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younger brother. I was late picking him up for my father.”
    Ture winced at the pain he heard in Maris’s voice. “Thank the gods you were there.”
    Maris let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, but that was the reason he was attacked in the first place.”
    “You’ve lost me again.”
    There was so much agony in those dark eyes that it made Ture’s tear up for him. “They thought my brother was me since they’d been told that was where I’d be at that designated time. Had I been on time, my brother wouldn’t have been beat to a pulp.”
    His jaw went slack. It would be hard enough to have your brother attacked. To then find out it was supposed to be you . . . How awful. “Why did they go after you?”
    “Swabbing the gene pool.” Maris looked away as he remembered the laughter and mockery that had been shoved down his throat.
    “You’re a pathetic waste. I should have cut out your heart when you were born, instead of wasting family resources on you.” Maris could still see the hatred in his father’s eyes as he’d sneered that at him.
    He met Ture’s gaze and tried to keep the bitterness from his voice. “It’d gotten out that I’d had trouble sustaining an erection in a whorehouse with a woman. And such a thing is considered shameful and considered a grave mark against my family and their honor.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    Maris shook his head. “Erectile dysfunction is deemed a capital offense in our empire.”
    Ture was appalled by what he described. “They would really kill someone for that?”
    Maris nodded. “By the time I arrived, my little brother was barely alive from their vicious assault. The fury inside me was terrifying. And I unleashed every ounce of it onto the three hulking men who were standing over him. I didn’t even realize what I’d done until they were in pieces on the ground and I was vomiting against the wall.”
    Ture took his hand into his and held it tight. “I am so sorry. I can’t believe anyone would do such a thing for such a stupid reason. Who sent them after you?”
    My father. Maris tightened his hand around Ture’s as the answer echoed in his head. To this day, he couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud. It was something he’d never told a single soul.
    Not even Darling.
    The saddest part? His father had bragged about it to Maris when he’d returned home, carrying an almost dead Safir in his arms.
    A smile had spread across his father’s face as he saw them. “I’ve never been prouder of you, boy. Here we all thought we’d be burying a defective woman in an unmarked grave tonight. Instead, you’ve come home redeemed and wearing the blood of three of my best soldiers. Good job, Maris. You’ve restored our honor.”
    It was the only time in his life his father had praised him. But what had sickened him even more was the fact that his father hadn’t cared that he put Safir in danger. Barely more than a child, Safir was considered collateral damage to their father and family.
    Just like him.
    Sighing, he did his best to bury that memory. “It doesn’t matter. Three men were dead over something ridiculous.”
    Ture pulled him into his arms and held him. “I’m sorry, Mari. But I’m glad you’re still here.”
    Maris patted him on the back. “Some days, I am, too.” Closing his eyes, he breathed in the scent of Ture’s warm body. He might have gone soft on the female whore who’d ratted him out to his father, but that was definitely not his problem right now.
    Ture set him on fire.
    And all that did was remind him why his body was rife with such demanding need. He hadn’t been with anyone in over two years. First had been his need to find Darling after the Caronese Resistance had taken him captive. Nothing else had mattered during the months they’d searched. And sex had been the last thing on his mind. Then, Darling had been found in a condition that made both Ture’s and Zarya’s combined look like a picnic. The torture and humiliation