Evan complied grudgingly.
“See?” Felix said. “So powerful.”
“I only moved them because I felt like it,” Evan said.
Thomas was sitting in the chair next to him across from the desk and Evan felt rather than heard his sigh of impatience. He didn’t blame him. They’d been taking Leo and Felix through the chain of events that had led to Evan’s identity being discovered for an hour now. Evan’s side ached, he was hungry, and he verymuch wanted to go back to bed, taking Thomas with him, and leave the running of the kingdom to the king.
He sat up straight and said, “Anyway, I’ve done some digging. Ned really did get a copy of the guards’ map by getting one of the kitchen boys far too tipsy and convincing him to draw the castle. That’s why it was such a woeful drawing. There was no traitor among the guards. And I’ve confirmed that Calthrope and Falsmark have been in cahoots for years, so it’s hardly surprising they conspired to get rid of me once they knew who I was.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were confined to bed. How were youpossiblyable to do some digging?”
Evan gave him a knowing smile. He could have explained to Leo that he had a vast network of informants and that knowledge was easily bought if you knew the right people and paid the right price, but it was better if Leo didn’t know the details. Besides, watching him try and figure it out was much more fun—and Evan had decided that he deserved some fun in his life.
Which was why the next sentence out of his mouth was, “Honestly, I hope you don’t ask your next spy how he does his job, Leo.”
Leo blinked. “What do youmean, my next spy? You’re my spy.”
“Not anymore,” Evan said. “Thomas might have killed Ned, but there’s no guarantee he didn’t tell anyone else who the Rogue is. So I’m retiring.”
“What do you mean, you’re retiring?” Leo asked.
“Stop repeating what I say and try to keep up,” Evan said. “I’m sick of playing the fool, and I’m not prepared to keep doing the things I have been doing to get information out of people.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed as he looked between Evan and Thomas, and then a delighted smile spread over his face. “You’re inlove! You don’t want to fuck the secrets out of people anymore because you’ve fallen in love with my captain!”
Evan froze. He opened his mouth to say that Leo was being ridiculous, that he’d know if he was in love—except, would he?
Was it possible that Leo was right?
It would certainly explain the way Evan felt like he’d explode with happiness every time he saw Thomas walking towards him, and his need to spend time with Thomas even when there was no sex involved, and the sudden, inexplicable desire to take care of him. And it woulddefinitelyexplain the hard, ugly knot that formed in his gut and made his stomach turn whenever he tried to imagine seducing someone who wasn’t Thomas.
Theonlyperson he wanted to seduce was Thomas.
Evan had always prided himself on seeing what other people didn’t and knowing exactly what was happening, and yet somehow he’d fallen in love with his captain and managed not to notice. He couldn’t even say exactly when it had happened, but he knew in his heart that it was true.
“You’re right,” he said wonderingly. “I’m in love. And he’smycaptain.”
There was the scrape of wood on stone as Thomas pushed his chair back, scooped Evan up in his arms, and held him against his firmly muscled chest. Thomas’s lips pressed against his in a hungry, bruising kiss and when Thomas pulled back, his eyes were bright, and his smile was breathtaking. “Iamyour captain. And I’m in love with you too,” he said, his voice thick. He kissed Evan again.
“Really, Leo? You went about that with all the subtlety of a brick,” Felix said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What if Thomas didn’t feel the same?”
“Thomas stabbed a man in thethroat,” Leo said smugly. “If that’s not a declaration of love, I don’t know what is.”
“That is impressive,” Felix admitted. “Why haven’t youever stabbed anyone to prove your devotion to me?”
“I changed the law so that I could marry you, sweetheart. I think that should count for something,” Leo said dryly.
Evan ignored them and cupped Thomas’s pink-tinged cheek. “I love you,” he said in case it had been unclear. Also, he liked how the words sounded coming out of his mouth.
Thomas set Evan on the ground and gazed down at him, expression serious. “It really doesn’t matter to you that I’m a penniless guard, does it?”
Evan wasn’t sure if he wanted to hold Thomas close and reassure him, or tell him to stop being so bloody ridiculous and that his status didn’t matter in the least.
In the end he just kissed Thomas on the cheek and said, “I really don’t care at all.”
A thought struck him. Maybe it wasn’t the guard part that Thomas had a problem with. Maybe it was the penniless part.
He hummed. “If being a penniless guard worries you, then obviously we have to do something about it. Leo, can you do me a favour?”
