Rafael walked into the office with the hollow, wary calm of a man approaching a battlefield he hoped was temporarily unmanned.
For once, fate was kind.
Alexandra's desk was empty.
Gabriel's coat wasn't draped over his chair.
Irina's stack of pastel folders wasn't threatening to avalanche.
Silence. Glorious, fragile silence.
Rafael exhaled and sagged into his chair, opening his planner like a man greeting an old friend. He had thirty precious minutes, maybe more, before someone barged in demanding updates, tea, gossip, or emotional support he did not possess today.
He even got as far as answering two emails and drafting a note about the ambassador's upcoming visit.
Peace.
Until the door to the office clicked open with the unmistakable "you're not alone anymore" energy of doom.
Rafael closed his eyes for exactly one second. "No. Not now."
But now it was.
Gabriel strode in first, elegant in dark navy, expression unreadable only if you had never met him. Irina followed at his shoulder, carrying a stack of documents taller than hope. Behind them… Of course.
Edward.
Damian and Gabriel's butler. The man who could silence a room with a raised eyebrow. The man who respected exactly four humans and perhaps half of a fifth. That half of a fifth was the child Gabriel was pregnant with.
And last, sweeping in like divine punishment, Alexandra.
Her hair was immaculate. Her uniform was impeccable and her expression was bright and sharpened like a hunting knife dipped in perfume.
Rafael's soul briefly left his body.
Gabriel stopped beside his desk. "Good morning, Rafael." Gods, this man was almost unreal, even pregnant for over six months, but still looked divine.
"Morning," Rafael croaked.
Irina gave a small wave, cheerful as always.
Edward nodded once, the kind of nod that felt like a performance evaluation in disguise.
Alexandra smiled like a cat that had found a mouse wearing glitter.
Rafael immediately looked away.
Gabriel placed a folder on his desk. "We need your review on the ambassador's itinerary, and Irina has the updated security allocations. Not urgent, but before noon."
"Of course," Rafael said, grateful, very briefly, that Gabriel hadn't mentioned the date.
But then Alexandra stepped forward.
She planted her hands on the edge of his desk, leaned in, and whispered with a wicked sparkle in her jade eyes, "Rafael."
He did not look at her.
She leaned closer. "Rafael."
He stared at the ambassador's itinerary like it was sacred scripture.
Alexandra's voice dropped into delighted menace. "You ignored my messages."
Rafael's soul attempted to flee his body again.
Irina, traitor that she was, bounced lightly on her heels. "Did you have your date yesterday? With the industrial alpha? Gabriel said…"
Rafael shot Gabriel a look so sharp it could've filed metal.
Gabriel merely lifted a brow, calm as a saint framed in gold. "I told her nothing specific. Only that you survived."
"Survived?" Alexandra repeated, scandalized. "What does that mean? Rafael, look at me."
He didn't.
She tapped the desk. "Rafael."
He inhaled slowly and covered his face with his hands. Why did he take a job with extroverted individuals such as Gabriel and Alexandra? Why?
"Alexandra. Not at eight in the morning." He begged her.
"It's nine-thirty," Irina corrected.
"That makes it worse," Rafael muttered.
Edward cleared his throat, the soft, lethal sound of a guillotine being lowered with etiquette. "Lady Lancaster," he said, his tone velvet-coated steel, "perhaps Mr. Rosenroth can speak once he is allowed to breathe."
Alexandra blinked at him. "Edward… are you defending him?"
Edward didn't flinch. "Mr. Rosenroth is one of the few efficient people in this building. I'd like him functional."
Rafael stared at the butler, stunned. "Thank… you?"
Edward inclined his head. "Do not become accustomed to it."
Irina giggled.
Gabriel finally sat, folding his hands over the slight swell of his abdomen. "All right, Rafael. If you want privacy, we can discuss your assignments first. If not…" he glanced meaningfully at Alexandra, "I believe you have something to tell us."
Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose. There was no escape. He knew it. They knew it.
So he lifted his head, met their collective stare, and said, very flatly:
"His name is Augustus."
Irina gasped. Alexandra's eyes widened like fireworks. Even Edward's eyebrows rose a millimeter, an emotional earthquake by his standards.
Gabriel leaned back, amused. "Augustus Ravenstone?"
Rafael groaned. "Yes."
Alexandra slapped both hands on the desk. "THE Ravenstones?! Rafael, why didn't you answer my messages?! I could have prepared you! I could have sent a dossier! I could have coached your expressions!"
"I didn't want to be coached," Rafael muttered.
Gabriel exchanged a look with Irina, a quiet blend of affection and mild pity. "Rafael… Rafael Rosenroth… went on a blind date with one of the most eligible alphas in the Empire… without preparation."
Irina tilted her head. "Did you faint?"
"No."
"Did he faint?"
"No!"
Alexandra narrowed her eyes like a hawk spotting weakness. "Did he like you?"
Rafael froze.
Edward answered for him, coolly: "Judging by the fact that he returned to work walking, I suspect the date was normal without escalations."
Rafael's ears reddened and sputtered. "Edward!"
"What?" Edward asked. "I'm offering optimism."
Gabriel steepled his fingers, eyes glinting. "So. Was it good?"
Rafael stared at the folder in front of him as though it might burst into flames if he confessed too much. "It was… fine."
Alexandra inhaled sharply. "Fine?"
Irina leaned in. "Fine?"
Gabriel smiled. "Fine."
Rafael's shoulders drooped. "Better than fine."
Alexandra erupted like a champagne bottle. "RAFAEL."
"No!" He held up both hands. "We are not discussing my personal life before breakfast."
Irina circled around to his side like she was cutting off his escape route. "Rafael, come on. We're reasonable people."
Gabriel coughed once into his hand.
Irina corrected herself quickly. "Mostly reasonable people."
Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm begging you. Let me pretend for one blissful hour that my personal life is not a public viewing exhibit."
Alexandra arched a brow, predatory. "You ignored twenty-seven messages."
Rafael froze. "You counted?"
"Of course I counted," she said sweetly. "I'm invested."
Irina nodded like a supportive accomplice. "She had the group chat ready to explode."
"There's a group chat?" Rafael whispered in horror.
Gabriel's lips twitched. "Several."
Rafael dropped his head onto his desk with a dull thud. "I hate this palace."
"No, you don't," Alexandra said, brushing an imaginary speck from his sleeve. "You love us."
"I love none of you," Rafael mumbled into the wood. "Not today."
Gabriel pulled his chair closer, his tone softer than the others. "Rafael, you don't have to give us the details. Just… tell us if you're all right."
Rafael hesitated.
That, more than everything else, hit him in the chest. Because buried under Alexandra's nosiness and Irina's excitement and Edward's looming judgment, Gabriel actually cared.
And that made honesty feel inevitable.
Rafael slowly sat up, palms pressed together in defeat. "I'm fine," he said quietly. "And… yes. The date went well. Better than I expected."
Irina's eyes sparkled. "So you liked him."
Rafael glared. "I didn't say that."
"But you also didn't deny it," Alexandra shot back.
Rafael groaned. "If I tell you anything, anything, will you stop?"
Alexandra and Irina exchanged matching smiles.
"Possibly," Alexandra said.
"Unlikely," Irina admitted.
Gabriel looked at them, unimpressed. "Both of you sit. Let him speak without pouncing."