“You made it,” Theo said out loud.
Dami nodded, glancing side to side before looking back. “I take it telepathy isn’t necessary out here.”
Theo shook his head. “No. I’ve scanned the immediate future. There is nothing to fear but then, I doubt you fear much, do you, Primero?”
“I don’t fear anything, Theo, but I am cautious. That’s my nature.” He frowned.
“Of course. It would have to be, Primero.” He cocked his head to the side and then smiled. “You hate your title, Damiano. Why?”
Satriale chuckled. “Having someone read my mind is still hard for me to get used to.”
“Interesting but you haven’t answered my question,” Theo said.
Damiano realized the boy reminded him much more of an adult than a ten-year-old. He sighed, tiring of having to give this explanation.
“I suppose I’ll get used to it. The fact is, I am not accustomed to the arrogance that comes with the title and that’s all I’ll say about it. I didn’t leave… I didn’t come down here to discuss that. Tell me about Pasha Raab.”
Theo smiled again, reaching out to pat Damiano on the forearm. “That’s an honest answer but the truth is, the title is only arrogant if you act like an insensitive jerk. It’s a title, Damiano. You’re still the Marine you always were. Your men will look to you because of your leadership, not because of the title. You don’t wave it in anyone’s face but it’s there because of the discipline it demands. So, get over yourself because the king needs you.”
Damiano couldn’t help but grin. “You’re sure you’re ten years old?”
“Eleven of your years.”
Damiano shook his head and smiled again, setting his hands on his hips.
“Now, if you want to get back to bed and your beautiful mate who sleeps still, I’ll get on with the reason I brought you here.”
“Mate?”
Theo grinned. “You’ve claimed your mate. There’s nothing wrong with that. I scent the change on you but then again, I knew it would happen.” He held up a hand to stop whatever was about to come out of Damiano’s mouth. “Now, I will tell you about Pasha Raab.”
Damiano sobered as he nodded. Of course Theo knew about him and Paget but the boy was right. They were here to talk about the king. He watched as the boy walked over to the shoreline where several rocks were laid out in a circular formation and sat down on one of them. Damiano followed him and sat across from him, watching as the boy’s eyes became unfocused.
“King Fain learned of his royal blood from his mother. He’d grown up as Christos Fainova, living in a small poor country village in Siberia while his mother worked hard to put food on the table. She told him that he was a shifter and that their existence was not to be known to their village. He grew up hiding the fact that he and his mother shifted and hunted. She’d explained that his father had been a soldier who had come through their village with a group of men, staying for a while, when he learned she was a shifter. She told her son that they fell in love but after a few months the man left with the other soldiers, never to return.
“She raised the king as a single mother until one day, another shifter came into the village. When the cat sensed the boy’s royal vibrations, he confronted Fainova’s mother. She denied it but when the shifter left her small hut, she suddenly became terrified he’d expose her young son to others who would kill him if they sensed his vibrations. She hadn’t yet taught him to cloak the vibrations so the visiting shifter had picked up on them immediately. As soon as the stranger left, she explained everything to her son. They were fearful that the cat would come back with the other shifter soldiers and kill Christos. They shifted and killed the cat while he was out on a hunt so he wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“So, she must not have sensed the soldier’s royal blood when she mated with him,” Dami concluded.
“Or, possibly, she picked up on his vibration and mated with him so that she could bear a royal child. When Fainova was born, she had a link to the throne.”
Damiano nodded. That made sense. “So, somehow, Fainova, King Fain, was the one responsible for the overthrow of Pasha Raab?”
Theo shook his head sadly and then locked his gaze with Damiano’s. “It will be easier if I show you. Take my hand and close your eyes.” He held out his hand and Damiano reached out and took hold of it, shutting his eyes.
