CHAPTER 183: CHAPTER 178: THEO (2)

Theo didn’t stop walking, but his pace slowed enough to suggest he’d expected the greeting, if not the exact choice of weapon.

"I think you’d miss," he said quietly, stepping into view.

Gabriel finally glanced up.

Theo looked like a man who had run here, then remembered halfway that he wasn’t supposed to. His coat was unbuttoned, collar askew, and his hands were shoved too deep into his pockets for someone born into etiquette.

He didn’t look angry.

Just tired. In that particular, familial way, you were correct, and I despise that fact.

Gabriel gave a dry hum. "I’d make an effort."

Theo exhaled, then sat down slowly at the opposite end of the bench, leaving a respectable ocean of space between them. The distance of caution. Of guilt.

The quiet stretched between them like a held breath.

"I didn’t know about the contract," Theo said finally. "When we talked at the ball, I assumed you were upset with us for forcing you into the Capital. That you were mad that we were right that you should be by Damian’s side."

Gabriel didn’t move at first.

The wind stirred the courtyard again, rustling the bare branches overhead, but he remained perfectly still, as if the weight of the words would throw him off balance.

"I figured," he said. "You’re a terrible liar."

Theo barked out a short, humorless laugh. "I was a fool. I’ve started to really dig after information after you scolded me."

Gabriel’s expression didn’t change. "We all were."

"I thought you left us," Theo murmured. "That you’d turned your back on the House, on me, because you wanted something else."

Gabriel’s hand tightened slightly around the edge of the bench. "I begged them. I thought something was wrong with me, that I was broken. I kept waiting for Father to help me, for Mother to see I wasn’t fine. But all I got was silence."

He turned his head then, just enough to catch Theo’s eyes.

"I didn’t walk away, Theo. I was left behind."

Theo’s throat worked around a breath he couldn’t quite catch. "I didn’t know. I—I believed what they said. That you needed time. That you were unstable after the rebellion. That you chose to stay away."

Gabriel’s smile was faint and bitter. "They didn’t lie. I was unstable. But not because I was weak. Because I was alone. And they made sure I stayed that way."

"Damian can break the contract, but he won’t do it just yet. There are consequences and it seems like Lucius doesn’t want to help even now. I hoped he would be the one coming to me now."

"That sounds like Father. Always calculating. If helping you doesn’t earn him something immediate, he sees no value in it."

Gabriel didn’t answer right away. The flicker of the ether lanterns danced along the edge of his collar, catching the faint bruising still visible at his throat.

"I thought maybe... maybe after the tribunal. After the ceremony. After I stood there beside Damian with the Empire watching... I thought he might come. Not to apologize. Just to acknowledge it."

He gave a sharp exhale, almost a laugh, though nothing about it was amused.

"But he didn’t. He made you come."

Theo’s brows drew together, his hands tightening in his lap. "He didn’t make me."

Gabriel looked at him again, brow raised.

"I mean it," Theo insisted. "I left. He said I may have to treat my own children like assets one day, and I"— His voice caught. "I told him he was wrong, that I’d never let my son grow up wondering if I loved him or just wanted to use him."

Gabriel didn’t speak, but some of the steel in his shoulders softened.

"I came because I wanted to," Theo added. "Because I should’ve done it sooner. I should’ve asked questions sooner. Listened better. And I won’t let him do this to you again. I swear it."

Gabriel stared at the trees ahead of them, then said softly, "Well, you should, but you would have ended up like Charles."

Theo stilled beside him, his breath catching.

"Charles," he repeated, the name landing like a stone between them. "He knew too, didn’t he?"

Gabriel nodded slowly. "He figured it out years ago. Just enough to start pushing back. Asking questions. Father didn’t like that."

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"So he sent him away. Out of the Capital. Out of the House. Made it seem like a promotion, but it wasn’t. It was exile in velvet gloves. He then began to act insignificant, but he barged into Damian’s quarters to "save me." He landed in the Emperor’s trap and now he is training with Gregoris."

Theo blinked. "He barged into the Emperor’s quarters?"

Gabriel let out a quiet huff of laughter. "Like a man possessed. He thought I was being used—again. Or coerced."

Theo winced. "And Damian didn’t kill him?"

"Oh, he nearly did," Gabriel muttered. "Or so Edward told me. I was sleeping on the other side of Damian’s quarters."

Theo’s brows shot up. "You were sleeping there?"

Gabriel gave him a look. "It was after I passed out from ether exhaustion. I wasn’t there for romance, if that’s what you’re imagining."

Theo raised both hands in surrender. "I wasn’t. I swear. I’m just trying to process all this without combusting."

Gabriel leaned back on the bench, eyes drifting up to the branches above. "Edward told me Charles demanded to see me. He stormed in like it was still our old estate and knocked down two guards. Damian used that and the fact that he committed treason to recruit him."

Gabriel didn’t move. His eyes stayed on the dark branches above, where the last traces of dusk glowed faintly between the lines.

"He’s training under Gregoris now," he said simply. "Which means he’ll either come out sharper than any of us ever imagined... or they’ll break him trying."

Theo let out a breath that bordered on a laugh. "And he agreed to this?"

"He didn’t have much choice," Gabriel replied, his tone dry. "I have a feeling Damian realized his true potential."

Theo gave him a side glance, skeptical. "You mean after threatening to kill him?"

Gabriel’s lips curved, faint and sharp. "It’s Damian. That was the job interview."

They both sat in silence for a moment, the flicker of the ether lanterns casting golden shadows across the courtyard path. Wind rustled the bare branches again, brittle against the stillness.

"Charles is loyal. Stubborn. He doesn’t think like a politician. He thinks like a soldier. And right now, Damian needs people like that more than he needs another noble with an agenda."

Theo looked thoughtful, brows furrowed. "Then Charles might actually thrive there."

"He might," Gabriel admitted. "If Gregoris doesn’t chew him up first."

Theo nudged his shoulder gently. "You’ve really become one of them, haven’t you? The palace people."

Gabriel’s eyes didn’t leave the trees. "Not by choice. But I’m learning to survive it."

"And Charles?"

Gabriel hesitated.

Then he said, "He still wants to save me. But now, I think... he’s starting to understand I don’t need saving."

Theo leaned back, hands in his lap. "Maybe we all are."