Chapter 451: A Weakness

A month after Renata’s birth, Liam had finally stopped feeling as though his body belonged to a medical schedule.

Recovery had been uncomplicated, which Arik still treated as suspiciously good fortune. Liam’s eyes had returned fully to crimson during the second week, his energy was improving, and the physician had begun relaxing some of the restrictions that Arik had interpreted far more severely than anyone intended.

Family visits, however, remained controlled with military precision.

Renata received visitors in the private apartments, never more than a few at once, everyone washed their hands before touching her, and anyone who so much as mentioned having a sore throat within the previous week was politely denied access by security before Arik ever heard about it.

Mezos had stopped pretending those rules came from the imperial medical staff.

That afternoon, late winter sunlight filled the family sitting room, turning the pale wooden floors warm beneath the broad windows overlooking Deira. Liam occupied one end of the sofa in comfortable dark trousers and a loose burgundy sweater, Renata asleep against his chest beneath a cream blanket.

Her brown hair had begun thickening.

The silver eyes appeared whenever she bothered opening them long enough to inspect the world before deciding it remained uninteresting.

Arik sat close enough that one thigh pressed against Liam’s.

Of course he did.

The large public fascination with Renata had exceeded even what Rubis predicted.

The empire had adored Arik and Liam as a couple long before there was a child involved; adding the first daughter of the restored imperial house had turned that affection into something approaching collective obsession. Official portraits released after her birth had circulated everywhere, gifts arrived from every province, and somebody in the southern manufacturing district had apparently produced tiny knitted imperial wolves despite Nuria having no historical association with wolves whatsoever.

Arik had kept one.

Liam had caught him putting it beside Renata’s cradle.

He never mentioned it.

The communicator on the table chimed.

Cecil appeared on the screen almost immediately, blond Frederik visible behind him, holding their eight-month-old son against one shoulder.

“You started without me.”

Liam glanced around the room.

“There is nothing to start.”

Cecil looked toward Renata.

“She is sleeping again.”

“She is a month old. That is most of her schedule.”

Cecil shifted the communicator while his son grabbed determinedly at Frederik’s collar.

“I remember those days.”

Frederik quietly freed the fabric from the child’s fist.

“You complained through most of them.”

“I was tired.”

“You were also offended that he woke every two hours.”

Cecil looked at him.

“He was unreasonable.”

Their son responded by slapping one hand against Frederik’s chest.

Liam smiled.

Cecil could not travel yet because of several overlapping obligations in Agaron and the practical difficulty of hauling an eight-month-old across countries simply to meet another baby, but he called often enough that Renata probably knew his voice better than some members of the Nurian court.

The doors opened.

Cassian entered first.

Severin followed him.

Liam immediately noticed that Severin looked more uncomfortable than he had during armed security briefings.

Cassian did not.

The former prime minister had spent nearly two centuries surviving political collapse, the Gate, imperial restoration, and Arik’s government. Age showed more in the softness around his eyes than anywhere else, and the Core had preserved enough of him that strangers often struggled to understand exactly how old he truly was.

Today he wore a dark green coat over a simple black shirt, one hand resting lightly on the carved head of his cane more from habit than necessity.

His eyes went directly to Renata and stopped.

Liam watched his face change.

Cassian had known Goliath’s children.

He had probably seen them this small.

Perhaps held them.

The realization made Liam instinctively adjust the blanket around his daughter.

“Come closer,” he said.

Cassian did.

Arik was watching him now too.

Liam shifted Renata enough that her face became visible above the blanket.

She slept through the entire introduction.

Cassian looked down at her.

For several seconds, he seemed perfectly composed.

Then his eyes filled.

Severin froze.

Liam almost smiled at Severin’s reaction rather than Cassian’s tears.

The commander looked genuinely alarmed.

He glanced at Cassian, then Arik, then Liam, as though somebody in the room should provide emergency instructions for dealing with an emotional man who had survived nearly two hundred years without preparing Severin for this particular crisis.

Cassian laughed quietly at himself and wiped beneath one eye.

“Forgive me.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” Liam said.

Cassian looked down again.

“She has Arik’s family’s eyes.”

Renata stirred. Her face scrunched, one tiny fist escaping the blanket.

Cassian offered a finger. She caught it. His breath caught.

Severin became even more rigid.

Arik noticed.

That was unfortunate for Severin.

A smile spread slowly across Arik’s face.

“Interesting.”

Severin looked at him.

“What?”

“I have finally found it.”

“Found what?”

“Your weakness.”

Severin’s expression remained flat.

Arik gestured toward Cassian.

“You do not know what to do when he cries.”

“I know exactly what to do.”

“You have been standing there as if someone handed you an explosive device.”

Cassian laughed through the remains of his tears.

Severin looked betrayed.

“I was giving you privacy.”

“You moved closer to the door,” Arik said.

“For security.”

“This room has six guards outside.”

“Which is why I remained inside.”

Arik leaned back against the sofa, thoroughly pleased with himself.

Liam looked at him.

“You are enjoying this too much.”

“I have known Severin for years. Nothing unsettles him.”

Severin folded his arms.

“I am not unsettled.”

Cassian turned toward him with damp eyes.

Severin visibly reconsidered where to look.

Arik laughed.

Even Liam lost the fight and joined him.

On the communicator, Cecil demanded to know what was happening.

Frederik, who had apparently heard enough, murmured something into Cecil’s ear.

Cecil started laughing too.

Severin looked around the room and seemed to conclude that loyalty had become meaningless.

Cassian finally composed himself and carefully sat in the chair nearest Liam.

When Liam offered to let him hold Renata, the old man’s face nearly collapsed again.

This time Severin was prepared.

He quietly handed Cassian a handkerchief before anyone could comment.

Arik saw it.

His grin returned.

Severin pointed at him.

“Do not.”

That only made Arik laugh harder.

Liam looked down at Renata as Cassian took her with extraordinary care.

The room was full of people who had survived too much history.

Ancient losses.

Wars.

The Gate.

Families broken and rebuilt.

And now they were gathered around a sleeping child whose greatest concern was probably whether someone would feed her soon.

Normal family life had turned out to be noisy, tightly guarded, occasionally ridiculous, and considerably more precious than Liam had expected.

He rested his head briefly against Arik’s shoulder.

Arik kissed his hair without taking his eyes off Renata.

Liam smiled.

He was enjoying this too.