Chapter 336: Visitors

Chapter 336: Chapter 336: Visitors

Two months later, Arik remained alive mostly because Liam had not gotten pregnant.

Liam considered that fortunate for everyone involved.

Arik considered the threat exaggerated.

He had stopped saying so after the third week.

By then, there had been other problems to occupy them.

Borders. Diplomatic corridors. Airspace agreements. Maritime claims. Customs. Security protocols.

Recognition of Nurian sovereignty by governments that had spent generations treating Nuria as either a myth, a historical anomaly, or disputed territory beneath international waters.

Two months.

That was how long it had taken Arik, Cassian, Mezos, Severin, Kamal, and what felt like half the imperial administration to make the borders functional enough that ordinary diplomatic entry stopped resembling preparation for war.

Liam had attended more meetings than he believed any human being should legally survive.

Meetings about landing rights.

Meetings about currency exchange.

Meetings about diplomatic immunity.

Meetings about whether Nurian identification documents could be processed by foreign systems that had not anticipated citizens from an empire officially absent for decades.

Then meetings about the problems created by the previous meetings.

By the end of the first month, Liam had begun bringing actual engineering work into council sessions.

Nobody stopped him.

By the end of the second, Cassian had begun doing the same.

Arik pretended not to notice.

The imperial palace had changed with the reopening.

Where silence had once dominated the upper terraces, there was now constant movement. Couriers crossed the polished halls carrying tablets and sealed diplomatic packets. Security personnel stood at every transit point in newly designed dark uniforms bearing Nuria’s restored insignia. Aircraft descended toward the lower palace platforms several times a day, some Nurian, some foreign, all subject to enough screening that Liam suspected the procedures had been designed specifically to satisfy Arik’s paranoia.

That morning, however, the palace felt different.

Liam stood before one of the tall mirrors in their private dressing room and fastened a small black-gold brooch to the front of his jacket.

The mate stone sat at its center.

Gold and violet moved beneath the polished surface.

Arik, standing behind him while adjusting the cuffs of a dark formal coat, watched through the mirror.

"You changed it again."

Liam glanced down.

The brooch was narrow and geometric, worked into the clean lines of his charcoal jacket so neatly that it looked more like part of the fastening than jewelry.

"I improved it."

"You said that about the last one."

"The last one was too decorative."

"It was a plain silver clasp."

"It had unnecessary engraving."

Arik smiled.

Liam had discovered almost by accident that the mate stone did not need to remain in the collar.

The stone carried the bond.

The collar was traditional.

That distinction had immediately become important.

Liam had worn the collar for several weeks because it mattered to Arik and because, privately, he had liked the symbolism more than he intended to admit.

Then he had discovered the stone could be mounted elsewhere without affecting anything.

The next day it had appeared in a brooch.

After that, in a collar pin.

Then another brooch.

Liam was not opposed to the bond.

He simply did not enjoy wearing jewelry around his throat every day.

Arik had adjusted remarkably well once Liam promised the stone would always remain on him.

"You know," Arik said, stepping closer, "most people would simply keep the collar."

"Most people have poor design standards."

Arik rested his hands briefly at Liam’s waist.

The stone brightened faintly.

Liam glanced at it satisfied, and then he looked toward the doorway.

"Cassian said the first aircraft cleared inspection?"

"Ten minutes ago."

Liam straightened.

Arik noticed immediately.

His hands remained where they were.

"Nervous?"

"No."

"You have checked the time four times in six minutes."

"That is because the palace scheduling system remains inefficient."

"Of course."

Liam looked back at him.

Arik was dressed simply by imperial standards: black trousers, polished boots, and a fitted coat with minimal gold along the collar and shoulders. No ceremonial mantle. No crown.

Liam had demanded that. There was no need, but he wanted to be sure.

Their families were coming to visit.

Not foreign dignitaries.

Not heads of state.

Unfortunately, several members of their families were technically heads of state anyway.

That had complicated the arrangements considerably.

Enia, Henry, Mirelle and Amara were arriving through the southern civilian corridor under imperial escort.

Gabriel, Damian, Noah, and Rex were coming through a separate diplomatic route because Gabriel’s security staff had objected to combining itineraries with civilians.

Then several more relatives had become involved.

Then their staffs.

Then the governments involved had decided the visits constituted precedent-setting diplomatic entry.

Which had created another week of meetings.

Liam had almost canceled the entire thing on principle.

He had not.

Mostly because Enia had begun sending messages counting down the days.

Arik’s phone vibrated on the dressing table.

He glanced at it.

"Cassian."

Liam immediately turned.

"What happened?"

Arik opened the message.

Then looked at him.

"Nothing happened."

"That pause suggested something happened."

"The first convoy reached the western palace checkpoint."

Liam went still.

After months of being separated by the Gate and another two months of bureaucracy.

Arik’s expression softened.

"You can breathe."

"I am breathing."

"Barely."

Liam ignored him and reached for his coat.

Arik caught it first.

"I can dress myself."

"I know."

"Then why are you holding it?"

"Because your hands are shaking."

Liam looked down, they were, he frowned at them as though they had personally betrayed him.

Arik held the coat open.

Liam put it on without argument.

By the time they left the private rooms, Cassian was waiting in the corridor.

He wore formal military black with a high collar and silver insignia at one shoulder, tablet in hand, expression composed despite having personally supervised a border operation that had consumed most of his life for the past eight weeks.

"They cleared the final checkpoint," he said.

"All of them?" Arik asked.

"Both groups."

Liam looked toward him.

Cassian’s mouth moved faintly.

"Yes. Your mother is here."

Liam exhaled.

Cassian continued walking with them toward the central lift.

"Gabriel’s convoy is approximately twelve minutes behind. Damian requested that nobody use titles unless required."

Arik raised an eyebrow.

"Damian requested that?"

"Repeatedly."

Liam stepped into the lift.

"That may be the first sensible diplomatic request we have received all month."

The doors closed.

Below them, the palace opened level by level through transparent sections of the lift shaft.

Terraces. Gardens. Reception halls.

Security checkpoints were added during the reopening.

Far beyond the palace, Deira stretched beneath the clear afternoon sky, no longer isolated from the world.

Aircraft crossed the horizon.

Trade vessels moved through newly established routes far below.

For two months, Nuria had been adapting to everyone outside.

Now the outside world was finally allowed in.

The lift slowed.

Arik took Liam’s hand.

Liam looked at him.

"No speeches."

"I was not going to make one."

"No formal welcome."

"I already canceled it."

"No officials standing in rows."

"Cassian threatened several of them personally."

Cassian did not deny it.

The doors opened onto the western reception terrace.

Warm air moved through the open colonnade, carrying the scent of flowering trees from the gardens below.

A black transport had just come to a stop at the far end of the platform.

Liam forgot every complaint he had made over the past two months.

The rear door opened.

Enia stepped out.

She looked up.

Saw him.

And immediately started walking faster.

Liam barely had time to release Arik’s hand before his mother crossed the remaining distance and pulled him into her arms.

For once, Liam had absolutely nothing to say.