Page 4 of Born Free

I have no right to get jealous and ragey about the possibility that he had someone before. We have no claim to each other. We’re in a confused limbo of unspoken feelings and have done nothing but kiss for a few minutes.

“What was our mother’s name?” Orlando asks, those blue eyes fixed on Roman.

It’s a test.

Roman doesn’t say anything, only holding his long-lost brother’s gaze.

“What House did Father try to marry you to?” Orlando asks next.

Still, Roman says nothing.

My heart is beating so fast. I don’t know what all this means. I don’t know how all of this is going to change the future. I don’t know what kind of danger this is going to put Roman in. I feel as if we’re playing a game of chess with a deadly viper, except Roman is completely blindfolded.

“Do you even know what country you were born in?” Orlando asks, one brow arching just slightly.

Roman can’t even answer that question.

He’s told me he speaks Spanish and Italian just as well as he does English, but there are a lot of countries that speak Spanish. Spain, or almost the entirety of Central and South America.

“Had I not said the name Andres Badillo, would you have even known your real name?” Orlando asks, his tone indicating this is the final question, the one that nails the coffin shut.

Still, Roman doesn’t say a word.

Roman isn’t one for a lot of words. He’s more the broody type. But it’s disorienting to see him so quiet. I can’t even imagine how he must be feeling right now.

“I’d ask you where you where when you Resurrected, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t tell me,” Orlando continues. “You were being secretive when you last left the House. We all knew you had something up your sleeve.”

Roman woke up in a landfill in Mississippi. He’d been stabbed in the back. And considering the complete amnesia, he’d taken a massive blow to the head a while before he died. Roman died an extremely violent death.

“You were born to Raul and Valentina Badillo,” Orlando begins. “Our father had led the House in Spain for two centuries before he met Mother. Do you at least know about the House system and the Royals?”

I’m actually relieved he’s being direct. No more beating around the bush. Can we trust that this man, a stranger, is telling the truth? It’s undeniable they share blood. But even Orlando has admitted things were bad between them when they last saw each other.

“I know about the Houses and the Royals,” Roman answers darkly.

Orlando nods. “Mother came from a formidable family in Italy, one of the oldest and most powerful Born there is, though not Royal. They fell in love, married, and two years later, you were born, their precious Andres, heir to the House.”

My eyes slide closed.

Roman never knew who he was. And as it turns out, he’s a freaking Royal, the embodiment of what we’re hiding from here in Chicago. Heir to the system we’re trying to stay out from under.

“I came along four years later, and circumstances were even better when our sister was born only a year after me. We were one happy, perfect family for three years. Sophia drowned in the pool out back. King Cyrus was livid.”

For a moment, I can’t figure out why the king of the vampires would be angry about a little girl dying. Tragic, but… And then I remember that his constantly dying and Resurrecting wife is reborn into the Royal lines. He’s constantly monitoring the female Royals in case one of them turns out to be her.

“Is this ringing any bells?” Orlando asks, his gaze inquisitive and curious.

Roman’s silence is his answer.

“The House of Badillo is known for our skill in warfare,” Orlando moves on. “Has been since its founding in the third century. We were trained, extensively. I assume those skills at least haven’t disappeared from your muscle memory?”

Definitely not. This is the only part of this conversation that hasn’t shocked me. Roman is as deadly as they come, plus ten.

I must shake my head just slightly, because Orlando’s eyes slide to me for a moment. “Father was training you, grooming you to be his heir. Not that he planned on dying, ever. But in this world… well, one must always have a contingency plan in place.”

Did Roman want that throne? What kind of a leader was he going to be? The goosebumps on my arms make me unsure if who he was in that previous life was the same kind of man I accidentally fell in love with.

“We may have resented one another,” Orlando says with a smirk. “I was seen as the spare, unneeded unless the worst were to happen. You saw me as a threat, thought I was always after your crown. I saw you as a dictator who would always be over me. Let’s just say our home was not a peaceful one.”

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