Falling Kingdoms

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Why did you go to Paelsia?”

“Father sent me there to bring something back for him. I failed. And...bad things happened. He’s going to be very angry with me.” He looked down at the floor, looked at his hands. He’d left his sword downstairs. He hadn’t bothered to wipe the guard’s blood off it.

“What bad things happened?”

“The guards who accompanied me—they were killed.”

Her eyes widened. “They were killed? But—but you got away. You were hurt, but you got away.” She touched his face softly. “Thank the goddess you survived.”

He looked into her beautiful eyes, taking strength from the way she looked at him, as if he could never be capable of doing anything truly horrible. “I killed someone.”

Lucia’s lips parted in surprise. “My poor brother. You’ve experienced such horrors. I am so, so sorry.”

“I’m a murderer, Lucia.”

“No.” She captured his face between her hands to force him to keep looking at her. “You’re my brother. And you’re wonderful. You could never do anything horrible. Do you hear me?”

She hugged him tight, so tight that he could almost forget what had happened. He held on to her. She was his anchor to keep him from being swept completely out to sea.

“Father won’t be angry,” she whispered. “Whatever he wanted you to do isn’t as important as having you return safely home.”

“He might disagree with that.”

“No, he won’t. I felt terrible about what happened with Sabina.” Her voice caught. “But he assured me that I’m not bad and that my magic is nothing to fear. That what happened was meant to happen. It was fate.”

“And you believed him?”

Lucia was quiet for a moment. “It took me a while, but I do believe him now. What I can do—I’m not afraid of it anymore. Let me show you what I’ve learned.”

She pressed her hand against his injured cheek. Her skin grew warm against his and begin to glow with a soft white light. He stared into her blue eyes, willing himself not to pull back from her as the heat grew and sank into his skin. It hurt, but he forced himself not to flinch away from her. When she finally pulled back from him, he touched his cheek to find that it was smooth, apart from his previous scar, and that the new scratches had vanished. Lucia had healed him with earth magic.

“Incredible. You’re incredible.”

A small, confident smile played at her lips. “I was surprised how kind Father was to me after...well, after what I did. I love him for not making this worse for me.”

Magnus hated that Lucia had been taken in by a few kind words by the king enough to forget the past. “Do you love him as much as you love me?”

She leaned against him and let out a soft laugh. “The truth?’

“Always.”

“Then it shall be our secret,” she whispered in his ear. “I love you more than any other.”

He pulled back from her and looked into her eyes, holding her beautiful face between his hands. Could this be real?

“Does that make you feel better after your horrible ordeal?” she asked.

He nodded slowly. “It does.”

And then, heart swelling, he crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her as deeply and passionately as he’d always dreamed. Her lips were so soft and sweet, and they filled him to overflowing with hope and love.

With a chill, he suddenly realized that her hands were pressed flat against his chest and she was trying to push him away. When he broke off the kiss, she skidded back from him, landing hard on her backside. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth, her eyes wide and appalled. And something else. Disgusted.

His lips tingled from the feel of her, the taste of her, but the reality of what had happened crashed over him like a bucket of ice-cold water.

She hadn’t kissed him back.

“Why would you do such a thing?” Her voice was pitchy and muffled by her hand.

“I’m sorry.” His heart hammered in his chest. Then he shook his head. “No, wait. I’m not sorry. I’ve wanted to kiss you like that for so long, but I was afraid.”

Her hand trembled as she pulled it away from her mouth. “But you’re my brother.”

“You said that you loved me.”

“Yes. I love you desperately...as my brother. But this...” She shook her head. “No, it’s not right. You can’t do something like this ever again.”

“You’re not really my sister.” He wouldn’t let himself feel shame for what he’d done. He’d given in to his love for her in a real way, and he refused to let it be turned into something vile. It wasn’t vile; it was pure. The purest thing in his entire world. “Not by blood. You weren’t born into this family. You were born in Paelsia. Sabina stole you from your cradle. You were raised here as my sister, but we’re not related by blood. If we’re together, it’s not forbidden to us.”

Her face had paled so much that she now resembled a ghost. The fierceness had left her eyes, replaced by shock. “Why are you saying these horrible things to me?”

“Because they’re the truth. The truth that you should have been told by the king himself. He wants to use your power for his own gain. That’s why he had you brought here, why he’s raised you as his daughter.”

Lucia shook her head. “And you’ve known this all the time?”