"Only seven?"
Darling's eyes turned dark with grief. "My father was assassinated when I was twelve. And though some of the loopholes he'd set up for Mari that allowed him to visit remained, my uncle wanted me isolated. He made it clear that he'd rather Maris stay away. So for two and a half years, he was left at the academy without me. It's something he never talks about, so I know it had to be bad for him."
"And after that he went into the Phrixian armada."
Darling nodded. "That, too, was a nightmare for him. Because he'd been 'humanized' by something he'd been forced to do against his will, the Phrixians went out of their way to punish him for it. They perceived him as weak and tainted by his time with the Ultarans. It's why his father chose a non Phrixian to marry him. He didn't want Maris shaming his family with his human sympathies and effeminate ways. Nor did he want one of his other 'pure' sons tainted by the stench of a human."
"How did Maris stand it?"
Darling laughed bitterly. "Mostly, he lashed out. He was angry all the time back then. Furious at his father, his family. Sometimes even me. It was what made him such a great warrior. He'd unleash that fury and beat the hell out of anyone who got near him."
Ture drew a ragged breath as he finally understood the two contradictory sides of Maris's personality, and how he could swing from flirting to vicious killer so fast. "You know, I used to hate you so much. I spent countless hours cursing everything about you and your royal family. Wishing you were all dead and gone... I'm sorry, Darling. I shouldn't have judged you or hated you, when I knew nothing about your character or situation. And I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for Maris. I totally get his devotion now."
Darling gave him a sad smile. "Maris and I have been to hell and home together. Back to back, we have defended each other with everything we possess. Anytime we needed to turn to someone, we called each other. Until today. When he thought he was dying, it was your voice he wanted to hear last. Not mine. Honestly, a part of me is a little hurt. I've never had to share him before with anyone. But I love him enough to let him go. His happiness means everything to me."
"Me, too."
Darling hugged him close. "Thank you for calling me."
"Thank you for saving him."
He pulled back and offered his hand to Ture. "Brothers?"
"Brothers."
*
Maris came awake to a searing pain in his side. Grimacing, he opened his eyes to find Syn checking the bandage over his ribs. As he realized he was in a hospital, everything came rushing back to him.
The attack.
Draygon. . . .
And Ture refusing to get into the ambulance after Maris had told Darling he loved him.
Shit. The fallout was bound to be nuclear.
Syn jerked his head up to meet his gaze as Maris tried to speak. "Easy, Mari. I've got you locked down."
Unable to speak, he used his one free hand to sign to Syn.
"Darling's outside with the others."
Maris had just started asking about Ture when the bathroom door opened, and Ture drew up short.
"He's awake?"
Syn nodded. "He just opened his eyes."
Ture rushed to the opposite side of the bed. Leaning over the rail, he smiled at Maris as he brushed his hand through his hair. "Hey, baby. You gave us all a big scare."
Confused, Maris tried to make sense of this. He'd expected Ture's anger.
Not his love.
Syn pulled the mask off his face, then handed him a small glass of water. "Sip slowly."
Ture helped him with it.
Maris coughed then met Ture's gray eyes. "You're not mad at me?"
"For what? Getting stabbed? I don't think you did it on purpose, did you?"
"No...for Darling."
Ture duplicated his frown. "For Darling what?"
"For what I said to him."
Now he looked irritated. "That you loved him?"
Maris nodded.
Ture rolled his eyes. "Why would I get angry over that? I know you love him. It's not like you ever kept that a secret."
"Then why didn't you get in the ambulance?"
His features softened as he brushed his hand over Maris's face. "I was afraid you'd be attacked again, love. I wanted men with you who know how to butcher something besides a steak."
"Really?"
Ture sighed heavily. "I am not jealous of you and Darling, Mari. How many times do I have to say that before you believe me? I would never come between the two of you, and what you've shared. And in the future, when you're dying, for the love of the gods, please call the one capable of saving your life and not the one who can't."
Maris laced his fingers with Ture's. "You are my life."