His mind was instantly flooded with images. The first was of him as a young Marine coming to the palace when he was made paladin. He was reminded of how young he was as he bowed before Pasha Raab. Images of the king’s regal and royal presence filled his mind. It was like watching a movie as he saw how the king sat upon his throne with the beautiful Queen Sancerre beside him, ruling over his people. Damiano watched his subjects come to him with problems and disputes and how he solved them in an honorable way, not without care because the weight of the crown was heavy, but always with justice. He was a wise man and he loved his queen. In Damiano’s mind, he could see how they radiated happiness in each other’s presence.
The next images weren’t happy ones. Theo showed Damiano how Fainova came of age and determined that he would take his place on the throne any way he could. Once he learned of his royal blood, he studied the royal family, learning that Pasha Raab was his only living relative, or so he thought.
Damiano was shocked when he was suddenly shown images of his own parentage. Theo’s visions revealed that he and Pasha Raab shared a common relative—their father!
Damiano ripped his hand from Theo’s and he stood up, running his fingers through his hair as the boy sat silently, willing the news to sink in. When he finally turned to look at Theo, the boy stared back pensively.
“Pasha Raab is my brother? Is that what you’re showing me?” Damiano shouted.
Theo held out his hand. “There is more. Take my hand and you’ll learn everything.”
Damiano frowned deeply. He paced for a few more seconds and then came back, sat down, and took Theo’s proffered hand. More images flooded into his mind. He saw his father—the former king—with a group of soldiers as they traveled. When the king took a maiden to his bed, she became pregnant and later gave birth to twins. Damiano and his brother were born to the daughter of a slave. She was so terrified that she gave the children away. Damiano and his twin were adopted out to different families which was how he came to live with his own parents.
“I have a twin brother somewhere.”
“Yes, you do. It is likely that the king wasn’t aware of the children he’d fathered on the maiden either,” Theo said telepathically.
“So, Pasha Raab never knew of my existence?”
“No, he was born to the king and queen as the legitimate heir to the throne. You and your brother are younger and only half-siblings and in addition, the king never knew of the existence of Fain until he was responsible for the coup that unseated him.”
He stared at Theo. “And that brings up another question. How is King Fain related to me?”
“Close your eyes.”
Theo squeezed Damiano’s hand again and more images flooded his mind, revealing that Bendek Fainova, Christos Fain’s father, was a distant cousin to Pasha Gennadiy-Raab, Pasha Raab’s father—and Damiano’s father—the former king. When Bendek Fainova died in Siberia, that should have been the end of his line to the throne.
Damiano opened his eyes and looked at Theo. “So, I’m only very distantly related to King Fain and in fact, so is Pasha Raab?”
“That is so, and fortunately for Fain, his research into his royal line uncovered his ties to the throne as Pasha Raab’s only living relative since Raab’s father never knew you and your brother existed. Fain thought that once he’d eliminated Pasha Raab, there would be no other members of the royal bloodline to challenge his right to the throne. If he knew Pasha Raab still lives, he would kill him instantly.”
“And if he knew I have royal blood, he’d kill me too.”
“You and your brother if he could find him,” Theo sai
d.
Damiano thought about that again. Somewhere out there, he had a twin brother. His mother, born a slave, had been so afraid she’d be killed, that she’d given her children away. Damiano’s heart suddenly hurt for the mother he’d never known. His adoptive parents had also been terrified when they picked up on the royal vibrations after his first shift. They’d cast him out. He couldn’t blame them. He never had. Many bad decisions were made out of fear and Damiano’s banishment had been only one of them. They could have kept him and taught him to cloak the vibrations as he’d learned to do on his own with only Chino at his side. The things this conversation revealed amazed him. He turned his focus back to Theo.
“Tell me how Fain is responsible for the coup that brought down Pasha Raab.”
“I’ll show you.” Theo gripped Damiano’s hand even harder.
Damiano’s mind was flooded with images where he could clearly see history playing out. Christos Fainova took it upon himself to orchestrate the coup to unseat Pasha Raab. He assembled a group of mercenaries headed by a the ruthless Dariush to carry out the bloody act and force his cousin off the throne. Fain had instructed Dariush to kill Pasha Raab in the pit so that it was public. That way, there would be no doubt the king been executed making way for his ascension to the throne.
