Page 35 of A Cage of Magic and Darkness

“He’s good-looking, though, isn’t he?” Skylar babbles. “I mean, I know you’re not supposed to think that, what with him being your stepbrother and all, but it’s impossible not to see how attractive he is.”

I suddenly realized she’s talking about Ruarok, and I snap my gaze to hers in the mirror.

“Stay away from him, Skylar. I mean it.”

The two of us have gossiped and giggled over plenty of men in our time, so it’s not unusual for her to be talking tome about him. We’ve discussed, in great detail, each of the admirers who’ve been to the castle to ask for my hand in marriage, and she’s told me about the various males who’ve come in and out of her life, often making me blush with her details about what they get up to in bed—details I’ve yet to experience for myself. Skylar is in no way as innocent as me, and, for the first time, I find myself worrying about that.

She blinks in surprise. “You mean because he’s half Incubus?”

Like me, Skylar had only just arrived at the castle when Ruarok was ‘banished.’ She’d never gotten the chance to properly meet him before he was locked away. I brought Skylar here with me from Torremora when my mother married the king.

“Yes, because he’s half Incubus.” I can’t hide the tension in my tone. “Ten years ago, you warned me of the prince’s reputation, and it would seem even ten years locked in a cage hasn’t changed him.” I remember how he spoke to me about sex when we’d made our way into the city—as though it was completely normal to speak to a princess in such a way. “You know what that means, don’t you? I imagine he’s…hungry. He might not be able to control himself.”

“Control himself not to do what?”

Is she teasing me? “You know what he does to people?”

She lowers her voice to a whisper. “He gets power from having sex with them.”

“Yes, and he can make people want to have sex with him, too, even when they might not want to.”

She purses her lips, her smooth forehead furrowing. “I heard that Incubi aren’t capable of doing that, that thedesire has always got to be inside the person first. The Incubus just helps them break through any…inhibitions…they might have.”

The memory of Ruarok naked in front of me, his huge cock already half erect, jumps into my head. My face flushes with heat. I’d thought about what it must be like to feel him pushing inside me, hadn’t I? Had they been my own thoughts, or had Ruarok placed them into my head? Had he been removing my inhibitions then?

I can’t trust my own thoughts and reactions around him. Is that what Cirrus meant when he said Ruarok was dangerous?

“I don’t want you going near him, Skylar. I’m commanding you now, as your princess and your future queen.”

I can practically sense her rolling her eyes at me.

“Okay, okay,” she says. “I get the message.”

What is it about the thought of Ruarok having sex with Skylar that’s getting me so riled up? Is it that I’m trying to protect my friend? Do I not want to see her getting hurt? I want to convince myself those are the reasons, but if I was truly honest with myself, I’d acknowledge that coil of bright green jealousy inside me.

It’s so ridiculous. I have far bigger things to worry about right now than my stepbrother’s sex life. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it. The people I love most in the world are dead, and I’m going to have to rule the kingdom—a kingdom that is falling into the earth because of the rot.

I turn my thoughts to the darkness infesting the city. I find I prefer dealing with that to thoughts of my stepbrother. I’m on safer ground, ironically.

We are a people of magic. There must be a way to stop the rot, or at the very least, slow it down.

But nothing could be done in Torremora, so why should things be any different here?

Where would we all go, if the rot should destroy the whole of Askos? It’s a long journey to the next kingdom, and why should they take us? A deal was made between my mother and the king to accept our people, those migrants in need of a home, but what do I have to offer a neighboring kingdom for a safe home?

Only myself.

I swallow hard at the thought. It might come to that. Would I sacrifice myself—my body, at least—to a neighboring prince or king in return for a safe place for my people to go? Isn’t that essentially what my mother did? I might have to. I might not have a choice.

If my people left and tried to travel to the next kingdom without there first being an agreement put in place, the inhabitants of that kingdom would be well within their right to kill anyone who trespassed on their lands. They’d be seen as raiders, stealing produce and resources from the locals, even if it were only done to survive.

If I were to make such a deal, it wouldn’t necessarily mean security, at least not for long. There’s no way of knowing where the rot will go next. I could promise my hand in marriage and move as many of my subjects as possible, only to find the rot had spread there as well.

I let out a sigh and close my eyes.

“I’m sorry, Princess,” Sklyar says, placing her hand on my shoulder to offer me some comfort. “I didn’t mean toupset you. I was trying to take your mind off things. I understand things are very difficult for you.”

I cover her hand on my shoulder with my own. “I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m sorry, too. You’re right, what’s happened is terrible, but I have to remain strong. I fear we have worse to come.”

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