“We shouldn’t stop here. Yer da was very specific about what would happen tae me should ya take an injury.”

Annika ignored Eoghan’s resigned argument and shimmied into clothes she pulled from her pack. She wanted to take a look at her old lair and being naked for longer than ten seconds around him would likely result in some distractions. Which she welcomed most of the time but right then she needed to see the damage.

“You don’t need to worry about my father. He’s a gentle man,” she said and strode through the charred remains of trees that once offered shade to the home. “My mother, though. She’ll probably eat you.”

His steps crunched after her as soon as he tugged on his pants. “Just what I need on my tombstone. ‘Here lies Eoghan Gilchrist, eaten alive for his mate’s obstinacy.’”

She pulled up sharply and he nearly ran into her. “Here it is. Was.”

The burned trunks of trees gave way to a large clearing. The smoke had cleared long ago and the ashes were washed away from rain. Charred lines and crumbled stone were all that remained of her childhood home.

Eoghan reached down and squeezed her hand. “Ya don’t need tae do this.”

“I do.”

She wanted to believe it was some trick of her family. They saved the news until after she and Eoghan arrived on Patomas. The Dragon Court’s enemies flew through their relatively peaceful island only a few months after she left to monitor Eoghan. Every lair in the area was destroyed.

The Dragon Court responded, of course. But it was too late to do anything else but drive off the troops. They made their own incursions into enemy territory. It was the same back and forth as it’d been since the beginning of the war. The sides were too evenly matched. They gained and lost ground at the same rate and neither side was willing to concede.

She moved through the remains as if she were going through the home. The entryway where she remembered a small table. Down the hall was the large kitchen. She and her brothers learned from their father how to dress the game they brought home from hunts with their mother. A mess of additions were slapped onto the home when the children grew old enough for their own rooms. Hers had been converted from the nursery they all shared.

She expected to feel anger or sadness when she visited the site. Instead, she felt nothing. It was a hollow in her stomach that ate all her emotions. It hadn’t been her home, truly, since she joined the service of the Delphina and Pythian.

She didn’t know how long she stood and stared at the ruins. The spark of hope surged to life inside her the moment Eoghan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest.

“Maybe we can rebuild here,” she said. “My brothers are all living with their mates. My parents are teaching in the co-op near them all. The land is good. They supported four hatchlings here without any problems.”

Eoghan cocked his head. “Are ya trying tae tell me something?”

She smiled and imagined the walls around her. The room had been painted with a mural that mirrored the outside for as long as she could remember. “No. Not yet, anyway. But someday, maybe?”

He kissed her neck. “Someday. Ya have a war tae win me first.”

She turned in his grasp. “Do you believe me yet?”

“No. People all over the world look the same. Doesn’t mean they’re related.”

He refused the blood test. He wouldn’t take it until he saw her evidence. And until they had an audience with the Pythian, then he wouldn’t see what she saw.

With her family settled and her home burned down, there was only one place she and Eoghan could go without feeling like interlopers. They were on their way to the Dragon Court when she made the painful detour.

“You hear ‘look the same.’ What you should be hearing is ‘carbon copy.’” It would only be a matter of time after they took their place in the Court. He would see for himself and she’d be proven right. His jokes about doing something for her prince would become even more unbearable than they already were.

Maybe it was best if she was wrong. More peaceful that way.

“Come on. I’ll show you where we used to cliff dive.”

It would have been easier to fly but she wanted the walk. She could almost hear the sounds of birds calling—the signals used by her and her brothers during their games of hunting and chasing one another. Only the burned trunks of trees remained where the paths used to be covered with lush shrubs and flowering vines.

Greenery appeared near the edges of the land and the diving spot, but it was still a far cry from what she remembered.

Waves crashed into the cliff face below and brought a smile to her lips. That was something that couldn’t be destroyed or burned away. “Here it is.”

Eoghan peered over the edge. “Do ya know how many people die doing this every year?”

Annika slowly backed up, careful to keep her steps quiet. Her shirt fell to the ground, and her pants soon after. All as quiet as she could manage.

“It’s not zero, I can tell ya that.” He shifted slightly closer to the edge.

“Suddenly scared of heights? What a poor prince you’ll make.”

“It’s not the heights. It’s the landing smack in a pile of rocks ya can’t see from above.”

She grinned. “We did this all the time as kids. I assure you, no rocks.”

He turned to her then but she was already running toward the edge. She whooped and jumped. She seemed to hang in mid-air for a second then she plummeted into the cool water below.

She burst through the surface and waved up at him. “No rocks. Jump in!”

“Yer mad. Pure fooking mental,” he called down to her but pulled his shirt over his head. She swum out of the way for his quick descent. He snagged her feet from below and she screeched when he dragged her under.

He pulled her to him when they floated back to the surface. Water streamed from his dark hair, the tips curling slightly. His blue eyes lit with laughter before he kissed her. “Yer all mine.”

* * *

“I look like a buffoon.” Eoghan tugged at the tight collar of his shirt. Pressed, starched, stiff, and uncomfortable. If the room had been open like the training yard, he might have just reached into the Wyrd and flown the coop.

It was a plain room, he thought. Subdued artwork hung on the walls amid mounted planters. It was designed to draw the attention exactly where the most powerful individuals wanted it: to the chairs on the slightly raised dais at the other end of the room. There were no other distractions in the small chamber. He knew how that trick worked and he didn’t appreciate being on the other side of it.

Annika straightened his tie and brushed off the lapels of his suit jacket. “You clean up nice.”

He rolled his shoulders. “It’s too tight.”

