Chapter 338: The changed son

Chapter 338: Chapter 338: The changed son

The transport doors opened.

For several seconds, nobody emerged.

The engines continued their low mechanical hum behind the security barrier while Nurian guards held position along the edges of the landing platform. Silver light from the aircraft’s hull reflected across pale stone and the tall glass panels of the western terrace.

Then Max appeared at the top of the stairs.

Arik stared at him.

His uncle had apparently won his argument with security.

Or, considerably more likely, smiled pleasantly until somebody decided allowing him through was easier than continuing to say no.

Max had always been good at that.

He wore a dark traveling coat over formal black, fitted neatly to a frame considerably smaller than Damian’s. The resemblance between the two half-brothers remained unmistakable. The same dark hair, though silver now threaded Max’s temples, and similarly precise features. Only the eyes differed; Max’s a clear dark green instead of sovereign gold.

Where Damian looked dangerous before he opened his mouth, Max had somehow spent his entire life looking charming.

Friendly.

Entirely inoffensive.

It was a remarkably successful deception.

Max descended several steps.

Then he saw Arik.

He stopped.

The easy expression vanished.

Arik felt Liam’s fingers tighten around his.

Max crossed the remaining distance without speaking and caught Arik by both shoulders.

"You look terrible."

Arik blinked, taken aback by his uncle’s remark.

Noah laughed behind them. "That is what you decided to say?"

Max ignored him.

"I look fine."

"You have grown even taller."

"That is unlikely," Arik said, temporarily forgetting that it was entirely true.

Max took his jaw in one hand and turned his face toward the afternoon light.

"And more handsome. I have mixed feelings about this."

Arik stared down at him, a brow raising higher with exasperated fondness.

Max smiled.

There it was.

That pleasant expression had carried him through hostile negotiations, secure compounds, and several incidents Damian still refused to explain.

"You disappeared for more than a year," Max continued. "I had accepted that you might return scarred, traumatized, or at least sufficiently unattractive to make me feel better about aging."

"I apologize for disappointing you."

"You should."

Then Max pulled him into a hard embrace.

The humor disappeared.

Arik closed his eyes.

Max had trained him, spoiled him when Damian was not looking, encouraged questionable decisions, prevented worse ones, and possessed the irritating ability to recognize Arik’s lies before he finished telling them.

"You absolute nightmare," Max murmured.

Arik’s arms tightened around him. "I missed you too."

"I know. You have excellent taste."

Arik laughed quietly.

When Max released him, his green eyes searched Arik’s face again.

"You are actually all right?"

"I am."

Max kept looking.

Arik understood.

Not functioning. Not surviving.

"I’m truly all right, Uncle." He insisted.

Max nodded once and turned toward Liam.

"And there is my new nephew."

Liam’s crimson eyes brightened with immediate suspicion. "That sounds alarmingly enthusiastic."

"I like collecting relatives."

"You already knew me."

"Not as Arik’s husband."

Max glanced at Arik’s hand, which had already returned to Liam’s waist.

"I would argue that something changed."

Rex made an appreciative sound behind them, while Enia and Mirelle were trying their best not to laugh.

"I was informed there was an incident," Max added.

Arik looked at Noah. "You told him?"

"We had twelve minutes downstairs."

"More than sufficient," Max said.

He stepped toward Liam.

Arik’s arm tightened.

Max looked down at it.

"Arik."

"No."

"I was going to hug your husband."

"Exactly."

Liam caught Arik’s wrist. "He is your uncle. He is not a danger to me."

Max looked delighted. "That is how I prefer people to assess threats."

Liam paused and looked at Max again.

Max smiled beautifully.

Every instinct Liam possessed apparently reconsidered the evidence at once.

Liam turned toward Arik. "I understand your concern."

"Thank you." Arik responded with the air of man being at last vindicated.

"That does not mean you may behave like this."

Liam stepped free and allowed Max to embrace him.

Arik’s face flatened immediately.

"Welcome to the family," Max said warmly.

Liam hesitated before returning the hug. He had expected acceptance. The uncomplicated affection still surprised him.

"Thank you."

Arik gave them approximately three seconds.

Max released Liam voluntarily and noticed the black-gold brooch at his chest, where gold and violet moved beneath the mate stone.

"So that is the bond."

"The stone," Liam corrected. "The bond is significantly less portable."

Max laughed.

Footsteps sounded inside the aircraft.

