Matthias stepped from the Duchess's chambers.
He drew the door shut with a slow, heavy deliberation, as if the click of the latch could somehow tether the whirlwind of his thoughts.
But the reprieve was short-lived.
There, leaned against the stone wall with arms crossed and a predatory glint in his eyes, stood Leon.
Arching a skeptical brow, Matthias lowered his voice to a sharp, commanding rasp.
"What brings you to this corridor? Do not tell me you've taken up the ignoble habit of eavesdropping."
Leon's lips curled into a smirk. His head tilted with a practiced air of mockery.
"And if I have, dear brother? What then?"
Matthias, his patience already frayed to a thin thread, was in no mood for such verbal fencing.
Without a word, he seized Leon by the ear, hauling him toward the sanctuary of his study.
Leon's protests—a chorus of "Ouch! Watch the ear!"—fell on deaf ears until they were safely behind closed doors.
Matthias slammed the heavy oak shut.
