“Are you asking if you’ll ever be able to walk again?”
“For the most part,” Nate nodded. “Yeah. So?”
He blew out a breath. “You’ll be fine. They missed anything major. It’ll take a couple of weeks and a few visits from the doctor for extensive treatments, but there won’t be any lasting damage. Not even a scar.”
“Nice to have money. I can barely afford a visit to the regular doctor, let alone fancy treatments.”
“If you’re about to refuse—”
“I’m not,” Nate said. “You owe me one. This is how I’m choosing to collect.”
“That so?” Kaz lowered down to the edge of the bed, and when that didn’t earn him any protests, took it a step further by draping an arm around Nate’s waist. “Anything else you’d like to demand, Pretty Boy?”
“Yeah, no more stalking me places. If you want to know where I’ll be, ask.”
His controlling nature wasn’t a fan of that one, but he forced himself to nod his head anyway. “Okay.”
Nate’s smile widened. “I promise I’ll work on the interrupting thing. But it’ll be hard for me to accomplish too. Apparently, that’s just how I get when I’m comfortable with someone.”
“Are you comfortable with me, Narek?”
“I’m getting there,” he said. “Yeah.”
“You’re safe with me,” Kaz reassured.
“I know.”
“Is this a bad time to ask you to consider becoming my Onus?” He’d meant to hold back, but old habits died hard and after being given an inch, Kaz found he wanted the whole damn mile.
Nate frowned. “What’s that?”
“It’s a Brumal thing. It’s similar to marriage, but isn’t. I guessed it was too soon to ask about that, since we’ve only beentogether a short amount of time, but an Onus isn’t recognized by the government, only within the Brumal.”
Nate seemed caught off guard, but collected himself. “When…would you say is enough time before someone asks about marriage?”
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “I’ve never considered marrying anyone before. I always assumed my dad would one day try and betroth me to someone for a business merger and I’d just go along with it.”
“What? Why?”
He shrugged. “Why not? I’ll inherit his company one day. What’s good for the company can only be good for me in the long run.”
“Is that going to be a problem in the future?” Nate asked. “What if he tries to get you to marry someone else later down the line? I meant what I said to Zane. I’m not sharing you with anyone. If we’re going to be together, then I want everyone to know it, including your shitty dad. If that means I have to become this Onus or whatever, then I’ll do it.”
“You will?” Kaz hadn’t really expected an answer right away. He’d thought for sure Nate would make him wait for it, need to time to think things through. “It’s a big commitment.”
“How big?”
“I can only ever give out the title once in my lifetime.”
“Oh, like how the Imperials can only ever name one Royal Consort?”
“Yes, exactly like that.”
“Perfect.”
“I’m not sure you’re fully grasping—”
“I’m going to interrupt you again,” Nate cut him off. “Sorry.” He freed his other hand and grabbed a fistful of Kaz’s shirt, keeping him close. “Can we hold off on the official announcement until after I’ve fully healed? Give me that muchtime. Let us both make sure that it’s real, this thing between us. A couple of weeks should do it.” He grinned. “We move fast, after all.”