Ture smiled at him as he lifted his hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles. "I feel the same way about you, which is why I want to beat you for calling me when you should have called an ambulance." He glanced over to Syn. "So how's he doing, Doc?"
"Better." He locked gazes with Maris. "You still took one hell of a stab, though. Your brother nicked your artery and went straight into your intestines. Recovering from it is going to hurt."
"What can I say? Dray's good at what he does. I didn't even see him until he had me."
Syn curled his lip. "Don't praise that bastard to me. I want his heart in my fist. And speaking of..." He began detaching the monitors from Maris's body. "You'll do better if we can get you into the tub for a little while. I'm going to assume you'd prefer Ture help you with that."
"If you don't mind, I would."
A smile broke across Syn's face. "Well, as much as I love seeing you naked, Mari, I'll gladly surrender you to your boyfriend."
Maris arched a brow at those words. It was the first time ever that Syn had teased him like that. Normally, he was the one harassing Syn. He'd respond to it, but the last thing he wanted was for Ture to take him seriously and get his feelings hurt. Syn pulled back. "You want to try and walk or should I call someone?"
"I'll walk."
"All right. Give me a few minutes to run the water and I'll be back." He headed for the bathroom.
Ture lowered the rail and sat on the edge of Maris's bed. "They shaved your beard off."
"I'm sorry. I'll grow it back for you."
Tears filled Ture's eyes at those words. "For what it's worth, I don't ever want to feel like this again, Mare. When the line went silent and I thought you were dead..." A single tear ran down his cheek. "I haven't hurt like that since my baby sister died. And what I felt when I thought you were dead made a mockery of even that."
Maris pressed his lips together to keep from smiling. "I feel terrible that I scared you. That I hurt you, but..." He let his smile loose. "I do love you, Ture."
"I love you, too. But don't ever die on me."
"I have no intention of it."
Ture carefully laid his body against Maris's and held him. Pulling back, he wiped at his tears. "By the way, the size of your family scares me."
"What do you mean?"
"You should see how many people are outside. It's ridiculous. Darling, his two brothers, his sister. Zarya and Sorche. Fain and Hauk have positions at the door and won't let any medical staff other than Syn in here without them standing over them. And they run every badge before the let them in. Nykyrian and his wife and their oldest daughter and one of their sons. Syn's wife and son, and her two sisters, and Caillen. His wife and their daughter. Chayden and his friend. Jayne and her husband and three kids. Nero. And Safir keeps checking in. All of them are desperate to see you and know how you're doing."
"And the most important one is sitting right here."
Ture smiled. "I love it when you sweet talk me."
"All right," Syn said as he returned. "Let's get you submerged."
Ture moved aside so that Syn could help him to the tub. Then Syn surrendered custody to Ture.
"There's a link right here." Syn showed it to Ture. "If you need anything, call. I'll be ba
ck in a little bit to check on him."
"Thank you, Syn," they said simultaneously.
He inclined his head and left.
Maris lay back against the tub and sighed as the water soothed him. He frowned as he caught the odd look on Ture's face. "What?"
"Your eyes turn silver even when your head isn't in water."
"I know."
"It's just so strange to me that it doesn't pain you to change. It seems like it should."
Maris shrugged. "I never think about it." He brushed Ture's hair back from his eyes. "How long have I been out?"
"Three days."
He gasped at the length of time. "What time is it?"
Ture checked his watch. "Early evening. Little after seven."
"Shouldn't you be at the restaurant?"
"You know here's the funny thing... I don't want to leave you. I don't care if the restaurant burns to the ground right now."
"Ture--"
He placed his fingers over Maris's lips, cutting off his words. "It's true. I went yesterday to close up and...it felt so empty without you there. I kept expecting to see you at my desk or in the doorway. You've absolutely ruined me, Mari. I should shoot you for that."
Maris took his hand into his and stared at them entwined. His skin shimmered with its peculiar silver hue against Ture's dark, tawny flesh. "I can't believe I finally found you."
