Chapter 377: Familiar Corridors

Chapter 377: Chapter 377: Familiar Corridors

By evening, Liam had discovered that being left entirely alone with nothing urgent to do was unexpectedly difficult.

Gabriel had returned to his duties shortly after lunch, taking the stack of engineering notes with him and promising to send several old infrastructure reports later. Cecil had disappeared into whatever obligations came with being Crown Prince, Frederik with him, and the twins had been collected by their tutors after spending nearly an hour trying to convince Liam that one of the palace fountains concealed a secret tunnel.

Liam had checked.

It did not.

At least, not according to the architectural plans.

Now he occupied one end of the sofa in the private sitting room attached to their suite, a book open across his lap while evening slowly settled beyond the tall windows.

He had been on the same page for fifteen minutes.

The book itself should have interested him. It covered the development of Agaron’s earliest ether distribution network, complete with diagrams showing how the original capital grid had expanded around the palace before spreading into the surrounding districts.

Instead, Liam found himself reading the same paragraph without absorbing a word.

He glanced toward the clock.

Then immediately frowned at himself.

This was ridiculous.

Arik had been gone for several hours, not several months.

Liam had spent most of his life perfectly capable of existing alone, and yet marriage had apparently reduced his tolerance for an empty room to embarrassingly low levels.

He turned the page anyway.

The suite door opened.

Liam’s attention lifted so quickly that pretending otherwise would have been pointless.

Boots crossed the outer room.

A moment later Arik appeared in the doorway.

He was still dressed for the inspection in dark field trousers and a fitted black coat, although the high collar had been opened and the first fastening beneath it loosened. His black hair had escaped whatever tie had held it during the day, several strands falling across his forehead, and the controlled posture he used around military officers had disappeared somewhere between the training grounds and the palace.

He looked tired.

More importantly, he looked like Arik again.

Liam smiled.

"Survived?"

Arik did not answer.

He simply crossed the room.

Liam barely had enough time to place the book aside before Arik caught him around the waist and lifted him from the sofa.

"Arik."

His husband buried his face against Liam’s neck.

Liam laughed softly and wrapped both arms around his shoulders.

"You were gone for half a day."

"Too long."

"You inspected soldiers. You did not cross another Gate."

"Still too long."

Arik inhaled against his skin.

Smoky caramel deepened around them almost immediately, warmer and richer than it had been that morning, carrying none of the restraint Arik maintained in public. Liam’s saint’s breath answered without conscious effort, the scents mingling until the sitting room no longer smelled like a guest suite prepared for foreign royalty.

It smelled like them.

Liam relaxed.

Arik felt it and tightened his hold.

"You missed me."

Liam rested his cheek against his shoulder.

"I was waiting."

"That was not what I said."

"I heard what you said."

Arik finally lowered him, though Liam’s feet had barely touched the carpet before he was pulled close again.

Golden eyes studied his face.

"You missed me."

Liam narrowed his eyes.

"You look very pleased about this."

"I am."

"You are unbearable."

"And yet."

Liam smiled despite himself.

"Yes. I missed you."

The satisfaction in Arik’s expression was immediate and entirely too smug.

Liam reached up and caught him by the open collar.

"Do not make me regret admitting it."

Arik kissed him before he could say anything else.

There was nothing hurried about it.

One hand settled against the small of Liam’s back while the other moved into his hair, tilting his head gently as Arik kissed him with the slow familiarity of someone who no longer needed to prove anything.

Liam melted into it far too easily.

He could feel the faint warmth of Arik’s ether beneath his skin, gold threaded now with the red he had reclaimed from Goliath’s old body, but none of it pressed against Liam or demanded anything. It simply existed around him, steady and protective.

When they separated, Liam’s fingers remained hooked into Arik’s collar.

"That was excessive for an inspection lasting several hours."

"I disagree."

"You would."

Arik brushed his thumb over Liam’s cheek.

"How was your afternoon?"

"Gabriel abandoned me for imperial responsibilities."

"Cruel."

Arik glanced toward the book lying open on the sofa.

"You are reading a forty-year-old analysis of Agaron’s municipal ether network."

"It is useful."

"You complained yesterday that the terminology was obsolete."

"It is."

"And now you voluntarily chose it."

Liam stared at him.

Arik smiled.

"You were bored."

"I was waiting for you."

"That is worse."

"It is not."

