Several hours later, no one had entered the suite.
Someone had approached twice.
The first set of footsteps stopped when Arik’s ether rolled beneath the door in a warm, unmistakable warning. The second person appeared to notice the pressure from farther down the corridor and reconsidered before reaching the entrance.
Liam approved.
He sat barefoot at the far end of the sitting-room sofa, dressed in a loose shirt and soft trousers, wrapped almost completely inside the fluffiest blanket he had been able to find without involving an attendant. A cup of tea rested between his hands, warming fingers that were not actually cold.
The rest of him was warm enough.
Warm, sated, pleasantly exhausted, and still carrying the lingering heaviness of Arik inside him despite the bath he had taken. Moving required consideration. Sitting had required careful negotiation with several cushions.
He had therefore selected a position at a respectable distance from his alpha.
The bathroom door opened.
Arik emerged dressed in dark trousers and a soft black shirt, drying his wet hair with a towel. The damp black-and-gold strands fell around his face while he crossed the room, looking rested, satisfied, and considerably too composed for a man who had spent most of the morning treating moderation as a personal enemy.
Liam lifted his teacup in warning.
"No."
Arik stopped. "I have not done anything."
"You approached."
Arik’s gaze lowered to the blanket, then traveled over the small defensive formation of cushions surrounding Liam.
"You built fortifications."
"I adapted to the threat."
"What threat?"
Liam looked at him over the rim of his cup.
Arik smiled.
That smile proved his assessment entirely correct.
Arik’s satisfaction moved through the bond before he could conceal it.
Liam narrowed his eyes. "You are being intolerable."
"I am standing quietly."
"You are radiating smugness."
"That may be residual ether."
"It is not."
Arik discarded the towel over a chair and approached more cautiously, stopping near the opposite end of the sofa rather than attempting to sit beside Liam. His expression softened as he studied him more closely.
"Are you hurt?"
The sincerity beneath the question weakened Liam’s irritation.
"No."
Arik waited.
Liam sighed into his tea. "I am sore. Exhausted. Extremely comfortable. And still offended that you described your physical changes as minor."
"I was attempting not to frighten you."
"You waited until the matter was already in progress before providing inaccurate technical information."
"You climbed into my lap without requesting specifications."
"I had historical data."
"Outdated historical data."
Liam pointed his cup at him. "That is precisely the problem."
Arik’s mouth twitched, but concern remained in his eyes.
"The physicians should examine you."
"They examined me this morning. Everything was acceptable."
"That was before you climbed on top of me and later found yourself still leaking my seed." Arik grinned when Liam’s eyes narrowed. "I can smell it from here."
Liam pulled the blanket more tightly around himself, though it did nothing to hide the heat rising into his face.
"You are disgustingly pleased with yourself."
"I have several reasons to be."
Arik crossed the room before Liam could retreat farther beneath the blanket, slid one arm beneath his knees and the other around his back, and lifted him from the cushions with humiliating ease.
"Arik."
"You are sore, tired, and sitting as far away from me as the sofa permits."
"I was maintaining a sensible distance."
"You climbed on top of me this morning. Sensibility has already left the room."
He settled onto the sofa with Liam across his lap, rearranging the blanket around him before drawing him against his chest. Liam offered only token resistance, too warm and pleasantly exhausted to put any conviction behind it.
Arik bent and kissed his forehead.
The gesture was soft enough to weaken Liam’s remaining irritation, though the smug satisfaction still flowing through their bond prevented complete forgiveness.
"You cannot distract me with affection," Liam murmured.
"I am not trying to."
"You carried me away in the middle of an argument."
"You were too far away."
Arik kissed his forehead again, lingering this time. As he drew back, his expression shifted, amusement fading into quiet concentration.
Liam noticed. "What?"
Arik lowered his face toward Liam’s hair and breathed in slowly.
"You smell different."
Liam frowned. "Bad different?"
"No." Arik inhaled again near his temple, the arm around Liam’s waist tightening almost unconsciously. "Better than usual."
"That is a dangerous answer."
"Your saint’s breath scent is fresher. More floral." His molten-gold eyes narrowed as he studied Liam’s face. "Usually, it is softer beneath the suppressant."
Liam remained comfortably nestled against him, processing the observation with considerably less urgency.
"Oh," he said.
Arik went still.
Liam adjusted the blanket over his bare feet. "That would be because I have not taken any since we arrived."
The silence became absolute.
"You have not taken your suppressants?" Arik asked.
"No. The physicians said the Nurian formula might interfere with what remains of the Wrohanian suppressant and Felix’s compound in my system. They recommended waiting through at least one complete heat cycle before trying anything new."
He said it like an afterthought.
Arik stared at him.
Liam’s warmth and satisfaction began to encounter the first edge of concern.
"What?"
Arik’s gaze dropped slowly toward Liam’s abdomen.
The arm around his waist tightened.
"You are not protected."
"Not chemically, no."
"And you knew that this morning."
Liam looked up at him, still soft and sated in his arms. "I was distracted."
"Liam."
"I wanted you."
"That is not contraception."
"I am aware."
Arik’s satisfaction vanished so completely that Liam almost mourned it.
"You could become pregnant."
"Yes," Liam said, much too calmly for Arik’s rapidly deteriorating composure.
Gold brightened beneath Arik’s skin, and the wards in the room pulsed in answer.
Liam placed a hand against his chest.
"Do not alert the entire palace because you have discovered reproductive biology."
Arik looked at him with open alarm.
"You mentioned this after I could smell the difference."
"It did not seem urgent several hours ago."
"It was considerably more urgent several hours ago."
Liam considered that with a calmness Arik found increasingly offensive.
"Possibly," he conceded. "But I would not mind having your child."
Arik stared at him.
Liam gave a small shrug beneath the blanket, as though he had mentioned a preference for different tea rather than the possibility of pregnancy.
"And the chances are probably low," he continued. "My cycle has been disrupted by the poison, the antidote, the Gate, and stopping the suppressants. There may not even be anything viable to fertilize yet, regardless of your..." His gaze drifted briefly away. "Multiple knots."
Arik’s grip around him tightened.
"Multiple," he repeated.
"You were present."
"I am aware that I was present."
"Then why do you sound surprised?"
"Because you are discussing this as though the number is a minor technical detail rather than evidence that we took every possible opportunity to make the unlikely considerably more likely."
Liam’s mouth twitched.
Arik did not find it amusing.
"You knew there was a chance," he said.
"Yes."
"And you decided you did not mind."
"I decided I wanted you more than I feared the possibility."
The answer quieted him for half a breath.
Then Arik looked down at Liam’s abdomen again, his expression tightening with fresh alarm.
"You are still recovering."
"I know."
"Your channels are unstable."
"I know."
"We have no idea how a pregnancy carrying sovereign ether would affect you."
"That," Liam admitted, "is the part worth asking the physicians about."
Arik immediately reached toward the communication panel.
Liam caught his wrist.
"After I finish my tea."
"Now."
"I am warm, comfortable, and not presently pregnant enough for a delay of ten minutes to matter."
"You do not know that."
"Neither do you."
Gold flickered beneath Arik’s skin.
Liam leaned forward and kissed his tense jaw.
"I truly would not mind," he murmured. "Not if the child was yours."
Arik’s panic did not disappear.
It simply changed shape, becoming softer, deeper, and somehow more dangerous.
He turned his face and kissed Liam’s forehead.
"The physicians," he said firmly.
Liam sighed and surrendered against his chest.
"Fine. But you are explaining the multiple knots."