By the time Damian returned to their chambers, clean now, the scent of antiseptic barely clinging to his skin beneath the linen that cooled more than it comforted, Gabriel was already stepping out of the bathroom, hair still damp, the ends curling slightly at the nape of his neck. He wore one of Damian's robes, loose, not even pretending to be fastened, as if modesty had long since stopped being a concern between them.
Damian stilled.
Not because Gabriel was barefoot and gorgeous and radiating that quiet defiance that always made the Emperor's blood run hotter, but because something had changed.
It wasn't the robe or the careless way Gabriel moved.
It was the soft curve at the front of his body. Barely there. Easily missed by anyone else. But Damian noticed it like a blow to the chest. The gentle swell just above the beltline, subtle, visible only in the shifting light of the chandelier overhead.
He didn't say anything. He couldn't. Not at first.
