Bound by the Mark of Lies (BL)

Damian blinked slowly, like a man faced with the possibility of war before caffeine. "What if I refuse?"

Edward, who had been arranging the imperial clothes for the day, didn’t even pause. "Your Majesty, I appreciate humor in the morning, but we both know your sense of duty wakes faster than your body. You’ll be ready."

Damian’s mouth curved faintly. He reached for the robe Edward held out, rising with a grace that made it seem like the question had never truly been in doubt.

In the bed, Gabriel mumbled, voice muffled by a pillow, "Don’t even joke about me being dragged to court. I’m on leave."

Edward’s eyes flicked over. "Yes. And no one is contesting that, Your Grace. I believe it would take military force to extract you from the child."

Gabriel cracked one eye open. Arik was curled on his chest, thumb in his mouth, perfectly at peace. "Correct. Let the record show I would bite."

"You were gone a week," Damian said, voice low as he tied the robe. "He hasn’t forgiven you for it."

"And neither have I," Gabriel muttered, one hand instinctively stroking over the baby’s soft hair. "He won’t even let the nannies near him. Every time I try to set him down, he cries like I’m banishing him."

Damian looked at them both for a long second, his mate, his son, and the unspoken weight of what it meant to have them safe, here, warm, and unwilling to leave each other’s orbit.

"You’re not being summoned," he said simply. "Stay in bed. Stay with him."

Gabriel didn’t argue. For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to.

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