His eyes bore into hers, but he slowly released his hold on her.
“It doesn’t have to be that way, Kate. You could join with me. Together we could create a world of magic and wonder.”
“You mean slavery,” Kitty interrupted. “You would take away the mortal’s free will andforcethem to worship you. It iswrong, Elus!”
He snorted and backed away from them.
“Consider my words, Hecate. I am well aware of the steps you have taken to attempt to counter my influence in the world. What I take, I can give as well. Your Mageia will serve me, or they will perish, and so will you. There is no alternative. ”
His image slowly faded, and the three women stood alone in the crossroads.
Kate finally allowed the agony to show on her face as she dropped to her knees cradling her injured hand with the other.
“Let me see,” Kitty said as she kneeled down next to her.
Kate uncovered her hand and the other two women gasped. Where only moments ago her skin had been smooth and full, it now lay withered, the knuckles bent and twisted as if by extreme age.
Kathryn looked on in alarm, her eyes narrowed and thoughtful.
“What I take, I can give…” she muttered.
“How is he doing this? He shouldn’t be able to harm you!” Kitty exclaimed.
“I don’t know,” Kate gasped, cradling her injured hand to her body. “But we have to stop him, or this world is doomed.”
Chapter 2
Luke
Because I was his only legitimately born son, the King of Alexandria was determined to prepare me to succeed him, whether I wanted to or not.
He provided me with instructors in war, history, and intrigue; he made me sit through endless council and war strategy meetings. I was forced to render judgments according to laws I didn’t agree with, to order punishments that turned my stomach. I tried so hard to become the prince that he wanted me to be, but I failed.
The Queen tried to teach me to be a prince she could be proud of. She provided me with tutors in dance, society etiquette and even sexual relations, but all her efforts were unsuccessful.
At thirteen, I broke the dance teacher’s ankle with a mistimed move, gave the majordomo an apoplectic fit by using the wrong fork, and was forced to bribe the courtesans my parents had hired when I had been unable to perform on command.
I tried to be the prince she wanted me to be, but I failed.
“Hopeless,” my mother said, shaking her head at me as she looked at me after the debacle with the dance teacher. My father had expressed his own version of disappointment with my performance to the degree that it would be several days before I would be able to sit comfortably.
I hung my head. There was no love lost between the King and I, but Mother was a different situation entirely. I had seen the disappointment in her face when the King had sent me to her after my beating. I feared my father, but I loved my mother, and I hated to disappoint her.
Dancing just seemed like such a stupid waste of time to me. There were better things to do than learn what step went with which song. My mind had wandered during the lesson with the dance instructor and I’d lost track of the steps. I’d been thinking about atreatise that I had read on diplomatic relations in the ancient world and hadn’t realized that the tempo of the music had changed. I tripped and fell on the poor man’s leg. The sickening snap of bone as I’d landed had been audible to everyone in the room.
“They call him ‘Your Grace’ because it’s the only grace he’ll ever have,” my half-brother, Maalik, had said snidely to Aurelius, the King’s Spymaster. They had all tittered appreciatively as I had flushed and tried to help the dance instructor until a medic arrived.
Maalik took great joy in pointing out every flaw I had, especially in front of my parents. He was the declared heir to the throne, being a blooded son of the King who had developed his Elusians powers. Maalik’s problem was that even though he was Elusian, he was still a bastard and the only way he could ascend the throne was if I became Mageian or was disinherited. So he took every opportunity to discredit me in my father’s eyes.
I was an awkward, gawky teen who was more at home with books and histories than people. Screwing up in front of Maalik just made my humiliation worse.
When Father found out, he’d bent me over his desk and beaten me until I could barely stand. Not because I had injured the dance instructor, but because I had embarrassed him in front of the court. Again. Then he’d sent me to my mother.
“Maybe she can find a way to make a prince out of you,” he’d said as he dismissed me.
“Lucien, come here,” the Queen said, her gentle words bringing me back to the present.
I stood before her as she took a seat in her salon. Her golden-brown hair was elaborately curled into an up-swept style that she had brought with her from Greece.
