"HELLO there, little brother," Cynric said with a bright smile on his face.

Wulfric’s eyes narrowed at the smile on Cynric’s face. It looked way too amused. The kind of smile that meant he was up to something. "What are you planning?"

Cynric put on a look of mock offense. "Hey, you make it sound like I only contact you when I’m up to no good. Can’t I just call because I missed you?"

"It’s because of that smile," Wulfric said, rolling his eyes. "I know that look. You’re planning some kind of prank on me."

Cynric pressed a hand to his chest, putting on an exaggeratedly wounded expression. "How can you be so suspicious of me? I thought we were closer than ever after our heartfelt talk. Was that just my imagination?"

His voice dripped with mock hurt, but his eyes sparkled with amusement, making it clear he was just being dramatic on purpose.

Wulfric let out a groan. He really didn’t have time to play along with Cynric right now, not when he was still painfully hard. "Can this wait? I really need to take a shower right now. I’ll call you back later, okay?"

Before he could end the call, Cynric quickly spoke up. "Wait! Okay, no more teasing. I called because I found out you snuck into the capital. If Lieutenant Brewer hadn’t contacted me, I wouldn’t have known you were here."

This time, Cynric actually sounded upset. Wulfric sighed. His trip had been unplanned, and he had wanted to keep things low key, which was why he hadn’t told Cynric he was coming. But of course Leland had to go and tell him. This was probably the other’s way of getting back at Wulfric for sneaking off without a word.

"I’m sorry, alright?" he said. "I’m only here for a couple of days. I didn’t want to bother you."

That seemed to satisfy Cynric. His expression softened, and he looked at Wulfric with eyes full of affection. "Aww, what are you saying? You could never be a bother."

Wulfric shuddered. He knew they had patched things up between them, but hearing his brother say things like that still made his skin crawl. And not in a good way.

"Cyn, seriously, I need to use the bathroom, so can I just call you later?" he said, his hard on still straining uncomfortably against his pants.

"Fine. But call me back with Astrid Townsend next to you," Cynric said. "You’re at that apartment building you bought for him, aren’t you?"

With that, Cynric gave Wulfric a sweet smile and ended the call before he could respond.

Wulfric stared at the blank screen where his brother’s face had been just seconds ago. How did Cynric know about the apartment? And more importantly, why did he want Aster there when he called back later? He sighed and shook his head. Whatever his brother was planning, it could wait. Right now, he needed to take a cold shower. So he pushed the thoughts aside and headed for the bathroom.

***

"The Emperor wants to... talk to us?" Astrid asked, his voice carrying a note of confusion.

Wulfric nodded. That wasn’t exactly what Cynric had said, but when he thought about it, that was clearly what his brother meant. So when he got back down to Aster’s apartment, that’s what he told him.

"Huh..." Astrid didn’t have any idea why the Emperor would want to talk to him too, but he couldn’t exactly tell Wulfric he didn’t want to do it. Wulfric and his brother had just patched things up, and the last thing he wanted was to cause tension between them just because he refused a simple conversation. "Okay."

Seeing the initial confusion on Aster’s face, and then his agreement, Wulfric let out a quiet breath of relief. He was glad that Aster was not annoyed by this request. He opened his Terminal and called Cynric. His brother’s face appeared on the screen almost immediately.

Instead of looking at Wulfric, Cynric’s gaze went straight to Aster. They were sitting close together on the couch, so both of them were clearly visible on the screen.

"Hi, Astrid," Cynric said with a warm smile.

Astrid felt awkward being addressed so casually by the Emperor, but he did his best to smile as naturally as he could. "Good evening, Your Majesty."

The Emperor seemed pleased by that. "Since Wulf is here for a rare visit, why don’t the two of you visit me at the palace tomorrow?"

Astrid blinked, caught completely off guard. For one, he was too surprised to form a response. He had never expected the Emperor to invite him to the palace. And for another, his brain was still trying to process what had just been said, leaving him momentarily speechless.

But he didn’t have to worry for long because Wulfric answered for him. "Forget it. You know there are Lancaster spies all over the palace. I’m not risking one of them seeing Aster and possibly uncovering his real identity."

Astrid glanced at Wulfric. That should have been his own reaction. There were times when he forgot about the Lancaster family’s shadow hanging over them, too caught up in everything else. But seeing that Wulfric’s first instinct was to shut down any risk to him showed just how seriously he took his safety.

Cynric looked offended at his brother’s lack of faith in him. "Do you think I haven’t considered that? Astrid can go in disguise as Valentine’s assistant, and the two of them can come to the palace together. Everyone here already thinks Val is my little boytoy anyway. So him showing up with an assistant wouldn’t raise any suspicion."

Okay, Astrid felt like he had just heard something he probably shouldn’t have. Like the fact that everyone in the Imperial Palace apparently saw Valentine Davis as the Emperor’s personal boytoy. But aside from that, the Emperor’s plan wasn’t actually a bad idea.

Wulfric’s expression darkened, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he had to hear about his brother’s relationship with that bastard Valentine Davis, something he would have preferred to remain ignorant about, or because he actually thought Cynric’s idea wasn’t half bad.

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