The Reborn Sovereign of Ruin, Bound by His Star

Liam had discovered one final disadvantage to getting married and participating in an imperial coronation on the same day.

There were too many people touching him before breakfast.

"Hold still."

"I am holding still."

Rubis looked at the long brown hair currently slipping through an attendant’s fingers.

"Your hair disagrees."

"My hair is not independently sentient."

Narissa, seated near the windows with a tablet across her knees, glanced up. "Given recent events, I would stop making declarations about what can and cannot possess independent consciousness."

Liam looked at her through the mirror.

"That was unnecessary."

"I could’ve been executed because of it."

Morning light filled the ceremonial dressing rooms in pale gold, reflecting from polished stone and the narrow formations worked into the ceiling. Beyond the tall windows, Deira had already awakened beneath a clear sky. Every suspended bridge leading toward the imperial district carried ceremonial banners, and the ancient ether lines beneath the city burned bright enough to remain visible even in daylight.

The palace had been awake long before Liam.

Possibly nobody had slept.

Rubis certainly looked as though he had personally supervised the sunrise.

He moved around Liam with the concentrated severity of someone preparing a national monument rather than a person.

Liam stood on the low-fitting platform in the final version of the ceremonial clothing he had chosen months earlier.

Thankfully, Rubis had respected most of the agreement.

The coat followed Nurian tradition without swallowing him in it.

It was traditional enough for the imperial archives and modern enough that Liam could move.

The crimson stones remained, and so did his crimson eyes.

The gold could return whenever it pleased after the ceremony.

Today, he wanted to look like himself.

An attendant adjusted the final clasp at his waist. Another was attempting to arrange his hair without pinning all of it away from his face.

Liam had successfully rejected three more elaborate options.

That counted as victory.

Narissa checked something on her tablet. "The first procession begins in forty-six minutes."

"I know."

"The eastern gallery has already filled."

"I know."

"The provincial representatives—"

"I know."

Narissa looked up.

Liam sighed.

"Sorry."

Her expression softened. "You are nervous."

"No."

Rubis met her eyes in the mirror.

Narissa raised one brow.

Liam frowned at both of them.

"I am not nervous about marrying Arik."

That was true.

The marriage itself was possibly the least complicated part of the day.

Arik was Arik.

They were already mated. Already lived together. Already shared rooms, duties, arguments, laboratories, an empire neither of them had originally intended to possess, and apparently at least one previous lifetime of questionable decisions.

A ceremony did not frighten Liam.

The rest of it did.

The coronation. The Core. The Gate. The thousands of people waiting outside.

And the empty places among them.

Liam looked down while Rubis adjusted one sleeve.

They had always imagined their wedding differently. He had imagined their families with them.

His mother complaining that imperial protocol was unnecessarily dramatic.

His siblings somewhere close enough to embarrass him.

Damian and Gabriel. Cecil being dramatic.

The people from Wrohan and Agaron, whose lives had continued on the other side of a Gate that had turned three months into an impossible distance.

For most of the engagement, Liam had assumed the Gate would reopen first.

Reality had rearranged the order.

Now their wedding would be the ceremony that completed the sovereign household.

And afterward, if Arik succeeded, Nuria would reconnect with the world.

Liam had accepted that.

The outer doors opened.

Rubis turned immediately.

Arik entered.

Everyone in the room stopped.

Liam forgot whatever Narissa had been saying.

Arik had already dressed for the coronation.

Black dominated the ceremonial regalia, but nothing about it was plain. His long formal coat was structured through the shoulders and chest, opening below the waist over fitted black trousers and polished boots. Gold embroidery covered the high collar and spread in controlled patterns across the chest before narrowing along the sleeves. A heavier gold mantle fell from one shoulder, and behind him, the fabric carried old sovereign symbols woven so subtly they became visible only when ether moved through them.

And ether was moving.

Gold lived at the ends of Arik’s dark hair.

Sovereign ether had threaded itself through the lower strands overnight, turning the black gradually luminous at the tips.

His eyes were entirely gold.

Liam stared.

Arik’s gaze found him immediately.

Rubis had enough sense to recognize when his work had become temporarily irrelevant.

Arik looked toward the others.

"Leave us."

Rubis opened his mouth.

Arik looked at him.

Rubis closed it.

"Ten minutes," he said instead.

"Fifteen."

"Your coronation begins on a schedule."

"My coronation will wait five minutes."

Rubis looked personally offended by sovereign authority.

Narissa stood, collected her tablet, and touched Liam briefly on the shoulder as she passed.

The attendants followed.

The doors closed.

Silence replaced them.

Liam looked at Arik through the mirror.

"You bullied Rubis."

"I am becoming emperor today. I should practice."

Liam smiled.

Arik crossed the room.

His gaze moved over Liam from the crimson stones at his collar to the fall of charcoal fabric, then back to his face.

"You chose crimson."

"For now."

"I like it." Arik said and stopped directly in front of him.

Liam was still standing on the fitting platform, which reduced their usual height difference enough that Arik did not have to bend very far.

He did anyway.

One hand settled at Liam’s waist, the other cupped the side of his face, and Arik kissed him.

Liam felt the warm lips, familiar hands, and the quiet pressure of their bond opening between them beneath all the enormous things waiting outside the room.

Liam slid both hands against Arik’s chest.

The formal embroidery was slightly raised beneath his palms.

When they separated, Arik remained close.

His forehead touched Liam’s.

Liam looked at the gold in his eyes.

"Can you open the Gate?"

Arik went still.

"I don’t know."

Liam nodded.

He had expected that answer.

Arik’s thumb moved slowly beneath his cheekbone.

"The Core is responding differently this morning," Arik continued. "More strongly than before."

"Because of the coronation?"

"And the oath. The sovereign systems are already preparing."

Liam looked toward the windows.

Somewhere beyond Deira stood the Gate waiting.

"Could you try before the wedding?"

Arik’s expression changed.

Liam knew he understood immediately.

"You want them here."

"Yes."

There was no point pretending otherwise.

Liam lowered his gaze briefly to the gold embroidery covering Arik’s chest.

"I know we agreed."

"We did."

"And I know we can’t delay everything indefinitely because the Gate refuses to cooperate."

Arik said nothing.

Liam exhaled.

"But when I imagined marrying you, they were there."

"So were mine."

Liam looked up.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Liam said quietly, "I’m not doing this twice."

Arik’s lips twitched despite everything.

"No second wedding?"

"No."

"Even if Rubis demands one?"

"Especially if Rubis demands one."

That earned him a real smile.

Liam’s fingers curled lightly into the front of Arik’s coat.

"This is our wedding. I don’t want a replacement ceremony later because people missed it."

Arik understood, then bent and kissed his forehead.