Chapter 585 Two days earlier.

Theodore spent most of the flight to Saha with the black wooden dragon strapped into the seat beside him.

Dean discovered this arrangement after returning from the rear cabin with coffee and stopping in the aisle.

Theo had fastened the small safety belt across the dragon’s body with considerable care.

Arion sat opposite him, reading through a briefing on his tablet as though nothing about the situation deserved comment.

Dean looked at his husband.

"You allowed this."

Arion glanced up.

"He asked."

"That is how governments collapse."

Theo looked toward him.

"Dragon has to be safe when we land."

Dean took his seat.

"Apparently the future emperor of Alamina agrees."

Arion returned to his document.

"The future emperor of Alamina has learned to choose his battles."

That title still felt strange.

The transition had already begun swallowing their schedules, although the public knew nothing about it. Otto remained emperor, Arion remained crown prince, and somewhere behind closed palace doors nearly a year of carefully staged transfers had started moving authority from one generation to the next.

If everything behaved.

Dean had stopped expecting that.

For now, however, their immediate problem was Nero and Sebastian’s wedding.

Or wedding events.

The actual ceremony was still two days away, but Saha had apparently decided a royal marriage could not reasonably occur within a single calendar day. There were private family dinners, formal receptions, cultural ceremonies, diplomatic functions, and enough separate dress codes that Dean had packed more formal clothing for this trip than for Amaru’s coronation.

Theo would attend only what made sense for a four-year-old.

Dean had learned from Draxil.

By the time their aircraft began descending toward Altera, Theo had abandoned his dragon’s safety briefing and pressed both hands against the window.

The city spread beneath them beneath warm late-autumn sunlight, dense white and pale-stone buildings broken by gardens, waterways, and the distant glitter of the palace district.

"Saha."

"You’ve been here before," Dean reminded him.

"I remember."

"You were younger."

"I still remember."

Arion lowered his tablet.

"That sounds like your son."

Dean smiled.

"He becomes yours when he argues."

"Convenient."

The private royal airfield was already secured when they landed.

Theo carried the dragon himself down the aircraft stairs, one hand gripping Dean’s fingers while Arion followed close behind.

Nero was waiting at the bottom.

Sebastian stood beside him in a tailored grey-green coat over a cream shirt, one hand tucked casually into his trouser pocket. Nero wore pale trousers and a long deep-violet coat left open over an ivory shirt, his white-blond hair tied low enough that the wind still caught several loose strands around his face.

Theo saw them.

His entire expression changed.

"Nero!"

Nero opened his arms.

Dean released Theo before he could be dragged forward.

The child ran the final few meters and launched himself at Nero with enough confidence that Nero barely shifted before lifting him.

"There is my favorite godson."

"I’m your only godson."

"That guarantees your position."

Sebastian stepped closer and touched Theo’s hair.

"You brought the dragon."

Theo nodded.

"He travels."

Sebastian looked toward Dean.

Dean sighed.

"Do not ask."

They exchanged greetings without ceremony after that.

Nero attempted to take one of Dean’s bags.

Hunter stopped him.

Sebastian laughed.

Arion looked far too entertained by the entire thing.

By the time they reached the waiting cars, Theo had transferred himself from Nero to Sebastian and then back again without consulting either parent.

Dean accepted that this was simply how Saha worked.

Their evening plans were deliberately informal.

Sebastian had reserved a private section of one of Altera’s highest restaurants, occupying several floors near the top of a glass tower overlooking the central district.

The building was not royal property.

Nero pointed that out twice.

Dean immediately became suspicious that someone had accused him of choosing it because he owned it.

They arrived shortly after sunset.

The private elevator opened directly into a quiet upper dining room wrapped in glass on three sides. Altera stretched below them in layers of gold and white light, traffic moving in thin glowing lines between towers while the palace complex remained visible in the distance.

Theo went directly to the windows.

Sebastian caught the back of his jacket before he could press his entire face against the glass.

"Hands only."

Theo obediently flattened both palms against it instead.

Dinner was relaxed enough to almost make Dean forget why they were there.

Theo ate pasta and half of Sebastian’s dessert before eventually falling asleep across a padded bench with his dragon trapped beneath one arm.

Nero tried to move him.

Sebastian stopped him with a look.

The child remained where he was.

Coffee arrived afterward.

That was when Arion glanced toward Dean.

Dean understood immediately.

Sebastian noticed.

"What?"

Nero leaned back slightly in his chair.

Arion rested one forearm on the table.

"There is something we wanted to tell you before the wedding gets too busy."

Sebastian’s attention sharpened.

Dean looked toward the sleeping Theo, then back at them.

"Otto is retiring."

Neither man reacted immediately.

Nero’s expression lost its amusement first.

Sebastian straightened.

Arion continued before either could ask anything.

"Not now. The transition is expected to take close to a year, and nothing is public yet."

Sebastian’s gaze stayed on him.

"When did he decide?"

"Recently. He has been thinking about it longer than we knew."

Nero looked between Dean and Arion.

"And you?"

Arion exhaled.

"I’m adjusting."

That was honest enough.

Dean picked up his coffee.

"The council is building the transfer schedule now. Minerva is moving her responsibilities to me gradually, and we are relocating into the main palace."

Sebastian’s eyebrows rose.

"So this is already happening."

"Internally," Dean said. "Publicly, nothing changes for months."

Nero folded his hands loosely on the table.

"When will you announce it?"

"The latter half of next year, if the transition stays on schedule."

Sebastian glanced toward Theo.

"And until then?"

"Family only," Arion said. "Senior legal and administrative offices know pieces of it because they have to. Nobody outside the transition group has the full picture."

Nero nodded once.

Sebastian looked at Dean.

"You’re going to be imperial consort."

Dean stared into his coffee.

"Apparently."

A faint smile appeared on Sebastian’s face.

Dean pointed at him.

"Do not enjoy this."

"Too late."

Arion leaned back beside him.

Across the room, Theo shifted in his sleep and pulled the wooden dragon closer.

Outside the windows, Altera glittered far below them.