Page 102 of Blinding Light

“Yeah.” Cyprian looked down to his hands and feet. They had been shackled and dumped in the corner of some office. “Where are we? Please tell me we made it inside?”

Archer let out a small chuckle and shook his head. “We didn’t. Dude, you were completely out of it. Just like the other day at school. Is this—do you often have this?”

Cyprian tipped his head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. “I think it’s the light on this planet,” he said. That wasn’t a total lie at least. “It does something to my mind.”

Archer shuffled closer until they sat next to each other, their backs pressed against the wall. “I was afraid you’d get hurt,” he confessed.

Cyprian smiled, those words singing in his heart. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine. You were with me, that was enough. So where are we?”

“The Luminary took us. That’s bad. That’s—” Archer licked his lips and turned to look through the bars. “They will hurt us,” he whispered thickly. “Good light, they will tear us apart.”

The door clicked open. Next to him, Archer flinched.

A man and a woman came in, dressed in black and gold. Guards pushed Cyprian and Archer into two seats that stood across a desk and shackled them.

“What were you doing outside the hospital?” The man asked, his eyes lingering on Cyprian’s yellow gaze.

“It was a misunderstanding. We—” Archer began.

“I came to see my mother,” Cyprian finished. He threw his chin higher in the air.

“Your mother is a patient of the hospital?” The woman asked, frowning. “So, you were invited?”

“No, I—I was adopted at a young age. I have been searching for her my entire life.” Cyprian stopped to clear his throat. That familiar sense of helplessness threatened to smother him. “You are not going to let me see her, are you?”

“This facility is not open to the public,” the woman began. Before she could finish her phrase, there was another knock on the door.

There was a commotion when more guards walked in. Then their interrogators slowly stood, their eyes wide.

“Imperial Moargan,” someone said.

In walked the Imperial Prince, gaze roaming around the room until they landed on Cyprian. His amethyst eyes flared. “I’ve come to retrieve something that belongs to me.” He jutted his chin to Cyprian. “Him.”

Both Luminary gasped. “This young man?—”

“Is my Royal Consort.”

The man spluttered in surprise. “We were not informed about this. Both men refused to leave the gates. They had no invitation.”

“I will take them both with me,” Moargan commanded.

Guards hurried to take off the cuffs.

“Cyprian.” He had barely enough time to get out of his chair when Moargan’s strong arm curled around his nape, pressing him to his chest.

“I’m sorry.” Cyprian exhaled, feeling his entire body slump as he finally relaxed. Warmth bloomed up inside his body and onhis skin, the scent of opium and pine tar drifting through his nose.

Moargan walked them outside and straight to where a spacious, black hover car was waiting for them. When Archer climbed in the back, Moargan pulled Cyprian back. “Why did you do it? Come here without me?”

Cyprian’s shoulders slumped. Suddenly he felt incredibly stupid for what he’d done.

“You brought your friend into danger. You broughtyourselfinto danger.”

“I was afraid you’d be ashamed of me,” he blurted.

Moargan’s eyebrows wrinkled in surprise. “Ashamed?”

“For having a mother in a hospital. In a mental one.”

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