His expression changed first.

Gabriel emerged at the top of the stairs in a dark formal suit beneath a long Agaronian coat, gold restricted to the collar and cuffs. His dark hair was swept neatly back from his face, emphasizing dark brown eyes already fixed on Arik.

Damian followed.

Seeing Damian beside Max made their resemblance even clearer. Damian was taller and considerably broader, his presence clearly that of a dominant alpha even with his ether controlled. Max carried the same underlying danger in a smaller, more elegant frame.

Then Damian saw his son.

He stopped.

Gabriel did too.

For a moment, neither appeared to recognize quite what they were seeing.

Arik had left Agaron already taller than both his parents.

The Gate had changed that.

He had gained nearly a head in height, his shoulders broader, chest and arms heavier beneath the fitted black imperial coat. The transformation had not altered his features so much as sharpened what had always been there.

Standing across from Damian now, the resemblance was almost absurd.

They had the same black hair, gold sovereign eyes, and same strong features and powerful build.

Arik looked like Damian had somehow been reconstructed larger.

Gabriel stared upward.

"You got bigger."

Noah covered his mouth.

Arik almost smiled. "Apparently."

"A head taller."

"Approximately."

Gabriel started down the stairs.

"You say that as though this is a normal thing to discover about your child."

"Mother—"

Gabriel abandoned the last of his royal dignity and crossed the platform quickly.

He reached Arik and wrapped both arms around him.

Or attempted to.

His forehead now barely reached Arik’s upper chest.

Gabriel stopped.

Looked up.

Then visibly became offended.

"You were already unnecessarily tall."

Arik laughed for the first time since the doors opened and folded himself around his mother.

Gabriel’s arms tightened immediately.

Arik’s laughter died.

"You are alive," Gabriel whispered, for the first time truly relieved that his son is alive and well.

Arik closed his eyes.

"Yes."

"I know."

Gabriel gripped the back of his coat.

"I saw you. I spoke to you. I knew you were alive."

His voice broke anyway.

"But I needed this."

Arik lowered his head against his mother’s dark hair.

"I know."

Gabriel had carried him.

Raised him.

Spent the time after his disappearance with no certainty that he would ever touch his son again.

Arik held him until Gabriel finally loosened his grip.

His mother immediately placed both hands against Arik’s face and inspected him with the same determination Max had displayed earlier.

"You are heavier too."

"Mother."

"I gave birth to you. I am entitled to notice when someone apparently replaces half of you."

"It was not half."

Gabriel looked toward Liam. "How much?"

Liam considered Arik critically. "A significant amount."

"Traitor."

"You married me knowing my commitment to accuracy."

Gabriel laughed, the sound unsteady with relief.

Only then did Arik look past him.

Damian had not moved far from the aircraft.

His father was staring at him.

Not merely at the physical changes, but at his changed ether too.

Six months earlier, Damian had felt Arik detach from Agaron’s imperial core.

All Damian could find out about his son was that he was alive somewhere beyond the Gate.

Nothing more.

Arik crossed the distance himself.

Damian’s gold eyes followed him upward.

For possibly the first time in Arik’s life, his father had to tilt his head back noticeably to meet his gaze.

Arik’s mouth twitched.

Damian narrowed his eyes. "Do not."

"I said nothing."

"You were going to."

"Probably."

Damian’s hand landed against the side of his neck.

The humor vanished.

His thumb moved once beneath Arik’s jaw, as though confirming the pulse there despite everything his sovereign senses already told him.

"I knew you were alive."

Arik covered his hand, his fingers trembling.

He and Liam had tried to bury their worries about their families so they could survive and open the gate.

Now they could see them again, and feelings were rising from both of them.

"That was all I knew," Damian continued.

Arik stepped forward.

Damian pulled him into his arms.

The embrace was fierce enough that even Arik’s newly strengthened frame shifted beneath it.

For months Damian had known his son existed somewhere he could no longer reach.

Now Arik was solid beneath his hands.

"You came back taller than me," Damian muttered eventually.

Arik’s mouth curved against his shoulder.

"I knew that would bother you."

"It does."

Gabriel wiped beneath one eye. "He is definitely your son."

Liam, standing beside Max, studied all three of them.

Black hair. Gold eyes. Impossible height. Dangerous sovereign ether.

Then he looked at Arik.

"Yes," Liam said. "That was never particularly difficult to determine."