Damiano opened his eyes and looked at Theo. “So, Fain believed Pasha Raab was dead.”
“Yes.” Theo smiled and squeezed his hand again. “Close your eyes again.”
Damiano did as he was told and more images flooded his mind. Dariush never trusted Fain, even when he promised to make him paladin primero after the coup. Dariush decided he should have leverage if and when Fain decided he was a liability. After all, Dariush was the only man who knew he orchestrated his cousin’s murder. Dariush understood that he could be considered a loose end so he hid Pasha Raab in a cell under the palace after pretending to kill him in the arena. In reality, he’d poisoned him with a sleeping powder that he’d blown into his face during the match and then had his paladin carry his body to the burial pit.
The images showed Damiano that sure enough, Dariush was right to be worried about Christos Fain’s promises. Dariush was double-crossed when Fain came to present his credentials and ascend the throne. Paladin Johansen killed Dariush and slaughtered his men before Dariush could expose the fact that Fain was behind the coup. Afterward, Johansen was made paladin primero and Pasha Raab’s existence was not known except to the servants who kept him fed and hidden by everyone including King Fain.
Damiano opened his eyes and stood up, pacing as he tried to understand everything he’d been shown. After a few minutes, he came back to sit across from Theo.
“So, King Fain is my distant cousin and my brother is hidden in the palace dungeon.”
Theo nodded. “This is true. A small group of servants who know of Pasha Raab’s existence have kept him alive and fed these many years. It’s been done with great secrecy. Only a few know of it.”
A thought occurred to Dami. “Does Paget know? He’s the first subaltern. He knows everything about the palace.”
Theo frowned and nodded slowly. “Take my hand.”
Damiano reached out and took Theo’s hand. His mind was flooded with more images, this time images of his mate carrying a set of keys and a basket of food. He opened the door that Damiano had seen on that first tour of the kitchen and then took the stairs down to a dark basement where a large cage sat alone by itself. Inside the jail was a huge tiger, the biggest tiger Damiano had ever seen, but it was a tiger he’d seen in paintings hanging on the walls of the palace. Pasha Raab paced inside his locked jail cell in shifted form. The moment Paget arrived with food, the king shifted and smiled at Paget as he knelt with his eyes cast downward.
“Rise, Paget,” Pasha Raab said, taking the basket from his hands.
Paget complied, standing before the king as he was commanded.
“Has he arrived?” Pasha Raab asked.
“He’s just now arrived, Your Majesty. He meets with Fain to become paladin primero, finally.”
“We’ve waited a very long time,” the king said, smiling as he unwrapped a large raw steak that he’d drawn out of the basket.
Paget bowed his head and Damiano could see the tears fall from his mate’s eyes. The image Theo showed him was hard to digest. Watching Paget bringing food to Pasha Raab and doing absolutely nothing to free him from captivity filled him with such anger toward his mate that it made it hard for him to continue. He suddenly pulled his hand out of Theo’s and opened his eyes.
“Stop it, Primero,” Theo said. “There is a very good reason he doesn’t free him.” He held out his hand, shaking it. “Push down your anger, watch, and learn.”
Damiano took a deep breath, feeling the anger as razor sharp as one of the Damascus blades at his waist but he blew out the breath and took Theo’s hand again, closing his eyes.
“I still don’t understand why I cannot free you, Your Majesty. Now your champion is here and I know he will fight for you once he learns that you are alive.”
“Paget, when Dariush first imprisoned me here, I thought I would die, as I’ve told you before. If it hadn’t been for Cook and the doctor, I would have. Once my wounds were bandaged and I was given food to heal my body, it took almost a year before I felt like myself. By that time, Dariush was dead, Fain was on my throne, and as you know, Primero Johansen was at his side. Miruna Grey had been put in place as his councilor and had she learned that I lived, she would have had me killed.”
“But you are in prison,” Paget pleaded.
