Falling Kingdoms

by Morgan Rhodes

  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.”

  Magnus stared at her. He could barely breathe. “You speak nonsense.”

  Her eyes sparkled. She took delight in his confusion. “Of course, you were never told anything about this. No one was, at Gaius’s insistence. After being unable to carry another child after you, Althea, too, agreed wholeheartedly to keep this secret. All for the chance to claim a beautiful child as her own daughter—even if that princess was delivered to her by someone she’s always loathed.”

  “What you’re saying is impossible.”

  “Not impossible.” Sabina grasped the back of his neck and brought their faces closer together so she could whisper. “Lucia is not your sister by blood, Magnus. Does this revelation fuel your passion, or does the thought that your heart’s desire is no longer forbidden make it less exciting?”

  “You lie.” He grabbed the front of her dress. “You’re trying to play with my mind.”

  “I’m not lying. She’s not your sister.” Her eyes narrowed. “However, she was raised as your sister and knows you only as a brother. She doesn’t feel the same toward you as you do toward her. So tragic.”

  He let go of her and stared at her with shock and confusion. His entire world was in tumult, spinning.

  “Maybe I’ll have a little talk with Lucia.” Sabina’s smile was unpleasant as she stroked away the crease he’d created in the front of her crimson dress. “Would you like her to learn your dark little secret and see what her reaction is? I’d be happy to tell her myself.”

  “Secret?” The door squeaked open to reveal Lucia standing beneath its arch. Magnus froze. “What secret?”

  • • •

  When Magnus hadn’t joined the family for yet another dinner, Lucia began to worry. After studying for most of the evening, she was ready to do some more practicing. Magnus had served as an excellent tutor. Tonight she wanted to focus on her fire magic.

  She left her room and wandered the halls until she came to her brother’s room. The door was mostly shut, but she heard raised voices inside.

  And her name, and something about a secret.

  She pushed the door open and was surprised to see Sabina standing only a foot away from Magnus. Both of their faces were flushed and they cast angry glares toward her as she entered.

  Perhaps she should have knocked first. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Such a sweet girl,” Sabina purred. “Isn’t she, Magnus? So very sweet, your sister. Like honey melting on your tongue.”

  “Leave her alone,” he growled back. Lucia was surprised to hear the catch in his voice.

  “I’ve left her alone for sixteen years,” Sabina said, her words clipped. “Both my time and patience grow short.”

  “She’s innocent in all of this.”

  “Or perhaps waiting under the surface is something harder and less breakable, just like I sensed with you.” Sabina turned a smile on Lucia, one that made a chill run down her spine. “If you don’t wish to experience my personal tutoring, Magnus, maybe she would. Less fun than the sessions I had planned for you, of course, but still very necessary.”

  “Magnus?” Lucia asked, frowning. His face was as tense as she’d ever seen it.

  “You should go,” he said.

  “Why?” Sabina asked. “This is an excellent opportunity for the three of us to get to know each other better. Lucia, dear, how are you?”

  Lucia tightened her lips. She didn’t trust this woman. “Fine, thank you.”

  “Really? You haven’t been feeling strangely lately?”

  Lucia watched her warily. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Magnus told me how powerful your magic is.”

  It was as if she’d just been punched in the stomach. It took effort not to stagger back from the blow. “What?”

  “I said no such thing,” Magnus snarled.

  “Perhaps not.” Sabina gave each of them a thin smile. “But now I know everything I needed to know. It’s true. Your powers have awakened.”

  Cold fear washed over Lucia that this woman knew anything about her. This was the continuation of their last confusing conversation in the halls about dangerous secrets. Sabina knew.

  “Don’t be worried,” Magnus said calmly. The anger had left his voice and expression, but it still burned in his eyes. “Your secret is safe with Sabina.
For I know a secret about her—she’s a witch.”

  Lucia’s mouth dropped open at this revelation.

  “Now that we have all of this out in the open,” Sabina said, gazing at her curiously, “perhaps you can tell me what you’re able to do.”

  It took a moment for her to find her voice. She raised her chin and looked directly in the older woman’s eyes. “Not much at all.”

  A look of frustration crossed Sabina’s face. “Can you be more specific?”

