Bound by the Mark of Lies (BL)
Chapter 155 - 150: Fit to Rule (2)

Chapter 155: Chapter 150: Fit to Rule (2)

The sun hadn’t even thought about rising when Edward’s knock came. It was not polite. It was not hesitant. He kept his word on being brutal about it and Gabriel could feel how much amusement the old man had.

Gabriel, wrapped in a blanket and in denial, groaned into his pillow, his mind still foggy with dreams. "It’s still night."

"Technically," came Edward’s voice from beyond the door, "it’s tomorrow."

Damian stirred beside him, golden eyes slitted open in the half-dark. "Kill him."

Gabriel sat up with a tragic expression. "I’m not dressed."

"I’ll be merciful," Edward called. "I’ve brought clean clothes and a mildly enchanted comb."

"You’re enjoying this," Gabriel muttered.

"Immensely."

Ten minutes later, Gabriel stood in the Emperor’s dressing room, hair tamed, shirt freshly pressed, and soul already withering. He hadn’t had coffee. The butler did not even try to calm the enraged man.

"Fasting is necessary," the butler had stated, pouring tea for himself with offensive grace. "And don’t scowl like that. You’ll scare the physician."

Gabriel didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. The glare he shot Edward could have curdled milk. Unfortunately, Edward had long built immunity.

Behind him, Damian entered barefoot, shirtless, and gloriously unconcerned. He looked like sin given shape and had no intention of attending anything before sunrise.

"Tell them to come back at noon," Damian muttered, his voice rough with sleep. "Or never."

Edward didn’t even flinch. "I doubt the Empire would survive two dominant tantrums before breakfast."

Gabriel let out a slow breath and tugged on the cuff of his sleeve. "What exactly does this medical evaluation involve? Do they make me run? Is there nudity? I need to emotionally prepare."

’Or if I should run away now.’ He thought bitterly.

Edward handed him a folder. "Blood tests. Ether signature stability. Pheromone compatibility confirmation. And yes, partial nudity."

Gabriel opened the folder, skimmed it, and immediately shut it again. "What in the nine hells is ’intimate ether harmonization analysis’?"

"That’s the compatibility confirmation," Edward said. "To ensure your bonded aura doesn’t trigger imperial wards or kill you both in the middle of a ceremony."

"Wonderful," Gabriel muttered. "Exactly the kind of thing that should be tested after coffee."

"I offered tea," Edward replied with visible enjoyment.

"I am going to die from tea poisoning because of you." Gabriel couldn’t remember a time when he drank so much tea in his life.

Damian leaned against the doorframe now, arms crossed, wearing a sleepy smirk. "It’s not so bad. I passed mine."

Gabriel shot him a look. "You burned your medical records."

"Which means I passed impressively."

Gabriel looked at Edward. "What happens if I don’t pass?"

"Then we postpone the mating ceremony," Edward said flatly. "And you’ll have to survive another round of interviews with foreign nobility who still think you’re ’just a project director with good hips.’"

Damian laughed. Gabriel did not.

—

They were led through a quiet back hallway of the palace, which was primarily used for transportation between the private residences and the medical wing. The chandeliers flickered low, the air was crisp, and Gabriel’s nerves boiled beneath his skin. He hated hospitals. He assumed it was related to his life before the rebellion.

Gabriel discovered that he was an experiment of the old regime, an alpha turned omega created solely to serve as leverage between von Jaunez and the future imperial family. Former crown prince Olivier.

Theo and Lucius appeared to be unaware of Peter, his maternal grandfather’s plans for him, but he had his doubts. They had to know something.

The medical wing was quiet at this hour but lit with a steady golden glow from enchanted lanterns. Waiting outside the exam room were two physicians, both wearing gold-trimmed robes and utterly neutral expressions.

"Your Majesty. Lord von Jaunez," one said with a bow. "We’re ready for you."

’Your Majesty, they move fast. Too fast.’ He thought while entering the room.

The exam room was colder than it had any right to be.

Not just physically, though the stone tiles chilled through his socks, but in atmosphere. It was sterile, efficient, and smelled faintly of disinfectant and ozone, like magic had been scrubbed into the walls. There was a padded recliner at the center, made of soft leather and glowing with an ether-linked pulse, and a series of crystal instruments on a nearby tray that did not look comforting.

Gabriel resisted the urge to turn around and walk out.

"Please, sit," the female physician said, gesturing to the recliner. "We’ll begin with a preliminary ether resonance reading."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Do I need to take anything off?"

"Just your jacket and shoes for now."

With a sigh of a man headed for his own beheading, he complied.

Once seated, a faint hum filled the room as the doctor pressed a crystal disk to the inside of his wrist. The sensation was strange, like warm mist trickling under his skin, drawing ether from him without force. It was not painful, but it left him feeling vulnerable.

"You’ve recently undergone a change," the other physician remarked, glancing at the readings projected in the air. "Your secondary gender signature was stabilized artificially."

Gabriel kept his eyes on the ceiling, refusing to look at the equipment that had been prepared for him. "The bond is recent, but the gender was changed before I was four. Last time I did a check-up, everything was in order."

The doctors exchanged glances, but neither contradicted him. It was written in his charts anyway, an old note, buried between noble lineages and confidential imperial seals. A manufactured omega. Tailored to fit into someone else’s vision of power. He had a heat spike two months ago that required a day in the hospital and supresants, but it was nothing unusual.

"Some distortions remain," the woman said gently, eyes never quite meeting his. "But your system has adapted well. The bond helped stabilize it further."

Gabriel snorted. "So Damian’s bite fixed my broken ether. That’ll feed his ego for months."