A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(18)

But who was she kidding? There was probably a Jadoc monitoring her every thought. He must be because when she had needed Mariah she had appeared and now that she was through readying herself, they were taking her away.

“Come with me,” the guard said, beckoning Mariah forward.

Mariah hesitated. She was so loyal to Ariana that it was clear she would not want to leave her had she a choice in the matter.

“Go on,” Ariana encouraged her. “I will be fine.”

She didn’t believe that for a second, but she wouldn’t let Mariah know that.

She turned to address the guard. “You will see to it Mariah is kept safe and made comfortable at all times,” she instructed him.

He cast her an odd look and she supposed he hadn’t expected her to give commands when she was in a position of little power.

“Yes,” he said shortly. No ‘my lady’ or even ‘honorable lady’, the two addresses she was used to in her position as triumvir. But she was a woman of no fame here. Did these new guards even know who their captive was? Did everyone know she was being kept here like this? What did they think of their master’s insanity? Perhaps…perhaps over time, she might meet up with someone who would see this lunacy for what it was and they might help her to escape.

But every time she thought of escape her hope was immediately crushed. They were too far. It was frigid out of doors. It was very likely these people were very loyal to their raja. After all, their leader had negotiated a deal that had taken them out of their overpopulated mountain homes and opened a wilderness of fields and woods to them to be settled. She had no doubt they worshipped him for that.

Mariah was led from the room. The door shut and the heavy lock turned in her wake.





Chapter Six


Sin sat in his study with a glass of hussa in his hand. He turned the crystal, tipping it side to side until the purple liquor within was just about to dribble over the edge before tipping it just as far in the other direction. He did this in the light of the fire in the fireplace, noting how the flames turned the glass orange and yellow in places.

He liked fire. He liked everything about it. The heat of it that could so easily burn…the way it devoured its fuel like a hungry beggar. It’s relentlessness once it took root. It was a languid mistress at times and at other times a raging beast. It very often reflected his strongest emotions and feelings. Like now…how it danced tauntingly against the glass, making the liquid look as if it were on fire, yet it was not even warming it from its distance.

He released a small, breathy, mirthless chuckle.

“Is something funny?”

Sin looked up at Lindo who was walking into the room. Lindo was probably Sin’s closest thing to a friend. He was the only submissive who had the freedom to walk in and out of rooms of the temple without having to announce himself or wait for permission to enter. He didn’t always know if that was because of their closeness or because of the bastard’s cockiness in thinking he deserved free rein just as much as Sin did.

“No. There is nothing at all amusing right now,” Sin told him.

“I would have thought you would have introduced yourself to your guest by now,” Lindo observed.

Sin released another cheerless chuckle before taking a swig of the hussa. “Is that what you thought?” he asked.

“Yes. Is there a reason why you are keeping yourself from her? You went to a great deal of effort to get her here.”

“I did indeed,” he agreed. “But now that she is here I have more time than I need to tame her to my hand. This is just the beginning. I will not rush the process.” However much I want to, he thought to himself.

“Then perhaps we should turn our attention to other things,” Lindo said, his tone becoming more grave.

Sin looked away from his glass and up Lindo’s significant height as he stood beside his chair. Sin nodded to the chair across from him and Lindo took it. He did not sit back in it however. He remained perched on the edge of the seat as if to charge up to his full height at a moment’s notice.

“Let me guess,” Sin said, grimness settling over him. “My brother.”

Lindo gave a short nod. “Raj Vich has been quite voluble in our absence. Apparently he has been ruling as though he were raja and you were not even alive. He seemed to take much pleasure in besmirching your name at every opportunity.”

“I have no choice but to leave him in charge in my absence,” Sin said dourly. “He is prince and heir beyond me. The people would not follow the rule of anyone outside of the blood line to the seat of raja.”

“Which is one reason why you need to breed sons to become heir in his stead,” Lindo reminded him needlessly. Pushily.

“I am working on it,” Sin said with a sardonic smile.

“I know you are. But…one woman? One recalcitrant woman? You should have an entire harem of wives and mistresses at your age.”

“So you have said many times,” Sin said dryly.

“Only because it is true. You do not follow the traditions in that way…and yet now you are following tradition and—“

“Lindo,” he said quietly. Dangerously. “This is no longer up for discussion. I have done what I have done. My reasons are my own. I answer to no one for them. I am raja. My sons will be raj upon their birth and become my heirs. I will decide on whom I will get those sons. No one will tell me otherwise.”