People like that couldn’t be trusted to make logical decisions at times like these.
“I don’t want him to die.” That had never been his wish. Nuri had wanted freedom, sure, the option to carve his own path. But… “What if this is another trick?”
What if he wanted Nuri to feel bad enough, guilty enough, to stop him? To give in?
“Doesn’t make sense.” There was no way for Silver to know that Nuri had spoken to Nate. Proof was in the fact that Nuri was currently holding his multi-slate, the one device he could have used to listen in on his calls. Without that, Silver was left in the dark.
He didn’t know Nuri had found out about the true purpose of the Swiftbond.
Which meant this couldn’t be an elaborate scheme.
Silver was seriously willing to let Nuri go, even if it meant he’d wither away.
“Calm down and think, Narek,” he commanded himself. Silver had survived going without sex almost the entire week beneath Vitality’s two moons. He wouldn’t die because they hadn’t fucked in six days. He was fine for now. There was time.
He could call Nate and ask him to find out from his friend if there was a way to break the bond, but even as he thought it, he found himself unable to actually do it.
It was like when he’d tried to send that email announcing his resignation.
Rationally, Nuri knew both things were the right thing to do, and yet…
“I’m in love with him,” he said it mostly hoping that hearing it out loud would help he realize he was wrong, but it had the opposite effect.
Nuriwasin love with Silver. Despite everything. All of the lies. All of the frustration.
He loved Silver Rein.
But did that mean he couldbewith him?
Setting aside the fact that Nate had claimed he was accepting of their relationship, being with Silver, really being with him, meant accepting the role of Royal Consort. It meant announcing to the universe that those claims Silver had made all those times was true.
It meant accepting that he belonged to the Emperor, well and truly.
This wasn’t going to work. He couldn’t make a decision this important without serious thought. He needed to speakwith Silver. See him. Which meant he needed to find a way to convince the Emperor to come out of hiding.
He held up Silver’s multi-slate, pondering.
What did Nuri want? Really?
He was angry because those memories of the two of them in the past had been sullied. Memories of the rare occasions where they were equal.
Nuri didn’t love Silver because he was the emperor or a CEO—hell, if anything, he loved him despite those things. Hadn’t he always thought that the two of them could be more if only they weren’t restricted by their roles and their duty?
What if he wasn’t the Royal Secretary, and Silver wasn’t the Emperor of Ignite?
What if they were just two strangers, meeting for the first time, who happened to be attracted to one another?
Could Nuri be certain then?
He didn’t give himself a chance to overthink the ridiculous plan formulating. Instead, his fingers danced across the screen, typing out a message on Silver’s device which he sent as another emergency directly to N.I.M. Somehow, he knew even if Silver refused to pick up his calls, he would still read the message.
S.R:If you meant what you said the other day, agree to play one last game with me. A fair one. No tricks from either side.
The read indicator came on, but Silver didn’t reply, so Nuri kept going.
S.R:I need this.
The response after that was almost instant.