"Just make sure you keep me."
Maris smiled, but underneath his happiness was the fear of what was coming for them. Dray wouldn't rest until he was dead. Neither would Kyr.
In the past, he hadn't cared. But Ture was a weakness he'd never had before. Today, he was the one in the hospital.
But what if Ture had been with him? What if Dray, out of sheer cruelty, had gone for Ture's life?
How would he live with himself if he caused the one person he loved above all others to die?
He didn't say that out loud, but in his heart, he knew the truth. Somehow he was going to have to find the courage to walk away.
Before his brothers killed them both.
CHAPTER 11
This had been the longest week of Ture's life. What none of them had known was that Dray's knife had been coated with a slow-acting poison that had sent Maris into seizures. Had anyone other than Syn been his attending physician, Maris would have died.
They finally had him out of danger and resting.
But Ture couldn't shake the image of Maris flat-lining. If he ever laid hands to Dray, he, the pacifist, was going to cut out his heart, saute it with onions, and feed it to Kyr.
He heard his link buzzing. Answering it, he smiled at the image of Mari in his hospital bed. "Hey, handsome."
"Hi, gorgeous. Are you at the restaurant yet?"
"Walking in now." Ture slid in through the backdoor. He still hated that he'd allowed Maris to talk him into returning so soon. Had it been left up to him, he would have stayed with Maris until Syn cleared him to return home. But Ture had made one condition. He would only return to work if Mari came with him.
Ture sent the link transmission to the large monitor on the wall at the same time his staff bombarded him with questions about Maris's health. "See for yourselves, he's on his way to full recovery." Ture grinned at Maris. "Told you they missed you, too."
Maris laughed. "Hi, everyone."
Ture stood back as his staff took turns chatting with Maris while they got ready for the dinner rush. He hadn't realized how much his staff had embraced Maris as part of their eclectic family until Mari had been injured. In a very short time, Mari had come to mean a lot to all of them.
Anachelle gasped as she came in the backdoor and saw the monitor. She rushed forward with Terek and waved his little hand at Maris. "Hey, Uncle Mari Daddy! We tried to visit, but they wouldn't let your son in. He's too young."
Maris's eyes widened. "Look how big he's gotten. Ah! I wish I could hold him."
Ture laughed as Maris baby-talked to the bald infant who stared at him with an adorable expression of total confusion.
When Terek started crying, Ana excused herself to change him.
Ture stepped forward. "All right, everyone, we need to focus and get ready. Maris will stay with us while he's awake so ignore him like we always do when he's really here."
His sous chef, Amberlia, laughed. "Only you ignore him when he's here. The rest of us actually talk to him."
"It's true," Maris said with a wicked grin. "You only talk to me when you want to use me as a guinea pig."
Ture arched a brow at him. "Play nice. I do have a switch I can turn you off with."
A light came into those dark eyes that let him know Maris had a sexual comment to make over that, but bit it back. That's why I love you, so.
His fierce warrior was ever a gentleman.
*
Maris tucked his arm behind his head as he watched Ture and his staff work. Until now, he hadn't realized how much he missed being with them. He'd searched everywhere for a place to belong. But in all his wildest imaginings, he'd never dreamed it would be in a commercial kitchen.
The door to his room opened.
He muted his mic as he looked up to find Darling moving toward the bed.
"How are you feeling?"
"Good."
"Then what's wrong?"
Maris looked away. He knew better than to try and hide his feelings from Darling. A thousand images went through his head as he thought about all the times in his past when he'd needed someone, and Darling had appeared as if he'd sensed Maris's pain. "I don't know what to do."
"About?"
"Ture."
Darling sat on the edge of the bed and pinned him with a hard stare. "I don't think I understand the question. You love him, so . . ."
"I endanger him." Maris swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. "Over and over, I keep seeing you when Nykyrian told you that Zarya was dead. I feel how you shook in my arms, and the ragged, raw pain in your eyes. I really get it now."