“It’s thinner than the leather one you usually wear and it’s just for the afternoon.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and brought her lips to his ear. “You won’t need anything on once we’re done here.”

He eyed the curve of her hips and thighs all the way down to her calves and back. Her deep green dress clung to her chest like a necklace, then bunched together above one hip. Heels laced up her legs and gave him delightful ideas of binding her to their bed. “Those heels stay on.”

He skimmed fingers up her arms and over the soft mounds of her breasts. She smiled wickedly at him. “Just wait until you see what I don’t have on underneath.”

“Yer killing me.” He groaned. “I am dead. Ya killed yer prince. Aren’t there laws against that?”

Despite her feigned distractions, Eoghan was going into the meet with agitation riding him harshly. He still didn’t believe he was one of the Lost Princes. Even if he was one of those poor souls, he wouldn’t get anything out of it that he didn’t already have.

He had the love of a good woman, vicious and sly as she was. And if he could believe her talk at the ruins of her childhood home, he had children in his future. If he wanted to rule, he could simply take back his place as head of the family in Baltimore, though Gio might have a slight problem with it.

Before she could tease him further, the large double doors at the other end of the room opened and she stepped away. Two guards stepped through, followed by a man that made Annika stiffen. The guards stationed themselves on either side of the dais. Two more guards followed and shut the door, taking positions beside it.

The man himself didn’t take a seat. He stepped into the center of the room.

“Pythian,” Annika said and inclined her head.

Eoghan glanced at her and did nothing. The Pythian’s blue eyes hardened slightly but he said nothing. He wasn’t part of their Court, no matter how he’d come to be there.

“Annika,” the man sounded fond. “It’s so good to have you back. And with an important guest, I see.”

Eoghan stuffed his hands in his pockets and circled the Pythian, eyeing him up and down. He stopped in front of him and poked him hard in the chest. The Pythian rocked back on his heels and grunted.

They were the same height. The same blue eyes he saw whenever he looked in the mirror. Same golden skin, same cheek bones. Hell, he was certain they’d have the same size cock if he dared whip his out in front of the guards. The only difference was in the hair. At least he knew he wouldn’t grow bald. He’d look dignified when his black hair started turning salt and pepper.

Eoghan turned to Annika. “It’s uncanny. How did ya do it?”

“I didn’t do this. You know what I suspected.”

“I think it’s all but confirmed at this point. We simply need to get through the formalities with a DNA test.” The Pythian coughed politely. He seemed at odds with being the subject of a conversation instead of a participant. “You are my son and I am your father. Our Lost Prince has returned.”

Silence weighed on the room. The man clearly expected a happier reunion and Eoghan wasn’t about to give it to him.

His accent disappeared along with any hint of absurdity. “I already have a family. A father, mother, sisters.”

A flash of pain entered the man’s eyes. “You were dearly wanted and sorely missed. You’re a man grown, now, and I would never presume to take the place of the ones who brought you up. However, I would like to hear the story of how you were raised. Perhaps some clue can be gleaned as to how you and your brothers were taken.”

The hint of grief in his voice softened Eoghan’s anger. Slightly. He was one of five children stolen away and he imagined the loss of each one etched into the man’s heart. How many days had he spent looking for his stolen sons? Eoghan slashed his eyes to Annika. He hadn’t needed to wait forty years for her return.

“All I can give ya is what I remember. My ma and da, bless their souls, adopted me from some nunnery in Edinburgh. They never mentioned how I came tae be there. I don’t think they ever knew. There were always a lot of bairns wailing in the nunneries.”

A bit of relief entered the man’s face. “Was it a good life?”

“They made sure we didn’t want for food or clothes. Our home was no palace like this but we had clean floors and a stout roof. Mostly.” He turned to Annika. “We should have taken bets on this.”

The Pythian cracked a smile. “You’re a betting man? Is that through your involvement as the head of a Shadow Mob family?”

“Ay, and before I clawed my way tae the top.” Eoghan pulled at his lapels and strolled slowly in front of the Pythian. All four guards watched him warily. “Now I’m an honest man with an honest woman. Well, mostly. There was that little bit about ya sending her tae kill me. But we’re over it.”

“Eoghan.” Annika pulled him to a stop with a hand on his arm. She inclined her head again. “Pythian, will the Delphina be joining us?”

Eoghan didn’t like seeing her so subservient but he let her calm him. He never expected to meet his birth parents, much less discover they were royalty. It was a strange situation to be in and his agitation shouldn’t be directed at any of them in particular. Though he might just need to thank the man for dropping his mate in his lap, even if she had orders to kill him.

The Pythian eyed Eoghan. “It would be best to wait, I believe. Until we have more answers. It was a blow to lose you boys and I would have her prepared with solid facts. In the meantime, I would have us discuss the recent events that brought you here.”

The doors the Pythian entered through burst open and a new contingent of guards stiffly entered.

A striking woman strode through the room with an air of importance. Deep purple skirts swished at her feet. “Where have you disappeared to?” she asked.

Eoghan felt like an intruder at her light, almost playful tone. He glanced to his side and saw Annika bowing her head.

The Delphina pulled up short halfway across the room. Her dark eyes widened and bounced between Eoghan and her husband and he could see the wheels working and drawing conclusions. As much as he resisted, he couldn’t deny their relation when he saw the man.

“No time like the present,” he muttered.

“Another one,” she whispered. “Three lost, two found. The timing-” she stopped, stared hard at Annika. “This means a battle is coming. Where is the other boy?”

“Other boy?” Eoghan asked, running his tongue along his teeth.

“Go to him. The others are coming.”