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“Okay, so not the earpiece.” Sebastian shoved the last piece of bread into his mouth.
“Not the earpiece.” Leon finally turned away from the remnants of the sunset and faced Sebastian. He pulled his shoulders back, and Sebastian raised an eyebrow. That was what Leon did when he prepared for something unpleasant.
“What is it then?”
“I need you to know that I wasn’t going to shoot down the Barzen.”
Sebastian stopped with his spoon halfway to his mouth.
He licked his lips and carefully placed the spoon back before he could drop it.
He hadn’t had any time to think about that conversation in their makeshift headquarters in the old hospital. The one that had finally driven Sebastian away from Leon.
He took a deep breath and met Leon’s eyes. “You were when I left you.”
“Yes.” Leon nodded with the firmness of a leader accepting responsibility. “But I changed my mind.”
“You came after me.” Sebastian bit his lip. He remembered his criticism of Oliver Turner, and it twisted like a knife in his chest. He remembered saying that a person didn’t get points just because they put one person above all others. He still believed that. “I appreciate that you chose me, but—”
“I didn’t just choose you.” Leon grabbed his shoulder. “I listened to you, I believed you, and I realized you were right. I chose the people of Kaston and the people of Southern Tava. And you.”
Sebastian took a deep, careful breath. “Really?”
Leon tightened his grip on his shoulder. “I changed my orders before I found out that you’d gone off on your own.”
Sebastian’s knees weakened, and he locked them to keep himself up. “You did?”
“I did.” Leon nodded. “I swear.”
“Thank you.” Sebastian took Leon’s hand off his shoulder and threaded their fingers together. He brought it to his lips and kissed his knuckles. Tears stung at his eyes, and he blinked them away. His man was good. Leon was good. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Leon took the bowl out of Sebastian’s hands and set it aside. He cupped Sebastian’s face and pulled him close. “But Sebastian?”
“Yeah?” Sebastian’s eyes fluttered closed, and he wrapped his arms around Leon’s waist. He breathed in the smell of him, mixed with the spices of Carta cooking and the salt of the sea.
“I don’t want to put you second anymore.”
Sebastian’s eyes flew open again, and his lips parted. He stared up into Leon’s intense, serious gaze. Leon rubbed a thumb over his lower lip.
“I don’t want to have anything more important. I don’t want to have anything that you can’t distract me from. And I don’t want to ever, ever”—Leon’s upper lip lifted in the hint of a snarl—“have to say that you come second to anything, ever again.”
Sebastian’s breath caught. He clutched at the fabric around Leon’s waist and twisted it in his hands. “What—” He swallowed around his dry tongue. His heart pounded so hopefully in his chest that it hurt. “What exactly are you saying, Leon?”
Leon petted his thumbs over Sebastian’s cheekbone. “I’m saying, that if you’ll let me, I’d like to put you first in my life.”
“Because you love me?” Sebastian let out a delighted, bubbling laugh, and Leon’s eyes widened but then started to shine with the same absurd giddiness.
“Because I love you, Sebastian,” Leon growled. “And I want to fucking do it properly.”
Leon captured his mouth aggressively, and Sebastian melted against him, his blood singing in his veins. Leon loved him. Leon loved him, and he loved Leon, and the sunset was gorgeous, and Southern Tava was free, and goddammit, Sebastian thought he might cry as Leon crowded him up against a wall and slid a thigh between his legs.
“I fucking love you, Leon.”
“I love you, too, Sebastian.” Leon put their foreheads together and brushed his nose against his.
Sebastian nuzzled him back. “Does this mean you’ll stop arguing with me?”
Leon threw his head back and barked a laugh. “What?”
