She was a hostage, a victim of the King’s ambitions, just as much as I. She was the oldest child of the King and Queen of Greece. Her family had held the Greek throne for centuries and she had been given to the King of Alexandria to seal a peace treaty.
“My son,” she said, sighing in disappointment, her normally vacant gaze sharpening. “You need to work harder, Lucien. If you are to succeed your father, you need to be able to shine in his world.”
“I’m sorry, Mother,” I said, staring at the floor. I think I would remember the pattern of the thick scarlet rug that covered that floor for the rest of my life. I had spent enough time staring down at it in shame that I had memorized it.
“But I don’t—” I bit my tongue before I could blurt any more out. I’d almost said the thing I had secretly felt for years.
“You don’t what?” she asked, reaching down to lift my chin gently, forcing me to look at her.
She looked so young, despite the fact I knew she was in her forties. Her hair was a golden brown, shot through with blond and red highlights, just like mine. The shape of our eyes was the same, but the colors were different. Hers shimmered greenish gray as she looked at me, sympathy evident in every line of her face. It was one of the few joys of my life that I looked more like my mother than my father. If I had to look at his reflection in the mirror for the rest of my life, I think I would go mad.
Mother rarely involved herself with anything to do with the King. She avoided him almost as much as I did. In front of the court she played the part of the empty-headed royal. In private I knew she was extremely intelligent and had her own brand of power.
I struggled to answer her. The forbidden words stuck in my throat, but her kindness seemed to cut through them. I choked and, like a dam breaking inside of me, I finally spat them out.
“I don’twantto be king,” I said finally. “Not if it means I have to be like him! He let Maalik get away with killing Erix! He’s executed his own children! What kind of a man does that, much less a King?”
My rage was palpable as I gazed at her, my hands clenched into fists at the memory of all my father had done.
The ground seemed to tremble beneath us, and Mother’s eyes went wide, a strange look of panic on her face as her gaze flitted to her ladies in waiting then back to me. Her hand shot out, slapping my cheek hard before I could avoid her strike. My eyes widened and my hand flew to my burning face. She had never struck me before and the shock of it alone was worse than the actual pain.
“Leave us,” she demanded angrily of the servants. They hustled out of the door quickly and my heart sank. Father made hispunishments public and humiliating. Mother’s punishments were always in private, which seemed to make them far worse.
She waited until the last of the servants closed the door behind them before she stood, adjusting her long skirts, before moving forward.
“Lucien,” she whispered, her hands gentle on my chin this time. “I’m so sorry, my dear.”
I looked up at her in confusion, her eyes glittered with unshed tears.
“You can’t ever speak like thatanywhereanyone could hear. The King is a vengeful man. There are only two of you left who could run the kingdom: you and Maalik. The King is not afraid to execute his children,” she whispered. “I could not bear to lose you.”
I blinked the tears from my eyes. The year before, Father had executed one of his illegitimate sons, Evan, right after Evan had established as an Elusian. The Spymaster had presented evidence that he had been plotting to assassinate the King.
All the King’s children had all been forced to watch the execution, from Maalik as eldest down to the toddlers. It had been…horrible. At first Evan had seemed strong and defiant, but by the time the King was done with him he had been a crying, screaming, keening mess of flesh and blood. The final blow that had silenced him had been a relief to everyone in the courtyard.
I suspected the “evidence” against him had been manufactured by Maalik, our half-brother, but I had no proof. Just as I had no proof of his involvement in the deaths of our other siblings. I knew for a fact that he had killed Erix when the boy had become Mageian and tried to escape. His twin, Elex, had disappeared that same night. Despite my best efforts I’d been unable to find out what happened to him. I could only hope he was still alive.
Erix was not the only sibling that had fallen to Maalik’s machinations. I believed that Maalik had tampered with our sister Mara’s saddle and caused her death when she was just thirteen. He’d poisoned Zeer and Terry, two of our younger siblings, with bitterroot wine. The only deaths of my siblings I could not lay at his door were those of Viv and Cassie, who had died from the ShakingFever before they were five. The servants whispered that the King’s bloodline was cursed.
I knew my mother loved me, and also that she remained distant to try to protect me from the King as much as possible. He was a jealous man and normally forbade me even a mother’s love and guidance. I felt the ground beneath us tremble again.
“Give me your hand,” she insisted, looking at me curiously. I held it out and she closed her eyes a moment, whispering words I couldn’t understand. She opened her eyes, and they seemed to glow in the afternoon light. Her gaze searched mine for something, then she paled.
“Oh no…” she whispered, returning to her seat and dropping into it bonelessly.
“What is it, mother?” I asked, concern for her tingeing my voice, she had gone paler than I’d ever seen.
“Mageian. You’reMageian,” she whispered in horror.
I recoiled, feeling my stomach plummet. Mother was human, but she came from a long line of Elusians. Her lineage was one of the reasons she had been accepted to seal the treaty between Greece and Alexandria.
“How would you-No—I can’t—” I stammered. “I don’t have any magic.”
“You made the earth shake,” she said pointedly. “That’s why I slapped you in front of the others. I felt the earth move, and I couldn’t take the chance you would do more while the servants were around.”
“I—I…” I stuttered. I focused my thoughts inward, a sudden awareness flooding through me of the earth we stood on. I was aware of the foundations of the winter palace, the feel of the earth beneath me and, distantly, a slow, steady vibration of the land beneath us.
She pursed her lips determinedly, looking me up and down.
