Chapter 141: Recruitment

Chapter 141: Chapter 141: Recruitment

The flight to Draxil was scheduled for a little over four hours, which Sebastian had considered entirely reasonable until Nero decided the private jet offered enough uninterrupted time to become physically attached to him.

Sebastian had managed perhaps twenty minutes alone with the briefing packet before Nero abandoned the seat opposite him and settled beside him on the wide cream leather sofa instead, one arm stretched behind Sebastian’s shoulders while the other rested comfortably across his own lap.

The aircraft was considerably larger than Sebastian had remembered from the time Nero brought him to Saha. He was under active berserk, so he didn’t trust any memory from then.

The main cabin had been arranged more like a private sitting room than an aircraft, with pale wood panels, brushed silver fittings and deep-purple details worked discreetly into cushions and stitching rather than splashed across every surface. A dining table occupied the forward section, while the rear contained Nero’s office, a bedroom and enough additional seating for the security staff traveling with them.

Duncan sat several meters away at the table beside two members of Nero’s security team, dressed in a dark suit instead of his usual uniform as he reviewed their arrival protocols.

Sebastian had already learned that Draxil intended to treat the coronation as both a royal ceremony and a public declaration that Amaru’s reign had stabilized enough for foreign delegations to return openly.

Which meant cameras, crowds, several royal families, and, for the first time, Sebastian beside Nero at an international event as his fiancé.

Nero seemed offensively pleased about that part.

Sebastian turned another page.

The briefing included a condensed history of Amaru’s return, the political restructuring that followed, and a section about the island where he had been held.

Sebastian frowned.

"I knew there was an organization involved."

Nero glanced down from whatever message he had been reading on his phone.

"There was."

"I didn’t know you personally went there."

"You were busy."

Sebastian gave him a flat look. "That is not an explanation."

"It is historically accurate."

Five years earlier, Sebastian had been dealing with a prolonged series of tensions between Palatine and one of the territories administered through Rohan, including enough border disputes and military posturing that Trevor had effectively handed him half the operational coordination while Sirius dealt with the political side.

He remembered hearing fragments about Draxil.

An island.

A missing prince.

Some kind of research organization.

Dean and Arion becoming involved.

Nero disappearing from Altera for several days and returning with a torn coat that Chris had complained about for a week.

Apparently Sebastian had missed several relevant details.

His gaze shifted toward Duncan.

Then back to Nero.

"Was Duncan there?"

Nero’s mouth curved.

Across the cabin, Duncan slowly looked up.

Sebastian noticed.

"That expression tells me I’m about to learn something ridiculous."

Duncan closed the tablet in front of him.

"You could simply continue reading the official version, Your Highness."

Sebastian looked at the briefing.

There was absolutely nothing about Duncan Crone in it.

He set the packet aside.

"No. Now I definitely want the unofficial version."

Nero leaned back into the sofa, clearly delighted by the opportunity.

Duncan looked toward the ceiling.

Sebastian pointed between them.

"How did you end up working for Nero and Hale?"

Nero answered before Duncan could interfere.

"I stabbed him."

Sebastian stared.

Duncan exhaled.

Nero continued with the calm satisfaction of a man recounting an excellent business meeting.

"He tried to stab me first."

"That does not improve the story."

"It provides context."

Sebastian turned toward Duncan.

"You attacked the Crown Prince of Saha."

"At the time, His Highness was trespassing through a protected perimeter."

Nero smiled. "I was rescuing someone."

"You were still trespassing."

"You warped the forest."

Sebastian’s attention sharpened.

"Warped?"

Duncan leaned back reluctantly.

"My pheromonal ability affects spatial perception. Distance, direction, depth. I can make a person perceive terrain differently from where it actually is."

Sebastian looked at him with considerably more interest.

"That explains why you’re under royal security in Saha."

"It explains part of it."

Nero’s grin widened.

Sebastian already disliked where this was going.

"What happened?"

Nero settled more comfortably beside him.

"Duncan tried to keep Hale and me away from the residence where Amaru was being held. He was good enough that I enjoyed the fight."

"That sentence alone concerns me."

"I won."

"Of course that is the part you emphasize."

Duncan rubbed one hand over his jaw.

"He pinned me to the ground with a knife at my throat."

Sebastian stared at Nero.

Nero looked entirely unashamed.

"And then?"

"I offered him employment," Duncan said.

Sebastian blinked.

Nero corrected him. "He offered me loyalty."

"That is somehow worse."

"I was losing blood," Duncan said. "My judgment was not at its finest."

"You have remained employed for five years."

"I’m extremely well paid."

Nero looked pleased.

Sebastian leaned back, studying Duncan more carefully.

"So you were working for the organization holding Amaru?"

Duncan’s expression lost some of its humor.

"For the people controlling the residence. At the time, I knew enough to understand they were dangerous and not enough to understand the entire operation. By the time Nero arrived, leaving was already something I had considered."

"And being beaten solved the employment dilemma."

Duncan glanced toward Nero.

"Efficiently."

Sebastian laughed.

Hale had apparently inherited the aftermath.

That part made almost too much sense.

"So Hale just accepted that Nero recruited an enemy guard in the middle of an operation?"

"No," Duncan said.

Nero said, at the same time, "Eventually."

Sebastian looked between them.

Duncan’s mouth tightened.

"Hale spent the next several months assuming I would betray them."

"He was very polite about it," Nero added.

"He checked my room twice a day."

"That was polite for Hale."

Sebastian could imagine it.

The older alpha had been serving Saha long enough that suspicion probably qualified as affection.

"How did you end up working directly under him?"

Duncan folded his hands loosely over the table.

"I stayed after Draxil. His Highness had made the offer, and Hale decided that if I intended to remain near the royal family, I would be trained according to his standards rather than my own."

Nero smiled faintly.

"And now you’re Sebastian’s chief of security."

Duncan looked toward Sebastian.

"Apparently my career trajectory remains unusual."

"That is one way to describe it."

Sebastian picked up the briefing again, though his attention remained on the story.

"You never told me any of this."

Nero turned his head.

"You never asked how I found Duncan."

"I assumed Hale hired him like a normal person."

Nero looked genuinely offended by the suggestion.

Sebastian laughed and returned to the page concerning Amaru.

The photograph beside the coronation profile showed a man who looked nothing like someone who had once required Nero, Arion and Dean to pull him out of an isolated research operation. Amaru appeared composed, formally dressed, his expression carrying the particular reserve Sebastian recognized from people who had survived enough to stop wasting energy proving they were dangerous.

"What exactly were they doing to him?"