Page 59 of Measure of the Stars

“It isn’t dallying,” Wes said, hunching his shoulders defensively.“And yes.”

Ferrin’s hard frown didn’t twitch.“You must truly care for him, then.”

Wes looked away.“He’s the softest touch I ever met.I have no idea how he managed to get by in the Starian navy without losing that.He’s also brilliant, and kind, and he ended up that way despite being raised by the de Mazets.”

“And you were accepted into one of the best colleges in Gerakia despite being raised by the Leonharts,” Ferrin said.Wes stared at him, surprised to find a flicker of pride behind his dark eyes.“I didn’t know you liked the stars.”

“I didn’t know you were capable of critiquing our parents,” Wes said.

“We’ve all changed,” Ferrin said.“Some slower than others.”

Wes thought that Ferrin wasn’t referring to him, in that case.It was strange to see him so vulnerable.Wes was used to exchanging a few terse sentences every few years and fleeing to the navy again, but Ferrin seemed more open than before, less rigid and unshakable.

“When this is done,” Ferrin said, looking pointedly away from Wes as they turned toward the broad plaza before the palace.“You and your man can stay at my house before you return to your ship.Silver, my submissive, he’d insist on it.And Louise would want to see you.If that’s something you’d like.”

Wes wanted to ask Ferrin what he meant bymy submissive,but the thought of slinking past Louise after nearly being dumped at Lennox’s doorstep sent a wave of guilt crashing over him.“I suppose if she wants to...”

“She does,” Ferrin said, before Wes could talk himself out of it.“Very much.”

Wes ducked his head as they fell under the shadow of the palace.The distance between them still felt too great, complicated by years of resentment and silence, but Wes could hear the yearning in Ferrin’s voice, too powerful and earnest to ignore.

“All right,” he said at last, his voice soft.“I suppose it’s been long enough.”

The sun was rising over the palace as Ferrin snuck Wes in through the barracks, pausing to speak quietly to a guard in a new uniform.She was a tall, black-haired girl with ramrod-straight posture and hard eyes, but she couldn’t have been older than sixteen at most, if Wes was any judge.Still, she barked out Ferrin’s orders quickly enough, and the guards in the barracks listened despite her lack of dominance.

“Since when are you letting children into the guard?”Wes asked Ferrin as she marched off.

“Since she started sleeping outside my office and wouldn’t go away,” Ferrin whispered back.“I could either train her properly or send her out on the street, and Silver would never speak to me again if I did that.She’s staying in the attic room in our house right now.”

“You’re not taking in runaways?”Wes asked, startled.

Ferrin scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, looking away.“I learned my lesson the first time, didn’t I?”

Wes thought of the moment he’d realized that Ferrin had betrayed him to their parents.There’d been confusion in Ferrin’s eyes as Wes had been dragged out the door by representatives of King Emile’s navy, as though he hadn’t expected it to go quite so far.Wes had hated him for his naïveté for years, but now that he could see the marks it had left on Ferrin’s life, he couldn’t stir up the old, sluggish resentment that had dogged him for so long.

“You were young,” Wes said.

Ferrin still wouldn’t meet his gaze.“So were you.So is the girl.She goes by Odette, and she says she’s twenty-two.Try not to look too dubious when she tells you that.”

“Twenty-two?”Wes asked, peering back at her as Ferrin led him out of the barracks and into the palace.

“Try fifteen,” Ferrin said.“It’s a shame that she’s a natural with the sword.She won’t be allowed to do more than pass messages and stand in the back on parade days for years.”

Wes stared at Ferrin as they passed through the palace hallways, barely taking in the opulent paintings and carvings lining the walls.Whowasthis man?How much had he and Louise changed while Wes sulked in isolation at sea?He drifted at Ferrin’s back, rubbing his sore throat and trying not to think about the years they’d lost.

At last, Ferrin led him into a study lined with green curtains and dark oak panels.There were cushions on the floor for submissives who preferred to kneel, a couch along the wall, and shelves of books with thick yellow paper.A map listed every noble family, taking up an entire wall with tiny nameplates and lines of succession.The section for the royal family had two new marks under King Adrien and Isiodore de Mortain, his consort.There weren’t names there, but it looked like someone had set aside space to write them.

“Don’t touch anything,” Ferrin said, pointing Wes to a chair.“I need to prepare for King Adrien to arrive.He’ll want to be here for this.”

“And there’s no chance of delaying him until it’s over?”

Ferrin gave Wes a long-suffering look.“I’ve learned by now that when it comes to the de Guillories, trying to keep them away from the latest scandal is like trying to keep a cat off the counter.In the end, the best you can do is try to contain the mess.”

Wes narrowed his eyes.“Spoken like a man who has a cat.”

“We have three,” Ferrin said.He left before Wes could point out that Ferrin had been infamously allergic to cats as a boy, closing the door firmly shut after him.

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