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“He’s not obligated to me. I’m telling you, he likes me.”
Blaze raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “We’ll figure it out. I’m really liking the joint custody idea, though. Now, about this royal petting zoo. What the hell is that?”
Eden sighed. There was no point hiding her snooping from him. “While you were asleep, I had another look into your family. They’re a big deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a private zoo.”
His eyes narrowed a fraction. “So what?”
“I mean, they’re huge. Planet-wide fame level huge.”
“And your point is?”
“You never talk about them.”
Blaze didn’t speak. He focused on Nipper.
Eden stroked the soft fur between Nipper’s ears. “What’s the problem? You don’t like wealth, power, and influence?”
“It’s not that.”
“You had a fight and disowned them?”
“No, I like my family. I respect what they do. They work tirelessly to ensure the planet’s stability and form strong alliances to further that cause.”
“They sound great. So what is it? When you were spaced out on Nipper’s venom, you kept talking about duty and your dad giving you files. You said something about me being in those files.”
Blaze’s eyes widened for a second. “I said you should be in the files? I don’t remember that. But I remember little about the last few hours.”
Which meant he didn’t remember telling her he loved her. The punch of disappointment in Eden’s gut made her wince. “You said you’d pick me if I was in a file.”
He hissed out a breath. “I really was out of it to reveal that.”
“What are the files about?”
Blaze shifted in the bed. “How much do you know about my family?”
“They’re super rich, well-connected, and own loads of property. They travel a lot and donate to a heap of good causes. I couldn’t get my head around all the Apexian royal ranks and titles, but I see they’re up there near the top.”
“They are. My dad’s fourth in line for taking over.”
“Taking over what?”
“The planet.”
“Holy stars. And he let you come and do this?”
“We came to an agreement. One he wasn’t that happy with, but I wouldn’t back down.”
“Is that why I couldn’t find information about you connected to them online?” Eden tilted her head. “Does Cleo know about your secret identity?”
“Yes to both questions. Cleo agreed to have me on the team after I’d proven myself in the military. I played it down to my parents and said this was a low risk assignment, so they wouldn’t mind me joining the Apocalypse. They welcomed getting me off the combat field.”
“Little did they know what we’d go up against on most missions.”
“It would turn their hair white if they did, and they’d order me back home. The deal would be off.”
“The deal?”
Blaze let out a soft sigh. “I persuaded my parents I needed a step back from the family role. I got five years to do what I wanted. All information about me connected to my family was concealed to reduce the risk of me coming to the attention of our rivals.”
