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Oliver shot a smile at him over his shoulder. “Front pocket on his right side, I’d swear it.”
Sebastian ducked his head. That would be absurdly sentimental. Leon wouldn’t. Would he?
After a short walk, they crested a small hill, and the area in front of them opened into a haphazard courtyard. A huge pavilion sprawled across it. Most of the pavilion’s cloth sides had been rolled up to expose its many inhabitants to the open air and the barely there hint of a breeze.
“There’s your man.” Oliver nudged him and nodded to somewhere in the middle of the pavilion.
In a half second, Sebastian saw him.
Leon leaned over a table, his strong arms braced against it and his face serious as he listened intently to a huge klah’eel beside him. He looked the same as he had ever looked, and Sebastian’s heart swelled into his throat.
The rest of the world fell away as he moved forward as fast as he could without breaking into a run. When Sebastian got halfway to the tent, Leon looked up, and his serious expression fell away into shock and then unmistakable joy. He skirted the table and left the klah’eel looking after him mid-sentence.
“Sebastian.” Leon opened his arms as soon as he got near, and Sebastian threw himself into them without a care for how he looked. He didn’t give a fuck if he looked needy or pathetic or smitten. He just needed to feel Leon’s solidity wrap around him.
“Leon. Thank god.” Sebastian buried his face into Leon’s shoulder and crinkled his damp shirt in his fists. He inhaled deeply, pulling in the scent he hadn’t even realized he’d memorized. “How did you get off the planet?”
“There was time to evacuate, and we had the ships on hand.” Leon wrapped a hand around the back of Sebastian’s neck and held him close. He pressed a kiss to the side of Sebastian’s head. “Most of the Resistance got out. Everyone at headquarters, most of the regional bases. Martha, Jason. Some of the civilians…”
“My family.” Sebastian shoved Leon back to look up at him. “My parents—”
The strange, older klah’eel appeared at Leon’s shoulder with a deep chuckle. “Your parents are very well. Your father is vying for the presidency as we speak.”
Sebastian’s hands dropped from Leon’s chest down to his own sides. “What?”
“And your mother is running an excellent campaign for him.” A human man came up to meet them with a roguish smile that made his weathered face look young. “Though it does seem a bit early considering that a constitution still needs to be written.” He held out his hand. “I’m Zyk.”
Sebastian’s spine shot straight up, and warning bells went off in his mind. Only his good upbringing had him smoothly shaking the man’s hand.
“I see you’ve heard of me.” Zyk laughed and nodded his head toward the klah’eel. “And probably Ha’ral here too.”
“Your reputations precede you.” Sebastian forced a grin and glanced at Leon to see him looking very relaxed in the presence of the infamous leaders of the Carta Cartel.
“Come on.” Zyk slipped an arm through Sebastian’s elbow and led him back to the pavilion in a move so casual Sebastian found himself following without a hitch. “Let’s get you all caught up, and then you can run off with your handsome leader.”
Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up. Even the Carta Cartel founder knew about him and Leon?
“He really is handsome, by the way, and he’s been worried sick about you.” Zyk tipped his head toward Sebastian and spoke quietly enough to keep Leon and Ha’ral from hearing. “He’s been reminding me of Ha’ral, actually. It’s been adorable.”
Sebastian schooled his expression to a strict neutral when Zyk glanced over his shoulder at the klah’eel that followed them with an unmistakable look of fondness. It had never once occurred to Sebastian that the two men who had founded the Carta Cartel over two decades ago could be partners in more ways than one.
“He worries about everything.” Sebastian shrugged a shoulder, grabbing onto whatever confidence and nonchalance he could fake. “And I think you may have me confused with someone else. My parents—”
“Are William and Alice Ralsdi.” Zyk gave him a sidelong smile with a glint in his eyes. “Yes, we know about them and the family secret. Don’t worry, we haven’t used it to intimidate them yet, and we don’t currently plan to.”
That did nothing to convince Sebastian not to worry, but he had a feeling they had greater concerns for the moment. “What’s this about the presidency? Presidency of what?”
“Of Southern Tava.” Leon stepped forward and took Sebastian’s hand. He led him away from Zyk and to the table he’d been standing at. A large map stretched across it with the Southern Tava continent delineated in thick, official lines.
A lump formed in Sebastian’s throat. He squeezed Leon’s hand as he looked down at the map and at Ralscoln marked with a star. “The country?”
Leon squeezed his hand back and shook it a bit as though to make the realization real. “The country.”
“I don’t understand.” Sebastian shook his head slowly, frowning at the map and then back up at Leon, Zyk, and Ha’ral. “Did we…win?”
Leon’s eyes went dark at that, and Zyk and Ha’ral exchanged glances.
Sebastian looked between them all and then put a hand on his hip. “I know I’ve been out for five days, but we did not seem to be winning last I was conscious.”