"It means you could have come with me."

"To inspect a military training complex?"

"Yes."

"You spent the entire morning complaining that you did not want to go."

"That was before I knew you would be sitting here waiting."

Liam’s expression softened.

He touched the edge of Arik’s collar again, smoothing it without really needing to.

"I did not mind waiting."

Arik looked at him for a moment.

Then his hand slipped around Liam’s waist once more.

"Come with me."

"Where?"

"I want to show you something."

Liam raised an eyebrow.

"Another military facility?"

"No."

"Good."

Arik retrieved Liam’s light coat from the chair near the door and held it open for him.

Liam slipped his arms into it.

Arik adjusted the collar carefully, then fastened the top button despite Liam being perfectly capable of doing it himself.

"You know I can dress myself."

"I know."

"Then why are you doing that?"

"Because I want to."

Liam looked at him

There were moments when Arik’s possessiveness appeared in dramatic ways.

Then there were things like this.

Small gestures.

Buttons fastened.

Food moved closer.

A hand permanently resting somewhere on Liam’s body whenever they stood together.

Liam smiled.

"Fine."

Arik kissed his forehead.

They left the suite hand in hand.

Two Shadows fell into position several meters behind them, distant enough to grant the illusion of privacy while remaining close enough to intervene if necessary.

The palace had changed since afternoon.

Formal traffic had thinned, leaving long galleries washed in amber wall lights and the last traces of sunset. Crimson runners stretched across polished floors, imperial wolves woven into their borders in gold, while the huge windows reflected the palace interior rather than the gardens beyond.

Arik ignored the grand staircase.

Instead, he led Liam through a narrow corridor beside the western gallery.

"This is not part of the official route."

"No."

"Cecil did not show me this."

"That is because Cecil’s tour was designed almost entirely around embarrassing members of our family."

"It was informative."

"It was slander."

"He had evidence."

Arik gave him a look.

Liam smiled.

The corridor narrowed as they continued, the architecture becoming less ceremonial with every turn. Large historical portraits disappeared, replaced by smaller family photographs, paintings of landscapes, and tables holding fresh flowers rather than priceless artifacts.

The atmosphere changed with them.

This was not the imperial palace shown to delegations.

It was a home hidden behind one.

Arik stopped beside a deep window alcove built into the stone wall.

A cushioned bench occupied the space beneath the glass.

"I used to hide here."

Liam looked at him.

"You?"

"Yes."

"From whom?"

"Tutors. Occasionally, Cecil."

"You were the Crown Prince."

"I was also eleven."

"That did not answer the question."

"I was an eleven-year-old crown prince."

Liam sat on the bench.

Arik remained standing in front of him.

"What did Cecil do?"

"Followed me."

"That sounds like him."

"He was convinced everything I did was more interesting than whatever he had been assigned."

Liam smiled.

"He missed you."

Arik’s expression softened.

"I know."

Liam reached for his hand and pulled gently until Arik stepped closer.

"You missed him too."

"Yes."

Arik’s thumb moved over Liam’s knuckles.

For a few seconds, they stayed like that in the quiet alcove, evening pressed dark against the glass while the palace hummed softly around them.

Then Liam stood.

"Show me more."

Arik smiled.

He took him through the old family wing, where rooms opened toward smaller courtyards and hallways carried signs of generations of people actually living there.

There was a library where Arik had once fallen asleep beneath a table after refusing to attend a diplomatic dinner.

A balcony where Damian went whenever he wanted silence.

A narrow service stair Arik and Mezos had used so frequently as teenagers that the kitchen staff had eventually stopped pretending not to notice.

Liam rested one hand on the stone rail as they descended.

"This is the route to the pastries."

"One of them."

"One?"

"There were alternatives."

"You planned multiple infiltration routes into your own kitchen."

Arik looked entirely unashamed.

"They told Mother when I came directly."

"So you developed covert logistics for dessert."

"Yes."

Liam laughed and caught Arik’s arm when his foot slipped slightly on the narrow step.

Arik’s hand immediately closed around his waist.

"Careful."

"I am fine."

Arik did not release him.

Liam looked down at the hand around his waist.

"You can let go."

"I could."

"But you will not."

"No."

Liam leaned into him deliberately.

"Good."

Arik’s gaze dropped to his face.

For a moment, the narrow stairwell became very quiet.

Then Arik bent and kissed him again.