Chapter 120: Chapter 120: Breakfast Diplomacy

Kamal did not permit breakfast in bed.

Not even for newly bonded imperial disasters.

Liam discovered this approximately forty minutes after threatening sedation, surviving wound treatment, enduring a physician who inspected both marks with the calm professionalism of a man who clearly handled post-bonded nobles twice a week, and finally being allowed enough dignity to shower properly.

Now he sat at the diplomatic suite’s breakfast table dressed in soft black lounge clothes provided by the palace, his damp hair loosely pushed back from his face, one hand wrapped around a cup of coffee that smelled expensive enough to qualify as political bribery.

He wanted silence.

Instead, he had Agaronians.

The private dining room attached to the suite was flooded with pale morning light. Glass walls overlooked Alexandria’s upper districts, the city spread beneath them in layers of blue ether veins, white transit lines, and distant towers disappearing into haze. The wards built into the windows shimmered faintly every few seconds, almost invisible unless one knew where to look. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The breakfast itself looked less like a meal and more like a logistical operation.

Fresh bread. Fruit. Eggs. Several dishes Liam did not recognize but strongly suspected contained enough nutrients to revive dead aristocrats. Tea. Coffee. Three different kinds of juice for reasons no sane civilization required.

Kamal stood near the sideboard like the terrifyingly elegant architect behind all of it.

Mezos occupied the far side of the room with military stillness, one hand resting near his comm while reviewing reports projected faintly above the table.

Noah lounged sideways in his chair with the exhausted expression of a man spiritually injured by witnessing affection before sunrise.

Arik sat beside Liam.

That remained the most distracting part of the room, as Liam could feel him through the bond now. The prince was awake beneath the composed exterior he wore so naturally around others. Every so often the connection brushed lightly against Liam’s awareness, checking, reassuring, existing.

It was infuriatingly comforting.

Liam took another sip of coffee with visible resentment.

Across from him, Noah watched the movement with narrowed eyes.

"You look emotionally compromised."

Liam did not lower the cup. "You look unemployed."

"I’m the heir of Claymore and away from my wife and mate."

Liam blinked once, then placed the cup down with solemn care.

"That sounds like a personal scheduling failure."

Noah stared at him. "You are vicious before breakfast."

"I am vicious because you interrupted my coffee."

"You were already emotionally compromised."

"I was caffeinating through it."

Arik’s mouth twitched beside him.

Noah pointed at him with a piece of toast. "See? This is exactly the problem. He is becoming encouraged."

"I was already encouraged," Arik said.

"That is worse."

Mezos, who had been reviewing a projected schedule with the patience of a man surrounded by civilians during a structural collapse, finally wrapped up the report.

The projection folded into a narrow line of white ether and vanished.

"The day is full," he said.

Noah opened his mouth.

Mezos ignored him completely.

"There is no place for more delays. His Highness has the secure audience with Their Imperial Majesties, the channel scan review, the brooch analysis, the palace security route revision, the Wrohan protocol meeting, and the preliminary discussion about Lab V access permissions."

Liam’s coffee stopped halfway to his mouth.

"Lab V?"

Arik looked at him, and the bond warmed immediately, gentle and careful.

Liam hated that it was necessary.

He hated more that it worked.

Mezos continued, ruthless and practical. "There are also three external intelligence briefings, two intercepted palace memoranda concerning the owl restrictions, and one report from Rex’s office marked personally relevant."

Noah leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. "That sounds like a charmingly terrible day."

"It is a standard day," Mezos said.

Liam turned slowly toward Arik.

Arik took a sip of tea with imperial calm.

Liam stared harder.

"You live like this?"

"Not always."

Mezos looked at him with the gaze of someone pointing out how hypocritical the answer was.

Arik added, "Usually."

Liam set the coffee down.

"That is not a life. That is a punishment through administration."

Noah lifted his cup in silent agreement.

Kamal, who stood near the sideboard with the serene posture of a man who had personally defeated chaos through table settings, said nothing. Somehow, his silence still sounded judgmental.

Arik’s hand moved under the table and brushed Liam’s knee.

Arik’s fingers brushed against the fabric of Liam’s trousers before stopping, as if he realized they weren’t alone. But the bond carried everything the touch did not: warmth, reluctance, focus, and the deep, quiet pull of a newly bonded alpha who did not want his mate farther than arm’s reach.

Liam felt it.

That was apparently his life now.

Arik looked at him with a measured calm that would have fooled everyone else in the room if the bond had not already betrayed him.

"You will have to meet my parents in the next few days," Arik said. "I will speak with them first about... us. But they will want a secure call with you as well."

Liam stared at him.

The coffee, which had been his last remaining ally, sat abandoned between his fingers.

"Your parents," he repeated.

"Yes."

"The Emperor and Empress of Agaron."

"Yes."

"Who most likely already knows I marked you?"

Arik’s mouth curved faintly. "Yes."

Liam stared at Arik for another long second.

Then he reached for his coffee again with the controlled precision of a man attempting not to throw himself through a diplomatic window.

"I need to go to Lab V."

Noah’s cup paused halfway to his mouth.

Mezos looked up.

Kamal’s expression did not change, which somehow made the room feel more judged.

Arik said nothing for a moment. The silence that followed was not empty. Liam felt it through the bond, the small tightening beneath Arik’s composure, the instinctive resistance that came before any rational thought could dress it in court language.

"I have been away too long," Liam said before anyone could turn concern into a committee. "The Vanguard has been running on remote maintenance, the lower stabilizers were under revision, and the relay spine was not meant to be left without direct inspection after palace interference zones were activated."

Noah slowly lowered his cup.

"That," he said carefully, "was either a professional explanation or a hostage note written by an engineer."

"It is my job."

"It is your escape route."

Liam gave him a cool look. "I was under the impression you supported efficient logistics."

Noah opened his mouth, then shut it with visible offense.

Arik’s thumb moved once against Liam’s knee beneath the table.

Liam did not look at him.

The gesture was small, almost nonexistent, but the bond reflected what Arik did not say.

’You do not have to run.’

’You are not trapped.’

’I will not make this harder.’

That nearly ruined Liam’s composure more than any command would have.

He set his cup down again.

"I cannot sit here waiting to be processed into imperial family paperwork."

Noah made a faint noise.

Mezos’s expression remained soldier-still.

Kamal adjusted one spoon by half a centimeter, which somehow sounded like condemnation.

Arik finally turned fully toward him. "No one is processing you."

Liam arched a brow.

Arik paused.

"No one is processing you without your consent."

"That is not as reassuring as you think."

"It was an improvement."

"Barely."

The corner of Arik’s mouth softened, but the bond stayed tense, warm, and watchful around the edges. Liam could feel the alpha in him, not as a leash, not as a demand, but as an instinct carefully held back by discipline. Arik wanted to keep him close. Every thread of their newly completed bond made that obvious now.

And still Arik breathed once, slow and controlled, and let his hand retreat from Liam’s knee.

"You can go," he said.

The room quieted.

Liam looked at him sharply despite himself.

Arik’s gaze did not waver. "You can go to Lab V. You have work there, and I will not turn your own project into a gilded cage because I am inconveniently attached to your breathing."

Noah stared at him.

"Inconveniently attached to your breathing," he repeated under his breath. "That is horrifyingly romantic."

"It was not for you," Arik said.

"Thank every god still employed."