Page 61 of Measure of the Stars

“Didyou?”

“Not a whit.Here’s the wiggle-worm.”

Blaise reached out to hug Adrien as he was passed over.Delauney slipped back into the room, eyeing Wes.

“Does the king have ason?” Wes whispered.

“Possibly?”Delauney whispered back.It wasn’t out of the ordinary for a monarch to hide their heir before they were old enough to be announced to the kingdom.With King Adrien’s unpopular tax policies toward his wealthier nobles, it made sense to be a little protective.Still, Delauney should have heardsomething.“I suppose I truly haven’t spent long in Staria, lately.”

King Adrien reappeared a moment later, looking considerably more cheerful than he had only minutes before.“Well,” he said, retrieving his tea.“It’s only lukewarm, this time.”

Wes and Delauney glanced at each other, unsure what to say.

“The kingdom appreciates your discretion,” Adrien said, taking a sip.

“Discretion with what?”Delauney asked.

Wes shrugged.Delauney had a feeling that, charming as King Adrien was, he could make their livesverydifficult if news of his son came out after this.

Adrien smiled.“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Delauney.Other than how nice you’ve been to Sabre, of course.Ah, the chaos continues.Listen.”

Delauney sat up as he heard voices in the hall.They were distinctly familiar, from his father’s wheedling tone, his mother’s trembling questions, and Leo’s exhausted responses.

Ferrin and Sabre de Valois entered first, followed by Delauney’s family like a flock of bewildered ducks.Ferrin moved to stand between Wes and Delauney’s family, a sentinel with a gleaming sword at his hip.Delauney’s parents seemed caught between confusion and outrage, while his brother simply looked exhausted.Leo perked up when he saw Delauney, breaking free of his parents to clasp him by the arm.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” Leo said.He turned to Wes.“Are you all right?I sincerely apologize for my parents’ deplorable behavior.It was truly uncivilized.”

“Uncivilized?” Delauney’s mother cried.

“Leo!”his father said.“Not in front of the king.”

Leo moved behind Delauney and Wes, laying a hand on the back of Delauney’s chair.Their father went beet red at the sight.

“Wonderful,” Adrien said.“We’re all here.Except for Captain Lennox, it seems.”

“Captain Lennox is indisposed,” Sabre said, sitting behind the chair.“He seems to be struggling to recover from injuries sustained while he was...”Sabre paused as though lost in thought.“...breaking the king’s law protecting the rights of his enlisted sailors, I believe.”

Wes frowned slightly, but he kept his gaze fixed on Delauney’s father.Delauney knew that it had to be uncomfortable to hold a dominant’s gaze as a submissive, but Wes didn’t look away, holding him down like a pinned insect.Delauney’s father shifted in his seat, clearly unnerved.

“I don’t see why we’ve been summoned here,” Delauney’s father said.“There’s obviously been a misunderstanding on the part of my son and this...man.”

Sabre cleared his throat before Delauney could say something truly unforgivable.He spread his hands over the desk, his gentle voice filling the silence.

“In the reign of Queen Madeline de Guillory,” Sabre said, “seventeen silos of grain and the city of Worth burned to the ground after a noble beat a commoner to death and left her in a field.The city of Worth was never rebuilt.One hundred and eleven years ago, two noble families were killed in their beds by farmers when a textile mill became the center of a plague.In Queen Solange’s reign, strikes shut down Duciel twice, and one of our own harbors is still recovering from riots after a noble was found enslaving commoners.Do you know how quickly it takes for a noble house to fall, Lord de Mazet?”

Delauney’s father opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“Less than a day,” Sabre said.“I’ve seen it happen myself.It can be as swift as the time it takes for a neck to snap on a hangman’s noose.”

Delauney caught King Adrien’s eye, and he knew that he, too, was thinking back to the day Sabre’s own house had fallen.

“The king no longer hangs criminals,” Sabre said, “but a group of enraged commoners are not burdened by the limitations of the law.You are here bytheirmercy, Lord de Mazet.Not mine.Not the king’s.How do you think they’ll respond to the news of a noble hiring thugs to beat a man?”

“How did you thinkI’drespond?”Delauney asked, unable to stay silent any longer.“You sent people after the man I love, and you expect me not to wash my hands of you?”

Delauney’s mother twisted around in her seat.“My love, you don’t understand.He’s trying to corrupt you, filling your head with notions, with...with thestars.”

“That doesn’t sound so terrible,” Adrien said, smiling briefly at Delauney.