Chapter 433 - 427: Restrained
Damian did as instructed... mostly.
He carried Arik with reverence into the nursery, lowering him into the crib with a tenderness that would’ve astonished half the Empire and confirmed the suspicions of the other half. The baby stirred once, latched his fingers around Damian’s thumb for a moment, then sighed and turned his cheek to the soft blanket beneath him.
It took effort, real effort, for Damian to let go.
His hand lingered a second too long before he withdrew, brushing a ward glyph on the rail with two fingers to reinforce the protective layer Gabriel had etched earlier that morning. Then, slowly, silently, he straightened.
He could still feel Gabriel’s presence like gravity in the next room. Could still scent him through the walls, warm, clean, alive. And his own body, despite the training and suppressants and years of iron discipline, was starting to betray him.
The bond throbbed faintly in time with his pulse. His shirt felt too tight. His skin, too warm.
’Not yet’, he thought, jaw tightening. Not until he says yes.
He returned to the shared suite with the precision of a general entering contested territory. And there Gabriel was, still in his robe, barefoot now, standing at the open balcony doors with a glass of water in hand, the wind teasing strands of his dark hair against the nape of his neck.
A bad idea.
A beautiful one.
Gabriel didn’t turn, but he spoke. "Don’t look at me like that."
"Like what?"