“We can learn to be again.” Liam tugged on Oliver’s hand, wishing the bloody railing wasn’t in the way. “I know I fucked up. Iknow, Ollie. All I’m asking is for a chance to set things right with you, the way I should have done when we were younger.”
Oliver lifted his other hand to gently touch Liam’s face, brushing back his hair. His fingers lingered on the area of his skull Murphy had cracked open. Even now, Liam knew his head would ache if the drugs weren’t in the way.
“When I heard you crash over comms, I didn’t know what to do,” Oliver said quietly. “You were out of reach, and all I could think about was the way we’d left things.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing.”
Liam’s lips twitched at the corner. “Make me.”
Oliver’s hand trailed down his face to cup his cheek. Then he leaned over to kiss Liam on the mouth, quick and soft, pulling back before Liam could even respond.
“I can hear your parents down the hall. We’ll talk later,” Oliver said when he straightened.
Liam refused to let him go. “Stay.”
“Liam—”
“Stay. Please.”
Oliver hesitated, slipping his hand free of Liam’s grip right as the door to his private medical room slid open. Liam turned his head to see his parents and brother enter, all three of them looking more frazzled than they normally did.
Prince Samuel, Earl of Wessex, and Georgia, the Countess of Wessex, rushed to his bedside, while Jasper lingered at the foot of his biobed. Oliver shifted on his feet but made no move to leave the room, and Liam let out a soft sigh of relief.
“My darling boy,” Georgia said as she took his hand in both of hers, the tears in her eyes going unshed through long years of putting on a brave face. “We almost lost you.”
“Mum,” Liam said.
“You need to stop this. You need to accept that you are too much of a target and—”
“Georgia, now isn’t the time,” Samuel said, placing a hand on Georgia’s shoulder.
Georgia pressed her lips together in a tight line, red-rimmed eyes staring down at Liam. He felt absolutely awful at putting his family through not knowing if he’d come home alive. It never got any easier for any of them, but he knew this time was different. At the moment, he was too tired and too medicated to deftly handle all of that while lying in a biobed.
“I cannot keep doing this,” Georgia finally said, squeezing his hand tightly.
“I’m all right, mum,” Liam said.
“But youweren’t.”
Her expression crumpled, and Liam hastily looked away, catching Jasper’s eye. His older brother silently shook his head, a tired look on his face.
“They sent no ransom request. They made no contact whatsoever,” Jasper said quietly. “The UMG said they were doing everything they could to find you, but we were preparing for the worst.”
Liam closed his eyes, feeling his head throb dully through the dissipating fog of medicine. He knew he needed to assure his family that he was all right, but that seemed like an unscalable emotional mountain at the moment.
“They brought in Ekaterina Ovechkina to help locate your whereabouts. As I understand it, she and several other telepaths were close to homing in on your location before you showed up on CCTV,” Oliver said.
“I believe I owe Katie a pint,” Liam muttered, opening his eyes again.
“She’s rather,” Oliver paused for a moment before continuing with “intense.”
“One of the best NCOs I know.”
“Then perhaps you should follow her lead and Jamie’s in stepping back from active field duty,” Samuel said.
Liam grimaced. “I thought we weren’t doing this now?”
