Page 39 of Alpha's Magic

“I do.”

We glared at each other for a long moment, and it could have easily gone wrong, but Lex cleared his throat and said, “Careful, brother. Leo is his omega and his husband. You said you owed Rozamond your loyalty. I’m sure Asher feels the same way about Leo.”

Harrison sighed and turned his head away, breaking the stalemate. “I understand he’s your omega, and you felt that attraction to him, but you have no real idea of who he is. You say you found him in Grimora’s cave, and he ‘told’ you who he was. How do you know for sure that any of what he said is true? Other than Lex’s examination of him, which I think could have been subverted if the boy believed in what he was saying.” He glanced pointedly back in my direction. “Or if he was using dark magic to sabotage the test and make you think he told the truth.”

“Which is it, Harrison? Is he just an arrogant, mouthy omega nobody with delusions of grandeur, or is he some masterful wizard who can defeat both mine and Lex’s magic? Do you think some random person just happened to be staying there in the cave in the process of preparing a funeral for Grimora? Is that what you think? That’s a stretch, Harrison.”

“I’m saying I don’t know what to think. We should at least investigate his claims. As I was just discussing with Lex, we shouldn’t forget there was an attack on a village in Igella just before the two of you arrived at Grimora’s cave, and that’s still unsolved.”

“Haven’t your investigators turned up anything yet?” I asked Lex. “Surely some of the villagers escaped.”

“I believe a few did, but my investigators are having trouble finding them. So, the answer is no, we still don’t know who was responsible or why they wanted people to believe it was Banshira, as you claim.”

“You’re convinced it wasn’t?” Harrison said softly, and I turned to look at him.

“Leo says he was Banshira and he’s no murderer,” I said. “He would never have done such a thing.”

“Are you so sure?”

I started to spring to my feet, but Harrison’s sharp rebuke stopped me. “Sit down, Asher. I’m not finished. I have reasons for my doubts.”

I sank back in my chair, but I was seething. “Go ahead then. Finish.”

“When the Igellan captain rode to tell us what was happening to you and his men at the carriage that day, he died of his wounds before I could get together a group of reinforcements for a rescue attempt. He hadn’t been all that coherent before he passed, but he did manage to tell us where you were. We rode as hard and as fast as we could, and when we arrived, we found everyone—from the drivers of the coach to every last Igellan soldier to even the poor horses—all were dead except for you and your omega.”

“I know all this, Harrison. We were attacked by dark magic, and it was powerful.”

He nodded. “So I’ve been told. Odd though, that everyone was dead—or dying, in your case—except for the omega. Who seemed to be perfectly fine.”

I did get to my feet then, and it was all I could do to keep from running out of the room to get to Leo. I remembered very well what had been done to Rory when accusations were brought against him. Wyatt and I had been alone with him that terrible night, as Lex had been on a journey to Igella, and Harrison was out of the country as well. Wyatt had ridden hell bent for Igella to get Lex, and I had gone along with Rory to face his accusers and do what I could for him.

When I was finally able to force my way inside the palace to intervene, I demanded to see the queen, and I reminded her that Rory was Prince Lex’s omega. Her own husband’s younger brother. I begged her to reconsider her decision to execute him and told her he was pregnant with Lex’s child. She refused to release him but did agree not to burn him at the stake and had him given powerful drugs to execute him instead. Once he stopped breathing, they had agreed to let me be the one who carried out the coup de grâce, or the final blow given to prisoners to make sure they were gone. It was usually done with a pike or a sword, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it and let my blade fall down by his side instead. It was still one of the worst things I’d ever had to do.

It turned out that he had only been deeply unconscious, saved temporarily by his own magic, but he would and could have died if we hadn’t intervened once Lex returned. It was Lex’s love that had brought him back to us, but it never should have happened to begin with. And it was all because Rory had inherited dark magic from his mother, Queen Vesper. He wasn’t practicing it, nor had he harmed anyone with it. But that was how much Queen Rozamond claimed to abhor all dark magic. If a witch’s powers couldn’t be bound, then they were executed, and no laws had changed in Morovia to make exceptions to that ancient edict.

