“He’s a college student,” he reminded, but Silver didn’t seem convinced.
“You aren’t much older, Narek.” The Emperor hit his limit. “What are we doing here? You said you wanted me to pick up? Why? Do you want me to drive you to the shuttleport and watch you board a ship to Vitality? Need to rub it in one more time to soothe the anger?”
“And if I do?” Nuri set his glass down with a click and finally swiveled in his chair to face him. He was sure to keep his expression stoney, not wanting to give anything away.
“I wouldn’t blame you,” Silver said. “I’ll take you. Do you want to finish your drink first, or shall we go?”
“We aren’t going.” He picked his glass back up and downed the contents though. “That’s not what I meant when I told you I wanted you to pick me up at the bar.”
Silver frowned. “You’re going to have to elaborate I’m afraid.”
“Are you?” It was obvious what Nuri really meant, and Silver didn’t even try to pretend otherwise.
“Yes.”
“Of losing me?”
“Narek.”
“It sucks being the only one who doesn’t understand what’s really going on, doesn’t it?” He was being petty, but Nuri had earned a bit of pettiness.
The Emperor gazed at him quietly for a moment, then confessed, “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“After tonight, you might not.” A lie. Tonight wasn’t about breaking them, it was about fixing them.
It was about teaching Silver the only way Silver could be taught.
He needed to go through the same hopelessness, the same dread, that Nuri had felt. He had to know what it was like to have choice stripped away from him. To be uncertain of the outcome. Through no fault of his own, Silver wasn’t capable of experiencing remorse or guilt.
But he could feel regret.
He could learn certain behaviors led to outcomes he didn’t like.
This was the job Nuri had been tasked to do when Sij Rein had selected him.
All these years, they’d thought Silver was the one in charge, but they’d been wrong. Nuri had the real power here. He’d been training him how to regulate his emotions. How to function in society.
His one mistake had been allowing his own feelings to cloud his judgment. He’d been blinded to how the Emperor perceived him, or how that perception would affect them in the long run.
Nuri had been too scared to even consider a more permanent place at Silver’s side, first because Sij Rein, then because his siblings. But he could see it all clearly now that the fog had lifted. Fearing other people’s approval had been an excuse. Something he could hide behind so he never had to acknowledge the truth to himself.
How had Silver felt that day, when he’d confessed his love and Nuri had all but spat in his face?
“I’m curious about something,” Nuri was ready to move this along, before he gave in and tossed caution to the wind. This was too delicate for that, however. Neither of them could risk mistakes. Everything was on the line. “How do you choose?”
Silver was struggling to understand, but Nuri was careful not to give anything away. “Honestly?”
“I’ll warn you now,” his gaze hardened, “if I so much as suspect you’re being dishonest with me, at any point, I will leave and you really will never see me again. Understood?”
“There,” Silver pointed across the room toward a man standing by the other, smaller bar, “and over there,” then to another man in the opposite corner of the room. “I would go for one of them.”
They were both of similar stature, shorter than the Emperor with slightly smaller frames.
“You have a type.” Nuri couldn’t help but compare them to Ackor Hue.
Silver hummed. “I pick whoever looks the closest.”
“Closest to what?”
