Nine months later
“Are you ready for this?”
Mattias took a deep breath, stopped fidgeting with his cuffs, straightened his spine, and gave a nod. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”
“Lucky,” Leo teased, “seeing as you’ve had to bring the wedding forward because you couldn’t keep it in your trousers.”
Mattias grinned, not even slightly repentant. “Sophia was determined to seduce me.”
“I doubt she had to try very hard,” Leo said with a knowing smile.
“Oh, barely at all. She’s very alluring, and I’d be a fool to refuse anything she offers me.” Mattias got a dreamy smile on his face, the one he’d often worn since Sophia had decided to claim him as her own.
“Well, it’s obvious you’re head over heels, and she’s lucky to have you.”
Mattias’s smile widened. “I think I’m the lucky one.”
There was a timid tap at the door and a young boy popped his head inside Mattias’s chambers. “Begging your pardon, sirs, but Princess Sophia sent me to ask if you were nearly ready, or, um, sorry, sir, but she asked if you’d gotten cold feet and should she start looking for a substitute?”
Mattias laughed. “I’m on my way.”
Leo pulled Mattias in for a firm hug and when he stepped back, he said, “I really am happy for you, even if you have to sit through the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding.”
Mattias shrugged. “Sophia’s a princess. She deserves a big wedding, and I want to give her the best.”
“That seems to be the story of your life now, worshipping your princess.”
Mattias’s smile was blinding. “I know. Isn’t it marvellous?” He clapped Leo on the shoulder and nodded at the door. “Now can you please go so I can get married? I don’t want to keep my bride waiting.”
* * *
Leo took his seat next to Felix, who looked very fine in a white linen shirt with a fitted scarlet jacket and black trousers that hugged the curve of his thighs just so. Felix gave him a warm smile. “How’s Matty?”
“Almost bursting with the excitement of it all.” Leo bumped their shoulders together, a gentle nudge, and Felix leaned back against him, theirs a comfortable closeness. They settled in to wait for the ceremony to begin.
Soon enough Mattias arrived, followed by a resplendent Sophia, who was swathed in silk as was befitting a princess. The sheer naked affection in her expression when she looked at Mattias as the ceremony started left Leo in no doubt that Mattias was, indeed, a lucky man—but no luckier than Leo was.
Because despite how impossible it should have been, Leo was here with Felix by his side and he’d never been happier. He still ran the kingdom, and he still grumbled at his paperwork, but the difference was that now he had Felix, challenging and encouraging him in equal measure. The relationship between them had only grown stronger in the months that had passed, and waking up every morning with Felix in his bed never failed to thrill him anew.
Of course, the polite fiction in the castle was that Felix stayed close to Leo in his role as Leo’s personal guard, but Leo knew for a fact that nobody believed it—not that he cared what anyone thought.
Therewerebenefits to being the king, after all.
It probably helped that the previous month Davin had, with much fanfare, been revealed as the crown prince. It was sooner than any of them had expected, but it was as if knowing he was a prince and having a purpose had sparked something within the boy, and he’d shown a remarkable willingness to learn, along with a previously unseen work ethic that had resulted in him being moved out of the stables in a matter of months.
He’d eagerly shadowed both Leo and Mattias around the castle, observing and asking intelligent questions. He’d also won the staff over effortlessly, proving himself to be at least as personable and engaging as his father. When Sophia had taken him under her wing and schooled him in politics, etiquette, and negotiations, he’d listened to her every word with something akin to goddess worship. Overall, he’d taken to castle life, and to the prospect of someday ruling, like a duck to water.
When Sophia had declared that she thought Davin was ready to become a member of the court, Leo had been sceptical. But Sophia, with a gleam in her eye, had issued a challenge. If Davin could complete a successful negotiation, Leo would allow him to claim his birthright.
Leo had agreed, and been equal parts impressed and appalled when Davin had managed, with a combination of easy charm and flawless reasoning, to convince Leo that he should award the coveted parcel of border territory to Sophia—as a wedding gift.
He supposed he really shouldn’t have been surprised. Davin was known for sweet-talking the kitchen girls out of their skirts, after all, so a treaty negotiation was probably a piece of cake by comparison, but ithadconvinced him that Davin really was up to the task of ruling.
Leo had announced the existence of Crown Prince Davin Salisbury, heir to the throne of Lilleforth, the following week.
A subtle elbow to the ribs from Felix had Leo turning his attention back to the wedding ceremony. The bishop performing the service droned on and on, and it seemed to take forever, but finally Sophia and Mattias made their vows, both of them damp-eyed and grinning like fools.
Felix reached across and squeezed his hand, and Leo squeezed back, reflecting again on how good life was.
