Chapter 432: Family Dinner

Chapter 432: Chapter 432: Family Dinner

Liam discovered Rex’s greatest betrayal approximately seven minutes after entering the private dining room.

The evening had been deliberately stripped of everything resembling a royal reception.

No ambassadors waited beneath chandeliers, no ministers hovered near the walls, and the long formal dining hall had been abandoned in favor of a warmer family room overlooking one of the palace’s inner gardens. A fire burned beneath the old stone mantel, candles softened the winter darkness beyond the windows, and the table had been arranged for enough people to feel crowded without becoming ceremonial.

Enia was already there with Henry.

Mirelle sat beside one of Liam’s other aunts, arguing cheerfully over something that had apparently begun before Liam arrived. Ayla and Samuel had reached Alexandria earlier that afternoon and were occupying the far side of the table, where Samuel had already discovered a dish he remembered from childhood and was attempting to convince a servant that the serving bowl should simply remain near him.

Liam had barely finished hugging his mother when Rex entered.

With Mara.

Liam stopped.

Mara stopped too.

For one brief, beautiful moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Liam looked down.

Their hands were linked.

He looked back up.

Mara smiled.

Liam turned very slowly toward Rex.

"No."

Rex’s expression changed immediately.

Arik, standing behind Liam with one hand still resting against the small of his back, leaned slightly to see around him.

Mara wore a deep green evening dress simple enough for a family dinner, her hair pinned loosely at the back of her head. Rex had changed from the formal coat he wore at the airport into black trousers and a dark blue jacket without insignia beyond the small royal pin at his collar.

They looked comfortable together.

Far too comfortable.

Liam pointed at Mara.

"My lab assistant."

"Former lab assistant," Mara corrected.

"That does not improve this."

Rex sighed.

"I knew you were going to do this."

"You are marrying my lab assistant."

Mara laughed.

Arik looked between them.

"You genuinely didn’t know?"

Liam turned toward him.

"Apparently everyone has been conspiring against me."

"I knew," Ayla called from the table.

Liam stared at her.

Samuel lifted his hand.

"So did I."

The betrayal deepened.

Liam looked toward Enia.

His mother smiled into her wine.

"You too?"

Enia’s expression was entirely unapologetic.

"Mara visited."

Henry looked sympathetic.

"I assumed you knew."

Liam pressed one hand against his chest.

Arik started laughing.

"This is not funny."

"It is extremely funny."

"My own family concealed a royal engagement from me."

Rex moved toward the table.

"I concealed it from most people."

"You did not conceal it from my mother."

"Your mother notices everything."

Enia nodded once.

"That is true."

Mara came closer and hugged Liam before he could continue performing outrage.

He hugged her back immediately.

That somewhat weakened his position.

When she stepped away, Liam looked at her with exaggerated disappointment.

"You could have told me."

"You were in Nuria reorganizing half your life."

"I had a communicator."

"You also had a husband who considered every missed meal a security incident."

Arik nodded.

"Reasonable."

Liam turned.

"Do not support her."

Mara smiled.

Some things about her had not changed at all.

Years earlier, before imperial titles and political receptions became normal parts of Liam’s calendar, she had been the person standing beside him in laboratories while he complained about equipment, calculations, and anyone touching instruments without permission.

Apparently, while Liam had been occupied surviving everything that followed, Mara had developed an entirely separate life.

With Rex.

That realization finally pushed curiosity past theatrical betrayal.

"When?"

Rex pulled out Mara’s chair before taking his own.

"A few months after the Gate closed behind all of you."

Liam’s expression softened.

That period remained strange to think about.

He, Arik, Mezos, and Killian had disappeared into Nuria while everyone outside was left with uncertainty, fractured information, and no clear idea when they would return.

Mara glanced toward Rex.

"We kept meeting because there was always some new report, some question about what happened before you disappeared, or something somebody thought I might know because I worked with you."

"And eventually the reports stopped being the reason," Rex said.

Arik smiled.

Liam looked between them.

"You managed to hide this for years."

"We were not trying to hide from you specifically."

"That sounds worse."

Mirelle laughed from across the table.

"Sit down before dinner gets cold."

The command had enough family authority behind it that even Rex obeyed.

Arik guided Liam toward the open chair beside his own, still visibly entertained.

Once everyone settled, the evening became exactly what Liam had hoped for without realizing it.

Nobody discussed Gerard.

Nobody discussed elections, succession, Liryan politics, or the increasingly complicated arrangements surrounding Lucien.

Rex’s wedding surfaced frequently, but mostly because Mirelle wanted to know whether he had personally chosen anything involved in it.

"Flowers?" she asked.

Rex took a drink.

"No."

"Music?"

"Mara."

"Menu?"

"My staff."

Mirelle looked toward Mara.

"So what did he do?"

Mara considered.

"He attended fittings."

Rex looked offended.

"I approved security."

"That is not wedding planning," Enia said.

Arik leaned toward Liam.

"I helped more with ours."

Liam gave him a look.

"You tried to eliminate half the guest list."

"They were unnecessary."

"You also complained about flowers."

"They were everywhere."

Enia laughed softly.

Henry sat beside her, relaxed in a way Liam rarely remembered seeing during the worst years in Wrohan. He had one arm resting behind Enia’s chair while she listened to Samuel describe academy life, occasionally correcting some dramatic exaggeration without interrupting him completely.

Peace suited them.

Liam looked around the table.

Ayla arguing with Mirelle.

Samuel stealing food from Henry’s plate and being caught immediately.

Mara laughing at something Rex murmured.

Rex himself looking happier than Liam remembered seeing him at any formal function.

Arik beside him, warm and solid and still far too smug about the discovery that Liam had somehow missed an entire relationship developing around him.

"You’re staring," Arik murmured.

"I am observing."

"You are planning another accusation."

"I have been betrayed."

Arik smiled.

"You hugged Mara."

"That proves nothing."

"You asked when they started dating because you wanted details."

Liam narrowed his eyes.

Arik leaned closer.

"You are happy for them."

Liam sighed.

"Obviously."

"There it is."

Liam elbowed him lightly beneath the table.

Arik caught his hand before he could pull it away and kept it beneath the tablecloth, fingers closing around his.

Liam let him.

Across from them, Enia noticed.

She said nothing.

She only smiled before returning to her conversation with Henry.

For once, Liam did not feel like the Empress Consort returning to Wrohan or the son who had spent too many years caught inside a family damaged by people no longer sitting at the table.

He was simply there.

With his husband.

His mother and stepfather.

His siblings, aunts, Rex, and apparently the woman who had once helped him in a laboratory and would soon become queen.

Liam glanced toward Mara again.

"I still think you should have told me."

Mara smiled over her glass.

"I knew you would forgive me."

"That confidence is offensive."

Rex leaned back.

"She learned it from you."

Arik laughed.

Liam looked around the table at everyone enjoying his suffering.

Then he smiled too.