Chapter 273: Chapter 273: Already decided

"Yes?"

"I did not tell you to make you angry."

"No," Arion said. "You told me because it’s important."

Thomas exhaled once. "Yes."

Arion released the chair and reached for the folder again, but this time he did not open Andrea’s reports. He pulled a blank sheet from the side of the desk and began writing with calm, precise movements.

Thomas watched him.

"What are you doing?"

"Adding another line of inquiry."

"Into Andrea?"

"Into everyone who had access to Caelan’s sealed proposal, everyone who discussed it after his death, and everyone who may have passed the contents to Andrea’s circle." Arion’s pen moved smoothly across the page. "Dean knows what Caelan intended. He knows enough of the ugliness already. That does not mean Andrea had the right to turn it into a private insult or a political weapon."

Thomas’s eyes darkened. "It becomes Palatine."

"It becomes Palatine, Rohan, and Alamina," Arion said. "Possibly Saha too, because Dax will not appreciate learning that Dean was discussed as a rejected bargaining asset in the same breath as your match."

"No," Thomas said quietly. "I imagine he will not."

"Add Trevor and Lucas," Arion added.

Thomas closed his eyes briefly. "Yes. Lucas."

That might actually be the more immediate catastrophe.

Lucas already knew Caelan had tried to trade Dean’s future like a convenient stabilizing solution. That was not the problem.

The problem was Andrea knowing enough to twist it into hierarchy. Into scraps. Into proof that Thomas had been left with him because Dean had not been taken first.

That kind of knowledge did not drift through court air by accident. Someone had placed it where Andrea could find it, or Andrea’s family had been close enough to Caelan’s circle to collect rot and perfume it as gossip.

Arion paused, then looked up. "Does Andrea know you refused the proposal?"

Thomas’s expression tightened. "I did not refuse Dean. I refused Caelan’s terms."

"I know the difference."

"Does everyone else?"

"No," Arion said. "And that is why this matters."

Thomas looked away first.

Arion let the silence hold for a moment, then set down the pen.

"Talk with Andrea," he said. "Decide if you still want him as your mate. I will trace where the information leaked, and honestly, I hope Andrea’s family was not involved with Caelan."

Thomas’s mouth tightened. "Because of Lucas?"

"Because of Lucas, Dean, Dax, Saha’s interest, Palatine’s shame, Rohan’s pride, and the fact that I have a wedding to survive without three countries discovering that a dominant omega’s family helped circulate the idea that my future husband was going to be sold by his own grandfather."

Thomas gave a dry, joyless breath. "That is a long list."

"It can become longer."

"I know."

"No," Arion said, and the temperature in his voice changed.

Thomas looked back at him.

Arion’s expression had settled into the calm that came before orders. "You don’t. Not yet."

Thomas went still.

Arion leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the man across from him. "You are not leaving this room with only Andrea’s consequences in your hands."

Thomas did not answer.

"You knew Andrea was not doing his job properly for over five months," Arion said. "You knew he kept distance. You knew he withheld stabilization. You knew he did not answer you when you reached under strain. You knew enough to suspect that the central line’s clean reports were hiding a structural weakness."

Thomas’s jaw flexed once. "I kept it under control."

"Yes," Arion said. "You did."

That was the only reason this conversation was still between friends.

Arion’s gaze hardened. "But you do not get absolution because you were competent enough to survive the risk you helped conceal."

The words landed heavily.

Thomas accepted them without flinching, but something in his face tightened.

"You are right," he said.

"I know."

That faint, familiar dryness almost appeared in Thomas’s eyes, but it died before becoming humor.

Arion continued. "Andrea is barred from Alaminan-recognized battlefield deployment. That order stands. As for you, I will not file this as misconduct unless Otto or Hendrik determines the campaign record requires it, but there will be consequences."

Thomas nodded once. "Name them."

"You will submit a full private account to Hendrik and Otto before you leave. Not polished. Not diplomatic. Full." Arion tapped the blank page once with his pen. "Every instance of withheld stabilization that you noticed. Every time you compensated for him. Every moment you chose not to report it because Central held."

Thomas’s gaze lowered briefly.

"And," Arion added, "Rohan Command will receive a restricted advisory that your future deployments cannot rely on personal discretion around stabilizing anchors. Any omega assigned to you will be independently monitored for actual field bleed, not report compliance."

Thomas lost his calm demeanor for a moment.

Only for a moment, but Arion saw it.

Then Thomas sighed, long and controlled, the sound of a man accepting consequences.

"You are involving Mother and Heather in this."

"Yes." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Thomas looked at him, tired brown eyes flattening. "Marianne will be furious."

"She should be."

"And Heather will become practical."

"Worse," Arion said. "She will become practical while furious."

Thomas closed his eyes briefly. "That is unfortunately accurate."

"You deserve it."

Thomas opened his eyes again.

Arion’s expression did not soften. "You should have told me. At the very least, you should have told Hendrik and requested Andrea be replaced on Central before the final push. You had alternatives. You chose to compensate alone."

"Central held."

"And if it hadn’t?" Arion asked quietly.

Thomas said nothing.

That silence was answer enough, but Arion had no intention of letting him hide in it.

"If Andrea had failed completely, if your pheromones had slipped past your control, or if one of the secondary alphas under you had destabilized because the anchor was writing perfect reports instead of doing his duty, we would not be sitting here discussing your dignity. We would be discussing names. Bodies. Which civilian annex had to be evacuated too late. Which part of the city needed a memorial."

Thomas’s jaw tightened.

Arion wanted it to hurt. Not because Thomas deserved cruelty for its own sake, but because pain was often the only thing disciplined men allowed themselves to remember after shame tried to polish the lesson smooth.

"You kept everything under control," Arion said. "I know that."

Thomas’s gaze lifted.

"That is why you are being disciplined, not removed from command entirely."

The words landed hard.

Arion leaned back in his chair. "Do not look surprised. You are too intelligent for that. You were not merely a wounded alpha managing a private disappointment. You were the lead structure on Central. You knew your stabilizing anchor was unreliable for months, and you let him remain in position during a beast season because you could manage it."

Thomas’s voice was low. "I thought I could or that he would at least choose better."

"You did," Arion replied. "That is not the defense you think it is."

For the first time, Thomas looked away.

Arion let the silence sit there for a few seconds, then continued, calmer now, but no less sharp.

"Your ability to endure does not give you the right to hide an operational weakness from command. You know that. Marianne knows that. Heather will certainly know that. And because Rohan’s forces were involved in an Alaminan containment season under joint coordination, Otto will know it officially before the day ends."

Thomas breathed out through his nose. "And Hendrik?"

"Hendrik will read your account and likely stare at it for three minutes before deciding whether to scold you in military language or simply assign you additional review protocols for the next five years."

"That sounds merciful for Hendrik."

"It is not mercy. It is paperwork with teeth."

Thomas laughed once, quietly and without humor. "I suppose I earned that."

"Yes."

Arion’s bluntness made Thomas’s mouth twitch, though the expression faded almost instantly.

"And Andrea?" Thomas asked.

"Andrea is banned from Alaminan-recognized battlefield deployment. That does not change no matter what you decide privately."

"I understand."