Page 36 of Blinding Light

Cyprian squeezed his eyes shut. He was defeated. Here he sat, naked, in the imperial’s bed. He should just let Theo take the fall. Why would he care? When you were poor, that’s how you lived life. Back home, he and his foster brothers and sisters had done so many questionable things just to survive. No one protected them, their foster parents the least of all.

He took in a shaky breath.

Theo glanced at him, an unreadable expression in those hard eyes.

“Well?” Moargan prompted. Vandor roughly pulled up the guy’s hand, holding it in the air as he traced it with his knife.

“I-I…” Cyprian bit his lower lip, and the prince let out an impatient growl. “I came here to find my family. My real family, I mean. I was disposed of when I was a baby and sent to Tulniri. I was raised in a foster home.” Cyprian looked down, trying to keep his pride when he felt his defenses crumbling.

Weak. The exact emotion he had run from.

He had wanted to be someone better, someone more.

Yet here we meet again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Theo snarled. “That’s all?Thisis why I’m risking my life? Because of some kid trying to figure out where he’s from?”

“Watch your mouth,” Vandor sneered, but the guy shook the words off with a careless grumble.

Cyprian looked up when Moargan got up from the bed, butt naked, and headed for the adjacent room.

The outrageousdressing room.

Cyprian’s gut churned.

He came back in a pair of satin sleeping pants, carrying a long bronze tool, and stalked toward Theo. “Aviel, will you do me the honour?”

“Of course, Imperial Moargan,” Aviel mocked, then he sent Cyprian a wink. He took the tool from Moargan and left the room. They all waited in silence. When he came back, the tip had caught fire and colored red with a hissing sound.

Moargan took the smoldering weapon. He represented good light, the way he moved, satin and flaming bronze, the defined muscles of his shoulders and pecs. “You walk insidemyapartment and steal items from someone who belongs tome.” Moargan stopped right in front of Theo. An ominous chillsettled around them. Theo cowered back, his earlier outburst buried under the ground. “Pull his shirt up.”

Yure and Vandor got to it immediately, ignoring how Theo thrashed and begged to be forgiven.

“Oh, now you want mercy?” Moargan laughed when the other man stood trembling in front of him; clothes torn open, exposing a panting, naked chest. “You should know how hard I get from hurting you. How I need to torture and destroy. It’s in my blood. Yet you come here, arrested for stealing my stuff and offendingmypossession?”

Cyprian watched as Moargan leaned forward, inhaling Theo’s shivering skin with a satisfying hum. That shouldn’t excite him. It was sickening, knowing what was to come, yet there was something so sensual about the way Moargan operated. With lazy, confident swagger he circled Theo, sniffing his body, mumbling in approval. “Yes. You will do just perfectly.”

“Please,” Theo begged. “I don’t want to die.”

“Oh, you’re not going to die. Not yet, at least. What happens to you, is no longer up to me. Aviel. Tell my brother that I found his offering for the Aureate.”

“No!” Theo cried. “Good light, don’t do this to me. This wasn’t my idea.”

He should intervene, Cyprian thought. He should beg Moargan to let the other man go. Pulling his legs up, he held them with his arms, hugging himself tight under the silken sheets.

“Your name,” Moargan turned over his shoulder. “What’s your name?”

Cyprian stared at him. His lips parted, but he stayed frozen. He’d expected Moargan to snarl impatiently, anything. Instead, the Imperial was waiting, the burning iron in his hand, his purple eyes fixed on his.

“C-Cyprian,” he finally blurted. “Creighton. My name is Cyprian Creighton.”

“Hmm,” Moargan rumbled. “Cyprian.” He tasted his name on his tongue. “I like it.” He tipped his chin to the data chip. “And why all the mystery, littleaeon? Why is it such a secret that you’ve come here, to Helion?”

Cyprian shivered. There was no way out of this mess. ”Because I left Tulniri illegally. I fled after I refused to join Club Essential. M-my foster parents were members, but I didn’t want in. I wanted to know who my biological parents are.”

Moargan looked thoughtful, then gave Theo a playful wink. “Here’s the thing. He might be sharing my bed, but this guy hasn’t told me a single word of truth since he came into my life. Thanks to you, I managed to get his reason for coming here, and his name. That’s a pretty good result. You know what that means?”

Theo shook his head, face pale from fear.

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