“I will not reveal otherwise,” Rainer said crisply.
“No, I suspect you won’t.” Jahn stood and walked toward the deputy. How much could he trust this man? He could not handle what needed to be done alone, he knew that much. He did not have magic, he did not understand the training and the temptations involved. This man did. Though Rainer had not displayed his powers, he would not be in his current position if Jahn didn’t understand very well what he could do. “There is something else I need from you,” Jahn said in a lowered voice.
“Anything, My Lord Emperor.”
“It requires the most ardent discretion.”
“Of course.” Rainer bowed again, as Jahn drew close.
He did not know what to do with Morgana. He loved her still, always would, and he intended to keep her as his wife. But he didn’t know how to save her, how to keep her . . . how to help rein in her considerable power. It was quite obvious to him, after a long, sleepless night of remembering every word he and Morgana had exchanged and searching his mind for answers, that his wife did not have control of her destructive power. All those times when she had asked him to warm her, she’d been chasing away her unwanted power in the only way she knew how.
Jahn looked into Rainer’s eyes, man to man. “Help me.”
MORGANA had remained compliant and silent as sentinels she had once considered friends, men who now looked at her as if they expected her to sprout another head at any moment, delivered food, fine clothing, and even new furnishings to her chamber. She ate some of the food, for the sake of her baby in case there truly was one, and she sat in the plush chair which was placed by the window, a replacement for the chair she had turned to dust. She refused to wear the elaborate gown that was delivered. She preferred her ordinary, worn yellow dress, the only garment she could call her own after last night’s destruction of so much in this very room. If Jahn thought he could buy her forgiveness with silk, then he did not know her at all.
Did she know him? Was anything he had said or done real?
It was Blane and Iann who came into her room to clean up the dusty remains of her anger. They scooped and swept, and Iann shuddered as he touched a footstool and it fell apart. Neither of them looked her in the eye. This was what she had to look forward to, if she stayed here. Fear. Her own fear that she would kill someone, as well as the fear of others.
None of these men would ever look at her the same way again. She’d lost them as surely as she’d lost Jahn.
She was surprised when a visitor was announced, and even more surprised when a young, attractive man walked into her chamber and gave her a small but genuine smile. “How do you do?” he said formally. “My name is Deputy Angelo Rainer, and I’m a representative from the Ministry of Magic. I’m told you’re Ana Devlyn?”
“That name will do, I suppose,” Morgana answered, not bothering to rise from her chair. Why was he here? To arrest her? To recruit her? To interrogate her about her power and where it came from? If that was the case, he’d be very disappointed. There was only one way to find out why he was here. “What do you want?”
Deputy Rainer walked bravely, and perhaps foolishly, closer to Morgana. He studied her eyes and her folded hands, and then he extended his own hand, which fluttered close to her face but did not quite touch her. He muttered a few times, sputtering words like “remarkable” and “unusual,” as well as a few less easily decipherable hums.
Morgana was quite annoyed at the man’s demeanor. He studied her as if she were a two-headed cat! “I will ask you again,” she said sharply, “what do you want?”
“At the emperor’s request, I am here to teach you how to harness your abilities.”
Morgana’s heart leapt. She was tempted to send Deputy Rainer away, to kick him out of her prison room and send the ornate gown she refused to wear with him. But the words he spoke generated something she had not experienced since the moment Jahn had left her last night. “Is that possible?”
“I believe so, yes. No,” Rainer said more forcefully, “I am certain it’s possible. All abilities are ours to capture and use. Powers which some call unnatural but which are completely natural to those who have them are simply different types of energy. You own your power. It does not own you.”
“But it does,” she whispered. Her curse had ruled her life since the moment she’d killed Tomas.
“Not for long, Mistress Ana,” Rainer said confidently. “Give me your hand, if you please.” With that he offered his hand, which was well-shaped and long-fingered, and a little pale.
“If you had seen what I could do, you would not offer your hand so easily,” Morgana said, as she left his hand hanging there, untouched.
“I am not afraid,” Rainer said gently.
“Perhaps you should be.”
The hand remained, solid and unmoving, and Rainer said again, “I am not afraid.”
AFTER last night’s triumphant moment when Kristo had been so certain his daughter was near, he’d felt nothing more of her presence. Still, he was sure she was here. So close. So damned close!
Danya looked as if she’d been drained of life, she was so pale. There were circles beneath her eyes, and she was skittish. There were moments when she looked horribly delicate, as if she were about to break in two. He’d thought her to be a bit stronger than this, but her secrets were beginning to weigh upon her.
Time to test her, to see if she could be at all useful. With Rikka dead, he could use another ally. Besides, until Morgana was in his hands, Danya remained the only choice for empress. He would not have all that he wanted, if that was the case, but he could and would use every power he had over Danya to get what he wanted most of all.
All Kristo needed was a child. He would prefer that child to be his own blood, his own grandson, but if necessary, Danya’s offspring would serve. If the child was as malleable as the mother, he would serve quite well.
