Bound by the Mark of Lies (BL) Chapter 23 - 18: How to find your mate (1)

"Gabriel... Gabriel von Jaunez. The man Max should have a date with." Edward took a mont to reflect. His voice was full of amusent, as if Damian had lost it. "Are you jealous?"

"I'm starting to ask myself if I have to find not just a new secretary, but maybe a new butler too. Edward, you can tell if you are feeling old. I can hire more servants at any ti." Damian's grin never faltered. His golden eyes glimd with amusent.

Edward raised a hand, trying to protect himself from this man's jabs. Edward raised a hand as if to shield himself from Damian's verbal jabs. "That's not an answer."

Damian only smiled, taking a slow sip of his wine.

Edward exhaled through his nose. "Well, how are you going to explain it? You barely t the man at the hearing earlier. Actually, until yesterday, you had never been interested in him. Max starts to speak about him and you now want him. Gabriel's not a toy, Damian." He spoke with the tone of a gentle parent trying to reason with a capricious child. He could play the petty ga as well as Damian.

"That you lost your damn mind." Damian's voice lowered, his words tinged with amusent and a hint of sothing more intense.

Before Edward could retort, the double doors swung open exposing Astana to the two n seated at the round table near the windows. He felt like he had interrupted them and wanted to leave, but the heavy report he was holding needed to be delivered as soon as possible. The officer who elaborated was adamant that no one except the Emperor should open the files. He even cast a spell on it in case anything happened.

"Your Majesty, My Lord, I have received the report on Gabriel." Astana goulped, he didn't like any of the two n's gaze. They were planning sothing.

Damian's eyes flicked to the man standing at the door, then back to the report Astana held. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Co in, Astana. You're not interrupting anything."

Astana was still shaken after his heads-on with Damian, but sothing changed in the hour he was away. He didn't like how the Emperor could read him so well.

Astana moved forward, the thick folder feeling heavier than it should as he placed it before the Emperor. A faint shimr of protective magic clung to the seal, flickering as Damian's fingers brushed over it.

A single flick of his wrist broke the spell. The wax cracked, and the folder was opened by itself.

Silence settled over the room as Damian scanned the first page. His expression remained unreadable, but Edward, ever observant, noticed the subtle way his fingers tensed at the edges of the parchnt.

Astana didn't dare speak.

Edward, knowing better than to press too soon, sighed and stood. He crossed the room to retrieve another bottle of wine. He had a feeling they would need it. He won't be the only one responsible for hearing Damian's bullshit plan.

"Astana, I recomnd you take a seat. Tonight I'm not the only one who has to put up with Damian's plan." Astana hesitated before obeying. Damian gave the slightest wave of his hand, silently granting permission. A mont later, Edward slid a filled glass toward the secretary before sitting back down himself. He gave a short description of Damian's plan of getting his hands on Gabriel.

The young man fiddled with his wine glass while listening to what Edward was saying. He didn't understand why they chose to tell him the plan details; he was very sure that Edward had ears and eyes everywhere. He let the man finish and drank a long sip of wine. It was the best he ever had. Astana was a high-class noble and had access to everything he wanted. The emperor sure had an expensive taste.

"I don't understand several things, but I will ask you only those that have sothing to do with the plan."

"Go on," Damian murmured without lifting his eyes from the pages of the report.

Astana licked his lips, trying to calm himself. "How did you plan to spread the news about his majesty's soul mate?"

"First of all, Damian. We would use our intel from the high society. The gossip will spread like wildfire." Damian flipped a page and closed the report. It didn't look like he liked what he read.

"I don't think it will work." Astana thought about the dium he grew up in; gossip would spread faster than anything, but this felt too planned. Too good.

"How so?" Edward's genuine curiosity could be read on his face.

"Well, as my lord told ..."

The butler interrupted him without thinking, "Edward. I need to feel younger these days. Soone put a lot of work into driving insane." His gaze was fixed on Damian.

"If that's what you want. As you told , Damian never t Gabriel in person; even more, nobody saw them together. Even if the rumor starts from soone that high society respects and believes that there isn't a guarantee that it will succeed. Gabriel could very easily disprove everything. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Edward asked while pouring wine for him and Damian, his movents still elegant and precise.

"Unless you make it look like a real love story. A real drama." Astana took the last sip of his wine and put it away from Edward; sothing told him that the butler would try to make him drink his mind.

"Continue; now I need to know what plan you think of." Damian finally leaned back, undoing two buttons on his shirt in a careless motion that revealed a glimpse of his collarbone. Astana, despite himself, looked away. He was a man, a beta even, but even he wasn't immune to the Emperor's presence. And he was well aware that Damian never turned down an amusing offer.

"The coming-of-age ball is the best mont, or... another party important enough to have you as guest. You could et with Gabriel by chance and make it seem like you found yourself in love. Sure, Gabriel can react differently, but I don't think he will run from you." Astana munched his words before talking again. "Even if he does, that would add fuel to the fire."