Page 41 of Blinding Light

Yure scrunched up his nose. “I donotwant to hear the details.” He grabbed the bottle and filled up their glasses. “So, he’s a refugee then.”

“So he says.”

“And you believe him?”

Moargan considered the question. Did he believe Cyprian?His body did. This weird as fuck thrumming in his chest had settled the moment his property had spilled those words. But his brain was working overtime. Of course, it was plausible that he had been raised in foster care. Though it was questionable that, from all the planets in their solar system, he came from Helion. But not impossible. “I haven’t quite decided,” he said truthfully. “Although it explains his skittishness. If he indeed is a refugee, he has reason to believe that I would send him back.”

“You could check with Tulniri authorities. See if they confirm his version.”

Moargan would never do that, and they both knew it. There was no way he would even consider sending Cyprian back. No, sooner or later, the truth would come out. The teasing was just what Moargan needed. It was the Dariux inside of him.

“Go and see your father with him,” Yure proposed. “After tomorrow he’ll be all over you anyway.”

“Yeah,” Moargan breathed. He wanted Cyprian to meet Father. And Mother, though he didn’t admit that out loud. “If he believes he’s originally from here, but was adopted, perhaps Zimeon knows more about it.”

His father’s right hand was the leader of all Helion laboratories.

“And have someone replace a light bulb in my room tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Oh, I think you do.” Moargan grinned when his friend raised his brows. “It exploded at theexactmoment.” It had been spectacular.

“At theexactmoment?” Yure echoed.

“Hmm.” Moargan downed the whiskey in one bitter gulp. “Alright, I’m off to bed. Can’t leave my company alone for too long.” He wiggled his brow, laughing when Yure flipped him off with a sarcastic grunt. “Make sure that Vandor’s boys keep their eyes on him tomorrow. He lives here now.”

Yure eyed him with a thousand questions. Finally, he shrugged. “Before I forget, we need to work on your father’s list of biofarms. You know, the credit reports?”

Moargan grunted. “He always gives me the most inspiring tasks.”

Yure laughed. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Moargan strolled back through the darkness without worry. He had night vision, a special enhancement that had been offered to Helion’s elite.

Slowly pushing the door to his bedroom open, he was only half surprised to find the bed empty. It took him less than ten minutes of searching through closets and rooms, to find Cyprian. Fast asleep on the floor of the guest room-turned-into-studio, he was wrapped in a pair of his own sleeping pants and an oversized t-shirt. Of course.

Vandor had brought Cyprian’s stuff here, including his clothes. Well, he’d have to get rid of those. Moargan liked him enveloped in his garments.

In front of Cyprian laid his sketchpad, the pencil case open and filled with charcoal pencils of all shapes.

Cyprian had drawn Umbral Park. He had sketched the fountain and the row of apple trees. The string of daisies looked painfully beautiful, even in their blurred status. When Moargan took a closer look, he cursed. Cyprian had cried when he had drawn those. The realization made his stomach clench with this newfound bewilderment.

“Wake up.” He shook Cyprian’s shoulders. He would not be left out of hisaeon’s thoughts and feelings.

Cyprian moaned sleepily, eyes squinting when they slowly opened. He smiled sweetly at Moargan, muttering something unintelligible at his dreams. Then he blinked some more and the smile disappeared. “Huh?”

“You fell asleep in the wrong room. Come on, let’s get you tobed.” Moargan pulled on Cyprian’s arms as he helped him back to the bedroom.

“What…what are you talking about?”

The impending confusion made his hands itch. He wanted to hurt something,someone. Needed it. His cock thickened with want. “Come here,” Moargan instructed once they climbed onto the bed. Cyprian was fully awake now, rapid heartbeat smoothing Moargan’s arousal. Stretching his widened legs, Moargan pulled his littleaeonbetween his thighs and lowered his pants. “I told you I want you in my bed.”

Cyprian’s eyes darted from Moargan’s face down to his erection. “I fell asleep,” he muttered.

“I don’t care what happened. You were not in my bed. Suck it,aeon.”

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