“I want you to kill Deputy Rainer,” Kristo said without preamble, as he closed the door to Danya’s chamber behind him and confronted her. She was alone, as he had known she would be, and was dressed for the day in one of her new, inappropriately seductive gowns. This one was made of a dark, bloodred fabric, much too close to imperial crimson to be proper. The neckline was cut so low that if she sneezed, her nipples would likely be revealed, and the waist was caught up tight to show how tiny her figure was. She had used artificial color to give life to her cheeks, and to be honest, looked no more appealing than the cheapest village prostitute.
She went impossibly whiter as Kristo made his demand. “Why?”
“He watches you too closely; he knows too much.” And Kristo didn’t like the way Rainer had looked at him in the dining hall. The deputy’s restrained abilities apparently included a sensitivity to magics which could reveal Kristo’s powers much too soon.
“He knows nothing!”
“Then kill him simply because I order you to do so,” Kristo said. “You know who will suffer if you do not do as I command.”
Danya swayed on her feet. “How? How am I to kill a man in this palace, an important man in the emperor’s service, and not get caught?”
“That’s your concern, not mine. Women seem to prefer poison over messier methods of disposal, perhaps because they are so often the ones who have to clean the messes more violent actions leave behind.” He walked toward her, silent and smiling, and when he was very near, he reached out and raked his fingers across the exposed swell of her bosom. “It would be quite difficult to get blood out of such a fine fabric, and I suspect it might never wash off your delicate skin.”
“Don’t touch me,” she whispered, not for the first time.
Kristo allowed his hand to drop. “You will do as I direct.” He did not like the way Rainer looked at Danya, the way the man had remained close even though Lady Danya was not at all pleasant these days. Murder likely wasn’t necessary, but Rainer was one of the men who would not be welcome in the new order. Besides, he enjoyed the idea of testing how far his ally woul
d go. What would she do to save her son? Would she kill the emperor when asked to do so?
“Of course.”
“You will kill him tonight,” Rainer said.
Danya’s eyes snapped up and she glared at him. “I need more time! You expect me to plot and carry out a murder without implicating myself in less than one day? Where will I get the poison you spoke of? I will never become empress if I’m caught, and then where will you be?” She pursed her lips and her tired eyes narrowed. “You need me,” she said, perhaps realizing the truth of those words for the first time. “If not, you wouldn’t be here. You would not have taken Ethyn and bothered to blackmail me if you didn’t, for some reason, need me.”
He would need her only until she produced a child and named Uncle Kristo its guardian. And if he found Morgana before the First Night of the Summer Festival, he would not need Danya at all. And yet he answered with an almost friendly “Of course I need you.”
That admission gave her a new confidence. “I’ll need a few days to plan.”
“Rainer must be dead before the emperor chooses you.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Danya nodded, and then she ordered her “uncle” from her presence.
Kristo didn’t like that new boldness in the woman he controlled. He didn’t like it at all.
Chapter Thirteen
JAHN didn’t bother to change into a sentinel’s uniform as he rushed up the stairs to Level Seven, two loyal guards directly behind him. What was the point? Morgana knew who he was, so disguises were no longer necessary.
Almost everyone else in the palace was at supper, so he and his men had the stairway to themselves, as they had planned. Maintaining the fantasy that the emperor was on a hunting trip was difficult when he had no choice but to meet with a handful of his staff to deal with the newest crisis, but he would do what he could to give Sanura the time she needed.
The two people he loved most in the world, his wife and his brother, both had reason to take his life—and both had threatened to do so. How had he gone, in a matter of days, from being happier than he could remember to this low point in his life?
Rainer had reported that Morgana’s powers were most definitely controllable, but as they had been ignored for years, it would not be an easy task. She had agreed, through Rainer, to remain in the palace while she took his instruction, but she made it clear that, agreement or not, she considered herself a prisoner.
She would remain under constant guard, in case she changed her mind about staying in the palace until her instruction was done. He wouldn’t lose her, not like this. When she calmed down, she’d forgive him. Wouldn’t she?
Morgana had not agreed to see her husband. Since discovering his true identity, she did not even admit to anyone that she had a husband. Jahn was determined that he would change her mind, even if it meant facing a cold-eyed, powerful witch every night until she came to her senses. He would imprison her here for as long as it took to convince her that she was empress and he would have no other. When she calmed down—if she calmed down—she would see reason.
The chamber they had shared for a short while had been transformed once again. The remains of Morgana’s anger had been taken away, the dust cleared, the broken and destroyed furnishings replaced. What was most changed, however, was Morgana herself, a much-too-solemn woman who sat by the window. She hadn’t donned one of the three very nice gowns he’d had delivered to her room today, but wore the yellow frock which was now no more than a faded, patched rag. Her hair was drawn back in a simple twist, as she sometimes wore it when working, and though he had sent more than one pair of fine slippers to her today, she continued to wear the battered walking boots she’d had on her feet when she’d left home.
It was her face which had changed, her face and the set of her shoulders and the almost visible wall she had built around herself which made her look different than she had just yesterday. The eyes which glared at him were blessedly green.
“What are you doing here?” she asked sharply.
“I live here.”
