Fixing him with a flat look, she got to her feet. “I’ve had enough, Samir. I stayed silent about the situation, because I felt guilty about my part in it, but that is enough. It’s been nearly two months! Dr. Jihan said your—your symptoms were supposed to have been completely gone by now. Instead, I find you absent from your rooms at three in the morning, and don’t you dare lie to me that you weren’t with that man! I can sense his telepathic mark all over you.”
Samir held his mother’s gaze with some difficulty. “I’m handling the situation as best I can,” he said, very evenly. “Need I remind you that I wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for you?”
“I already said I was sorry,” Dalatteya said, stepping closer and laying her hands on his shoulders. “Darling, look at me.”
“I’m looking at you, Mother,” Samir said, looking down at her.
“Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want that man.”
Samir let out a laugh. “Mother, you know very well that I can’t really say that with the alien drug in my system—”
“I authorized Dr. Jihan to use our palace AI to run a scanner on you. He said there’s approximately 0.002% of the drug left in your system. You’re effectively back to normal.”
Samir opened his mouth and closed it without any sound leaving it. His first urge was to say that it must have been a mistake, that of course it was a mistake, that it couldn’t possibly be true. But then he thought about how clear his recollection of sex had been lately. He thought about how he hadn’t thought of Warrehn in terms of “breeder” and “mate” in a long time. He thought about the fact that lately he fixated more on Warrehn’s kisses and Warrehn’s arms around him than on the sex. He even enjoyed doing Warrehn’s paperwork with him, for fuck’s sake.
Samir’s stomach dropped.
“Now look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want that man.”
He wet his lips with his tongue. “Why does it matter, Mother? Sex is just sex. Don’t tell me you’ve never enjoyed sex with someone you didn’t like.”
The look Dalatteya gave him was positively chilling. “Don’t play stupid, Samir. Are you claiming you don’t like him? I’ve seen the way you look at him: like a besotted, foolish boy. You have lost sight of the goal—which is removing Warrehn from the picture.”
Samir’s heart started beating faster. “Mother, I don’t think—”
“That is your problem, Samir: you don’t think! The longer Emyr’s spawn stays on the throne, the more used to him our people will become. His association with you in public already made him more popular than he has any right to be. We can’t wait any longer if we want him removed from the throne—”
“I don’t want it,” Samir said quietly.
“I beg your pardon?”
Samir forced himself to look her in the eyes. “I never wanted it. It was your dream to see me on the throne, not mine. I did it to make you happy, Mother. But now I’m done. Stop plotting against Warrehn, stop scheming. He’s a perfectly good king. I don’t want his throne.”
He tried to ignore the disappointment on her face. He was a grown man. He didn’t need his mother’s approval.
“It’s not just about getting the throne back, Samir,” she said, her voice toneless. “He’s been investigating the past, looking for proof of me killing his parents and attempting to murder him and his brother. It’s only a matter of time until he finds something and gets me arrested.”
Samir’s heart skipped a beat.
His mother smiled sadly. “Is the infatuation you feel for that man more important for you than me?”
Samir swallowed. “Mother—”
“End it, Samir. Now. Put distance between you. If you aren’t going to help me, at least don’t get in the way.”
And with that, she left, her heels clicking loudly.
Samir shut the door and sagged back against it, looking blankly at the opposite wall.
***
He didn’t get a wink of sleep that night.
Come morning, he felt barely functional—and still without any clue what to do. He loved his mother, he felt fiercely protective of her, but… But.
Samir was just finishing getting dressed when there was a sharp knock on the door.
His eyes widened, his heart beating faster.
“Hey,” Warrehn said when he opened the door, stepping forward and laying his hands on Samir’s hips in a such a casually proprietary manner Samir did a double-take and blushed, confused and flustered. He didn’t understand. If they really were back to normal, why was Warrehn still behaving like this? Or could Warrehn still be affected? Samir did recall Dr. Jihan saying that there was more of the drug in Warrehn’s system than his, but…
Warrehn pulled him close, moving him easily with a firm pressure on his hips. Samir could have resisted.