Chapter 381: Retirement Adjustment

Chapter 381: Chapter 381: Retirement Adjustment

Returning to Nuria should have restored order to Mezos’s life.

Instead, General Theron Aradia came with them.

The first indication that retirement had done absolutely nothing to soften the man appeared less than twenty minutes after they passed through Deira’s imperial gates.

Mezos stepped from the transport beneath the covered entrance of the eastern palace, already speaking into his communicator about the overnight security rotation, when his father emerged from the vehicle behind him and stopped.

"Your left shoulder is dropping."

Mezos went silent.

Arik, who had been helping Liam from the other side of the car, slowly looked over.

Theron adjusted the cuff of his civilian coat.

"You favor it when you are tired."

"My shoulder healed months ago."

"That was not what I said."

Mezos straightened without meaning to.

Severin laughed.

Not discreetly.

Mezos turned toward him.

The commander stood beneath the gold-veined stone archway wearing his usual black Nurian uniform, apparently looking no older than forty despite having served Goliath more than a century earlier. The Core had preserved most of Nuria’s oldest generation with irritating effectiveness, leaving Theron, recently retired after decades of service in Agaron, looking considerably older than the man currently enjoying his misery.

"This is funny to you?"

"Extremely."

Theron’s gaze moved toward Severin.

"You encouraged his current posture?"

Severin’s smile widened.

"I encourage survival. The rest is his responsibility."

Mezos looked between them and appeared to reconsider his decision to return at all.

Liam leaned closer to Arik.

"I thought retirement involved relaxing."

"So did Mezos."

Theron heard him.

"I intend to relax."

Mezos stared at his father.

"When?"

"After I establish my residence."

"And until then?"

"I have several matters to organize."

Severin looked delighted.

"Welcome to Nuria, General."

"Retired General."

"My apologies."

Theron gave him a measured look.

Liam could not tell whether Severin’s amusement came from sympathy or from the fact that he had finally found someone capable of making Mezos uncomfortable without using sovereign authority.

Probably both.

Arik slipped one arm around Liam’s waist.

"Come. If we stay here, Mezos may attempt to board the return transport."

"I am considering it," Mezos said.

Theron looked at him.

Mezos immediately started walking toward the palace.

Severin laughed again.

—

By the second day, Theron had learned the route between his temporary residence and the imperial security offices.

This was unfortunate.

Mezos discovered him at seven twenty in the morning standing beside the entrance to the primary operations room, reading the security protocol displayed on a wall terminal.

He stopped so abruptly that the officer behind him nearly walked into his back.

"Father."

Theron turned.

"Good morning."

"Why are you here?"

"I was walking."

"In the imperial security wing?"

"The building is connected to the eastern garden."

"It is connected through three controlled corridors."

Theron nodded.

"I noticed."

Mezos stared at him.

The retired general wore dark trousers and a simple charcoal coat rather than a uniform, but retirement had not convinced him to abandon military grooming, posture, or the expression that suggested every room he entered might be subject to inspection.

Mezos lowered his voice.

"You cannot wander through operational areas."

"I asked permission."

"From whom?"

"Commander Severin."

Of course he had.

Mezos closed his eyes.

"And Severin allowed this?"

"He said I was welcome to observe the nonrestricted facilities while my residency documentation is processed."

Mezos opened his eyes again.

Theron glanced toward the communicator clipped at his son’s belt.

"You have missed two notifications."

"I know."

"You have not answered them."

"They are routine."

"One is marked priority."

Mezos slowly removed the device.

His father waited.

Mezos answered the message.

Theron nodded in approval.

Something inside Mezos died.

—

By noon, Severin had heard about the encounter.

By two, half the command staff had.

By evening, Arik knew.

Liam found out over dinner and nearly inhaled his drink.

"He checked your communicator?"

"He observed my communicator."

"That sounds worse somehow."

Mezos sat across from them in one of the smaller imperial dining rooms, shoulders rigid while an untouched plate cooled before him.

Severin occupied the chair at the end of the table, eating with the serenity of a man who had personally arranged this catastrophe.

Arik looked suspiciously pleased.

Mezos pointed at him.

"Do not."

"My face is not under your command."

"Neither is mine, according to my father, apparently, because he corrected my expression during lunch."

Liam put down his fork.

"He corrected your expression?"

"He asked why I was frowning at a junior officer."

"Were you frowning at him?"

"That is irrelevant."

Severin took a drink of water.

"It was not irrelevant to the junior officer."

Mezos turned.

"You gave him access."

"To public areas."

"He found the operations wing."

"He asked politely."

"He is supposed to be gardening."

Arik laughed.

Mezos looked at him with betrayal.

"I warned you."

"You encouraged him to move."

"I approved his residency."

"That is functionally the same thing."

Liam leaned against Arik’s shoulder, trying and failing to hide his amusement.

"I still think it is sweet."

Mezos looked at him.

"Yesterday, he called me at twenty-three thirty because he saw the light in my office from the residential path."

Liam blinked.

"What did he want?"

"To ask why I was still working."

"That is sweet."

"He then informed me that poor time management is not an acceptable reason to remain in the office after scheduled hours."

Arik covered his mouth.

Severin was openly laughing now.

Mezos pushed back from the table.

"I hate this place."

"You chose to stay," Arik reminded him.

"I chose to serve you. I did not choose to be professionally supervised by my retired father in another empire."

"That distinction should have been specified."

—

The resignation arrived the next morning.

Severin found the document on his desk precisely at eight.

He read the first line.

Then the second.

Then summoned Arik.

Liam came with him because Arik had mentioned something about Mezos attempting mutiny, which was considerably more interesting than the infrastructure report he had been reviewing.

Mezos stood in front of Severin’s desk with his arms folded.

Arik entered carrying coffee.

"You resigned?"