Chapter 170: Cursed times incoming
Lucas held the card out in silence, like it might detonate if he blinked the wrong way.
Trevor took it, scanned the lines, and let out a low, amused breath. "Oh, that’s charmingly terrifying."
Lucas dragged a hand down his face. "Why is the Emperor casually inviting me to tea like we’re... cousins? And what does he mean, punctuality is not?"
"It means you shouldn’t panic if you’re late," Trevor said. "Or that Caelan intends to be dramatically late himself and wants plausible deniability."
"I haven’t even been presented properly!" Lucas stood, pacing a slow, stunned circuit behind the desk. "There’s protocol for this. Ceremonies. A goddamn herald or three. I’m not supposed to just show up for tea like he’s my neighbor."
Trevor folded the card with maddening calm and set it back on the desk. "Caelan’s never cared for protocol... And biologically, he is your father."
Lucas stopped pacing.
"I know that," he said quietly. "I’ve always known that. But he’s never—" He gestured vaguely, frustration flickering behind his eyes. "He never reached out. Not once. Not when Serathine took me in. Not when the name change hit the registries. Not even after the wedding. I thought he was staying away on purpose."
Trevor stood, slower this time. "He might’ve been."
Lucas looked up sharply.
Trevor met his gaze with a kind of gentleness that didn’t come easily to him. "Caelan doesn’t do anything halfway. If he stayed away, it wasn’t because he didn’t care. It was because once he stepped in, there’d be no going back."
Lucas dropped his eyes to the invitation again. The paper felt too heavy in his hands, too final. "And now he wants tea."