  “No, she can’t.” Magnus came to stand next to Lucia and put his arm around her shoulders. His proximity comforted her immediately. “It’s late. This is not a discussion we should be having right now.”

  “Is that why you came to Magnus’s room?” Lucia demanded. “To question him about me?”

  “That was one of the reasons,” Sabina said with a twisting smile. “Shall I tell you about the others?”

  Magnus shot the woman a dark look. What secrets did he have that he’d chosen to tell Sabina, but not her?

  “Do you know how powerful you are, Lucia?” Sabina asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand any of this.”

  “Your father would be unhappy if I told you everything without him being here. Believe me, I’ve already revealed enough to ensure his anger. But know this...it was foretold. Your birth was foretold. Your ability to access elementia as no one has in a thousand years was foretold. You’re not a witch, Lucia, darling. You’re a sorceress.”

  Her anxiety swelled to a fever pitch. “You’re wrong. I might be able to do a little bit of magic, but it’s nothing that vast.”

  “Perhaps you’ve only dabbled up until now, but if it’s already begun to awaken, that means it’s yours—a pool of magic waiting for you to fully plunge into. All four elements for you to wield at will.”

  “You could still be wrong,” Magnus said firmly.

  “I’m not wrong!” This was shouted, as if Sabina had been on the very edge of her temper and had finally stepped beyond. “I’m right, as I’ve been from the very beginning. I would never have sacrificed all I have if I’d any doubt. I know if you reach into your abilities as deeply as you can, you will awaken the rest of it.”

  Lucia felt an overwhelming urge to flee this room and this woman—this witch—who’d always intimidated and frightened her. She looked to Magnus, but he didn’t say a word. His brow was furrowed.

  “Magnus, are you all right?” she asked again. His expression wasn’t impassive as it usually was but tormented.

  “I didn’t want this,” he said. “Any of it. I wanted you to be safe.”

  “Oh, Magnus,” Sabina drawled. “Stop playing at being a saint to your little sister. It doesn’t fool me. You’re just like your father, but you keep denying it.”

  He turned his fierce gaze on her. “I’m nothing like my father. I hate him and everything he stands for.”

  “Hate is a strong emotion. Much more powerful than indifference. But those who burn with hate can also love just as intensely. Can’t they?” She smiled at him, as if they shared a private joke about this. “When you hate—or love—do you do so with all your heart? So much that it feels as if you might die from it?”

  “Shut up,” he growled.

  “I gave you a chance, but you didn’t take it. I could have helped you in so many ways.”

  “You help no one but yourself. It’s always been that way. I can’t believe I never guessed that underneath it all you were an evil witch who should be burned at the stake like the others my father put to death.”

  Sabina backhanded him hard across the scarred side of his face. “Watch your mouth, boy.”

  “Or what?” He touched the corner of his mouth and came away with blood on his fingertips. He cast a dark look at her.

  “Don’t you dare touch him!” Lucia snarled. Seeing Magnus struck by this nasty woman had summoned a wave of anger from deep inside her, anger unlike anything she’d felt before.

  No—that was wrong. She’d felt it before. One time, three years ago, when she’d hidden behind a corner while Magnus had been reprimanded by their father for talking back to him in public. Magnus had tried to rise up and hit his father back, but he’d been beaten down. Her brother had finally run from the room and gone straight to his chambers. Lucia had followed him and found Magnus curled up in the corner, a frozen look of pain on his bloodied face that went much deeper than physical. She’d sat down next to him and put her head on his shoulder. Hadn’t said a word, just sat with him and listened to his quiet sobs until they finally faded away to nothing.

  She’d wanted Magnus to kill their father for hurting him.

  No, that was wrong too. She had wanted to kill him herself.

  “I dare,” Sabina said. “With the full permission of your father, the king. I can strike your brother whenever I want. I can do whatever I want. Just watch me, little girl.”

  She lashed out and hit Magnus again. He snarled at her; his fist was so tight that Lucia was certain he would strike back. If Sabina was not a woman, she was certain he wouldn’t have hesitated.

  Lucia had no such problems with gallantry. She lashed her hand through the air in a flicking motion. Sabina’s head moved as if she’d been slapped, even though she stood six paces away. The witch pressed her palm to her reddened cheek, her eyes wide but glowing with excitement.

