Chapter 440: Breakfast Can Wait

Chapter 440: Chapter 440: Breakfast Can Wait

Rubis knocked twice before deciding that whatever happened on the other side of the guest-suite door had already had several hours to become decent.

"Your Majesties?"

No answer.

He waited.

The Alexandrian palace had been awake for nearly an hour, and the private family breakfast was already underway downstairs. Enia had asked after Liam once. Rex had asked twice, although Rubis suspected the second time had less to do with concern and considerably more to do with whatever amused expression the newly married king had been wearing.

Rubis knocked again.

"Breakfast is ready."

A muffled sound came from deeper inside.

Rubis opened the outer door.

The sitting room was empty, though the evidence of the previous evening remained scattered across it: Arik’s discarded formal coat over one chair, Liam’s shoes near the bedroom entrance, and a glass of water someone had placed on the table sometime during the night and apparently forgotten.

Rubis crossed the room.

The bedroom door stood partially open.

He pushed it wider and stopped.

Arik was awake.

Liam was not.

The emperor lay flat against the pillows with one arm curled securely around Liam’s back, the other resting low beneath the blankets. His black hair was completely disordered, and there was something offensively content in the way he looked down at the man asleep across his chest.

Liam had somehow managed to occupy most of Arik despite being considerably smaller.

One leg was tangled between Arik’s, his face buried beneath Arik’s jaw, brown hair spread across both of them. The blanket had slipped low enough across Liam’s back to reveal several dark marks along his shoulder and the side of his neck.

Rubis’s eyes stopped there.

Professional survival had taught him many things.

One of them was knowing when not to inspect further.

"Breakfast," he said.

Arik looked toward him.

"Later."

"Rex and the rest of the family are already downstairs."

"They know how to eat."

Rubis stared.

Arik adjusted his hand against Liam’s back when Liam shifted in his sleep.

"They can manage breakfast without Liam or me breathing down their necks."

Rubis folded his arms.

"That is an interesting way to describe attending a family meal."

"It is accurate."

"Your mother-in-law has asked where Liam is."

"She knows where Liam is."

"She knows which room he is in."

"Close enough."

Rubis inhaled slowly.

There had been a time when he might have attempted to argue.

Two years of imperial marriage had educated him.

"I will inform them that Their Imperial Majesties have declined breakfast because the emperor is holding the Empress Consort hostage."

Arik smiled.

"That sounds reasonable."

"It was not meant to."

Liam moved.

His fingers flexed against Arik’s chest before his eyes opened halfway.

He stared vaguely at nothing for several seconds, then lifted his head just enough to look around.

His gaze found Rubis.

"Oh."

"Good morning."

Liam immediately lowered his face back onto Arik’s chest.

Rubis looked toward the ceiling.

Arik laughed quietly.

"You invited him in?"

"I knocked."

"That did not answer the question."

"You were asleep."

Liam made a sound that suggested he considered this a serious betrayal.

Rubis ignored it.

"Breakfast has been served. Rex, Mara, Lady Enia, Lord Henry, Lady Mirelle, Samuel, Ayla, and several members of the Agaronian delegation are already there."

Liam slowly lifted his head again.

"Cecil?"

"He has eaten twice."

"That sounds like him."

"Pregnancy seems to have increased his appetite."

Something about that woke Liam properly.

He blinked.

Then looked at Arik.

Arik immediately became suspicious.

Liam pushed himself a little higher, keeping the blanket around his waist.

"Could I already be pregnant?"

Rubis became perfectly still.

Arik stared at him.

"From when?"

Liam’s eyes narrowed.

"The bathtub."

Rubis closed his eyes.

He should have remained outside.

Arik’s expression shifted from confusion into amusement.

"You are still on contraception."

Liam frowned.

"I know."

"The implant did not stop working because we were in another country."

"I know that too."

"So probably not."

Liam dropped his forehead against Arik’s chest with a miserable groan.

Arik looked delighted.

Rubis wished, with increasing sincerity, that breakfast had been cancelled entirely.

Liam muttered something into Arik’s skin.

"What?" Arik asked.

"I said that is disappointing."

Arik’s eyebrows rose right before his expression became far too pleased.

Rubis recognized danger immediately.

Arik stroked one hand slowly along Liam’s spine.

"My love."

Liam went still.

Arik adopted a tone of exaggerated hurt.

"You sound disappointed that you need to have more sex with me."

Liam lifted his head.

"That is not what I said."

"It sounded very much like it."

"I said I was disappointed that it probably didn’t work."

Arik sighed theatrically.

"So you do not want more sex."

Liam stared at him.

Rubis turned toward the door.

"I am leaving."

"No, wait," Liam said, immediately betrayed by laughter.

Rubis stopped without turning.

"Why?"

"Because he is being ridiculous."

"I have observed that independently for years."

Arik looked offended.

Liam finally pushed himself upright enough to sit beside him, dragging the blanket around his waist. His hair was a complete mess, the marks along his chest and throat considerably more visible now, and Rubis decided with complete certainty that Liam would not be wearing anything remotely open-necked for breakfast.

Assuming they ever reached breakfast.

Arik leaned toward him.

"I am simply clarifying expectations."

"There is nothing to clarify."

"You want a child."

"Yes."

"And unfortunately, your contraception is effective."

Liam narrowed his eyes.

Arik’s mouth curved.

"We may need repeated attempts after removal."

"That is generally how trying works."

"I am prepared for the burden."

Liam grabbed the nearest pillow and hit him with it.

Arik caught it against his shoulder, laughing.

Rubis watched them for several seconds.

Then he opened the bedroom door.

"I will tell the family you are indisposed."

Liam looked alarmed.

"Do not use that word."

"Why?"

"Because everyone will know what you mean."

Rubis glanced toward the visible marks covering Liam’s neck.

"They already will."

Liam looked down.

His expression darkened.

Arik appeared entirely unapologetic.

"You did that on purpose."

"Yes."

Rubis stepped into the sitting room before another argument developed.

Behind him, Liam said something about collars, formal shirts, and murder.

Arik laughed again.

Rubis closed the bedroom door.

He stood there for a moment.

Then straightened his jacket and headed toward breakfast.

Rex was going to find this hilarious.