Taming the Wild Beast of Alamina

Nero placed one hand against his chest with theatrical offense. "I have just informed you that I survived a covert operation, recovered your preferred alternative to invading a neighboring kingdom, and brought him directly to your medical facilities. I ask after your health, and this is how I am treated."

"You called me Father."

"You are my father."

"You almost never call me that unless there is a motive."

Hale lowered his head in the cockpit.

Duncan looked very deliberately at Amaru.

Nero sighed. "This family has made ordinary affection impossible."

"Nero."

"I am concerned about you. You have been under tremendous strain preparing an invasion."

"What do you want?"

Nero knew perfectly well that Dax was enjoying himself now. His father had stopped being genuinely irritated about the abandoned meeting sometime around the moment Nero confirmed everyone was alive. What remained was recreation.

Unfortunately, Nero had provided excellent material.

"I was hoping you might be feeling generous."

"No."

"I had not asked yet."

"You were going to ask me to make the meeting disappear."

Nero looked offended. "I would never phrase it so crudely."

"You have an entire administrative district attached to your palace. Use it."

That was unfairly practical.

Nero had been given his own palace, staff and administration, precisely so the work belonging to the crown prince did not need to spill constantly into the main royal residence. Nayra had her own building and household as well. The arrangement worked beautifully most of the time, particularly because Nero preferred his independence and appeared at his parents’ palace when he actually wanted to see them rather than because someone had scheduled him there.

Which also meant Dax remembered every occasion when Nero crossed over to the main palace and somehow left with less work than he had arrived with.

"I have been working," Nero said.

"Not on the work Chris gave you."

"I was preventing an international crisis."

"And now you can return to your palace and prevent your staff from sending me questions about coastal permits."

Nero stared at him. "You want me to deal with coastal permits after this?"

"Yes."

"Father."

"Do not bother Chris with it."

Nero narrowed his eyes. "You are enjoying this."

Dax did not even attempt to deny it. "A little."

"I knew it."

"You left the meeting he put on your schedule and instructed six ministry officials to send the minutes back to him. I am curious to see whether you are capable of finishing the work without retreating to the main palace and looking tragic until one of us does it for you."

Nero placed a hand over his chest. "I do not do that."

Dax simply looked at him.

Nero reconsidered. "Not often."

From the cockpit, Hale made a suspicious sound.

Nero turned his head. "Are you laughing?"

"No, Your Highness."

"That sounded disloyal."

Dax’s mouth curved.

Nero pointed at the screen. "You are supposed to miss me. I barely visit anymore."

"You live fifteen minutes away."

"In another palace."

"Still fifteen minutes."

"That is not the same as having your eldest child under your roof."

"I still have two children under my roof."

Nero paused.

That was annoyingly true. Nayra might have her own building now, but she crossed between it and the main palace often enough that the distinction was mostly architectural, and ten-year-old Jax still treated the royal residence as an enormous personal territory populated by relatives, guards, and staff who had long ago stopped pretending they could contain him.

Nero recovered with dignity. "Neither of them is me."

"Thankfully."

The answer came too quickly.

Nero stared at his father, then caught the warmth Dax had failed to remove entirely from his expression.

He knew exactly what this was.

Dax missed him. Chris missed him. Nayra complained whenever Nero went too long without appearing for dinner, and Jax had no respect whatsoever for the concept of invitations. None of that prevented Dax from tormenting him whenever the opportunity appeared. If anything, Nero’s increasingly independent life had made those opportunities more entertaining.

"Cruel," Nero declared.

"Finish the meeting."

"I fought a dominant alpha this morning."

"And won."

"I helped recover a missing prince."

"Yes."

"I discovered Claudia is still operating through another woman using the same name."

Dax’s amusement faded only enough to acknowledge the importance of that. "Send the report."

"And your response is still paperwork."

"My response is that you are clearly healthy enough to finish yours."

Nero let his head fall against the seat in theatrical despair.

"I should visit less."

"That would make Chris come to your palace."

Nero immediately lifted his head.

Dax smiled.

"You fight dirty."

"You learned from me."

That, unfortunately, was also true.

"And Nero?"

Nero regarded him with appropriate suspicion.

"Do not send the minutes to Chris again."

"He likes minutes."

"He likes completed work."

"That distinction exists entirely to inconvenience me."

"Land safely."

The shift was casual, familiar enough that Nero did not need anything more from it.

He smiled. "I will. Tell Nayra I expect sympathy."

"She already knows you abandoned the meeting."

Nero went still. "How?"

Dax ended the call.

Nero stared at the dark screen.

Then he looked toward Hale.

"He told her."

Hale did not turn around. "Most likely."

"This entire family conspires against me."

Duncan finally spoke from across the cabin. "You seem remarkably unsurprised by it."

Nero gave him a long, wounded look.

"That does not make it less tragic."

Duncan returned his attention to Amaru’s monitor.

Perhaps swearing loyalty to Nero had been reckless. Perhaps changing allegiance in the space between a knife at his throat and a broken rib would eventually prove to be the worst decision of his life.

But as the jet crossed the sea toward Saha, carrying an unconscious prince and a crown prince already calculating whether Nayra could be convinced to take his side before they landed, Duncan found himself reaching the same conclusion he had several times that morning.

At least it was unlikely to be boring.

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