Page 70 of Blinding Light

“And whatdidyou use it for, littleaeon?” Moargan opened his palm, revealing pieces of metal. The remainder of his chip.

“No!” Cyprian howled, snapping forward. Moargan met him halfway, and the fury in their eyes met, creating sizzling electricity.

“Stop it!” Yure called out from the front. “Whatever it is you’re doing, it’s causing accidents!”

Cyprian’s gaze shot outside, and a streetlight exploded. His anger was in full force. “You destroyed my chip!”

“That chip was the reason Yure’s boat exploded.” Moarganleaned back. “Did you install explosion software on that chip, lover?”

“What?” Cyprian’s gaze lurched back to Moargan. “Of course not. That chip…” He pressed his lips shut, mind racing. “That’s impossible.”

“I thought so too when the fire brigade told me yesterday. I didn’t believe you’d be capable of murder. I thought you truly were a foster kid who’d come here to discover his roots. And perhaps my family is right, perhaps you are a Dariux. I hope you are. But then I got the news that you were chatting with Theo today in the fucking open. For the whole world to see. And I realized something. You know what I realized?”

Cyprian slowly shook his head.

“That it’s very possible that they were right and I was wrong.” Moargan’s voice had transformed into a dangerous whisper that made the hair on Cyprian’s back rise.

He shook his head firmer. “They are wrong. I don’t know Theo. I just wanted to check how he was doing.”

“How he was doing?” Moargan snorted hatefully. “I’ve got you another surprise, lover. Although you might already be fully aware of this one.” Moargan’s lips spread in a cold, calculating smile. “The chip was empty.”

Cyprian’s gaze dropped to the remainders of the chip, frowning. “What do you mean, empty?”

“Like I said. Aviel hacked every single folder, but not a single file was saved here.” He opened his mouth and Cyprian caught sight of his shiny gems. They were a brilliant amethyst. “That stupid, fucking chip was empty!”

“No, you’re wrong. I came to Helion with a file that had all my research stored on it.” He pointed wildly at the shards in the Imperial's hand. “Are you telling me that all that information had been wiped off?”

“No, I’m telling you that there never was any fucking file onthat chip of yours! You played me, lover. You tricked me into believing you. And it nearly got my friends killed.”

Cyprian shook his head, anger slowly dissipating as the full importance of Moargan’s words entered his brain. “I can’t believe that chip nearly murdered your friends. I can assure you, that chip was all I had. I’ve kept it for years, and saved hours of research on it. It’s impossible it was empty. It’s impossible that it was used toexplodea boat.” He shivered at the thought.

Moargan eyed him attentively. Finally, he let out a long breath. “Come, sit on my lap.”

Absent-mindedly, Cyprian obeyed.

“Tell me what was on that chip.”

There was no need to keep it a secret anymore. The information was gone. Cyprian felt like crying. All his efforts, doing jobs on the side to pay for the illegal data lists, searching for information on other planets, anything that could explain his heritage. Anything. And for what? It was lost now. Used as a murder tool. That was even worse than Cyprian telling him that he’d obtained the information illegally. They could charge him for assault.

Good light. He could spend the rest of his life in prison.

“Lists,” he whispered. “From many different planets. Families who’d given up their babies for adoption. Anything I could find on yellow eyes. Research on different galaxies. Addresses.” He choked. They were gone too. “I bought access to addresses of families here on Helion. I really believe that one of them belongs to my biological family.”

Moargan eyed him with a combination of suspicion and something else. His amethyst irises flared. Was he upset? Did he feel sorry for him? Cyprian wasn’t sure.

“For what it’s worth, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

Moargan’s arm curled around his waist and pressed their chests firmly together.

“Good light, what have I done,” he wailed. “They will hate me. Everyone will hate me. You—will you put me away?” Thick, helpless tears rolled down his cheeks. “I have come all this way. I was so close. And now, I’ll never know…perhaps—” He looked up through his wet eyes. “Please don’t put me in that arena. I beg you.”

“Hush now.” Moargan brushed a lock from Cyprian’s wet cheek. “Don’t cry.”

More tears fell down Cyprian’s face. His eyes burned and felt sensitive, bringing him to that newfound edge of inky black visions. He grabbed Moargan tighter, needing him to protect him from that unknown darkness.

“I just wonder why,aeon. And who. And fuckinghow.”

Cyprian didn’t answer. Instead, he listened to his own breaths, slowly allowing him to meld into Moargan’s soothing touch on his back.

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