It was bad enough to discover Laurent was friends with the Prince-killer, but to see with his own eyes that they were also lovers stunned him. There had been talk at the palace, jokes, that Laurent had been fucking his pet, though Nicaise did not really believe them, nor had he attached them to now.

It was not a forced kiss, or a sensual kiss, but something fond. Intimate without being overt.

Nicaise pushed his plate away, and once Damianos had left, he looked to Laurent. "He killed your brother," he said, caught between a question and statement.