Drake studied his best friend from across the room. Liam was wearing a new suit: one Drake himself would never be caught wearing, the blue too bright, the yellow bowtie too eye-catching, but Liam never did mind catching the eye of the entire room. On him, it looked great. He breezed through the room, shaking hands, greeting everyone he came across with a glowing, genuine smile. The hundreds of guests in the ballroom revolved around him, each one biding their time until they could steal a moment of his attention. Including Drake.
Finally, he glanced in his direction. Their eyes met, and Liam flashed a smile that seemed a little brighter, a little more sincere, before turning his attention back to the ambassador standing before him. Drake lifted his glass to his lips to hide his smirk. It was embarrassing to be so easily cheered up by just a glance and a smile.
“Enjoying yourself?” Riley appeared at his side suddenly, a nearly empty glass in her hand and cheeks rosy from all the champagne she’d already tossed back. She wrapped her arm around his, leaning into him in that too-friendly way she always did.
“Sure, Brooks. I’m happy for you.” He stared down at her face, studying her as she stared blankly into the distance. “You alright, kid?”
“Huh? Yeah, I’m good.” She shook her head lightly, seeming to snap out of her funk, and smiled awkwardly. “It’s not every day a girl suddenly becomes nobility, after all!”
“Are you…happy about that? You seem a little…”
“…drunk?”
Drake chuckled softly. “You said it, not me.”
Her face fell again, eyes far away. “It’s an incredible opportunity. But it feels like…” she trailed off, frowning. Drake waited for her to finish, but she stared into the bottom of her empty glass, lost in thought.
“…Brooks? Are you OK?”
Her eyes were glassy with unspilt tears as she looked up to meet his. “It was a consolation prize, Drake. ‘Sorry I can’t marry you, here’s a castle instead. Have a nice life.’”
Drake stared at her, mouth agape. “He…what? No, You’re completely misreading the situation. You need to talk to him.”
“Right,” Riley scoffed angrily, clamming up again as the tears threatened to spill over.
“Hey, I’m serious. He can’t marry you until you’re a noble, that’s why he did this. I’m sure he’s planning his proposal for any day now.”
Riley grabbed his wrist then, pulling him briskly towards a quiet corner away from the crowd. When she turned to him, her eyes were full of pain and fury. “No, Drake. He’s not proposing. He gave me the perfect, tactful speech about how much he cares for me and wants me to be happy in Cordonia, and then told me he couldn’t marry me. In no uncertain terms.”
“He…what?” Drake’s head was spinning, trying to make sense of Liam’s actions. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding. After everything they went through, after he broke off his engagement to Madeleine… “Why would he do that?”
Riley laughed bitterly, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a tissue. “I think it’s you that needs to have a talk with him, Walker.”
He frowned into his drink. No, this can’t be happening. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He wouldn’t…
A loud pop rang out in the ballroom. Drake’s blood ran cold, his eyes darting up to find Liam, failing to spot him before the room suddenly went dark. When the lights came back on, a masked man had appeared, advancing quickly towards himself and Riley, gun drawn and aimed squarely at him.
No, aimed at her.
“No!” he yelled, jumping between her and the gunman without a second thought. He won’t actually…
He heard the gun shot at the same instant that he felt the bullet tear apart the flesh of his shoulder. The force knocked him backwards, his fall broken by Riley and a cloud of glittering gold ballgown that billowed out beneath him.
He looked down at the blood stain rapidly growing on his shirt, and the world went black.
He laid in bed in a sunny, unfamiliar hotel room. Nothing familiar, except the soft, warm breath against his neck, and the firm body pressed against his back and wrapped all around him.
“Liam,” he whispered softly, not sure if he actually wanted to wake him or not.
“Mmm,” Liam hummed, squeezing his arms tighter around him. He let out a long sigh. Then, “Good morning, handsome.”
Drake closed his eyes again, relishing the feeling. He traced his fingertip lazily along the ridge of muscle in Liam’s toned forearm, trying to memorize every contour, every square inch of skin.
Knowing he would never wake up in those arms again.
“Get him out of here!”
Drake drifted back into consciousness to find Bastien standing over him, shouting. Why is he yelling at me?
“I’ve got him,” another voice answered, as he felt himself pulled across the floor roughly. “Go save our king!”
A jolt of adrenaline coursed through his veins at her words. Our king. He fought out of Riley’s grip, stumbling onto his own unsteady feet as his eyes darted around the room, towards the center of the commotion. Behind a wall of guards and masked men, he found Liam, fierce and furious, tossing an attacker to the ground viciously as another snuck up on him from behind. He opened his mouth to yell out a warning, but before he could even get the sound out, Liam’s elbow connected with the attacker’s face with alarming force, knocking him to the ground unconscious.
