Falling Kingdoms

“I grow lonely.” Again she walked slowly around him. Her gaze felt weighted and uncomfortable. “And I know that you’re also lonely. You haven’t yet chosen a future bride, even though you’re only weeks from turning eighteen. And you spend so very much time all by yourself. Whatever do you do with your days and nights, Magnus?”

“Nothing that would interest you.”

“I know you enjoy the attentions of a pretty kitchen maid, don’t you? But she’s the only one I’m aware of. I don’t believe for one moment that you’re interested in such a girl as anything more than a short and meaningless distraction.”

He hated that she knew so much about him. “It might be meaningless, but it’s not always short.”

He tensed when he felt her hand brush over his back, trailing across to his shoulders as she circled him. “You are very nearly a man. And a very fine man at that. A bit soft around the edges still, but I think the right handling would help sharpen your edge. You could become a fine weapon in many ways.”

Magnus stared at her, unclear about her meaning. But not all that unclear. “What are you suggesting?”

“The same thing that I suggested to your father when he was not much older than you. I’m offering myself to you as a lover.”

“Is that so?” His words were measured, quiet.

“Yes.”

“You’re old enough to be my mother.”

This finally helped her smile to slip at the edges. “Age can be an asset, Magnus. With age comes experience. You are young and, apart from that maid and perhaps a handful of other meaningless girls, you have no experience.”

“You have no idea how much experience I have.”

“Not nearly enough. It’s clear in every move you make. You want to feel wanted. Needed. Desired.” She trailed her fingertips over his chest. “I can make you feel those things.”

Magnus couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

“And what does my father have to say about this offer of yours?”

“Gaius doesn’t know, of course. Nor does he need to know.”

“Sharing a mistress with my father doesn’t sound like a very good way to help strengthen our father-son bond.”

“As if you’ve ever cared about any father-son bond.”

He shrugged noncommittally. “Maybe I do now.”

“This is why I came to see you tonight. To offer you this. To offer you myself. I can stay with you tonight if you’d like. Gaius won’t know where I’ve gone. And I promise I can make you forget any problem that you might think you have.” She went up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his.

She kissed him until she realized that he wasn’t kissing her in return. She stepped back and looked up at him with confusion. “Is there a problem?”

The taste of her lips was more poisonous than pleasurable. The thought that the same mouth had kissed his father filled him with disgust. “I think you should leave.”

Her amber eyes widened a fraction. “Are you denying me?”

“I’d say that’s a good guess. Apologies, Sabina, but this is not something I want. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding someone else to warm your bed while my father’s otherwise occupied. But it won’t be me.”

Something unpleasant flashed across her beautiful face. “Don’t make a hasty decision before you’ve given yourself time to think about it.”

“Fair enough.” He cocked his head. “There. I’ve thought about it. I’m still not interested.”

Sabina’s expression hardened. “I suppose for someone already lusting after his own sister, I’m not all that surprised.”

The words were like a slap to his face and Magnus flinched. His father’s closest confidant would be told every secret. Or perhaps she’d guessed all on her own.

The cold smile returned to her lips. “I am curious how long you’ve felt such an unnatural and shameful desire for her. A year? More than that? Since she was only a child?”

“Shut your mouth.” He gritted the words out, his fists clenching at his sides.

“Such delicious pain I see on your face.” She grasped his chin before he pushed her away. “Does this torment you, Magnus? You wear such a sullen expression usually, so cold and uninvolved—like a wall of ice. I’ve found your true weakness.”

“You’ve found nothing of the sort.”

She laughed at this. “Haven’t I? Oh, Magnus, I know so much more than you do. Shall I tell you another secret about your beloved sister that your father keeps hidden from you?”

A storm of emotions swept through Magnus. He wanted to push the woman out of his room and slam the door in her face. But he couldn’t. If there was something else he needed to know about Lucia...

“Tell me,” he growled.

“Ask me nicely.”

He trembled from the effort it took not to reach out and crush the woman’s throat. “Please tell me.”

“So polite,” she hissed. “So not like your father in that way. He only says what he needs to when he needs to. That he didn’t tell you this make me curious why he’d keep such a secret, knowing how tortured you are over this.”

“And now you want to tell me. It shall be your revenge against him for not paying you enough attention lately. He deserves it. So go ahead.”

She was silent for so long he thought she might have changed her mind. “My younger sister Jana was gifted with sight—a rare thing for a common witch. Within herself, she held the ability to read the tales the stars can tell. She believed in the prophecy, passed down from generation to generation, that one day a child would be born who would hold elementia within her greater than anyone since the original sorceress, Eva—she whom my kind worship as you worship your goddess.” Her expression shadowed with the memories of long ago. “Sixteen years ago, Jana saw the birth heralded in the stars. Lucia’s birth. Together, my sister and I combined our magic to increase its power tenfold in order to locate her, knowing she would need our guidance one day when her magic finally awakened within her. My sister perished in the quest, but I brought Lucia here to Limeros to be raised as a princess...and as your sister.”