Kamal had been officially reinstated in his former position as chief steward of the imperial household of Nuria and was currently inspecting everything that had been done during his seventy-two-year absence.
The position had changed less than the equipment surrounding it.
The household administration office now occupied a bright suite on the eastern side of the imperial residence, with climate control integrated into the walls, transparent ether displays suspended above the main workstations, and an automated system tracking everything from staff schedules to energy consumption in the sealed residential wings.
Kamal disliked most of it on principle.
Not because the technology was poor. Nurian ether engineering was efficient, elegant, and considerably quieter than the systems he had seen in Agaron. He simply objected to a household-management program attempting to tell him that replacing damaged guest-room furniture required approval from four different departments.
It required his approval.
That should have been sufficient.
He dismissed another notification from the tablet before him and returned to the maintenance report.
In all honesty, Kamal would have preferred almost any other assignment.
There were three days remaining until Arik formally announced his intention to take the sovereign oath and become emperor of Nuria. The palace was already overflowing with ministers, legal advisers, ceremonial coordinators, security personnel, and distant members of noble families who had suddenly remembered their profound devotion to the imperial household.
More importantly, Arik and Liam had spent the last five days engaged in a silent war over the mate collar.
Kamal had no intention of being caught between them.
He had survived coups, assassination attempts, Goliath’s temper, Cassian’s administrative reforms, and seventy-two years in a foreign empire.
He was not going to be destroyed because Liam wanted to test an ancient collar and Arik had developed an emotional objection to the continued existence of his mate’s neck.
The office doors slid open with a quiet pulse of blue ether.
Kamal did not immediately look up.
He finished reviewing the inventory request on his tablet, authorized the replacement of the bedding in the western guest wing, and sent the order to the household logistics department.
"Anything that has remained vacuum-sealed for forty years is not automatically suitable for use," he told the nervous assistant standing beside his desk. "Replace it."
"The preservation scans showed no contamination."
"The preservation scans do not have to sleep on it."
"No, Chief Steward."
"And remove the phrase heritage linen from the inventory."
The assistant made a quick note on her own screen.
"It is old fabric," Kamal continued. "Marketing does not improve it."
She nodded and left with suspicious speed.
Only then did Kamal raise his eyes.
Liam had entered without announcing himself, crossed the office, and planted himself on the long couch beside the window.
He said nothing.
Kamal regarded him.
Liam regarded the ceiling.
Kamal returned to his work.
For almost an entire minute, the office remained silent except for the low vibration of the ether conduits behind the walls and the occasional chime of incoming household requests.
It was the longest minute Kamal had experienced since returning to Nuria.
"Lord Liam," he said eventually.
"Kamal."
"Is there something you require?"
"No."
Kamal opened the next inspection file. "Then I am delighted that you approve of the new couch."
"It is comfortable."
"It arrived this morning."
"That was an excellent purchase."
"Thank you."
Kamal scrolled through a report concerning the residential wing’s heating system.
Liam shifted, tucked one leg beneath himself, and continued staring through the transparent window, where several maintenance drones were inspecting the exterior ether panels.
Kamal had served Goliath long enough to recognize a siege when one entered his office and made itself comfortable.
"His Highness knows you are here," Kamal said.
"I did not ask."
"No. You merely arrived, dismissed your security team to the corridor, and positioned yourself directly within my field of vision."
"They are not dismissed. They are outside."
That explained why no one else had entered the office in the past several minutes.
The guards had evidently decided that allowing Liam to occupy Kamal’s couch was safer than attempting to intervene.
A sensible assessment.
Kamal approved another staffing schedule.
Liam sighed.
Kamal opened a second report.
Liam sighed again, louder this time.
Kamal glanced toward the environmental controls displayed along the wall. "Is the air circulation unsatisfactory?"
"No."
"The temperature?"
"Fine."
"The couch?"
"I already said it was comfortable."
"Then I cannot identify the cause of your suffering."
Liam finally turned his head. "Arik is being unreasonable."
Kamal set the tablet down.
There it was.
"I am shocked."
"You do not sound shocked."
"I served Goliath for several decades."
"This is not Goliath."
"No," Kamal agreed. "Arik occasionally recognizes when he is being unreasonable."
Liam sat upright. "He refuses to put the collar on me."
"So I have heard."
"From whom?"
"The household communication network."
"We have not discussed it with anyone."
"You have spent five days refusing to sit beside one another during breakfast while sending messages through the table interface despite being less than two meters apart."
"He started it."
"I was unaware the dining table permitted declarations of war."
Liam ignored that. "I know the collar cannot be completed without the ceremony."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"And yet you still want him to place it around your neck."
"Briefly."
Kamal closed the maintenance report.
"Lord Liam, your definition of briefly has already caused three ether technicians to lose consciousness, activated an imperial system that had been dormant for seventy-two years and generated an emergency alert across two palace wings."
"Those incidents were unrelated."
"They occurred during the same afternoon."
"The collar will not activate without the final stone."
"The stone forms from your combined ether during the consort ceremony."
"Exactly. We would not be performing the ceremony."
Kamal studied him. "Have you informed the ancient sovereign artifact of that distinction?"
Liam’s expression flattened. "It is not sentient."
"The imperial office was also classified as non-sentient. Yesterday, it locked two ministers out and erased their access credentials."
"They touched Arik’s desk."
"An error they are unlikely to repeat."
Liam folded his arms. "You agree with him."
"I agree with surviving until the oath announcement."
"I only need Arik to put it on once."
"And His Highness only needs you to stop threatening to request another bedroom."
Liam became very still. "He told you?"
"He instructed the household system to reject every residential transfer request submitted under your name."
"There are hundreds of available suites."
"There are none."
Liam looked toward the wall display, where the palace occupancy map showed several entire floors marked as vacant.
"That screen says otherwise."
"The screen is informational."
"It is connected directly to the household database."
"I control the household database."
Liam stared at him with quiet betrayal.
Kamal retrieved his tablet and reopened the maintenance report.
"You may continue your dispute for as long as you find it entertaining," he said. "You will simply continue it from the same bedroom."
"I could stay in a hotel."
"His Highness has already purchased the nearest one."
Liam blinked. "The entire hotel?"
"Apparently."
"That is an abuse of imperial authority."
"He used his personal account."
"He has a personal account in Nuria?"
"No, but Goliath does."