"Liam, please put the damned collar down," Arik said, one hand covering his forehead.
He sat behind the broad desk in the study, surrounded by reports, council records, and several administrative charts that appeared to have been designed by people who actively resented clarity.
Arik had spent the past hour attempting to understand how Nuria functioned.
The answer, so far, appeared to be that Cassian had personally prevented the entire empire from collapsing through stubbornness, threats, and an alarming number of committees.
Liam had been considerably less interested in the structure of regional governance.
He sat on the carpet beside the low coffee table, one leg folded beneath him, his tools spread across its surface in meticulous rows. Several pieces of the collar had already been removed and placed upon a cloth, while diagrams, notes, and measurements occupied the remaining space.
Arik had nothing against Liam dismantling the collar. He had agreed to that part.
What he had not agreed to was watching his sweet Eshara, his star, his lovely mate, the love of his life across two lifetimes, lift the opened collar toward his own neck.
"Well, it does nothing if I do not put it on."
Arik groaned and cursed Goliath for creating the damned thing.
"That is the point."
"No, the point is to understand how it functions."
"It functions when I place it upon you."
"Exactly." Liam held the collar beneath his chin, examining the distance between its inner arrays and his skin. "Therefore, I need to determine whether it responds to contact, proximity, sovereign ether, intent, or some combination of them."
"You do not need to determine that with your neck."
"It was designed to fit my neck."
"It was designed to fit the sovereign’s consort."
"That is presently me."
"I am aware."
Arik lowered his hand and glanced at the document before him.
The northern territories reported through three separate administrative offices, two of which appeared to possess overlapping authority, while the third existed primarily to approve the approvals issued by the first two.
He looked back toward Liam.
The collar was now touching his throat.
"Liam."
"It is not closed."
"Put it down."
"It cannot activate unless you put it on me."
"I know."
"You are sitting on the opposite side of the room."
"I am also aware of that."
"Then there is no danger."
Arik stared at him over the stack of reports. "You are attempting to place a restraint created by my previous incarnation around your neck while I am reading a forty-page explanation of why Nuria requires six signatures to repair a bridge."
"Those issues are unrelated."
"They are contributing equally to my irritation."
Liam adjusted the angle of the collar.
Arik pushed his chair back.
Liam’s eyes narrowed immediately. "Do not take it from me."
"Then stop trying to wear it."
"I am testing the dimensions."
"With your neck."
"It is the most relevant neck available."
"My neck is available."
"The collar was not designed for you."
"Then use a measuring instrument."
"I already did."
"Use it again."
"That would produce the same result."
"Excellent. A reliable experiment."
Liam gave him an unimpressed look. "You agreed that I could do anything I wanted with it."
Arik looked ready to throw the collar into an active volcano merely to get it away from Liam.
"I agreed before discovering that ’anything’ included placing it around your neck."
"You should have negotiated better."
"I had assumed basic survival instincts would cover the obvious limitations."
Liam ignored him.
Blue-white ether slipped from his fingers and spread across the coffee table, catching every dismantled component in a delicate web. Tiny screws lifted from the cloth, fine plates rotated in the air, and the inner arrays aligned one after another with soft metallic clicks until the collar reassembled itself above Liam’s open palms.
Arik watched despite himself.
Liam’s ether had returned the previous day, prompting several hours of examinations and two conclusions from the physicians.
First, Liam was not pregnant.
Not yet, they had added, because apparently the entire palace had decided that qualification was medically essential.
Second, his ether channels had healed almost perfectly. He could use his ether again, provided he avoided exhaustion, excessive output, and anything the physicians considered unnecessary.
Liam had interpreted those restrictions with predictable creativity.
Apparently, reassembling an ancient sovereign collar on the floor of the study qualified as both necessary and moderate.
Arik disagreed with the assessment, but he could not deny the quiet relief that settled inside him as he watched the ether move easily through Liam’s channels. There was no flickering, no strain around his eyes, and none of the fine trembling that had followed their passage through the gate.
Liam caught him staring.
"My channels are fine."
"I said nothing."
"You were inspecting me."
"I was observing the collar."
"You were looking at my hands."
"The collar was above them."
Liam lowered the fully assembled piece into his palms and examined it from several angles.
Then he made a face.
His brows pulled together, his lips formed a small, dissatisfied curve, and he looked up at Arik with an expression of such soft disappointment that it struck directly through every defense Arik possessed.
"Arik."
"No."
"I have not asked anything."
"You are about to."
Liam held the collar toward him with both hands.
"Could you put it on me, please?"
"No."
"I will help you read the provincial expenditure reports."
"You called them an offense against mathematics ten minutes ago."
"I am willing to suffer for knowledge."
"No."
"I will explain the transportation ministries."
"You do not understand the transportation ministries."
"No one understands the transportation ministries. That is why there are three of them."
Arik’s mouth twitched, but he remained firm. "Still no."
Liam considered him. "I will let you choose dinner."
"I already choose dinner."
"I will eat it without trying to dismantle it."
"That is a tempting offer."
Liam immediately brightened.
"No."
The brightness vanished.
"I will sleep properly tonight."
"You said that yesterday."
"I did sleep."
"You fell asleep over a turbine diagram and nearly branded its measurements onto your cheek."
"That was an isolated incident."
"It happened twice."
Liam lowered the collar into his lap and narrowed his eyes. "Fine. If you refuse to assist with my research, I will request another room."
Arik went completely still.
"And another bed," Liam added.
"You are not sleeping elsewhere."
"Then put the collar on."
"That is coercion."
"It is negotiation."
"It is extortion conducted from my carpet."
Liam folded his arms. "I am going to ask Cassian which rooms are available."
"There are no rooms available."
"This palace contains several thousand rooms."
"All occupied."
"By whom?"
"Administrative necessity."
Liam stared at him.
Arik exhaled through his nose and walked around the desk. "Even if I agreed, it would not give you the result you expect."
Liam’s annoyance shifted instantly into interest. "Why?"
"Because the collar is incomplete."
His gaze dropped to the empty setting at its center, where the final stone should have rested.
"You know that the stone is not manufactured," Arik continued. "It forms during the formal ceremony, when the sovereign places the collar upon the recognized consort. Their ether is joined through the arrays, and the final piece crystallizes from both."
Liam looked down at the empty setting.
"So merely putting it on now—"
"Would either do nothing or begin a ceremony we are not prepared to complete."
"You could have said that earlier."
"I was distracted by your attempts to bribe me with basic sleeping habits."
Liam touched the empty setting with one finger. "How long is the ceremony?"
"No."
"I only asked—"
"You threatened to abandon our bed."
"For research."
Arik took the collar from his lap.
"Your research privileges," he said gravely, "have been suspended until you apologize to the bed."