“He’s got this. We have to go,” Riley urged, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. He nodded silently and stumbled along to the waiting SUV, collapsing into the backseat and closing his eyes, letting the relief of unconsciousness take him again.
“So…you seemed to hit it off with that waitress last night.”
Liam’s soft lips pressed against his neck, lightly kissing him before giving his skin a sharp nibble. “Jealous?”
“You’re an asshole.”
“I know,” he answered with a chuckle. “But…yeah. I did like her. I guess I was, uh…practicing.”
Drake grunted, pulling away slightly…just enough to let him know he was annoyed, but not annoyed enough to want his touches to stop. “Getting yourself warmed up to be courted by every noble woman in Cordonia, you mean? Taking a practice swing at an American commoner to make sure you’re ready to woo whatever vacuous rich bimbo your father decides you need to marry?”
“Jesus, Drake.” Liam rolled away from him now, sitting at the edge of the bed, and Drake regretted his words immediately. “I thought we decided together that this was the best course of action.”
He was right, of course. He’d been kind enough to ask, and Drake had loved him enough to tell him to move on, to find a queen and be the ruler his father wanted him to be. But he wasn’t ok with it, not really. He would never be ok with it. “We did,” he said softly, reaching for his hand, pulling him back down and into his arms. “I just didn’t think the time would go by so fast.”
Liam melted into his embrace. “Me neither,” he whispered, pressing his body back against Drake’s, trying to eliminate any space between them. “I wish we could just stay here forever.”
“Drake, buddy, wake up.” Riley was shaking him gently, every small movement sending a jolt of searing pain through his shoulder. As soon as he snapped out of his dream, Drake grabbed her wrist to stop her from touching him.
“I’m up.”
She bit her lip, leaning through the open car door, evaluating him. “You look like shit. We need to get you inside and patched up.”
He looked around, trying to find his bearings. The place looked familiar, but it had been a while. “Safe house?”
“Yeah, Bastien told me to get you here. There should be first aid supplies inside. Are you able to get out?”
He nodded, cautiously maneuvering his body out of the vehicle, trying to keep his upper body as still as possible. His limbs felt heavy and leaden, the blood loss making his fingers and toes numb. Not good.
Riley wrapped her arm around him again, helping him into the house. “Thank you,” he murmured as she helped him to the couch and went off in search of supplies. He drifted in and out of sleep as she tended to his wound, carefully cleaning it before dressing it. The bleeding had slowed, but the effects of the blood loss lingered, making him feel drugged and sluggish. He tried to talk to Riley, but his mind was desperate to slip away from the pain, desperate to get back to…
Drake felt himself hardening as Liam’s body ground against his own, small sighs of pleasure escaping his lips as he settled against him, every inch of them touching from where his forehead pressed against Liam’s soft black hair to where his toes grazed the soles of his feet.
“Forever sounds good,” he whispered, his arms squeezing, trying to bring him impossibly closer. “But your father…”
“My father,” Liam sighed. “I hardly want to think of my father right now.” He squirmed in Drake’s arms, turning around to face him, pressing their foreheads together. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spent the night flirting with some waitress. This whole thing was a bad idea…it should’ve been just the two of us on this trip. That’s all I wanted.”
Drake lifted his fingers to stroke Liam’s strong jaw, tracing from his ear down to his lightly stubbled chin. He brushed his thumb across his full lower lip before kissing him slowly, tenderly, letting his tongue tease and his lips linger as he took his time appreciating the feel of the prince’s mouth against his own. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Riley was stroking his cheek now, and for a brief and blissful moment, he thought that it must be Liam’s touch. She pulled her hand away when he opened his eyes to look at her.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, not meeting his eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt your shoulder.”
“Thank you…I appreciate it.”
Riley nodded, still looking embarrassed. Drake suddenly felt awkward and exposed, half-naked in front of her. Not that bloodied bandages were the sexiest look he’d ever rocked. But things had always been a little strange between them, a little tense in all the wrong ways. He looked around for his shirt but saw it crumpled on the floor, soaked through with blood. Not a good option.
“There’s a bedroom,” Riley told him, busying herself cleaning up the wrappers of the swabs and gauze she’d used to fix him up. “You’ll be more comfortable in there than on the couch. I can help you to the bed.”
