by K. A. Linde
“I wish that he would cease his games. We do not have this time to waste. We have an army to lead and a goddess to slay.”
“Killian does not yet know that. Well, he likely knows that you want his army but not for the rest of it. I am still coming to terms with magic’s existence, and I have lived with it for many months. I’m not sure how well it’s going to go over the first time that you tell him.” She dragged the brush through her hair again. “It might take some time.”
“Meanwhile, Malysa is plotting, and I have no idea where she will strike yet.”
“You can’t help that.”
“I know,” she growled in irritation.
“Do you want to talk about Dean?” Kaliana asked.
“What? Why?”
Kaliana raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, do you want me to spell it out?”
“No, I do not,” she said. “Let’s focus on Killian. I thought that I was convincing at Beltane. He said he liked that I was bold. Maybe I should go to him.”
“My brother likes a chase,” Kaliana insisted. “You should make him feel like he is the one waiting.”
Cyrene sighed and sank down next to Kaliana to cease her relentless pacing. “What happened with you two that night at your father’s hunting lodge?”
Kaliana stiffened. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“Because I can read you, and he said it to hurt you.”
“Nothing, Cyrene. Really.”
“Why did he want to hurt you, Kaliana? I thought he was happy to see you home.”
Kaliana set the brush down and looked out to the gardens that were so plain without the elaborate Beltane decorations. “My brother was never happy to see me. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we are twins. It is very uncommon in Tiek but also cherished. Twins mean good luck and good tiding for years to come, especially in royalty. When my mother had twins, the entire land rejoiced. It is one of the reasons that the people love Killian so much. He brings them good tidings simply by being born a twin.”
“But he doesn’t like to share,” Cyrene guessed.
“No,” she said. “He does not. He sets his sights on something, and nothing can get in his way. For him, that was the throne. And, even though I had no way to inherit, he made sure that I stayed out of his way.” She turned her face to Cyrene. “He couldn’t get rid of me because my very existence was what made him so cherished. Killing me would mean bad tidings. But it also meant that we had to grow up together because the people wanted to see us together. He kept me away from everyone else. I was only ever allowed to have him.”
“That’s awful.”
“It was,” she said. “I never had a friend until I moved to Byern. Well…maybe not there either. It was rather the same actually.”
Cyrene winced. Kaliana had not been kind to her, but she had never thought about what it would be like to be a foreign princess in a place where she knew no one either.
“One Beltane, when we had just turned twelve, we went to my father’s hunting lodge. Neither of us had been raised at court. We were always sent away, so this was no different. Killian wanted to have his own festivities. We worked together all week to get everything prepared—the bonfires and flowers and decorations and foods. Then, the night of the festivities, I came down in my new dress, and he told me that I wasn’t invited.” Kaliana glanced back to Cyrene. “He made me watch from my bedroom window at the revelry with everyone that we had invited. Then he had the audacity to come into my bedroom late that night and tell me all about what I had missed. I knew then that my brother would stop at nothing to get rid of me, so he could have the throne all alone.”
“Creator,” Cyrene whispered. “I am so sorry. I cannot even believe that he would do that. You are his sister!”
Cyrene could never imagine her siblings doing something like that. It was unthinkable. No wonder Kaliana had come to Byern so embittered and angry.
“I tell you this not for sympathy. It was long ago. Actually, being here again is making me remember why I hate court so much. I just want you to be aware of the things Killian will do to get what he wants.”
“Well, he has met his match then,” Cyrene said. “Because I will do anything to get what I want.”
“Including marrying him?” Kaliana asked.
Cyrene frowned and tasted bile at the suggestion. “Even marrying him.”
It was another day before the invitation came for a private dinner with Killian. Cyrene changed into one of the gowns that Kaliana’s friend had sent them. She’d had one of the dressmakers help to redesign it to the latest fashion. It wasn’t as elaborate as her Beltane dress, but the cleavage was a bit lower, and she suspected that was all it would take.
Dean appeared a minute later in the all-black guard clothing that he had been wearing since they arrived. She had to admit, he was striking in it. His light hair stark against the uniform.
It was the first time they had looked at each other since the proposition at Beltane. Perhaps the fertility gods really had been working through her that night.
“Are you ready?” she asked him.
“To watch you flirt with Killian for several hours at dinner while I have to stand over your shoulder?” he asked, strapping Shadowbreaker to his belt. “Not particularly.”
“I have no plans to flirt. We are going to negotiate for his army.” She stepped forward and pressed her palm to the hilt of her sword. She missed its sturdy presence against her back. She drew magic out of herself and into the honeycomb of the ruby. She hadn’t been able to use any here and felt the sweet ache that said she needed to release it.
“If you say so.”
“Are you jealous?” she teased, not moving a step.
“I cannot be jealous of a prodigious braggart and fool, but I can wish to be on the receiving end of your fluttering eyelashes.”
