Nero and Sebastian made it perhaps fifteen meters before Serathine intercepted them.
She stood near the entrance to the eastern gallery in pale lavender silk, one hand resting over the carved silver head of her cane while the other held a narrow champagne flute she had probably accepted only to prevent someone else from offering it again. Her white hair had been arranged high at the back of her head, a small silver comb catching the ballroom lights.
Her amber eyes went over Sebastian first.
The green Fitzgeralt suit earned a small nod.
Nero received a longer inspection.
There was nothing to correct.
Of course there wasn’t.
Nero had been dressed by people who considered an imperfect cuff an institutional failure, and he had the irritating habit of remaining immaculate hours after everyone else had begun looking human. His long black coat sat perfectly across his shoulders, antique-gold embroidery following the collar and cuffs without a thread out of place, while his white-blond hair remained secured low at the back.
Serathine still looked dissatisfied.
"You’re standing like everyone in this room belongs to you."
Nero glanced around the palace.
"Technically—"
She tapped his shin lightly with the cane.
Sebastian laughed.
Nero looked down at her.
Serathine raised one eyebrow. "That was the arrogance I meant."
"I was making an observation."
"You were preparing to become unbearable."
Sebastian’s shoulders shook.
Nero turned toward him with wounded dignity.
"You married into this," Sebastian said with a low laugh.
Serathine smiled and held out one hand.
Nero took it automatically and bent enough for her to kiss his cheek.
"There. Much better. Now you look like a man with relatives instead of an emerging dictatorship."
Nero kissed her temple in return.
"You are very fortunate I love you."
"I have relied on that for years."
The exchange was so familiar Sebastian barely thought about it. Serathine had adopted Lucas long before Sebastian existed, and everyone who came after Lucas had simply been absorbed into her definition of family. Nero had spent years being corrected, criticized, fed, and occasionally threatened by her with the same comfortable lack of ceremony she offered Dean and Sebastian.
A group from one of Saha’s allied courts approached from the ballroom.
Nero saw them and sighed almost invisibly.
Serathine noticed.
"Go be royal."
"I was trying to leave."
"You have been trying to leave since dinner."
"With my husband."
"And he has survived every separation so far."
Nero’s hand settled at Sebastian’s waist.
Sebastian patted his chest.
"I’ll walk outside with Grandma."
Nero’s purple eyes narrowed slightly.
"You said we were leaving early."
"We are. You have ambassadors coming directly at you."
The delegation was close enough now that pretending not to see them would require actual diplomatic effort.
Serathine hooked her arm through Sebastian’s.
"I promise to return him with all important organs intact."
Nero looked at her.
"Considering the last week, I would appreciate specificity."
Sebastian laughed again and nudged him toward the approaching guests.
"Go."
Nero’s fingers remained at his waist for another second before he stepped away, expression changing smoothly into the polished attention of the Crown Prince.
Serathine watched him greet the delegation.
"He has improved."
"He was always good at this."
"I meant at allowing other people to have you."
Sebastian glanced at her.
"That remains under development."
They continued toward the terrace.
The evening air outside was cool enough to clear Sebastian’s head immediately. Transparent screens cut the sharper November wind while leaving the gardens visible beyond the stone balustrade, silver path lights threading between dark hedges and winter trees. Small groups had scattered across the sheltered terrace to escape the ballroom heat.
Serathine chose a seating area near the far end.
They had barely settled when conversation from another group carried across the space.
"...apparently there were three dominant omegas."
Sebastian’s attention shifted.
A woman Sebastian vaguely recognized from a Palatine noble house leaned toward her companion.
"I heard the same thing at dinner. All three were compatible with Fitzgeralt when he was young."
"Not highly compatible."
"No, but viable. One of the old registry officials supposedly confirmed it."
The man beside them lowered his voice, although not enough.
"And the results started changing after eighteen."
Another guest joined the discussion.
"That is the interesting part. Nero manifested around the same time."
Serathine’s eyes met Sebastian’s.
His mouth twitched.
She looked equally unimpressed.
The woman continued, clearly delighted with the scandal.
"Someone said his first rut was within the same year one of Fitzgeralt’s matches suddenly dropped into the low numbers."
"People are saying Nero interfered."
"That is absurd."
"Is it? He’s an enigma. Who knows what they can do?"
"And he was obsessed with Sebastian."
Sebastian pressed his lips together.
Serathine leaned closer.
"Oh, this is getting better."
He covered a laugh with his hand.
The guests had moved from rumor into full amateur investigation.
"I heard Sebastian lost every compatible omega before Nero started openly pursuing him."
"And once he became unstable, who was the only person capable of controlling him?"
"Nero."
A dramatic silence followed.
Sebastian looked at Serathine. She looked back, and both started laughing. Quietly, fortunately.
Serathine shook her head.
"By tomorrow he will have engineered your birth."
"Give them another hour."
"They’ll discover he selected Lucas for your father."
"That might require explaining time travel."
"An enigma could probably do that too, according to these people."
Sebastian leaned back in his chair, amusement lingering.
Noble gossip had never impressed him. He had grown up around people capable of turning an unfortunate dinner seating arrangement into evidence of impending war. Serathine had spent even longer among them and possessed considerably less patience for melodrama.
A silver-haired woman approaching from the opposite side of the terrace interrupted his thoughts.
"Serathine?"
Serathine brightened immediately.
"Marielle."
The women embraced with the delighted recognition of people who had not seen each other in months and were already preparing to discuss everyone they had seen in between.
Sebastian stood.
"I’ll leave you to it."
Serathine glanced up.
"Going to find your terrifying husband?"
"He was promised an early escape."
"Take him before he begins annexing reception rooms out of irritation."
Sebastian kissed her cheek and left them together.
He found Nero almost immediately after returning inside.
At his height, Nero was impossible to lose in a crowd, white-blond hair visible above nearly everyone around him. Sebastian approached just as the last member of the delegation moved away.
Nero turned before Sebastian reached him.
His hand came out automatically.
Sebastian took it.
"Finished?"
"Finally."
"Good. I just heard the best rumor about you."
Nero looked at him curiously at what people could invent now.
Sebastian was still smiling as he guided him toward one of the quieter side corridors leading away from the reception rooms.
"You are apparently responsible for destroying my compatibility."
Nero stopped walking.
Sebastian laughed and turned toward him.
The laugh died.
Nero’s face had emptied.
His features had gone unnaturally still, while violet eyes burned with such sudden rage that Sebastian felt his own body straighten in response.
Sebastian’s smile disappeared.
"Nero?"
Nero’s jaw tightened.
"Who told you that?" Nero asked suddenly, his tone flat.
Sebastian stared at him.
Behind them, music drifted faintly through the closed doors.
A moment ago, the rumor had been funny.
It wasn’t anymore.