The palace was too quiet without their families in it.
Arik noticed it the morning after the last transport departed, although he would have denied that phrasing if anyone asked.
For more than two weeks, the private wings had been occupied by relatives who ignored schedules, wandered into rooms without requesting permission, argued over breakfast, and treated the imperial residence as though ancient Nurian protocol had been designed primarily for their inconvenience.
Then duty reclaimed all of them.
Damian and Gabriel had Agaron.
Rex had Wrohan.
Max and Noah had responsibilities Arik had deliberately avoided examining too closely because discussing them usually produced another stack of documents.
Enia had extracted a promise from Liam that he would answer her calls, then immediately revised the arrangement and announced she would simply call every day instead.
