CHAPTER 278: CHAPTER 278: MORE CLEVER THAN YOU THINK

The manor had been quieter without Trevor, though Lucas hadn’t exactly been left to sulk. Most of his evenings had been spent in the Glass Crackers group chat, half-laughing at Chris’s slow descent into dry, sardonic memes and Mia’s increasingly tense replies as if she were singlehandedly responsible for holding civilization together. It amused him endlessly how much lighter Chris seemed when not under Dax’s looming presence and how quickly Mia threatened to block them both.

When he wasn’t instigating trouble on his phone, Lucas had been entertained by the fact that both Serathine and Cressida had, for once, completely forgotten about his looming presentation to the imperial family. Their sharp attention was fixed instead on Chris’s education, as if drilling royal etiquette into a defiant omega was a more pressing matter than trotting out their new Grand Duchess. Lucas was in no rush to correct them; he was perfectly happy watching the two grande dames of Palatine circle Chris like hawks while he lounged in peace.

Trevor, meanwhile, had been buried in his world of meetings, military briefings, and plans that spanned more borders than Lucas cared to count. Three days gone, three nights without his steady presence slipping into the room after midnight, without the calm anchor of violet eyes reading reports across from him while Lucas scrolled his chat threads.

So when the latch finally clicked and the familiar sound of shoes crossed marble, Lucas didn’t bother looking up from his phone. He knew the gait. He knew the weight of that silence.

"Recovered from drowning priests yet?" Lucas asked lightly, fingers still typing, his voice edged with dry amusement.

Trevor shut the door behind him, already shrugging off his coat. "Recovered," he said simply. "And done."

Lucas arched a brow, still scrolling, green eyes glinting with mischief. "Done as in neatly filed under ’business,’ or done as in blood on your hands?"

"Both." Trevor’s answer was clipped, calm, as he crossed to the couch.

Lucas finally set the phone aside, a smirk curving. "Charming. I, meanwhile, spent the last three days making Chris laugh and Mia swear in caps lock. You know... productive work."

Trevor’s lips twitched faintly as he rested one hand on the back of the couch, the other brushing Lucas’s shoulder with quiet certainty. "And Serathine? Cressida?"

Lucas’s grin widened, all green-eyed mischief. "Distracted. They forgot entirely about my imperial debut and are too busy sharpening Chris into court material. Imagine it: me, reprieved by my brother-in-law’s suffering."

Trevor hummed, violet eyes steady, but the faintest curve touched his mouth. "Brother-in-law?"

Lucas chuckled. "You and Trevor are like brothers, so that makes me and Chris brothers-in-law."

Trevor’s lips brushed Lucas’s hair, the kiss soft but deliberate. "Interesting take," he murmured.

Lucas leaned back against the cushions, smug in his own logic. "Don’t pretend you don’t like it. You’d rather have Chris as family than half the nobles you’re forced to share a table with."

Trevor’s mouth curved faintly as he straightened, violet eyes calm but glinting at the edges. "True." He moved around the couch, lowering himself beside Lucas with the same measured grace he brought to every battlefield and boardroom. His arm slipped along the backrest, settling behind Lucas in quiet possession. "Though I suspect Chris would protest."

"Chris is too busy being tortured by Serathine and Cressida to protest anything," Lucas replied dryly, glancing at his phone, where the group chat still blinked with unread messages. "The man can barely get through an etiquette drill without threatening to defect to hell out of spite."

Trevor’s gaze flicked to the screen, then back to Lucas. "And you?"

Lucas smirked, green eyes glinting. "Oh, I’m thriving. I haven’t been lectured about posture or cutlery all week. Truly, Chris has taken my place as the sacrificial lamb of the season."

Trevor’s hand finally dropped from the back of the couch to Lucas’s shoulder, his fingers pressing lightly, grounding him. "Good. Then you were rested while I was gone."

"Rested, entertained, and slightly spoiled," Lucas corrected, tilting his head to glance at him. "Now, tell me, Trevor. What did you bring back from your holy crusade in boardrooms and interrogation chambers?"

The humor lingered at the corners of his mouth, but the green of his eyes sharpened as he asked.

"Details I want to confirm before telling you," Trevor said, his tone clipped but even. His thumb brushed absently against Lucas’s shoulder, a habit. "Benedict is on the run; he disappeared the moment Alan was arrested."

Lucas tilted his head, green eyes glinting with something colder now. "A rat fleeing before the house burns."

"Precisely." Trevor leaned back, violet gaze steady. "He had contingencies, safehouses, proxies, and accounts scattered thin across borders. My people are cutting them down one by one. He won’t stay invisible for long."

Lucas hummed low in his throat, the sound carrying more amusement than worry. "So Benedict finally realized what it means to be prey."

Trevor’s lips curved faintly, but his voice stayed calm. "And that’s all he is now. Prey. I’ll bring you confirmation when he surfaces."

Lucas stretched his legs out along the couch, smirk curling slow. "You always make it sound so tidy. I suppose I should thank you for cleaning up the trash before it stains the carpets."

Trevor’s gaze lingered on him, violet and unblinking. "Not before. Instead of."

That earned him a low laugh, sharp at the edges. Lucas tilted his head against the back of the couch, eyes half-lidded, amused. "Efficient husband."

Trevor’s hand tightened just slightly on his shoulder, grounding and possessive. "Always."

"And are you going to tell me the other thing you kept hiding?" Lucas asked, his expression far too innocent to be anything but bait.

Trevor stilled. For a single breath, silence stretched taut between them. His mind flicked back to Alan’s words, the hushed, broken mention of another life, one Lucas didn’t speak of and perhaps didn’t remember. That truth, he had buried deep, telling no one but Windstone. The third life, neither he nor Lucas remembered.

"I’m more clever than you think."

The words slipped from Lucas with a smirk, but the glint in his green eyes was too sharp, too knowing. Trevor’s fingers tightened just faintly where they rested on his shoulder, grounding, or perhaps anchoring himself instead.

For once, he didn’t answer.