  “My darling girl,” she exclaimed. “Very good! Yes, just like that. So it’s anger that helps you grasp hold of your magic, is it? Perhaps it will be anger that can fully awaken it.”

  “Stop this,” Magnus hissed. “I don’t want this.”

  “Nobody asked you.” Sabina grinned, even though a trickle of blood slid down the corner of her mouth. She drew out a dagger from beneath her skirts, from a leather sheath strapped to her thigh. Then she moved so fast that Lucia could barely follow her.

  Suddenly, Sabina was behind Magnus, digging the tip of her dagger under his chin so sharply that blood slid down his throat.

  “Magnus!” Lucia shrieked.

  “I...can’t...move...” Magnus managed with effort.

  “The elementia a common witch like me can summon takes great effort or sacrifice,” Sabina said calmly. Blood now trickled from her nose. “But I can do a little when necessary. Air can bind. Air can suffocate.”

  “Don’t hurt him!” Lucia’s stomach clenched. She was both furious and deeply frightened—two opposite emotions that raged against each other.

  “I wish to test your earth magic tonight,” Sabina said. “When I slit your brother’s throat, you’ll have just enough time to summon the magic required to heal him and save his life. Delving into your powers that deeply will help awaken all of them. Gaius will understand that I had to use extreme measures. I’m saving him precious time.”

  Healing? Earth magic? Lucia had never even attempted anything like that before.

  Sabina wasn’t bluffing. The witch was going to slit Magnus’s throat. Blood already streaked down his skin. With despair, she watched the tip of the knife sink deeper into her brother’s skin. Pain flashed across his expression.

  Fury exploded from within her.

  Lucia didn’t think. She simply acted, now blind with rage and fear.

  She screamed and thrust both hands toward Sabina, forcing the magic that slept deep inside to the surface.

  Sabina flew backward and slammed against the stone wall of Magnus’s chambers. There was a sickening crack as the back of her skull shattered against the hard surface. Lucia kept her arms thrust outward. It was enough to hold the woman in place. Sabina’s feet now dangled above the ground.

  Blood gushed from the witch’s mouth and she made a sickly gurgling noise.

  “Good,” she managed. “Your...air magic...it’s even stronger than I thought. But untrained. You can heal me. You—you need
me.”

  “I don’t need you! I hate you!” Lucia’s rage only blazed hotter. As if to match her rampant emotions, flames burst from Sabina’s chest. The witch looked down at herself, panic finally showing in her wild, pained gaze.

  “Enough! No...Lucia, it’s enough! You’ve proved yourself—”

  But before she could utter another word, a raging inferno lit up the dark room, consuming Sabina completely. Lucia’s long, wild hair was swept back from her face from the blast of the heat wave. Sabina’s scream of agony was cut short as her blackened corpse fell heavily to the ground and the flames disappeared.

  Lucia shook from head to toe as Sabina dropped to the floor, her eyes wide with horror at what she’d done. She’d hated Sabina enough to want her to burn.

  And she’d burned.

  Magnus was at her side the next moment. He sank to his knees next to her and pulled her against his chest, holding her tight to stop her from trembling.

  “It’s all right,” Magnus soothed.

  “She was going to kill you.” Her words came in tight bursts.

  “And you saved my life. Thank you for that.” He wiped her tears away with his thumbs.

  “You don’t hate me for what I’ve done?”

  “I could never hate you, Lucia. Ever. You hear me?”

  She crushed her face against his chest, taking comfort from her brother’s strength. “What will Father do to me when he learns of this?”

  Magnus tensed and she pulled back from him to look up into his face. Her brother’s attention was on the door—now fully open. Standing there was her father.

  He was staring at the charred remains of Sabina Mallius. Then his gaze slowly tracked to his children.

  “You did this, didn’t you, daughter?” His voice was soft, but never before had it sounded so dangerous.

  “No, it was me,” Magnus said, raising his chin higher. “I killed her.”

  “Liar. It was Lucia.” The king moved toward them and gripped Lucia’s arm, lurching her up to her feet and away from Magnus. “You killed Sabina, didn’t you? Answer me!”