Cyrene gently placed her hand on his sleeve and met his gaze. “I do not enjoy having to flirt my way to an army. I would much rather withdraw Shadowbreaker, use my magic to hold him in the air, and make him give me his army. There are many other things I would rather do with my time. But they do not matter because they will not give me an alliance with Tiek.”
Dean softened at her words and nodded. “I know. You’re right. I will play my part just as you are playing yours. I just wish that we did not have to play them.”
His words said much more about them than it did about dealing with Killian, but Cyrene just nodded. Now was not the time for that conversation.
An escort appeared for them, and with a, “Good luck,” from Kaliana, she and Dean left the room and walked to Killian’s private dining chamber. It was a large room that connected into his living quarters, as elaborately decorated as the rest of the palace. The table was big enough for six, but only two places were set with fine bone china and gold wine goblets. A collection of covered silver platters had been laid out, and two servants waited in the wings. Dean took up a place against the wall, preparing to be a fly on the wall for their negotiations.
Cyrene stepped toward her place at the table just as Killian entered through the opposite door. He was dressed resplendently in loose breeches and a fitted black jacket with gold buttons and rich golden thread embroidery. A white cravat was tied elegantly at his throat. An enormous ruby signet ring glittering on his hand was his sole adornment.
He stepped forward and took her hands. “Domina, you look stunning.” His fingers moved to the diamond at her throat. “I adore this piece. I have never seen its like before.”
“Thank you, Majesty,” she said with a coy smile. “It is an old family heirloom. I believed it lost for many years and recently recovered it.”
“How fortunate. I could not imagine losing something of such…beauty,” he said, his eyes sweeping her figure. “Please, allow us to dine.”
A waiter appeared at her side, pulling her chair out and seating her adjacent to Killian. The second waiter pulled the covers off of their meals, revealing roasted boar, a steaming game pie, seasonal berries
, and many other side dishes to please the king. Cyrene’s mouth watered at the feast. It was so similar to many things that she had eaten, growing up. She had almost forgotten how much she adored the meals that reminded her of home.
“I must say,” Killian began over the top of his wine glass, “that I hope I did not disappoint you by waiting for our dinner.”
“I confess that I had hoped it would be sooner.” Cyrene nibbled on the boar and tried not to actually groan in delight.
“Beltane is a busy time for my people. And, with so much going on in the world at present, my time is precious.”
“Well then, I am pleased that you were able to find time for me at all,” she said. Though she wanted to wring his neck with his own self-importance. “What exactly is going on in the world at present?”
“Are you truly interested because you do not know, or are you trying to find out how much I know?” he asked with a smirk.
“I am here for a reason, Majesty.”
Killian fluttered his fingers. “Let’s get rid of this formality between you and me. Killian is fine.”
“I know much of what is going on in this world, Killian,” Cyrene said. “I do not know how much you know about what is happening there.”
“And, without that knowledge, you can’t ask for my help?” His eyebrows twitched up.
“I can ask for your help regardless,” she said simply. “But I do not want to under false pretenses.”
Killian leaned back and eyed her with the cunning manipulation of someone who had denied his sister the right to her first May Pole dance on a whim. “I have heard a great deal about you, Cyrene.”
“Is that so?”
“Oh, yes. I have heard that you have charmed your way through every kingdom in the land. That you steal hearts and break them without a backward glance. That you are a faerie yourself, a changeling, a goddess, an enigma, a spy, a fraud, and a liar. I have heard you are the most dangerous siren in our known world. And an utter innocent. That you can shoot fire from your fingertips and that you are nothing more than a girl playing games very far out of her depth.” Killian rolled the royal signet ring around his finger. “So, which one are you? How much of it all is the truth?”
Cyrene listened to him defame her name. Who knew there was so much circulating about her? She had never considered that her reputation would precede her. And how poorly it would reflect on her.
She decided that the truth didn’t matter. Killian didn’t want the truth. He didn’t care about it. He clearly didn’t believe any of it or else he wouldn’t have even dared to ask her.
She just leaned her elbow against the table and winked. “All of it.”
He roared with laughter, believing that she was jesting. “I do see how you have tamed the men of our generation. I do believe that you could even tame me.”
“I doubt it,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m not here to tame anyone. I am here for an alliance, Killian. Whatever you know, there is war brewing. King Creighton of Aurum has been slain. A usurper sits on the throne, allied with Byern against Eleysia and my army. Carhara is silent. But, if they join Byern, where will you stand? Poised on all sides to be conquered. If you ally with me, bring your army to meet mine and end this, then you and Tiek will be unscathed in this fight.”
“And if I choose neither?” he asked calmly.
“Neutrality is not an option, I’m afraid. You’re at the very center of western Emporia. One way or another, you will have to pick a side.”
Killian nodded and remained silent, picking at his food and mulling over what she had said. “And what will you give me for my aid?”
Cyrene had been anticipating that question. “What do you want?”
“A dangerous negotiation tactic,” he said with a cunning smile. “I want five million in Byern gold a month and the port at Aurum.”
