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“Then I’ll get plastic surgery.”
The look Bertram gave him was so incredulous, Sorin might as well have suggested he wear a fake mustache and a bad wig.
“What?” he groused as Bertram sat on the bed. “They can change anything about a person these days—their jawline, their nose, the shape of their eyes. I’ll get it all done, then bleach my hair and maybe even put on a little weight. No one will know it’s me then. Not even Sebastian. We’ll be able to pretend we just met, and you can claim me as your mate.”
“Sorin…”
“You can’t say it wouldn’t work.” Sorin came to stand in front of Bertram and braced his hands on Bertram’s thighs, bending slightly at the waist so they were eye to eye. “The Pedigree has been abolished and its omegas are finally free. Tell me why I shouldn’t book a rhinoplasty consultation and get on a plane to LA right now.”
“Because it wouldn’t make a difference.” A dull, hopeless look came over Bertram’s face. “There is someone who would still recognize you. Everard picked up on your scent when he was healing you after the incident in Sebastian’s lair. He knows we are mates, and while so far it seems he’s kept that little secret to himself, he owes me no favors, and I don’t trust him to hold his tongue forever. I imagine, when the time is right, he will tell Father, and then everything will fall apart.”
Neither of them had moved, and everything in the room was still, but it felt as though Sorin had been punched in the gut. “He knows?”
“Aye.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Panic crept into Sorin’s voice. “Is there really no way out of this? Are we supposed to just lie down and die?”
Bertram said nothing at first. He lowered his head, ashamed. “I think,” he said after a reflective silence, “the only way out of this is to admit defeat.”
So it really was the end, then.
A tear fell from Sorin’s cheek, landing on Bertram’s thigh.
Bertram’s fingers curled as it hit, almost as if the impact had been painful, but they didn’t stay that way for long. In the next breath his hands unfurled, and he slid them over the backs of Sorin’s hands, engulfing them like he was shielding them.
He squeezed gently.
“We were never meant for this world, love,” he murmured. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize it before. I spent so long struggling to be the son my father wanted, convinced there was a way I could keep both you and my family, but I was wrong. The life I want, the life I need… it can’t be found here, amongst my kind. Not anymore. Which is why I’ve decided it’s time to stop fighting. The only way I will ever know peace is by letting go, and I am finally ready. Will you run away with me, Sorin? I want to start a new life with you outside the reach of the gemstone council, somewhere my family will never find me.” Bertram’s hands began to tremble. “It will be no great loss for them, I’m sure. I have never quite fit in with them anyway.”
“Bertram…”
“It will not be a life of luxury,” Bertram admitted in a small voice, rushing through his words. “There are few places dragons are not, and those places remain unoccupied for a reason, but I will provide for you as best I can, and of course, we will have ample funds at our disposal. But it will not be like it is with my brothers’ mates. I will have to liquidate my hoard and as such, I will not be able to shower you in finery and riches, but I will endeavor to do the best I can with what we have available. I swear it.”
“Bertram.” Heart beating wildly, Sorin pulled his hands out from beneath Bertram’s and took him by the face, forcing their eyes to meet. “Do you think I care about those things? I don’t want gold. I don’t want diamonds. I don’t care about property, or fashion, or expensive vacations. I don’t even care if I have to spend the rest of my life eating rice and beans. The only thing I want—the only thing in the world—is to be with you.”
“But you deserve better,” Bertram murmured. “You deserve a mate who can spoil you so entirely, you never suffer another want. You deserve to be drowned in riches, to be celebrated, to be envied.”
“No.” Slowly, Sorin touched their foreheads together. “What I deserve is you.”
Bertram shivered and took Sorin delicately by the waist, bringing him onto the bed so Sorin was straddling his lap.
“Take me where they can’t find us,” Sorin whispered, pushing the depth of his excitement through their mate bond so Bertram knew how badly he wanted it. “Take me where no one knows our names—somewhere we can be free.”
Bertram nodded but said nothing. Not even his sharp tongue could cut through the heaviness of the moment, the air so thick with their hopes for the future, it was difficult to do anything—to speak, to think, to breathe.
It was due to the mate bond, Sorin realized.
He wasn’t the only one sharing the truth of his heart.
Bertram’s inner emotions were pouring out of him, filling Sorin from the inside with nervous hope and wild elation. He was terrified, but he was resolute—they would find a way to be happy. Not apart, but together. United. Even if it meant shutting the rest of the world out. Bertram loved him so much, he was ready to give up everything for him.
And Sorin was ready, too.
Not only for a new life, but for something he’d never thought he would want again.
“When we’re settled,” he whispered, bringing their lips together to kiss Bertram as he spoke. “Once you’re sure we’re safe, I want to start over. From the beginning, like it used to be. Just you, me, and our eggs.”
“Our boys are grown,” Bertram replied, his voice burdened, husky. He kissed Sorin’s mouth with the same loose, disjointed passion Sorin was using, fitting their conversation between moments spent tasting Sorin’s lips. “They deserve a normal life. They won’t be coming with us.”
