Chapter 145: Technically Within the Rules

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Technically Within the Rules

By the time they reached the private guest wing reserved for Saha, Sebastian had identified Nero’s strategy.

Affection.

Aggressive, shameless quantities of affection.

The enigma had apparently decided that if he kissed Sebastian often enough, wrapped himself around him at every available opportunity, and looked sufficiently delighted about the enormous white predator currently being prepared for international relocation, Sebastian might eventually forget that they had somehow acquired a tiger before they had even managed to get married.

The irritating part was that it was working.

Sebastian had barely crossed the threshold of their sitting room before Nero came up behind him, slid both arms around his waist, and pressed his face into the side of his neck with the contentment of a man whose day had exceeded all expectations.

The Draxilian guest apartments were larger than necessary and much warmer in color than their rooms in Saha, with carved wooden screens separating the sitting area from the bedroom, patterned rugs layered across pale stone floors, and low upholstered furniture arranged around an open balcony overlooking one of the palace gardens. Evening light filtered through the latticework and painted shifting patterns across the walls.

Sebastian reached back and caught a handful of Nero’s long white-blond hair.

"You are trying to bribe me."

Nero kissed beneath his ear.

"I’m expressing love."

"With suspicious timing."

"I express love constantly."

"Today you’re doing it every thirty seconds."

Nero tightened his arms.

Sebastian could feel the smile against his neck.

"She likes you."

"She looked at me."

"With interest."

"She is a tiger, Nero. Interest is not necessarily reassuring."

"She likes you."

Sebastian turned inside his arms until he could see him properly.

Nero was still dressed in his formal purple coat, although he had opened the high collar and removed several of the ceremonial chains from his chest after they left the public areas. His hair had become slightly disordered from the heat and movement through the gardens, pale strands falling across his shoulders, and his expression carried the kind of open happiness Sebastian rarely saw outside family settings.

That was the real problem.

Sebastian sighed.

"You want her."

Nero’s violet eyes brightened.

"Very much."

"Of course you do."

"She’s related to Tania."

"I know."

"She has the same eyes. They look like mine too."

"I noticed."

"And Amaru already arranged the handlers."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

"You have discussed logistics."

"Only briefly."

"How briefly?"

Nero kissed his forehead.

Sebastian caught his chin before he could escape.

"That was not an answer."

"Twenty minutes."

"When?"

"While you were speaking with Amelie."

Sebastian stared at him.

Nero smiled.

There was no saving this situation.

The tiger was coming to Saha.

Sebastian knew it, Nero knew it, and apparently Amaru had known it before either of them stepped off the aircraft.

"You are impossible."

Nero’s hands slid down Sebastian’s back before settling at his waist again.

"Yet beloved."

"Barely."

"That is enough."

Sebastian laughed despite himself and pushed at his chest.

Nero allowed himself to be moved exactly half a step before following again.

"Go change before dinner."

"In a moment."

"Nero."

"I have something for you."

Sebastian immediately became suspicious.

"That sentence has gone badly for me once already today."

"This is smaller than a tiger."

"That is an unhelpfully broad category."

Nero finally released him and crossed toward the bedroom, moving with enough purpose that Sebastian knew whatever he was retrieving had been planned before Draxil.

He returned carrying a long, narrow case.

Sebastian looked at it.

Then at Nero.

"No."

"You haven’t seen it."

"I recognize the shape."

Nero sat on the edge of the low sofa and placed the case across his knees.

"You agreed to collars."

"I agreed to reasonable collars."

"This is reasonable."

The confidence in that statement made Sebastian considerably more concerned.

Nero opened the case.

Sebastian’s eye twitched.

Technically, Nero had followed every rule.

That was almost insulting.

The collar was narrow, perhaps only two fingers wide, structured more like formal jewelry than anything resembling restraint. The base appeared to be deep purple leather so dark it was almost black, lined inside with something soft and pale, while the entire outer edge had been framed in platinum.

The metalwork was impossibly fine, carved into geometric Sahan patterns so delicate that they seemed to move when the light touched them. At the center sat a small clasp no larger than Sebastian’s thumbnail, shaped around the stylized insignia of the Crown Prince’s household without displaying an actual crest.

No enormous emblem.

No absurd pendant.

No gemstone capable of financing a provincial hospital.

Instead, someone had embedded dozens of tiny colorless stones into the engraving so discreetly that Sebastian only realized they were there when the collar shifted beneath Nero’s fingers, and the entire surface caught the evening light.

Sebastian stared.

"Nero."

Nero looked pleased.

"How much did this cost?"

"That was not one of your conditions."

Sebastian closed his eyes.

Of course it wasn’t.

"Nero."

"You said no oversized crest."

"There isn’t one."

"No excessive width."

"It’s narrower than the green one."

"No ridiculous gemstones."

"They’re extremely small."

Sebastian opened his eyes.

"There are approximately a hundred of them."

"Eighty-four."

The speed of the correction was damning.

Sebastian stared at him.

Nero’s expression remained perfectly sincere.

"And you said you didn’t want anything that looked as though I purchased you. This looks ceremonial."

"It looks like the royal treasury developed romantic intentions."

Nero laughed.

Sebastian reached down despite himself and touched the edge.

The craftsmanship was extraordinary.

The platinum was warm beneath his fingers rather than heavy, the leather beneath it supple enough that the piece would probably be more comfortable than half the ordinary collars he had already tried, and the interior carried a line of tiny embroidered Sahan script.

Sebastian tilted it toward the light.

"What does that say?"

Nero’s expression softened.

"My moon, freely beside me."

Sebastian stopped.

That was unfair.

Deeply unfair.

He looked at Nero.

"You planned that line specifically so I couldn’t complain."

"I planned it because it’s true."

Sebastian ran his thumb once over the inscription.

Nero remained quiet, which was probably the smartest thing he had done all afternoon.

Finally, Sebastian sighed.

"You exploited every technicality."

"Yes."

"You spent an obscene amount of money."

Nero said nothing.

"That means yes."

A smile appeared.

Sebastian looked at the collar again.

Then at the man currently trying to buy himself both a tiger and forgiveness through jewelry and affection.

"You are a menace."

Nero stood and stepped closer.

"But?"

Sebastian handed him the collar and turned around.

Behind him, Nero went completely still.

Sebastian smiled.

"But you can put it on."

The sound Nero made was almost worth the tiger.