“No, you don’t,” she said softly.
Jahn stepped deeper into the room, determined not to give up so easily. “Did you not like the new gowns I had delivered to you?”
“Not particularly,” she said crisply.
“Tomorrow I will try to choose more wisely. Is there a particular style or color or fabric you prefer?”
“Do you think you can buy your way out of your lies with clothing and shoes?” she asked, not rising from her chair to greet him or to push him back.
He would prefer anger to this calm, cold acceptance. He wanted her to rail against him so he could argue with her and make her see reason. “You can have anything you want, Ana,” he said, perhaps a bit desperately.
She glanced down at her lap and shook her head. “You can’t give me what I want. And don’t call me Ana. I am Lady Morgana Ramsden, and I have not changed my mind about participating in your ridiculous contest. When the time comes, you will have to choose another as your empress.”
“I will not,” he said testily.
She looked up at him. “Then you will remain unwed,” she responded in that maddeningly easy voice.
“How can you be so calm?” he asked, losing his temper—the last thing he’d intended to do.
“I must remain calm. You saw what happens when I lose my temper, when I let my emotions take form and fly from my body.” Her eyes bored into him. “Why do you think I was so determined to remain unwed?”
“You said you promised your mother you would wait for love.”
She blushed. “That was long ago, when I was a girl foolish enough to believe in the kind of love my mother spoke of. Later in my life I thought more practically. I knew all along a husband, any husband, would eventually rouse the worst in me.” Those warm green eyes softened. “I was wrong to think you were different.”
“You were not . . .”
She very quickly changed the subject. “The tutor you sent to me, Angelo Rainer, says I must learn to contain my emotions before I can learn to control my curse. I can’t do that with you here, My Lord Emperor.”
“I’m still Jahn to you,” he argued, hating the sound of such a formal address coming from her mouth.
“No, you’re not,” she whispered. “The Jahn I thought I knew does not exist. He was a fantasy, a dream, a lie.” A spark of a chill flashed in her eyes, and she closed them quickly and muttered a few words he could not discern. “Please, My Lord Emperor, go. Leave me be. Allow me to learn to control my curse and live my life far from any who would bring it to the surface again.” Her hands balled into fists. “Just . . . leave me alone!”
“I can’t.”
“I don’t want you,” Morgana said coldly. “You are everything I do not want in a man.”
“That’s too bad. I’m yours whether you want me or not.” He reached for something, anything, to hold onto Morgana. “What if there’s a child?”
“Emperors have produced bastards before,” she said with maddening composure.
Jahn could not suppress his flash of anger. He was prepared to grovel, to cajole, to charm, but it was clear that Morgana was not ready to forgive him. Not yet. He backed toward the door. “Do you remember how I told you, on our first night together, that I take care of my own?”
“Of course.”
“That was not a lie. I will take care of you. Learn what you need to learn from Deputy Rainer, Lady Morgana. And while you’re learning, take time to look into your heart and remember what we shared. Yes, there were lies, but what we had went far beyond any falsehood I could arrange. We had love. We can have it again.” Again he was reminded of his father, a man he did not wish to become. “And if you cannot forgive me, if you can’t find love again, then I will let you go.” With that he left her, the knowledge that her forgiveness was not forthcoming gnawing at his insides.
RAINER was surprised when, after ignoring him for days, Lady Danya sought him out after a fine evening meal s
hared with countless other palace residents in the Level Nine dining hall. He’d been ready to retire early, after an unexpectedly long day, and then he’d looked across the room and there was Danya, walking toward him with her dark eyes all but pinned to his face. She looked determined and tired; scared and alone; desperate and beautiful. Heaven above, he never knew what to expect from her.
The tight smile she forced as she came near caught him off guard. “Deputy Rainer,” she said, as sweetly as she could manage. Not unexpectedly, others in the area fled.
“My Lady.” Rainer gave her a brief but suitable bow. He was sworn to secrecy and could tell no one, especially not Danya, but after meeting Morgana, he found it impossible to imagine that the emperor would choose any other as his bride. Love had a particular energy that he could not help but absorb when the emperor spoke of the woman who considered herself cursed. It was almost certain that in a few days Danya would be rejected and sent home—whether Lady Morgana had her unwanted powers under control or not.
He could almost feel sorry for Danya, who wanted to be empress so badly it had turned her into a wicked person he did not recognize as the woman he had escorted here.
“It’s a lovely evening,” she said. “Would you walk outdoors with me? The emperor has a beautiful garden and there are many flowers in bloom.”
Rainer blinked in surprise. After a few relatively pleasant days of what might be called friendship, she had dismissed him as beneath her, as a pest, as an unwanted nuisance. Now she invited him on an evening walk in the emperor’s garden? What did she want from him? He was quite sure she wanted something.
“If you would like, of course.” He offered her his arm, in an entirely acceptable manner, and she took it. When she touched him, he felt the almost imperceptible tremor that went bone deep. She was terrified, of someone or something. As they left the dining hall, he felt numerous eyes on his back. They would be the subject of malicious gossip, he imagined. He didn’t care.
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