Page 34 of Taken By Fury
A moment later, the middle prince stood in the doorway. “You summoned me, my king?”
“Get your ass in here and shut the fucking door.” Greydon was every bit a pissed-off king and once Orien was in the room, he pointed at the chairs. “Both of you, sit.”
While Zander had too much pent-up anger to be sitting on his ass, he did so anyway because… Well, he was raised to never disobey his king. Didn’t matter if said king was his brother.
“Orien, I understand Sheila is no longer among us. Care to share what you know of this?”
“She is with her human male. Talon is watching over them both.”
Anger took on a form of its own and forced Zander to his feet and, in a flash, he was jerking Orien from his chair by his neck.
“You bastard! That was not your decision to make.”
“What’s the matter, brother? Are you afraid she will choose him over you?”
“I see what you’re doing,” he snarled. Orien figured if he played the good guy, Sheila would choose him over Zander. Providing she didn’t stay with the human, which was a good probability. Sure, her body had betrayed her when around Zander and his kiss had elicited a desire from her that filled a room. However, she didn’t remember who she was. Hell, she had no magic of her own and had no idea what it was like to be Valarian.
“You took her once. I will not permit you to do so again.” The words had been flung at his brother and a second later, both of them were tossed across the room and pinned to the floor.
“I will not have the two of you at each other’s throats when we fight for our survival,” Greydon snarled. It had been his power that had separated them and held them now.
It hurt to see the anger and disappointment in his eldest brother’s eyes.
Greydon closed his eyes and slowly reeled in his power. “I battled with myself daily that I left you behind and allowed you to be taken prisoner. We are brothers and I cannot stand to see the two of you at odds like this.”
“I am sorry,” Zander offered the first apology.
“I understand your position. I really do.” Greydon faced Orien. “Do you have feelings for her or is this some kind of power play against the youngest prince?”
“You think I would do such a thing?”
“Orien, you were always hard on Zander, even when we were children.”
It was then Orien met Zander’s gaze. “I only wanted to protect our baby brother. To make sure he was ready for anything life would toss at him.”
His anger slowly dissipated. “I never meant to fall in love with Lomara, and I swear on mother’s soul I never touched her.” He took a step closer. “But my heart says she belongs to me, and while I commanded Fang to destroy the ruins that held the message, he has photos of it. You may see the message and decide for yourself.”
Orien took a long, deep breath. “Lomara may have been my betrothed, but I cared for her. That is why I took her home. I gave her twenty-four hours to do as her heart desires. She needs to either come to terms with her past and who she is now, or she will decide the human male is who she desires. We cannot make that choice for her.”
Everything in Zander knew his brother was right, but all he could do was nod.
“This is what I propose. Since Orien took her, Zander you will go back when her time is up and ask her if she wants to return here. Above all else, Sheila is one of our people and it is our duty to see to her care and figure out how to help her regain her powers.”
“Her soulmate,” Zander said.
“Her soulmate what?” Aimee asked. He’d almost forgotten she was there since she had been so quiet.
“The message stated her soulmate was the key to unlock her power and her memories.”
Greydon rubbed his chin. “You realize that could be the human?”
“Could be, but I don’t think so. I mean, what would be the point of unlocking her powers and memories?” Zander pointed out.
“I agree with Zander,” Orien said. “But that also doesn’t leave me out of the equation, since Lomara was betrothed to me.”
Zander would disagree, but he kept that to himself. He was the one blood bonded to her and there would have been no way in fucking hell he would have allowed his female to go spend time with a man she had once been involved with. The only thing that kept his feet planted in Atlantis was the king. Greydon would have his head if he did anything rash.
“I would have a word alone with Zander,” Greydon said, and both Orien and Aimee left the room.