“Thanks,” he said, trying and failing to stand on his own. “I think I need the help.” She wrapped his arm around her neck and her own arm around his waist, slowly helping him to stand. “I’ve got it from here,” he assured her, slowly walking across the room, trying hard to eliminate any bounce from his step so as to not jostle his shoulder. He lowered himself carefully onto the bed and immediately gave into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Liam tore off an attacker’s mask and threw it to the floor angrily. His fist connected with the unfamiliar man’s nose with a sickening crack, adrenaline dulling the intense pain in his knuckles as he made contact. The man crumpled to the floor, blood streaming from his face, just as another man tapped Liam’s shoulder. He whirled around, fist flying, but Bastien blocked it competently. “Time to go, Your Majesty.”
“You were with Drake!” He cried out in a panic. “I’m fine here!”
“No. We need to get you out of here for everyone’s safety. Drake is safe.”
Biting back his anger, Liam followed Bastien out of the ballroom and climbed into an armored SUV. “Are you taking me to him?”
“No,” Bastien answered, his voice cold and emotionless. “He’s with Duchess Riley at a safe house. You’ll only endanger him with your presence. I need you to trust me.”
Liam nodded slowly, working to calm his own breath and his racing heart. “What just happened, Bastien?”
Bastien briefly made eye contact with him in the rear view mirror, his expression pained. “An assassination attempt, it would seem. On yourself and Duchess Riley. We’ll have to investigate for more details, but for tonight our priority is keeping you safe. Are you hurt?”
Looking down at his bloodied and quite possibly broken knuckles, Liam frowned. There was a sharp pain in his side where he’d taken a rough blow and almost certainly had a broken rib or two. “I’m fine. You?” His question was met with silence. “Bas?”
“I’m hurt, Your Majesty.”
“What? Where? How badly?”
“It’s fine. We’ll deal with it when we get to the safe house.”
They were quiet the rest of the ride, Liam’s mind racing. Who had attacked them? Why now? Why Duchess Riley?
Is Drake going to be ok?
He bit his lip anxiously, staring at the passing countryside. Finally they pulled up to the house and he helped Bastien stumble through the door, the bullet wound in his leg obvious now, his pant leg soaked with blood. “You didn’t have to drive in your condition, you know.”
“My apologies, Your Majesty.” Liam rolled his eyes in response as he tended to the wound, trying to focus on the person in front of him that he could help, instead of those that were out of his reach, for now.
Hana and Maxwell arrived shortly after with another member of the king’s guard, who arranged for Bastien to be taken to the hospital. Liam slept fitfully on the couch, unable to relax.
It was 5am when he woke from another nightmare to find Hana and Maxwell chatting in hushed tones at the kitchen table. He dragged his aching body to meet them, leaning against a chair for support but trying to make it look casual. “You two are up early.”
“Couldn’t sleep,” Maxwell confessed. “Are Riley and Drake OK?”
Liam sighed. “Bastien told me they were safe before he was taken to the hospital. I’ve got an address for the safe house. What do you say we go see for ourselves?”
As soon as he was settled into the backseat of the SUV headed towards Drake, Liam was finally able to close his eyes and drift into a peaceful sleep, his dreams taking him back to where he wanted to be.
Liam moaned into Drake’s kiss, giving himself over to the feeling of complete contentment he only ever felt in his arms. He tried to quiet the nagging feeling in the back of his mind about what would happen when they returned home. He knew he owed it to Drake to stop toying with his feelings while he spent the next months choosing his future queen, being courted by women he had no interest in. But his body kept leading him back to his door, into his bed, into his arms. No longer. Once they got back to Cordonia, this was all over. Just this one last time…
He rolled on top of Drake, pushing him onto his back, willing his brain to just shut up already. He pinned his wrists to the bed with both hands, his knees on either side of his hips. He simply stared at him for a moment, catching his breath. Would he really never see him like this again? His hair disheveled, his eyes still blinking against the bright morning sun, his chest bare and slick with sweat from being pressed up against his own body all night. His mouth opened to say something…he didn’t even know what.
It didn’t matter, because Drake surged upwards to catch his mouth with his own in a desperate kiss. He gave into it instantly, letting his body collapse onto Drake’s. He shifted his grip to pin both his wrists with one hand while the other trailed lightly down his arm, leaving goosebumps as he went. He trailed it over his muscled shoulder and to his neck, where he gripped lightly, not roughly but possessively, just enough to show him who he belonged to. Drake moaned into his mouth and he felt a surge of pleasure through his entire body, grinding wantonly against him as the strength of his desire threatened to consume him.
He broke away. “Drake…”
Drake groaned in response. “I don’t want to talk right now.”
