“That’s for you to decide and…I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here.”
“That’s terrifying,” Alchan muttered. “Care to go get them, so we can get this out of the way?”
“She and her family might be waiting already,” Seanev said. “Alchan, please understand…”
“I won’t judge you for whatever this is about.” He could see on Seanev’s face, he didn’t like this either. That meant this female outranked Seanev in some way, and Seanev couldn’t have said no.
An even more terrifying thought.
Alchan found himself alone as he considered the possibilities. When the door opened and Seanev held it for the female and her family, he was confronted with a possibility he could have never dreamed of.
Seeing her face, he was hit with a memory he had believed was buried and forgotten. He hadn’t thought of it in over a thousand years.
She can’t leave me. She’s mine. She’s mine. SHE’S MINE!
Alchan forgot how to breathe as that possessive monster crawled out of the dark hole where he had put it. If he thought Lilliana brought it to life, he had been sorely mistaken. Seeing her, the rest of the world fell away as the memory continued like a nightmare. He remembered it all in vivid detail, a memory he could never forget, no matter how much he wanted to. He had only believed it was gone, but it never really disappeared.
It was the day his mother disappeared from his life.
This can’t be happening.
No.
No, please.
Don’t leave me. You’re mine!
You’re my mother!
Please!
She had been so utterly betrayed by Behron after learning Luykas existed, she wanted to end their marriage. The only problem was no one could ever safely walk away from a bedru. That possessive urge to claim and keep, took a deadly turn when someone tried. She would have to disappear.
Alchan’s grandmother, Queen Tyanna, had warned his mother if she wanted to leave Behron and be free of him, she also had to leave her bedru son.
She did.
Guards had dragged him out of the room long enough for her to disappear as he screamed for her to stay. By the time he had made his way back into the throne room, she was gone.
Alchan stared at her face, a face he hadn’t seen since he was ninety-five years old, just about to become an adult.
Seventeen hundred and fifty-six years to the season. She left me in the summer.
Still, every instinct in him screamed the same thing.
She’s mine. She’s mine. SHE’S MINE!
He sat down very slowly, needing to control himself. He wasn’t a boy anymore. He was the king and had centuries of experience controlling his urges and instincts, he hadn’t had on that day. His grandmother had warned him it would never go away. Once he believed his mother belonged to him, it would never go away.
His grandmother had been right. She had been so right.
Seanev moved very slowly, pointing out a place for his mother and the males with her to go. Alchan tried to steady his heartbeat as it raced irregularly. He watched her intently, trying not to feel anything. He needed to be rational.
Control it. I need to control it. I wasn’t strong when she left. I am now. There’s no reason for me to act. I don’t need to.
He tried to push aside the possessiveness, only for the anger to come next.
She left me, and now she’s back. What could she possibly want from me?
The anger was easier. He could use it to stay in touch with reality.
“Alchan—” Her voice was changed by years, but the way she said his name was just as she had on that last day, the same way she said it as he grew up.
“Your Majesty,” he growled, coming to reality as though he was ready to fight for his life, everything suddenly spectacularly clear. There were three males with her, two he recognized from his youth, Delkon and Venar, her other husbands. The third male he didn’t recognize, and he didn’t know who or what the male was to his mother.
She looked hurt by his correction.
“Your Majesty,” she said, lowering her head.
“What do you want, Asari? Or is there another name I should call you now, considering I know my grandmother gave you and your husbands all new identities,” he said, trying so hard not to growl, snarl, or roar. He wanted to. As the little family looked between each other, he let himself growl. “I’m a busy male with a people to rule and a rebellion to command. Speak.”