Page 24 of Taken By the Aurelian Warriors

They argue that there was a time when our speciestookwhat we wanted – claiming thatonewoman who might turn out to betheirs.

The one who can bear their sons. The one who can continue our species.

Since the Old Times, many triads have done unspeakable things using that as justification.

Us included.

We’ve...

We’ve done... things.

All for the greater good, of course. All to securing mining rights to Orb-Material for the Aurelian Empire.

Orbs power our vessels, after all. Our swords. Our power grids. Our interstellar travel and our weapons of war. Orb-Material is the key to the universe.

And knowing that, my triad and I have broken laws to acquire it.

We’ve tricked people. We’ve hurt people. We’ve covered it up.

By now, we have only shreds of our honor left – and if we do what I’m proposing, we’ll lose even that. We’ll be blackened, our hearts covered in tar.

But what happens if we don’t?

If these Orb deposits are as extensive as we believe they are, they’re invaluable – the possession of them could change the power dynamic of the entire universe.

Down in the streets below our penthouse, life continues on Marn – but up here, it’s clear to me the universe is hanging in a strange balance. It’s as if the future is balanced on a knife-edge. The decisions of a single man – such as Carani – might be the tipping point between order and chaos.

And I feel it – deep inside. Weareon the brink ofsomething– the entire universe is. Yet most of civilization – such as the people down below – continue to go about their day as normal. It’s as if they can’t feel that same tension that I do – building and building, ready to explode.

Mr. Carani is a smart one. He can sense it, too. He knows a conflict is coming – and that Orbs will explode in value when sides are picked.

But our plan of action? Our one opportunity to secure this Orb-Material for the Empire?

It’s unconscionable.

We wait for Carani’s answer. If he refuses our offer – we leverage the one and only thing that he values more than those damned Orb deposits.

But if we kidnap his daughter, which side of the coming conflict are we really on?

And there’s more…

This was a course of dire action to begin with – but that was ignoring the other factor at play here.

I’d smelt his daughter’s scent. So, too, had my battle brothers.

That now means that our reasons for taking her become more complicated than just leveraging the poor girl against her father.

How much of my desire to break into his daughter’s room and grab her is for the future of my Empire? Against how much my decision is driven by the scent of that perfect woman? The first one who’s ever tastedright…

The woman who’s been driving me mad since I first tasted her?

“Sit down, Otho.”

I motion to the dining room table, where Lazar patiently waits. He is ice to Otho’s fire; but I need both elements of my triad to decide how to proceed.

We’ve been on Marn for three days now, gathering intelligence – but apparently, the information we’d gathered was half or all lies.

I should have known that Mr. Carani had a daughter – but he kept that as much of a secret as the location of his Orb deposits.

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