“We served together.”
He nods, but it’s Sebastian who picks up the story.
“I was conscripted,” Sebastian says, his voice shifting—losing that playful lilt and settling into something heavier. “Fifteen months. Had no say in it.”
The change in his tone pulls at my chest.
“Nate volunteered,” he adds, like it’s just a side note—but I hear the weight behind it.
My eyes swing to Nate, brows knitting.
He volunteered?
Nate never talks about this part of his life. Not once. It’s like some invisible line I never dared to cross.
“Volunteered my ass,” Nate snorts, shaking his head with a wry grin. “We were forced to babysit his highness over there.”
I blink.
His highness?
“Wait—are you a royal?”
Sebastian straightens in his chair with mock regality, raising his chin just enough to look dramatically pompous. “Prince Sebastian Alexander the Third, Prince of Greendale, at your service, my lady.” He ends it with a smirk and a half-bow, as if we’re at a royal court instead of… well, breakfast.
My jaw drops.
He’s joking. He has to be joking.
Right?
But then I glance at Nate, who just shrugs, all casual-like, as if this isn’t blowing my mind.
“I—” I stutter, because really, what’s the protocol here? “Should I bow? Or curtsy? Do I kiss a ring or something?”
Sebastian winks. “Depends which one.”
Nate groans loudly, “And that’s why we couldn’t leave him unsupervised for more than five minutes.”
I cover my mouth to stifle my laugh, even though I’m still kind of stuck on the prince part.
“We met in the middle of hell,” Sebastian continues. “Hot, dusty, relentless. At first I thought he was cocky, Britt, and too eager to get into trouble. He thought I was arrogant and soft.”
“You were arrogant,” Nate throws in with a grin.
“And you were reckless,” Sebastian counters smoothly, but there’s warmth in his eyes now. “But somewhere between the drills, the silence, and the nights we didn’t know if we’d see the next day… we became brothers.”
I glance at Nate, and he’s watching Sebastian with something raw and honest in his eyes. A quiet bond forged in fire.
“I trust him with my life,” Sebastian says finally, looking at me. “So if he’s chosen you, I already know you’re worth something.”
It knocks the air out of me. The depth of it. The respect. The friendship that runs deeper than blood.
“Thank you,” I manage.
Nate takes my hand, lacing our fingers together beneath the table.
Sebastian lifts his coffee again. “And now he’s getting married. Didn’t think I’d see the day.”
