Born of Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

crimes, it popped up your old kidnapping report and the DNA that was on file from your childhood hairs they’d collected. You are indeed his missing son.”
    No, no, no, no, no.
    “I came as soon as they notified me they’d found you,” the man interjected.
    The doctor inclined his head respectively before he continued. “His Majesty arrived right before they issued the order to behead you. One more second and it would have been too late.”
    Majesty… That title permeated the fog in Caillen’s mind. If this guy was an emperor and he was his son…
    That would make him a…
    Oh yeah, right. They were so screwing with him. This was complete and utter crap. “I’m not a prince.” No krikkin way. Fate would not be that bored today.
    Nah, this was some shit one of his friends was pulling. “Who put you up to this? Nykyrian or Darling?”
    The doctor smiled. “You are indeed a prince, Your Highness. We double-checked your DNA against your father’s when you were brought in and there is no doubt whatsoever. You are Emperor Evzen’s son. His only son.”
    Caillen’s mind reeled. He might not recognize the man, but he knew the name Reginahn Evzen Tyralehn de Orczy. Emperor to both the Garvon and Exeter systems, his name was synonymous with power and wealth.
    Was it really possible?
    No. No way. His sisters and parents had always said he was family. If he’d been a foundling, wouldn’t they have told him? Given how poor they were why would his father take in another mouth to—
    ther’the son I always dreamed of. I’m so glad to have you as part of my family…” His father’s often uttered words now took on a whole new meaning. All his life he’d assumed his dad was grateful for the additional Y chromosome in their all-female home. But if he’d taken him in…
    “I’ve risked everything to keep you alive. Don’t let it be for nothing. Not after all I’ve given to keep you with us.” Was that what his dad had meant when he’d said that one day Caillen would understand?
    Was that why his father had been so adamant that he never disclose his DNA? Why his father had been so damn paranoid about everything? When it came to conspiracies, the man was as creative as he was psychotic. But if he’d known who Caillen really was…
    It all made sense.
    Caillen couldn’t breathe as reality assaulted him.
    Holy crap. I’m a prince .
    Now ain’t that a bitch? All the times in his life he’d had to scrape for every credit and here he was related to one of the richest men in the Nine Systems.
    Yeah, that would be my luck.
    The emperor took his hand again. “Don’t you remember anything about your life before you were kidnapped?”
    “No. Sorry. Are you sure you have the right person?”
    He let go of Caillen’s hand to pull out his wallet. He flipped it open to a picture and pressed it.
    There was a beautiful woman in royal robes holding a bald baby boy who couldn’t even sit up on his own. She was smiling and waving the baby’s hand. “Radek… say, ‘Hello, Daddy.’ ” But what held Caillen entranced was how much the woman favored him. They had the same coloring, the same eyes, nose and lips. Same dark hair…
    Something he’d never shared with his sisters or parents. His dad had told him he took his coloring from a great-grandparent who’d died before his birth.
    Now he knew that had been a major lie too. He saw his real mother’s face and there was no denying it.
    She was his mother.
    And with that came a forgotten memory of his sister Kasen telling him once when they were kids and she’d been angry at him that he’d been found abandoned in a garbage dump. That had garnered her the worst beating of her childhood. He’d written it off as typical sibling harassment and a stressed parent’s overreaction.
    But if he really had been found in the garbage, that explained why his father had gone ballistic over her taunt.
    Weird as it was, a lot of things he’d questioned over the years now made total