“Only because it is where I choose to be, Paget. I couldn’t have raised an army to fight Fain from the outside. He would have had me killed because his entire military is corrupt from the generals on down. Only the new primero is not corrupt. He has been on the outside all his life, fighting in foreign wars.”
“So, it is by chance that Fain found him.”
Damiano’s mind was flooded with images of the king smiling as he spoke to his mate.
“Not by chance exactly, Paget. I knew that my cousin would choose the most capable man to be his next primero and so he has. Damiano Satriale would fight till the death for the king.”
“So, I must tell him that you live.”
“No, Paget,” Pasha Raab said. “He will learn of my existence soon enough.”
“How?”
The king smiled. “Bring my Seer to me. I will converse with the boy.”
In his mind, Damiano watched Paget frown at the king. “I know you need to speak with him, Your Majesty. I will find the boy and bring him to you.”
The visions ended and Damiano opened his eyes, staring at Theo. “That’s it? Pasha Raab knows I will fight for him and yet he doesn’t want me to know he lives?”
“Is that what you think?” Theo asked.
“He’s kept me in the dark until now.”
“Until tonight, he’s kept you in the dark because he needed to know you could be trusted,” Theo said.
“How does he know I can be trusted now?” Damiano growled, wanting to hit something, preferably not the little boy.
“You are the mate of his most trusted servant and I showed you the past as Pasha Raab asked, Damiano. It is the reason he asked for me, Paladin.”
“And, are you going to share the future with me, Theo?”
Theo shook his head. “That is not for you to know, Damiano. You must have faith in your mate and in Pasha Raab. For now, you must prepare for the upcoming battle to restore him to the throne.”
Damiano let out a growl. “You mean the battle with King Fain.”
Theo nodded. “Yes, Primero. It has already begun.”
Damiano frowned, jumping to his feet. “What are you saying, Theo? Is Paget in danger?” Strangely, he couldn’t sense that his mate was in immediate danger and he was somehow positive he would be able to sense it if he was.
Theo sighed. “Take my hand once more, Damiano.”
Damiano grabbed his hand and images
flooded his mind once again. He was almost immediately relieved when Theo showed him an image of Paget sleeping soundly in his bed, the same way he’d left him. He calmed almost immediately as he blew out a breath. More images flooded his mind. These of Chino discovering the bodies in the control room with Bennett… images of Chino shifting and running across the desert followed by Bennett and Takemoto… images of being shot by Bennett. The images ended almost as suddenly as they’d begun and he let go of Theo’s hand.
“Chino’s in danger. I need to go to him but...”
“He will be brought to you, Paladin,” Theo said. “Return to your mate, Damiano. The morning will come soon enough and you will be expected to hunt with King Fain.”
“How in the hell am I to hunt with him, knowing the true king is imprisoned beneath the palace?”
“Don’t be stupid, Damiano. Pasha Raab needs you to be at your best until this is all over. The end game will come soon enough but you need to be patient if you are to keep Paget safe and serve Pasha Raab well. This is your king’s command to you.”
Dami narrowed his eyes, tired of the telepathy. “He sent you here with his command?”
“Yes,” Theo nodded. “His command and his demand that you pledge to remain his faithful servant.”
Damiano dropped to one knee, bowing his head. He knew Theo would show the image to Pasha Raab. “I so pledge my fealty to Pasha Raab, my king.”
“Good. Now, stand up and go back to Paget. Your little mate will be waking soon. He has duties in the palace.”
Damiano stared at the boy, more grateful than he could ever express. Theo had shown him things that gave him great hope but also terrible worry. His heart was filled with both fear for Pasha Raab and the hope that he would soon take his throne back from the corrupt bastard King Fain was. And, to top it all off, somewhere out there, he’d learned that he had a brother—a twin no less. The future held much hope for Damiano.
Chapter Fifteen
P aget woke in Damiano’s bed and the moment he realized it, all of his senses were on alert. From the soft breathing behind him and the strong arms that held him, he realized his paladin was with him.
The Tiger King (Paladin Shifters Book 1) Page 16