Liam lifted a hand to stroke his cheek gently, tracing the line of his cheekbone down to his lips. “I need to tell you that I understand if you want to leave. You don’t owe me anything.”
Drake let out a long sigh. “I owe you everything.”
Liam’s eyes flew open as the vehicle came to a stop. He blinked and looked around, taking in the barely-familiar scenery, warmly lit by the dawning sun streaming through the trees. Another black SUV was parked in front of the house; that was good. Drake and Riley had made it.
Their king’s guard companion opened the door and stood aside while Hana and Maxwell stepped through, excitedly calling out. Riley greeted them with smiles and hugs, still wearing her bloodied ballgown from the night before. Liam stepped out from behind the others with a weak smile. “Riley. I’m so glad to see you safe.”
“Liam!” She threw her arms around him and squeezed, burying her face against his neck. “I saw them surround you, and I thought…” he felt her hot tears against her neck and stroked her back gently. “I thought the worst,” she whispered.
“I’m OK,” he assured her, his gaze moving around the room as he returned her hug. “Where is…”
“You know, doctors usually prescribe peace and quiet to shooting victims.” Drake stood in the open doorway of the adjacent bedroom, a smirk on his lips as his eyes locked on Liam’s. “Hard to rest when everyone’s making such a racket.”
“Drake!” Liam rushed to his side, stopping short of throwing his arms around him as he assessed the bloodied bandage wrapped around his shoulder and chest. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to be a hero?”
“Heh. Not sure anyone thought they needed to.” He shifted uneasily under Liam’s intense gaze.
“We need to talk,” Liam said softly.
“Yeah.” Drake headed back into the bedroom as Liam turned and nodded apologetically at the others. He sat carefully at the edge of the bed as the door closed.
Liam headed straight for the dresser, searching for clothes. “You need to get dressed. I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Drake scoffed. “I’m fine. I’ll call my own doctor tomorrow.” Liam threw a fresh t-shirt on the bed and kept searching through the drawers. “Liam, stop.”
Liam froze in place, looking over his shoulder to Drake and frowning. “OK.” He sat next to him on the bed with a sigh. “I need you to swear you’ll never do anything like that again.”
“They could’ve killed her,” Drake growled.
“They could have killed you.” His voice cracked with emotion as his tear-filled eyes met Drake’s scowl. “I could have lost you and…I never…”
“You never what?”
He sighed and stood up from the bed, turning to stand in front of Drake instead. Stepping between his legs, he pressed Drake’s face into his chest and ran his fingers through his messy hair.
“Liam,” Drake breathed softly. “I don’t know what you want from me.” He wrapped his arms around his waist and Liam flinched, a sharp breath escaping his lips. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing. Just bruises.”
“Let me see.”
Liam shrugged his jacket off, face contorting in pain from the movement. Carefully he unbuttoned his shirt and Drake helped him to push it back off of his shoulders. He gasped at the dramatic bruising over his ribs and the smaller marks all over his torso.
“Jesus, they really did a number on you.”
“Says the man with the bullet wound.”
Drake ignored his words, trailing his fingers over the bruising with a feather-light touch. “Why would anybody hurt you like this?”
He let out a long sigh. “When my mother died, my father told me that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. If you have enough power, someone will always want to take it from you.”
Drake’s lips grazed Liam’s abdomen as he answered. “Is it worth it?”
“No,” Liam answered without hesitation, his voice a rough whisper. “But if not me, then who? The people who did this?”
“And you were lecturing me about being a hero?”
He laughed, wincing again at the pain of it, but smiling nonetheless. “I guess we both know a little about self-sacrifice.” He gripped Drake’s hair as his mouth moved over his ribs and up to his chest, laying soft, barely-there kisses all over his skin. “Drake…”
Drake paused, looking up into his eyes with a mischievous grin. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
Looking down at that playful smirk, he almost backed out of saying what he needed to say, for now. But… “We need to talk.”
Drake’s face fell as he pulled away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“No, I wanted you to…”
“But we shouldn’t…”
“Just listen, OK?” Liam lowered himself down to his knee, so that he was looking up slightly to meet Drake’s gaze. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you since I broke things off with Madeleine…and with Riley. I think you can guess what my reasons were.”
“I honestly can’t. We worked for months to restore Riley’s reputation, only for you to break off your engagement and not marry her? I don’t understand. I thought you loved her.”
A small smile perked up at the edges of Liam’s mouth. “Of course I care about her, that’s why I gave her a position at court. But I couldn’t marry her. It wasn’t fair to her.”
“What are you talking about? She loved you…you hurt her.”
“I hurt her once to stop myself from hurting her from the rest of her life. I thought you of all people would understand this.”
