Chapter 556: Never
The morning after Nero’s birthday was considerably quieter than the celebration had been.
The formal guests were gone, the southern halls had been returned to the imperial household, and by late morning the family had gathered in one of the private garden rooms overlooking the eastern terraces, where open doors let warm air move through the pale stone interior and carried the scent of citrus blossoms from outside.
There was no seating plan.
Chris had claimed one end of the long sofa with Nayra beside him, while Dax occupied an armchair nearby with a cup of coffee and the expression of a man grateful that nobody expected him to make a speech. Jax had stretched himself across another chair until Rowan passed the doorway and gave him a look severe enough to make him put both feet on the floor.
Lucas and Trevor sat near the open doors, Lucas dressed in cream linen and Trevor in darker trousers and a loose grey shirt, both enjoying the rare luxury of having nothing scheduled for several hours.
Dean was on the carpet.
More accurately, Dean had intended to sit on the carpet with Theodore.
Theo had other plans.
At eight months old, he considered remaining in one place an unreasonable restriction, so he had spent the previous twenty minutes crawling between relatives, pulling himself upright against knees, accepting admiration, and then abandoning everyone the moment something more interesting appeared.
Nero followed him.
Not obviously.
He was too dignified for that.
He simply happened to relocate every time Theodore did.
"You know he has parents," Nayra remarked as Nero intercepted Theo before the baby could investigate the decorative fireplace screen.
"I am aware."
"You’re hovering."
"I am preventing injury."
Dean looked up from where he sat against Arion’s legs.
"He has already survived eight months without you."
Nero lifted Theo onto one hip.
"Barely."
Theo laughed and immediately reached for Nero’s hair.
The room dissolved into conversation again.
It should have felt entirely ordinary.
Arion noticed the problem anyway.
Nero was quieter.
Not withdrawn enough for anyone unfamiliar with him to recognize it, because he still argued with Jax, laughed when Theo nearly stole Dax’s glasses, and endured Serathine’s message reminding him that the thank-you notes for several elderly relatives should be handwritten.
But something was missing from him.
The satisfaction Arion had expected after the birthday was not there.
Nero had spent weeks demanding their presence in Saha, obtained Theodore for almost the entire previous evening, and now had most of his immediate family gathered beneath the same roof.
He should have been unbearable.
Instead, every so often, his attention drifted toward the doorway.
Waiting.
Arion knew who was missing.
Apparently, so did Lucas.
He caught Nero looking toward the entrance once and lowered his gaze without comment.
Sebastian had not come.
As far as Arion knew, Sebastian had not entered Saha at all.
Around noon, Theo began rubbing one eye and refusing every toy offered to him, which meant a nap was approaching whether he agreed or not.
Arion took him before Nero could volunteer.
"I’ll walk him."
Dean looked up.
"Outside?"
"Five minutes."
Dean knew him well enough to recognize that the answer contained something else, but only nodded.
"Take his hat."
Arion did.
Nero followed less than a minute later.
They crossed through the garden room and onto the shaded balcony wrapping around the eastern side of the residence. Beyond the balustrade, terraced gardens descended toward the lower palace grounds, bright with spring greenery and broad-leafed flowering plants that thrived in Saha’s warmer climate.
Theo rested against Arion’s shoulder, chewing thoughtfully on the edge of his own sleeve.
Nero leaned against the stone railing.
For once, nobody else followed.
Arion adjusted Theo’s sunhat.
"What’s wrong?"
Nero looked toward him.
"Nothing."
"That answer works better when you are convincing."
"I had a birthday party. I survived."
"You have been looking at the door all morning."
Nero’s expression flattened.
Arion waited.
There was no reason to push immediately.
Eventually Nero turned toward the gardens again, folding his forearms across the warm stone railing.
"I thought Sebastian would come."
Arion had expected that.
"At least today," Nero continued. "I understood the reception. Too many people. Too much attention. He hates being treated like an extension of me."
His fingers tapped once against the stone before becoming still.
"But this was family."
Theo lifted his head at Nero’s voice.
Nero noticed and smiled automatically at him.
Then the smile faded.
"He didn’t even step into Saha."
"Did he tell you why?"
"He had work."
Arion raised an eyebrow.
Nero gave him an irritated look.
"Yes, I know."
Sebastian having work was entirely believable.
Sebastian having enough work to miss every part of Nero’s birthday was something else.
Arion shifted Theo higher.
"Are you angry?"
"No."
That answer sounded more honest.
"Disappointed?"
Nero looked away.
"Yes."
For Nero, the admission carried more weight than anger would have.
Theo reached toward him.
Nero immediately accepted the small hand closing around one of his fingers.
Arion watched them for several seconds.
Then Matthias’s words returned.
A fixed point.
A choice that did not change.
Arion had not intended to test the theory so quickly, but the opportunity was too clean to ignore.
"What if it doesn’t work?"
Nero frowned.
"What?"
"You and Sebastian."
Every trace of softness disappeared from Nero’s expression.
Arion kept his voice casual.
"If he continues avoiding Saha, if years pass and neither of you wants the same life, could you choose someone else?"
Nero stared at him.
The offense arrived so completely that Arion almost regretted asking.
"Choose someone else?"
"Yes."
Nero straightened from the railing.
"No."
There was no hesitation.
Arion had expected certainty.
He had not expected insult.
"Nero—"
"No."
Theo blinked between them.
Nero lowered his voice immediately for the baby, but the intensity did not diminish.
"There is no one else."
Arion studied him.
"People change."
"Sebastian can change."
"That wasn’t what I meant."
"I know exactly what you meant."
Purple eyes narrowed.
"If he refuses me for ten years, I will still want Sebastian. If he decides he hates Saha, then we deal with Saha. If he tells me tomorrow that he wants nothing from me except distance, I may respect the distance."
Nero paused.
"I will not replace him."
Arion felt something cold settle into place.
Matthias had been right.
Nero seemed genuinely offended by the premise that the choice could be reconsidered.
"What if someone more compatible appeared?"
Nero looked at him as though Arion had suddenly become stupid.
"With what?"
"Your life."
"My life already has Sebastian in it."
"What if someone wanted everything you wanted?"
"I don’t want them."
The answer came instantly.
Theo made a soft, impatient sound and pulled Nero’s finger toward his mouth.
Nero let him.
Arion watched his cousin carefully.
"You never considered it?"
"Never."
Arion understood why Dean’s instincts had warned him not to explain Titans to Nero.
Nero did not need the terminology.
Whatever Matthias had described was already there.
Arion adjusted Theo against his shoulder.
"Fine."
Nero’s suspicion deepened.
"That was a strange question."
"It was."
"Why?"
Arion looked toward the gardens.
"Curiosity."
Nero clearly did not believe him.
Fortunately, Theo chose that moment to yawn so widely his entire body seemed involved.
Nero’s attention broke.
"There. He’s tired."
"He was tired ten minutes ago."
"Give him to me."
"No."
Nero looked offended all over again.
Arion smiled and turned toward the doors.
Behind him, Nero muttered something unpleasant about selfish parents.
Arion barely heard it.
One thought had already taken its place.
Never.
Matthias had used the same word.