention sharpened.

Trevor looked directly at him.

"And Nero is coming."

The room went very still.

Lucas glanced between them. "Personally?"

"Yes."

Sebastian leaned back slowly.

Of course he was.

He could almost picture Nero hearing the word "berserk" and deciding international travel schedules were merely suggestions.

"When?" Sebastian asked.

"He has already departed Saha."

Lucas turned to Trevor. "And we’re supposed to be there tomorrow morning?"

"We leave in an hour."

Sebastian stared.

Trevor continued before anyone could object.

"Sirius wants the immediate family in Roslew tonight. The medical council starts early tomorrow, followed by the political session with Saha. Claude is forwarding Sebastian’s full current file directly to Imperial Medical Command."

Lucas was already standing.

"An hour?"

"The jet is being prepared."

"I haven’t packed."

"You own clothes in Roslew."

"That is not the point."

Sebastian almost smiled.

Lucas turned on him immediately. "Don’t you dare say anything."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were amused."

"Briefly."

Lucas pointed toward the corridor. "Go pack."

Sebastian remained seated.

Trevor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"What?"

Sebastian looked between his parents.

"Nero is attending the medical council?"

"Not the first portion," Trevor said. "Sirius intends to review your status with Palatine physicians first. Saha joins afterward."

"And what exactly is Saha offering?"

Trevor barely hesitated, but Sebastian caught it.

His eyes narrowed.

"Papa."

Lucas looked at Trevor too.

That hesitation had doomed him.

Trevor sighed.

"Dax called me earlier."

Sebastian became completely still.

Lucas folded his arms. "Why?"

"Because he considered it fair that we hear Nero’s position before the formal council."

Sebastian already disliked where this was going.

"What position?"

Trevor met his gaze.

"Nero agreed to stabilize you."

Sebastian’s expression did not change.

"That was expected."

"There are terms."

Lucas muttered something under his breath.

Sebastian closed his eyes.

"Of course there are."

Trevor had the decency not to look amused.

"We can discuss them in Roslew."

"No."

"Sebastian."

"No. You have approximately ten seconds before I obtain Dax’s number myself."

"You already have Dax’s number."

"Then nine."

Lucas looked from one to the other. "What did Nero ask for?"

Trevor was silent for a beat.

Then he said, "A permanent arrangement would require marriage."