Chapter 386: The Last Lock

Chapter 386: Chapter 386: The Last Lock

Liam had arranged the appointment for eleven thirty in the morning because Arik could not possibly attend.

That had required more effort than he was willing to admit.

The imperial physician had offered several openings across the week. Liam rejected the first because Arik had only a short cabinet meeting and could easily escape it, the second because Arik’s inspection was inside the palace, and the third because Liam knew perfectly well his husband would abandon lunch with three ministers if Liam mentioned a medical appointment.

Eleven thirty, however, coincided with a closed security and foreign policy review involving Severin, Mezos, Kamal, and representatives from two border commands.

Arik could not leave.

Probably.

Liam had also neglected to tell him what the appointment was about.

Narissa sat outside the examination suite with instructions not to allow anyone in unless the building caught fire.

She had stared at him for several seconds when he said it.

"Anyone?"

"Anyone."

"Even His Majesty?"

Liam had looked at her.

Narissa eventually nodded.

"I will attempt to delay the Emperor of Nuria."

"Thank you."

"I did not say I would succeed."

Fair.

Now Liam sat alone on the edge of the examination couch while the imperial physician reviewed his file.

The clinic occupied one of the quieter wings adjoining the palace, modern enough that little remained of the original stone chambers except the arched windows. Pale wall panels concealed most of the diagnostic equipment, and a narrow strip of gold ether-light ran around the ceiling, illuminating the room without the sharp brightness Liam associated with hospitals.

His coat hung over the back of a chair.

He had rolled the sleeves of his cream shirt to his elbows for the blood draw earlier, and the tiny puncture in his arm had already disappeared beneath a regeneration patch.

The physician scrolled farther through his record.

"You have been on continuous suppressants for fourteen months."

"Approximately."

"And before that?"

"Intermittently."

"Except your first heat and the one before coming to Nuria."

Liam’s fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the examination couch.

"Yes."

The physician looked up.

There was no judgment in his expression.

"What would you like to change?"

Liam had rehearsed the sentence.

It still took him several seconds to say it.

"I want to stop the suppressants."

The physician set the tablet down.

"Entirely?"

"Yes."

"And remain on contraception?"

"Yes."

That answer came much faster.

"I do not want a child yet."

"Those are separate decisions."

"I know."

The physician nodded once.

"Good. I wanted to make sure you were not treating stopping suppressants as an attempt to conceive."

Liam shook his head.

Arik and Liam had already discussed children enough for Liam to know where he stood. Someday was no longer frightening.

Someday was even pleasant to imagine.

But not now.

He wanted several years, perhaps. Time to rebuild Nuria, time to work, time to be married without immediately turning their relationship into a succession project simply because an empire had recovered its sovereign.

The physician picked up the tablet again.

"Your current contraceptive protocol can remain unchanged. Stopping heat suppression should not interfere with it, although I will want new hormone panels after your first natural cycle."

Liam nodded.

"When would the heat return?"

"That is harder to predict."

The physician opened another section of his records.

"You have suppressed consistently enough that your endocrine cycle may need time to reestablish itself. It could be weeks. It could be several months. Your bond may shorten that adjustment."

Liam looked toward the window.

Beyond the glass, autumn had begun touching the palace gardens. Several trees along the medical courtyard were turning gold at their edges.

"And when it happens?"

"Your bond changes the risk profile considerably," the physician continued. "Your pheromonal response should center almost entirely around His Majesty now. But I would still recommend controlled surroundings for the first cycle after suppression."

Liam almost smiled.

Perhaps heat had advantages.

The physician continued, "Limit unfamiliar alpha exposure during the onset. Keep your security team informed enough that they understand the situation, and do not assume you will recognize the beginning immediately. After long-term suppression, symptoms can present differently."

Liam nodded.

"You should also tell your mate before discontinuing."

Liam looked at him.

"I was going to."

"After?"

"Yes."

The physician was quiet.

Liam frowned.

"You disapprove."

"I am not your marriage counselor."

"That means yes."

"It means I think a dominant alpha whose bonded omega begins changing scent unexpectedly may react poorly to discovering this was planned without his knowledge."

Liam sighed.

That was irritatingly reasonable.

"He would have come."

"To the appointment?"

"Yes."

"And you did not want him here?"

"No."

The physician waited.

Liam looked down at his hands.

"I needed this decision to be mine."

Understanding replaced whatever concern had been there before.

"That is different."

Liam rubbed his thumb over the inside of his wrist.

Arik had never pressured him to stop the medication.

Not once.

He teased Liam about wanting to see him in heat again, especially after learning how ridiculously affectionate Liam became, but every serious conversation had ended the same way.

Only when Liam wanted it.

Arik had been very clear.

Perhaps that was part of why Liam was sitting here.

"I trust him."

The words were immediate.

Liam stared toward the gold line of ether-light along the floor.

"I think this is the last thing I still control because I am afraid not to."

The physician said nothing.

Liam appreciated that.

He had spent too much of his life having decisions taken from him.

Where he lived.

Where he studied.

Whether he could leave Wrohan.

Who watched him.

What Felix believed Liam’s body and blood should eventually become.

Suppressing his heat had been simple.

"I want to know I can do it," Liam said.

The physician nodded slowly.

"With him."

"Yes."

That was the difference.

Liam was not surrendering control to an alpha.

He was trusting Arik with a vulnerable part of himself. Arik proved more than enough, but this time... Liam was proving something to himself.

The physician reached for the medication panel.

"Then medically, I see no reason you cannot discontinue suppression."

Liam’s stomach tightened.

That sounded frighteningly final.

"You will finish today’s dose. Do not begin another pack tomorrow. Continue contraception exactly as prescribed, and we will monitor hormone recovery every two weeks until the first heat."

Liam nodded.

"I will also give you an emergency suppressant."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I was stopping."

"You are. That does not mean you lose your ability to change your mind."

Liam stared at him.

Something in his chest loosened.

The physician placed a small sealed injector beside the tablet.

"If the onset frightens you, if His Majesty is unavailable, if anything feels wrong, you use it. Choosing a natural heat does not obligate you to complete one."

Liam picked it up.

"Thank you."

When he eventually stepped into the corridor, Narissa rose from the bench immediately.

"No emperor," she reported.

Liam slipped the emergency suppressant into his coat pocket.

"Excellent."

Narissa looked at him.

"You sound disappointed."

"I am not."

He was.