“Well then you’ve overestimated me, because I don’t understand what you’re thinking at all.”
He ran a hand over his face, exasperated. “Do you remember the morning after my bachelor party in New York?”
A hard lump arose in Drake’s throat. He swallowed it down with a gulp. “Of course I do.”
“Do you remember what we talked about?”
“You told me that I could leave, if I wanted to. That you’d understand.”
Liam nodded. “And then…?”
Drake stared into his eyes, pain written all over his face. “And then we…uh…we made love. Before we left for the airport.”
Another nod, as he laid his hand gently on Drake’s knee. “But do you remember what I said?”
“I don’t know, Liam, you said a lot of things.” The words came out with more anger than he’d intended.
Liam sighed again. “I said that I would have to try to get along with the women, but that I didn’t expect to ever love any of them.”
“Right. But that was before you knew that Riley was going to show up in Cordonia.”
“It was. But did you ever wonder why I was so certain that I wasn’t going to fall in love with anyone over the social season?”
“Honestly? I thought you were just trying to make me feel better.”
Liam rolled his eyes. “Of course I wanted to make you feel better, but what I was trying to say, that you never seemed to want to hear, was that I’m not interested in women.”
Drake’s mouth hung open in surprise. “Are you serious? Why didn’t you ever say so?”
Liam shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “I was trying to convince myself otherwise. Doing what my father told me years ago when he first realized that you and I were involved. Ignoring my feelings. Putting my duty to my country first.” He laughed bitterly. “Doing what was expected of me.”
“So you and Riley…you never…”
He bit his lip, still avoiding Drake’s gaze. “I like her a lot. I admire her. And yes, we did have sex…more than once. I tried to return her affections properly and I just…I couldn’t. It didn’t feel like…like this.” He reached a hand up to cup Drake’s face, looking him in the eye now. “Nothing feels like this.”
“You should’ve married Madeleine,” Drake whispered. “I think she’d understand more than you think. She would’ve let me stay.”
He shook his head angrily. “No. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life in a loveless marriage. Tonight I watched helplessly across the room as someone shot the man I love. I faced the possibility of you slipping away from me without ever knowing how I really felt. That will never, ever happen again.” He picked up his jacket from the floor, reaching into the pocket.
Drake sighed, taking Liam’s free hand in his, running his fingers over his swollen and bloodied knuckles. “So what’s the plan, Liam? I told you already that I’m not going anywhere.”
Liam pulled a small box out of the pocket of his jacket, still knelt on one knee in front of Drake. He smiled at his obliviousness, even as he opened the box to reveal the simple platinum band inside. “Drake…”
Drake’s brow furrowed, staring at Liam in confusion. “What are you…”
“…I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember, and I’m done with pretending that anything else could possibly matter more. I’m ready to choose my own happiness, and, I hope, yours.”
“You can’t…”
“Drake Walker, will you marry me?”
He smiled at Drake’s wide-eyed, stunned expression. “We…I…Liam we can’t…”
He chuckled softly. “Of course we can. Same sex marriage was legalized years ago. With overwhelming popular support, I might add.”
Drake rubbed his forehead anxiously. “Sure, but you’re the king. Old attitudes don’t disappear overnight.”
Liam’s face grew serious as he pressed his forehead to Drake’s. “No, they don’t. And they don’t disappear at all if no one publicly challenges them.” He let out a deep sigh, tears welling up in his eyes. His voice was shaky as he continued. “Do you have any idea what it would have meant to me as a boy to see someone do this? A world leader, unapologetically living out of the closet, not letting anyone tear down his happily ever after? How can I be an honest king if I’m not living an honest life?”
Drake wrapped his arms around him now, squeezing him close, ignoring the pain their injuries caused them. “Of course I’ll marry you Liam. I love you more than anything.” He laughed gently, overwhelmed by disbelief and joy. “Even if it means being a royal, I guess. I assume I won’t be called your queen.”
Liam chuckled, pulling away to wipe the tears from his eyes. “Fortunately no. You’ll be a prince, actually.”
Drake nodded, still grinning from ear to ear. “I knew a prince once. I’m not sure I could be as dashing and handsome as him, but I’ll certainly try.”
Liam stood, pulling Drake up to meet him before meeting him in a frenzied, passionate kiss. Without breaking the kiss he slipped the ring on Drake’s finger, holding his hand tightly afterwards, not wanting to let him go. “Thank you,” he whispered in his ear when they finally came up for air. “For still being here for me, after everything.”
“I’ll tell you as many times as you need to hear it, Liam. I’m not going anywhere.”