Leo was in terrible danger. I could practically feel it hanging in the air around me, oily and menacing. I glanced over at Lex, who sent me a warning in his gaze and an almost imperceptible shake of his head to tell me to be careful.

“I can see you’re unsettled and unconvinced,” Harrison said. “But do me the courtesy of hearing me out. I believed then and I believe now that your omega was practicing some form of dark magic when we arrived that day. I’d like to have him examined by the priests to see if his magic should be bound.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, my voice loud and hot. “He was alive that day, because I had worked very hard to keep him that way. Those arrows had been sent to kill him. They were poison-tipped and on fire when they struck the carriage, and he was almost burned alive inside it. My magic helped save him and thank the gods he was able to help save himself too.”

“He was saying words I recognized, Lex. They’re from ancient forbidden texts, written by and for Necromancers and warlocks. Many such people have appeared before me since I’ve been king, and they had to either renounce that magic or be executed. The Discoverie of Witchcraft, The Key of Solomon, De Nigromancia, The Necronomicon—all books and grimoires on black magic and the dark arts, and I’ve heard parts of all of them. Warlocks are traffickers with the dead and the demonic. They’re outlaws and criminals, and they’re thought of as deceivers and liars—in fact, the word “warlock” itself was derived from an old word that means ‘oath breaker.’

‘I’ve had necromancers in front of me before who refused to repudiate those books even on pain of death. And when we found your carriage on the road, I saw your omega with his hands sunk inside your body up to the wrists. His face shone with the same unholy light that used to appear on theirs. And I heard the words he was calling out. The same words that appear in the grimoires of dark magic. How do I account for that? What if instead of trying to save you, he was trying to kill you and finish the job that had already been started?”

Too angry to be cautious, I actually shouted at him. I hadn’t done that since we were boys. “I won’t listen to this! I was there and you weren’t, so I know what happened. I don’t know what you think you heard, but you’re dead wrong.”

I turned on my heel and walked quickly to the door. Despite our relationship over the years, I was fully expecting to have the guards lay hands on me and try to stop me, but he let me storm out of that room. My intention was to go straight back to my chamber and start getting our things packed up to leave. I didn’t think Harrison would go so far as to have Leo arrested, at least not yet, but I thought he was building up to it. Why else would he have brought it up? I decided we didn’t need to stick around to find out.

I got to my room and found it empty, which alarmed me for a moment. Then I saw a note on the bed pillow, saying Leo had gone for a walk in the palace grounds with Rory, and he’d be back soon. Relieved, I crossed over to the window and looked down into the gardens where I had noticed Leo staring down frequently. Sure enough, he and Rory were walking slowly down the path, stopping occasionally to look at a pretty flower or piece of shrubbery. The gardens really were impeccable.

Leo’s shoulders were drooping, and he looked dejected and depressed. My heart settled in my chest a little to see him though, and I watched them for a while. He didn’t seem as agitated as he’d been earlier. Rory was good for him.

I watched for a while longer, knowing what I was about to do and hating myself for it. Then I walked away from the window and began to search through Leo’s belongings. I was looking for one of the books of dark magic that Harrison had mentioned. I searched his bag—where there was pitifully little to be found. Then I began to search the dresser, looking up under the few shirts he had and running my hands along the back of the drawers. I moved to the bedside tables and went through every drawer. I even looked under them for something like a thin pamphlet, but there was nothing. Guilt prickled down my spine, but I wanted to look in one more place. I pulled up the feather ticking on the bed, and there I saw it, a small, black leather volume with yellowed binding and a black cord wrapped around its middle. It did, indeed, look very old. It was called The Book of Necromancers’ Rites, and my heart sank as I held it in my hand.

I knew about this book. It was well known to be a dark magic guide to those who wanted to traffick with the dead and use secret rites gleaned from the book for some kind of personal advancement. It was a warlock’s book. Was I dreaming? It felt a little like a dream, or maybe a nightmare, as well as far away and impossible to believe.

I don’t know how long I sat there with the book in my hand. An hour maybe or perhaps not nearly so long. But eventually, I heard Leo’s footsteps coming down the hall and stop outside the door. I dreaded the confrontation that was coming, but I knew it had to happen. I still had no idea what I was going to say.

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