A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(49)

“He did not take me to his bed that night, nor did he let me go out into the world unprotected. He put me into a room with his father’s concubines and had me share space with them. Oh how mean and spiteful those women were! They could not wait to report my presence to the raja. As expected, he was furious with his son. ‘Fuck her if you must,’ his father said, ‘but she is no fit concubine for you.’”

“So Jirar called me to his bed that night—and every night after—so I might have a safe place to sleep and so he could keep me close. But we did not make love those first nights. In fact, I think Jirar thought he felt very little about me those first weeks. But slowly, as he got to know me, he realized he was beginning to burn for me. He became obsessed with my comfort and care. The littlest things about me began to plague his mind incessantly…or so he told me. The smell of my hair. The darkness of my eyes. The shyness of my smile. Then, one night when he could take the temptation no longer, he devoured me with his passion for me. I had never known such pleasure could exist.

“Unfortunately, in a home so small, so crowded and with so little privacy, our passion was not private. His father learned of the coupling and then demanded that, now that he had his fill of me, Jirar was to put me out of the house. Jirar told his father that he would not…that he intended to make me his first wife…his only wife. His father threatened to disown him, to take the right of succession out of his hands. They both knew this was an empty threat. Still, this created a rift between father and son that was never repaired, not even on his father’s deathbed. Jirar was willing to risk everything for me…the little non woman who would one day bear him three children and his only line of succession.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Ariana said with feeling.

“For what?” Fatima asked.

“The child that did not live. Or…am I wrong? I have only heard you mention two sons and no daughters…perhaps you have just—“

“No. You are correct. There was a child that did not live. A daughter. She would have been younger than Vich. Her name was Fatim. She would have been as beautiful as my sons are handsome. It was a great loss for Jirar and I. And then, shortly after, I lost Jirar and became raji-mother. I ruled until Sin was old enough to take the reins of the government. I am afraid I was not half the leader Sin is. He was born to lead. Luckily, it was only five autumns before Sin reached the age of maturity. And really he was ruling by my side even then. He is his father’s son. Born and bred to be a ruler of men.”

“That must have been so daunting…to be a non with two young boys to raise and a country to run.” Ariana could not help but be impressed.

“I had the power of my brothers to help…and Sin was already quite powerful for all he was a young man. No one dared to try and oust us. Besides, our people have a great respect for the bloodlines of our royals. They would do anything Sin asked of them…including go to war. It may not have always been the most popular decision, but the end justified the means. Sin has opened up a whole new world for us. The gift of the land you have given us has meant everything to a dying race.”

“A dying race?” she echoed.

“There was no more room. Disease was running rampant in close quarters. Yes. We were dying. But now we’ve space aplenty. Thanks to you and your people.”

“To us? But we didn’t do anything. We fought you tooth and nail before giving up that land! And we didn’t give it to you, we sold it to you.” A fact she was feeling with shame now every time she said it.

“You could just as easily have continued to war and you could have bargained for less at a price we couldn’t afford. This was exactly what we needed under terms we could survive. It meant a lot.”

“Your people fought valiantly for what they needed. And it was a need, not just a selfish want as so many of my people viewed it…view it still. If I could go back, I would work to change that.”

“It is more important that you are here and make my son happy.”

“I cannot make your son happy. No one can be responsible for another’s happiness. That is entirely up to them.”

“We are going to have to disagree on that. Like I did with Jirar, you have lit a fire in my son. He grew up with his father and I for an example as to how it should be between a man and a woman. You will not convince him that he cannot win you without time and patience. That is why he has brought you to me you know.”

“So you can talk me into caring about his needs and disregarding my own?”

Fatima chuckled, a soft, rich sound that Ariana couldn’t help but smile with.

“No, darling. Because you try his patience. Because he feels he cannot control his baser urges around you and he wishes to respect you better. I am to play chaperone.”

Ariana blushed wildly, hardly knowing the reason why. She should be grateful this woman would now act as a buffer between her and Sin. But for some reason she felt loss…as though she were being deprived of something she wanted very much.

No! She didn’t want him, she told herself stubbornly.

Even though that quiet part of her knew it to be a lie.





Chapter Fourteen


Ariana spent the day with Fatima and didn’t catch a single glance of Sin the entire time. She liked the older woman’s dry wit and wise ways. Getting to know her helped her to better understand a man she was already learning far too well. Sometimes it made her uncomfortable to think on it, other times it did not.