Cyrene nearly choked on the sum. Five million a month. How the hell was she going to come up with that sort of money other than to raid the Byern treasury? And how in the Creator’s name was she supposed to just give him the port? Trinnenberg was on the Huyek River and had for generations been hamstrung by Aurum for access to the Lakonia Ocean. It would be a huge advantage for them to have the port, but she couldn’t exactly just hand that over.
But then again, it was contingent on if they won. Aurum was allied with her enemy. Which meant, if they won, then she might very well have access to the Byern treasury and could do something about the Aurum port. Creator…she wished she had Rhea for this.
“One million a month, and you will take the eastern bank of the port out of the Huyek with a limit on taxes and import fees. To be paid after the war is completed.”
“Three and a half million,” Killian amended, “with one million paid up front. And I don’t just want the eastern bank. I’ll take all the lands to the east of the Huyek, up to Eleysia.”
Cyrene calculated the amount of land that would give Tiek. They would have grown from a small woodland country to an enormous empire. It was dangerous.
“Two and a half, and we can pay five hundred up front,” she said, though she had no idea how that would even begin to happen. “There are people living on those lands.”
“They would become Tiekan citizens and enjoy all the great things of the people of Tiek.”
Cyrene frowned. “I will not force anyone to change their country allegiance. This war is about the freedom of everyone. To allow people to choose how they want to live, not to create a new group of hostile people because you conquered them.”
“And here I thought, it was about winning,” Killian said.
“But at what cost? Our humanity?”
“I do have another proposition,” he said casually. As if he had been waiting the entire dinner to get to this point.
Cyrene braced for it.
He leaned forward, running a finger down her bare arm. “We could finish these negotiations in my bed chamber.”
Dean shuffled his feet behind them, and Killian glanced up at him over Cyrene’s shoulder.
“I think I prefer the official negotiations,” Cyrene said.
“Oh, come on,” Killian said with a laugh. “Where is the siren who charmed all the kings of the realm?”
“Perhaps the tales were exaggerated,” she suggested. Her cheeks bloomed perfectly at that moment. She was thankful that blushing had always come easy to her. “I thought that you wanted a marriage alliance.”
Killian laughed and then brought her hand to his mouth, laying kisses along her palm and then up her wrist. “I like to see how compatible I am before choosing a bride.”
“Compatible,” she echoed.
“Physically.”
“You would impinge on my honor?” she asked, tugging her hand out of his grasp.
Killian’s eyes glittered. “Not from what I have heard.”
Cyrene pushed her chair back and stood. “You insult me.”
She knew that she had been playing this part. That she had been flirting and wooing Killian. Leading him to believe that she was interested in him, but she had been doing it with the thought that a betrothal would get him to agree to help them. Not so that he could take advantage of her.
Her magic rose to the surface. Magic flaring along with her brimming anger. She needed to tamp it down or else Killian would actually find himself thrown against the wall with Shadowbreaker against his neck.
“Cyrene, sit,” Killian insisted, gesturing to the chair again. “It was not my intention to insult you. I see that I was mistaken about our interactions. I do not frequently misjudge the circumstances.”
Cyrene stared at him. Ignoring the blood magic that had roared into her ears at the anger. She needed to ignore it. Sit down and finish the diplomacy she had come here for.
She felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Domina,” Dean said softly. He held the chair out for her. “Your seat.”
She swallowed, met Dean’s careful eyes, and then took the proffered seat. “Thank you.”
<
br /> “If it is not an insult to you, Domina,” Killian said, regaining the formality that he had broken down, “and you are not here with your guard”—his eyes shifted to where Dean still stood with his hand on her chair—“I would not mind borrowing him for the night to seal our deal.”
Cyrene’s mouth popped open in surprise. Oh. Oh!
She had seriously misjudged Killian’s interest in Dean. He hadn’t known Dean as the Prince of Eleysia. He was romantically interested in him.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at Dean. “You…want to…”
Killian shrugged. “Forgive me, Domina. Marriage alliances hold no interest for a man who finds appeal in both sexes.” He chuckled. “Or perhaps I have just not found the one.”
“This would seal the deal?” Dean asked before Cyrene could respond to Killian.
Her eyes flickered up to him in shock. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Killian. His beauty fully on display in the candlelight. She didn’t understand how anyone could look at him and not see the prince underneath. The beautiful man who had stolen her heart in a forest in Aurum. So young and wild and foolish they had been. And now, hardened and fierce and wholly changed, they were finally clawing their way back to what they had found so easily once upon a time.
Killian raised an eyebrow. “He speaks.”
“Would it?” Dean demanded. The prince more a king than Killian ever would be.
“Yes,” Killian said slowly. “Yes, oh, yes, I think it would.”
Cyrene saw it then. He would say yes. He felt as if his honor had already been stolen after what happened in Domara. What was one night to get them the Tiekan army? One night for an alliance?
“No,” Cyrene answered for him. She stood from her chair again and curtsied to Killian. “Thank you for dinner. It was illuminating, to say the least. I believe I will need a night to think on what we have discussed. Why don’t we finish this talk tomorrow and then draw up paperwork before we agree to anything?”