Chapter 71: Birthday

Aaron knocked once and entered without waiting for an answer.

Levi looked up from the edge of the wider bed. The new room still felt too large, the window too open, the wardrobe too full of clothes that had appeared without his asking. Aaron closed the door behind him and stood for a moment taking everything in—the better bed, the proper chair, the view over the formal gardens instead of the service yard. He was happy for Levi, genuinely.

"This suits you," Aaron said. His voice was warmer than Levi had heard before "Should have happened sooner."

Levi watched him cross the room. The second prince looked lighter somehow, there was something new about him, but Levi couldn’t quite place his finger on it. Aaron walked towards the bed, and Levi kept his gaze on him, observing how the second prince approached him, climbed onto the bed and greeted him with a peck, something he’d never done before. Levi wasn’t exactly complaining, but it definitely seemed odd.

"You’re happy," Levi observed.

"I am." Aaron’s mouth curved. "Two reasons. First, that bastard of an Alpha is finally gone, rode out at dawn with his pride and his empty threats. Second—" he leaned in, "—my birthday is in three days."

Levi blinked. "Birthday?"

"Yeah, in three days," Aaron repeated, and then he kissed him again.

It was not the desperate collision from the fields or the charged, half-angry kisses that had come after claims and arguments. This one was slower, warmer, and almost playful. Levi felt himself smile against it before he could stop the expression. When they parted, Aaron stayed close, forehead nearly touching his.

"I don’t know what to do for you," Levi admitted. "I didn’t even know the date."

"You don’t have to do anything." Aaron’s hand settled at the side of his neck, careful of the marks. "You being here is enough."

"It’s not." Levi shook his head slightly. "You’ve been the nicest to me out of everyone in this house. Even when you were angry. Even when you had every reason to treat me like the debt they all called me. I want to find something meaningful. I’ll figure it out."

Aaron’s expression did something complicated and soft at the edges. He kissed Levi again, deeper this time, and Levi let himself fall into it. Hands found the front of Aaron’s shirt. Aaron’s fingers slid into his hair. Levi let himself drown in the moment, he needed it after all the shit he had been through these past two weeks.

They were still tangled together—Levi half in Aaron’s lap, mouths moving with growing heat, when the knock came.

Three short, precise raps.

Aaron growled under his breath, and Levi laughed once, breathless, before pushing off the Alpha’s chest. They separated just enough to look presentable. Aaron dragged a hand through his hair. Levi straightened his collar until both marks were only partially visible.

"Enter," Levi called.

A servant stepped in with an empty basket and carefully blank eyes. "Laundry, sir. The schedule for the family wing."

Levi gestured toward the small pile of worn clothes near the wardrobe. The servant collected them with efficient movements, kept his gaze down, and left as quickly as he had come. The door clicked shut.

Silence held for half a second, then Aaron reached for him again.

"Where were we?"

Levi let himself be pulled back in. The kiss this time carried the residual frustration of the interruption and the simpler want underneath it. Aaron’s hands mapped the line of his spine. Levi’s fingers curled into the muscle of his shoulders. They toppled sideways onto the wider mattress, laughing under the kiss when Levi’s elbow caught the edge of a pillow, then losing the laughter as the contact deepened.

Aaron braced over him, eyes dark, the usual temper replaced by want, and the restraint he had wired into himself just to keep Kai’s mistake a secret.

"I’m excited for my birthday, first time in a while." he said against Levi’s mouth. "You don’t owe me a gift. But if you’re determined to find one, I’m not going to stop you." ℯℯ𝑙.

"Good." Levi pulled him down again. "Because I’m going to find one anyway."

They stayed like that as the afternoon light shifted across the floor—kissing, talking in short broken pieces between kisses, letting the rare easy warmth exist without immediately turning it into another fight or another political calculation. Aaron told him, between brushes of mouths, that the guards on Elvis’s old rooms had already been reassigned. Levi told him, between answering kisses, that the new room still felt strange but better than the alternative. It felt nice, Levi felt loved for the first time in a while.

He contemplated, should he tell Aaron about Elvis, he trusted the second prince even if it was just a little. On second thought, he decided against it. Aaron was hot tempered and somewhat unpredictable, the last thing Levi wanted was for the prince to blurt out his secret in a fit of rage. Levi knew it was unlikely, but it was still a possibility.

"Do you know the servant, Merrick?"

The question stopped Aaron dead in his tracks, he pulled himself up a little to get a look at Levi’s face, stunned by the question and wondering why he had asked him that.

"Yes, is something the matter? He didn’t do anything to you, did he?" Aaron asked, concern and curiosity flickering across his face.

Levi chuckled a little, amused by the look on Aaron’s face. "No, he didn’t. It’s just that he threw a tantrum a few weeks ago, he said he liked you."

The information didn’t seem to move Aaron, he simply couldn’t care less about the servant. He liked only one person, and that was Levi.

"And I saw him speaking with Dexter earlier, they seemed pretty serious."

Now, Aaron was interested. Dexter had the worst relationship with servants out of the three of them. He considered them lowlives and never bothered interacting with them unless necessary. For him to suddenly have a serious discussion with this servant meant something was definitely wrong somewhere.

"Did you hear what they were saying?" Aaron asked, and Levi shook his head.

"No, I didn’t." He answered. Aaron leaned in after that reply and kissed him.

"Then don’t bother yourself with them, let’s just focus on us for now, okay?"

Levi smiled before he could control himself, then he initiated the next kiss. Aaron was right, it didn’t matter what they were discussing, he shouldn’t bother with them. Right now, it was best he focused on his happiness, and what made him happy.