Chapter 108: One of Many

Evander sat through the kingdom’s first formal meeting with the officials and decided almost immediately that pilgrimage had been more honest and incredibly more bearable than bureaucracy.

"These people are full of It" Evelyn muttered to her brother who nodded in accordance.

"They very much are" he muttered back..

The session existed to familiarize the court with the twin royals after their return to public duty. In practice it became two hours of protocol reviews, corrected forms of address, treasury notes on the masquerade tax condition, and status summaries from the knights and ministries. By the end, Evander had heard several men repeat the same points in different wording, Evelyn had dissasociated entirely from the conversation.

Evander sighed at the incompetence of his future co-ruler. He looked around and marked Caelum Draven early among those present. The Sword Sovereign sat with the higher officials in silence never saying a word even when matters and issues in administration were being brought up Evander noticed him without giving the fact away, he had seen that man last night and he was fully intending to address it.

The meeting ended after two hours.

In no time Chairs shifted, Papers closed and the Officials withdrew by rank. Evelyne rose first among the royals well there was only two of them anyway the rest weren’t in attendance, she was wearing the expression she used when patience had completed its civic duty.

"I am taking a bathroom break before someone remembers one more ceremonial detail," she said under her breath.

Evander gave a slight nod.

"Go."

She left with two attendants, and with her went the last social buffer in the room. The remaining officials finished their different meetings and departures until only two people remained in the room, The sword sovereign and the Prince of the country.

Caelum had remained for he had intended to have a one-on-one with the future King, perhaps to see and evaluate his character.

The Prince however, was glad He had remained, he after all had a territory to claim before anyone else got more ideas...On paper it was standard but After the ball and after Kai,to the prince it felt much less neutral.

The door sealed on the two of them.

They did not bother with formal greeting.

The tension arrived immediately, clean and mutual, as if both men had brought it into the chamber and set it between their titles. Evander studied Caelum openly now that there was no audience to punish the indulgence. Silver hair. Exact posture he had expected of a man of his caliber and capability. A face trained to give away little and a presence that made lesser people look decorative. Evander had met dangerous men before. Few of them carried danger with this much discipline.

Then he decided to bite first and fully intended on biting aggressively hard

"Wait. I know you."

Caelum’s eyes narrowed by a fraction.

"You should. There is hardly anyone in this capital who does not."

"No. Not in that way." Evander leaned back slightly in his chair and tapped one finger once against the armrest. "I mean I remember you from last night."

"Perhaps you had seen me while overlooking from the gallery"

Evander smiled "not like that"

Caelum’s gaze sharpened.

"Do explain."

"I am certain he spoke about you."

The air changed on the pronoun alone.

"He?" Caelum asked, the image of Kai formed in his head at the mention of the pronoun.

He didn’t understand why.

Evander watched the reaction with interest.

"Kai."

His intuition was right.

Caelum’s answer came too quickly to be casual.

"Of House Valerius?"

Evander’s mouth curved.

"House Valerius, is it? I will keep that in mind."

He filed the name away with open satisfaction. Kai had not given him a house name in the maze. He had given him breath, heat, a beautiful moan, a soft hole around his member and a reckless hour. The surname was a later gift from the knight now standing across from him.

Caelum did not miss the way Evander stored the information. He could tell he had just spilled a vital intel.

"How do you know Kai?"

There was a slight shift in his stance as he asked it, it was controlled but not invisible. Evander read the line of thought behind it easily enough. Old acquaintance, perhaps. A friendship formed out of sight. Some respectable explanation that would keep the world orderly and slowly rip the Knight’s sanity apart.

"We met yesterday at the ball," Evander said. "He mentioned you and one other man as inconveniences."

Caelum’s composure held, but something under it pulled tight.

"He said that?"

"More or less."

For a moment Evander considered cruelty in its purest form. He could tell the Sword Sovereign exactly what had happened in the flower maze. He could describe how Kai had looked against the wall, how he had fucked the shit out of him for many minutes, how easily the night got away from both of them, and how Evander already intended to pursue him again. The urge was sharp and tempting.

He restrained the explicit confession and chose a cleaner blade.

He still bit in the same aggressive manner.

"He is remarkably beautiful," Evander said. "What is he to you?"

Caelum’s irritation surfaced in small pieces first. A tighter jaw, A stiller gaze, the faint flex of fingers at his side.

He could cleave the prince clean and get away with it because no one was around, he could also kidnap Kai and keep him away from the clutches of all these men that bombarded his life and threatened thier relationship. But he waved away these though as soon as they came, no reason being barbaric.

"A friend," Caelum replied.

Evander smiled.

"Then do convey a message to your friend. Tell him I like him and wish to marry him."

The temperature in the room dropped without any change in the actual air. Caelum’s hand clenched once, mildly, as if the motion had escaped before discipline caught it.

"I did not tell you what kind of friend he is."

Evander tilted his head, all polite interest over open provocation.

"Oh? Does the word have another meaning?"

"It does, if one adds the correct prefix."

"Then by all means. What prefix?"

Caelum met his eyes directly.

"Kai is my boyfriend, and the man I intend to marry."

Evander laughed.

Not loudly. Not theatrically. Just enough to make the claim sound less stable than Caelum wanted it to be.

"What sort of boyfriend avoids his significant other the way he avoided you last night?"

Caelum’s answer came after a short pause.

"We had a fight."

"A fight." Evander repeated the word as if testing the weight of it. "A fight that led him to allow another man to touch him?"

That landed.

Caelum’s frown was immediate and unguarded for half a second.

"Touch him? What do you mean?"

Evander considered him, then waved the details aside with elegant refusal.

"That is none of your business. I only want you to understand that you have already lost this contest."

Caelum scoffed, and the sound carried more aristocratic steel than humor.

"What could the crown prince of this country possibly need a male bride for?"

Evander’s eyes flashed.

"What?"

"You would be the first king to break protocol so openly."

"That is nonsense. My forefathers kept male concubines. The king before my father held ten."

Caelum did not even blink.

"But he never married them, did he?"

The sentence flipped the table cleanly.

Evander’s ready counter stalled in his mouth. For the first time since the private meeting began, he failed to answer on rhythm. Caelum used the opening with formal precision, each word placed for maximum containment.

"Kai is no ordinary ornament for a royal collection. He is the head of a house in his own right and the sort of man who draws eyes whether he invites them or not. I have seen, first-hand, the effect he has on people."

Evander recovered enough to push back.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Caelum stepped back and straightened fully into formal distance.

"Join the line, Your Highness. You are one of many."

The words were delivered with such finality that for a second the room felt smaller than its walls. Evander remained seated, silent, and watched the Sword Sovereign reclaim the entire exchange with one polished retreat.

Caelum bowed.

"It was a pleasure meeting you."

Then he left.

The door closed behind him with quiet certainty, and the private chamber returned to Evander alone with the echo of a name, a house title, and a claim he had not expected to find already staked so firmly. He sat there for a long moment, fingers resting against the armrest, mouth unreadable, appetite and irritation tangled into the same forward motion.

House Valerius.

Boyfriend.

One of many.

Evander’s smile returned slowly, sharper than before.

If there was already a line, then he had no intention of standing politely at the back of it.