Page 48 of Hunted By the Dragon Alien

“We are.” Takkian let out a slow breath. She watched his gaze sweep the massive control room, moving from the glowing displays to the rows of thick metal panels lined with symbols of some sort. Likely Zaruxian.

With the ship shooting through space, Cyprian swiveled his chair to face Bruil. “Okay, old one. Time to talk.”

Bruil glanced over at Takkian with a wry sadness. “What would you like to know?”

“Why do you keep saying, ‘your majesty,’ for one thing?” Cyprian looked confused. “Why did you call me that?”

“Because you are Queen Aklian’s sons,” he replied calmly. “And ‘your majesty’ is how a Zaruxian citizen addresses his kings.”

TWENTY-THREE

Takkian

Takkian’s chest tightened. His claws flexed against his sides as he stared at Bruil. “All those cycles. We shared a cell, Bruil.” His voice came out sharp. His pulse pounded with a hundred emotions. “Explain yourself.”

The older Zaruxian exhaled loudly. His ragged wings shifted. “It was never the right time.”

“Never the right—” Takkian’s voice dropped into a growl. He planted his feet as the ship thrummed around them. “You knew I was a—aking?”Fek, he felt absurd just saying the words. “And you said nothing?”

Cyprian let out a low whistle. He stretched his legs out in front of him, hands folded lazily behind his head. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“We were going to die there,” Bruil said, jutting his scarred chin. “And also, I wasn’t completely sure until I met these two.” He glanced at Ellion and Cyprian.

Ellion gazed at Bruil with something like awe. “We are, in fact, true brothers?” he asked.

Bruil chuffed out a harsh laugh. “Look at each other. You have the same eyes. Same height. Same age.” He smiled wistfully. “They’re your mother’s eyes. She was a beautiful female. A wonderful queen.”

Takkian closed his eyes, blurring out the stunned reactions of Ellion and Cyprian—two males he had just met, and now, it seemed, he was bound to. Aimless hurt, anger, betrayal warred inside of him. He turned back to Bruil, every muscle in his body drawn tight. “You knew who my family were, or at least, suspected. And let me go to match after match without telling me? Without telling me my mother was a queen?”

Bruil held his gaze. “Would it have helped? Would it have changed anything if I’d told you what Isuspected?” He shook his head. “You would never have believed me. You’d have thought I was a ranting old male who was losing his mind.”

Now that he thought about it, that wasn’t untrue. He would have laughed. He would have thought Bruil’s mind was unraveling, had he started calling him “your majesty” in the cell. Without seeing these other two male Zaruxians, who were undeniably his family, he’d never have believed it. Takkian’s fists unclenched. “Is there anything else you’d like to share?”

“There are six of you,” Bruil said. “The queen had six hatchlings.”

“Hatchlings?” Turi said, brows raised. “You’re fromeggs?”

“Zaruxian females drop eggs,” Bruil said. “A clutch of one to four, usually. Queen Aklian had six, and they all hatched.”

“I’mnotlaying eggs,” Sevas stated, crossing her arms. “Just saying that right now.”

Bruil smiled at her. “Your children would be live births. But like I said earlier, the offspring of a Terian and Zaruxian union cannot take a dragon form.”

“Do they have wings?” Fivra wanted to know. She slid closer, wrapping a hand around Cyprian’s arm. “And scales?”

Bruil nodded. “The ones I saw had wings. Very light, fine scales,” he said gently. “They were beautiful mixes of both of their parents.”

“Well,fek. What a cycle.” Cyprian placed a hand on his belly. “Not sure I can take any more revelations on an empty stomach. We’re due for a meal, I think. And we should continue this conversation somewhere more comfortable, anyway. Preferably with somegragianale.”

“I could eat,” said Sevas. “And a change of clothes, if possible. And a bath.”

But Takkian struggled to move. Ellion stood there, thumb and forefinger set contemplatively against his chin. He looked like he was taking it all in. “Did you know our mother?” he asked.

“Ah, no.” Bruil scraped a hand through his gray hair. “I was just a regular Zaruxian. When the war began, I joined the fight, of course. We used dragon form when the fighting was on the planet and I operated a small combat craft when in space. The royal family didn’t spend time with commoners, though the king was among the first to be killed.” His face twisted with the horror of his memories. “Fek, we fought for them. For us. For our beautiful world and for the Terians, who were our planetary neighbors. In the end, the Axis outgunned us. Queen Aklian made a deal to turn herself over in exchange for allowing whoever was left to live and for her sons to survive. They accepted.”

“So, how did I end up in the arena?” Takkian asked. “With no memory of my past?”

“And I in a brothel,” added Cyprian.

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