Darling took his hand into his. "It's scary as hell. Honestly, I don't know how Nyk copes with Kiara being a civ. With Zarya, I know she's trained to defend herself and to kill any attacker. Still, with her pregnant, she can't do that and every second of every minute, I'm a nervous wreck. I just want to tie her to me and make sure that nothing bad ever happens to her again, and I can only imagine how much worse that's going to be when my son's born and I have him to worry over, too. But what choice do we have?"
"We leave."
"Mare-bear...you did not just say that to me."
Maris sniffed back his tears at the teasing nickname Darling hadn't used since they were kids. "I don't like feeling this way. You know my brothers, Dar. They would be giddy with joy if they could lay hands on Ture."
"I know. Kyr is as much a threat to me as he is to you. But you and Ture can move into the palace where we have round-the-clock surveillance, and a full military guard. I'll assign him the best of my guard staff. Even Sentella if you want. He can have them full time."
"Gods, I love you."
"I love you, too, Mari. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, you know that. And what can I say? Being in love sucks. Life's hard enough when you only have to worry about your own ass. When there's someone else whose life means even more to you... They have you by the stones."
"You sound like Drake."
"Yeah, I think the little bastard's starting to rub off on me. Since you've been spending so much time with Ture, you've forced me to start actually talking to my brother. I owe you a serious ass-beating for that."
He laughed. "You love Drake."
"In small doses." Darling leaned forward as he finally noticed the small tablet on Maris's tray table. "What's that?"
Maris turned it toward him so that he could see the kitchen. "Ture refused to go to work unless I went with him. This way, we can keep an eye on each other."
Darling waved at Ture who still couldn't hear them. Smiling, Ture waved back then ran to put out a small pan fire. "I always kne
w you'd fall for a cook."
"Yeah, I know." Maris drew a ragged breath as he returned the tray to its original position. "Thanks, Darling. I appreciate the talk."
"Not sure I did anything."
"You did what you always do, gave me hope. And you talked sense to me."
"Anytime, brother."
Maris felt the familiar sad emptiness as Darling let go of his hand and left the room. He'd never really thought any other man could make him feel that sensation.
Not until Ture.
Turning the sound on, he moved his hand so that he could trace the line of Ture's jaw while he went around the kitchen with unparalleled grace. He could watch that man move all day long. Nothing gave him more pleasure.
How can I even think about leaving him?
But the real question was-- how could he endanger him by staying?
*
Ture froze as he glanced at the monitor and caught the unguarded expression on Mari's face. For a full minute, he couldn't move for it. No one had ever looked at him like that.
Like he was the air Maris breathed.
I feel the same way about you, baby.
And the last thing he wanted was to be here tonight without him. He missed being with Maris more than he would have ever thought possible. Even though he could see Maris on the monitor, it wasn't the same as stealing a quick kiss from him as he passed by. Of Maris walking up behind him for a drive-by hug while Ture held a spoon out for Maris to taste what he was working on...
Love you, he mouthed at the screen.
You, too, Maris mouthed back.
"Ture?"
He turned at Ana's voice. "Yes, sweetie?"
"Can I lay T in your office while he naps?"
"Of course. I had a small crib put in there yesterday for him." Since she'd been running things for him again while he stayed with Maris, he'd thought it the best way to make her and the baby more comfortable.
She gaped at him. "Did you really?"
"Of course. Least I could do for my boyfriend's son."
Laughing, she rolled her eyes. "Remind me later that I have the custody papers for Maris to sign in my diaper bag. They came in today and you can take them up to the hospital later."
"Will do, sweetie." He turned back to Maris. "You're about to be childless again, hon."
Maris pouted. "Tell Ana I still want visitation rights to my boy."
"I'm sure she'll let us babysit." Ture paused as he saw Maris bite back a yawn. "Are you tired?"
"I'm good."
He narrowed his gaze on him. "Turn it off and go to sleep. I'll be back as soon as we close."
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