Chapter 198: Fatal reaction

Liam went very still.

"It was a flower in Goliath’s palace," Arik said. "He loved it. It grew along the inner court, with white petals and silver veins, impossible to cultivate outside Nuria. When I first scented it on you... memories flooded back."

Liam’s voice came out smaller. "You never told me."

"No, I didn’t, but it is not for the same reason I hid Goliath from you."

"No?"

"No, it happened while you were in heat and vulnerable; I dreamt most of it, and I didn’t make the connection then, only later on when Amara appeared."

Liam nuzzled his head in Arik’s oddly comforting chest. "Amara? Wasn’t she poisoned by Felix? You never actually told me who she is."

"Yes... Well, technically she is Goliath’s daughter."

Liam stopped, raised a brow, and moved his head only to look at Arik. "Wouldn’t she be old?"

"She is 12 years younger than Felix."

"This is getting weirder."

Arik laughed without humor. "Well, yes. She made me remember more about Goliath and Felix."

"Before we get into more... stuff." Liam said, sighed, and let his head fall onto Arik’s chest. "What was Felix to you?"

Arik hesitated.

"Arik..." Liam said warningly but didn’t raise his head.

"He was one of Goliath’s consorts."

"Oh... Oh no..."

Arik’s hand stilled in Liam’s hair.

Liam remained pressed against Arik’s chest, very still, as if his exhausted mind had been forced to draw a diagram it immediately wished to burn.

"Arik."

"Yes."

"Felix?"

"Yes."

"My grandfather Felix?"

Arik’s mouth tightened. "I said what I said, Liam..."

"Felix was one of Goliath’s consorts?"

"Yes." Arik said with the long sigh of a man understanding that the night of storytelling had only begun.

"And Goliath is the old soul inside you?"

"More accurately, I am what returned of him."

"That is not better." Liam finally lifted his head, pale and offended and far too tired to handle history with dignity. "That is worse in a more poetic direction."

Arik’s eyes softened with something painfully close to apology. "I’m sorry."

"Better." Liam stared at him for another second, then let his forehead fall back against Arik’s chest with a low groan. "My grandfather was involved with the past life of my mate. I need a physician for my soul."

"I can call Marin."

"Marin would sedate me and yell at both of us."

"He would be right."

"He is often right. It is one of his most irritating traits." Liam breathed in, regretted that Arik still smelled safe, and muttered, "Explain. Carefully. I know almost nothing, and every new piece of information makes me understand why you avoided this conversation, which annoys me because I am still angry."

Arik’s arm shifted around him, careful of the ward. "Hugo was the first."

"Hugo?"

"One of Goliath’s important consorts. The first who was more than treaty work or court arrangements. A dominant omega."

Liam’s hand tightened in Arik’s shirt. "I already dislike where this is going."

"Hugo had a mate before Goliath," Arik said quietly. "His partner was killed. The details are ugly, and I do not remember all of them, but he came to the palace with grief already built into him."

Liam said nothing.

"Seraphina came later," Arik continued. "Also a dominant omega. Similar story. Her mate was killed, and she was sent to Goliath as if grief could be wrapped in silk and turned into diplomacy."

"With Amara?"

"Yes. Amara was Seraphina’s daughter from that first bond."

Liam lifted his head a little. "So Amara is not Goliath’s blood daughter."

"No." Arik’s voice softened. "She asked if she could consider him her father. Goliath said he would be honored."

Liam stared at him.

The awkwardness did not leave his face, but something in it shifted, softened despite himself. "That is... unexpectedly kind."

"Goliath had his better moments."

Arik’s hand moved once through his hair. "Hugo and Seraphina were not ornaments. They had lost people. They understood what love looked like when it was not court spectacle. Goliath trusted them because they did not want children as future crowns. They wanted children as children."

Liam’s brows drew together.

"Is that why he had children?" he asked.

"It was a part of it; there were a lot of reasons."

"And... the other child?"

"Hugo’s son. Goliath’s second blood child."

Liam went quiet.

His mind was slower now, dragged down by exhaustion, poison, and the warmth of Arik’s chest under his cheek, but he still understood enough for the shape of the story to hurt.

"Goliath chose to have them," he said.

Arik moved his hand through Liam’s hair. "He thought that he could be a decent father in the end."

Liam closed his eyes.

"That makes it worse," he whispered.

"I know."

This time, Liam did not correct him.

For a moment, the bedroom felt too quiet around them. The ether lamps hummed low. Marin’s ward pulsed faintly against Liam’s chest, steady but present, as if warning both of them not to let grief become another kind of poison.

"And Felix?" Liam asked at last, voice muffled. "Where was he in all of this?"

Arik’s fingers stopped.

Liam opened one eye. "Arik."

"He came later."

"Later than Hugo and Seraphina?"

"Yes. He was at first just a conversation partner. Goliath wasn’t a fool and didn’t trust anyone new in the palace. Even the old ones, even veterans, could betray him, and some of them did. So he was careful. But Felix was closer to feeling like a bond, a mate, than anyone he ever had, so he wanted to be foolish just a little longer and test if Felix was true or not."

"Gods..."

"Kamal never liked Felix."

Liam made a faint sound against Arik’s chest. "That makes Kamal the only person in this entire historical disaster with working instincts."

"He would appreciate that."

"He can appreciate it after he stops looking at me like I am going to collapse if someone breathes too hard near me."

"You nearly did."

"Arik."

"I am presenting facts."

"You are presenting yourself for violence."

Arik’s hand moved through his hair, slow and careful, but the softness did not reach the rest of him.

"Kamal did not like Felix," Arik said. "And he was not there that night."

Liam’s eyes opened.

"He had been sent away," Arik continued. "Western annex inspection. He was meant to return the next day."

Liam’s hand tightened in Arik’s shirt. "Did Felix arrange it?"

"I think so."

"You think?"

"The memory is damaged around the edges," Arik said. "But yes. Now, I think so."

Liam was quiet for a second, then muttered, "Tell me the short version before Marin’s ward decides to electrocute both of us."

Despite everything, Arik’s mouth twitched faintly. "Goliath had just returned from battle. He was exhausted. His ether channels were overextended, still open from the fight, and Felix knew exactly when to strike."

Liam’s expression sharpened even through the fatigue. "So it was not only poison."

"No." Arik’s voice grew colder. "Felix waited for the one evening when Goliath’s body would treat power like an open wound."

Liam closed his eyes. "Evil engineering."

"Yes."

"And Kamal was gone."

"Yes."

"That explains why he still looks like he wants to murder walls."

"He has looked that way for sixty years."

"Reasonable."

Arik’s hand stilled in Liam’s hair. "Felix came with an apology dressed as humility. The food and wine were clean until they were not. Everything passed the wards separately, and together it became lethal."

Liam’s mouth twisted. "Clean components. Fatal reaction."

"Yes."

"And Goliath drank?"

Arik’s breath caught once.

"Yes."

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