By morning, Arik’s rut had dimmed enough for reason to become useful again.
It had not ended.
Liam discovered that immediately when he woke with Arik pressed along his back, one heavy arm locked around his waist, and warm pheromones saturating the sheets. The bedroom smelled overwhelmingly of caramel, warm stone, and saint’s breath, with the faint mineral sharpness of sovereign ether lingering underneath.
His body complained when he shifted.
Liam stopped.
Perhaps provoking a suppressed rut had required slightly more consideration.
Behind him, Arik stirred. His arm tightened before his eyes even opened, dragging Liam back against his chest with an instinctive possessiveness that made Liam reconsider his conclusion.
Perhaps not.
"You’re awake," Arik murmured against his hair.
"So are you."
Arik buried his face briefly against the back of Liam’s neck and inhaled.
The effect on his pheromones was immediate.
Liam felt the pressure rise through the room and smiled into the pillow.
He moved his hips back experimentally.
Arik’s hand closed around his waist.
"Behave."
Liam went still.
The warning was quiet, but the roughness beneath Arik’s voice made it significantly more effective than volume would have.
He turned carefully in Arik’s arms.
Arik looked tired.
His black hair was disordered from sleep, several strands falling across his forehead, and there were faint shadows beneath his golden eyes. The sovereign mark around his wrist glowed softly where his hand rested against Liam’s waist.
But the exhaustion from the previous month looked different now.
Arik had slept for most of the night between periods when his rut had decided sleep was unnecessary.
Liam regarded him thoughtfully.
"You’re still in rut."
"I am aware."
"It’s weaker."
"Yes."
"How much weaker?"
Arik stared at him.
Liam smiled.
The hand on his waist tightened.
"Enough that Cassian will eventually be allowed into the same room."
"That wasn’t what I meant."
"I know exactly what you meant."
Liam traced one finger over Arik’s chest.
He had already begun considering possibilities.
The previous day had proved several important things. Arik’s suppressants could be overwhelmed under sufficient provocation. His sovereign ether became much easier for Liam to sense during rut. The Core responded noticeably to changes in Arik’s emotional and physiological state.
And there were apparently several hundred pages remaining in the imperial catalog.
From a purely investigative perspective—
"No."
Liam looked up.
"I didn’t say anything."
"You started thinking."
"That is generally encouraged."
"Not whatever you are thinking."
Arik caught Liam’s wandering hand before it could travel lower and brought it back to the relatively safe territory of his chest.
Liam frowned.
"I might learn something useful."
"You learned enough yesterday."
"That is scientifically impossible."
Arik’s expression hardened just enough to suggest Liam was approaching the boundary between amusing and dangerous.
More importantly, beneath the remaining rut, Liam could feel the deliberate control returning around the sovereign ether.
That should have been reassuring.
Instead, Liam found it fascinating.
Arik was tired, still half caught in his rut, and very deliberately keeping himself under control. The combination made every reaction more visible. The slightest tightening of his jaw. The way his pupils widened when Liam shifted closer. The brief flare of gold beneath his skin whenever instinct reached the sovereign ether before discipline could suppress it.
Liam liked all of it.
He liked Arik composed and impossible to read across a council table. He liked him confused when Liam did something he had not anticipated, aroused enough that his voice roughened, and surprised enough for his expression to actually break. He even liked the strange flashes of Goliath that sometimes surfaced beneath the bond—older instincts, ancient amusement, and a personality worn down into fragments but still recognizably entertained by Liam’s complete lack of self-preservation.
It made provoking him difficult to resist.
Liam moved one knee between Arik’s legs.
The hand around his wrist tightened immediately.
"Eshara."
There was a warning in the name.
Liam smiled.
"I’m not doing anything."
Arik’s golden eyes narrowed. "You are arranging yourself to do something."
That distinction delighted Liam enough that he failed to hide it.
Arik groaned and let his head fall back against the pillow.
Then another sensation brushed through the bond.
Amusement.
Not quite Arik’s.
Liam’s eyes brightened. "He agrees with me."
"He does not get a vote."
"Why not?"
"You were the one saying that he is your yesterday’s version. Let him stay there."
Arik tried to sit up, but Liam’s arms circled his waist before he could get far. The movement forced Arik to brace one hand against the mattress, black hair falling over his brow as he looked down at the omega attached to him with open suspicion.
Liam smiled.
That expression made Arik’s remaining patience visibly thin.
"Do not encourage him."
"I’m not encouraging anyone." Liam shifted closer, cheek resting against Arik’s abdomen as though he had no intention of letting him leave the bed. "I simply think it is interesting that the ancient emperor buried somewhere in your soul finds this funny."
Arik stared down at him for several seconds.
Then his hand settled over Liam’s face.
Liam made an offended sound into his palm.
"I am beginning to understand why Goliath spent over a century destroying armies," Arik said. "He needed somewhere to put the frustration."
Liam pulled Arik’s hand away. "That seems historically irresponsible."
"You are historically irresponsible."
"I wasn’t alive."
"You would have found a way."
Liam considered that, then nodded. "Probably."
Arik’s mouth twitched.
Liam immediately pushed himself higher and kissed the corner of it.
The twitch vanished.
"Eshara."
"What?"
"You recognize that making me laugh does not reset the warning."
"I wasn’t trying to reset it."
"You are sitting on me."
Liam glanced down.
He was.
Somewhere during the conversation, he had apparently migrated almost entirely into Arik’s lap.
"That seems circumstantial."
Arik closed his eyes.
Liam kissed his jaw.
"Behave," Arik repeated.
"I am behaving."
"You have been awake for perhaps fifteen minutes."
"And?"
"You have challenged my self-control six times, attempted to restart my rut twice, encouraged the dead emperor inside my soul, and are currently pretending you climbed onto me by accident."
Liam paused.
"Only twice?"
Golden eyes opened.
Liam grinned.
Arik moved before he could escape.
The world turned, Liam landing flat against the mattress with Arik above him, one hand capturing both his wrists and pressing them beside his head.
Liam’s smile widened immediately.
Arik looked at it.
His expression became deeply resigned.
"That," he said quietly, "was exactly what you wanted."
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Of course not."
Warm caramel flooded the room again.
Liam looked unbearably pleased.
Arik lowered his forehead against his.
"You are going to be the death of me."
"No," Liam murmured. "You’re too stubborn."
Unfortunately, Arik could not argue with that.