Sophie Oak
 
 Cian frowned. “You don’t know how he treated her. He’s been
 
 selfish and rude. He formed a bond with her, but from what I can tell,
 
 he didn’t actually offer himself. He surely didn’t open to her. She was
 
 shocked by the full bond. She hadn’t felt it before.”
 
 Cian got to his feet, a new purpose humming through his brain.
 
 He’d hidden something, and now he hoped it had survived the years.
 
 Flanna followed him into the kitchen. “Don’t be so hard on your
 
 brother. He’s only done what he had to do to survive. Your father was
 
 very hard on him.”
 
 “And he has a lot of responsibility, blah, blah, blah,” Cian said
 
 with a frown. He studied the drawers in the hutch. He had built it with
 
 his own hands, and he had put a hidey-hole in it. “You think I haven’t
 
 heard this all my life, little mother? ‘Allowances must be made for the
 
 warrior king.’ All I had to do was think and learn, but Beck had to
 
 fight. Father was particularly hard on Beck, so we should let him be a
 
 cold bastard? I won’t let him ruin my relationship with our wife.
 
 She’s everything I could want in a woman. If he’s too stupid to see
 
 that, then he’s welcome to keep to the Liadans of this plane.”
 
 There was something about Liadan. There was something about
 
 the blonde woman his brother had taken as his mistress that nagged at
 
 the back of his brain. He couldn’t quite grasp it. It didn’t matter. He
 
 needed to worry about Meg now. Cian pulled the left drawer out and
 
 carefully pushed his hand inside. He felt for the trap door at the back.
 
 It sprang free, and Cian felt his treasure.
 
 “You can’t kick your brother out of your marital bed,” Flanna was
 
 insisting. “You know that the three of you will never form a triad if
 
 you don’t open yourselves to each other.”
 
 Cian pulled his hand free and opened the small bag he had
 
 retrieved. “The triad is a myth. I’m not going to develop mystical