More than a month after Sebastian and Nero's wedding, Dean had begun to suspect that being busy had become the permanent condition of their household.
The move into the main palace continued one room at a time. Minerva's responsibilities arrived on Dean's desk faster than he could transfer his own work out of the Crown Prince residence, while Arion spent most days moving between imperial transition meetings, military briefings, the research institute, and whatever new question Otto had decided his future emperor should begin answering without him.
They still ate together.
Theo still had his lessons.
Boreas and Ducky still treated every open packing crate as a personal invitation.
Beyond that, the days had blurred into schedules.
Which was why Dean had gone to bed the previous evening expecting nothing more dramatic than six hours of sleep and perhaps a child appearing at dawn to ask where somebody had packed his favorite book.
