For a moment, he’d thought maybe there was someone to save him from this life. The hope that’d risen up in Matteo shattered in his chest.

The familiar pull of her power forced his horse to begin moving again. Matteo pulled up on the reins and his horse jolted to a stop.

His expression must have satisfied her for she nodded. You see, there is something your father never told you. Where was that power? Each night, he lay awake praying for it to come. The legends spoke of power he should have as the first in his generation of the Basiles. My… He didn’t have any family other than his father. Her magic whipped over him, slamming him forward against his horse. She raised a brow at his audacity in speaking without permission. La Dame pushed her long, shining black hair over her shoulder and regarded him once again. They were said to be powerful, but his magic sputtered and died every time he tried to call it forth. He’d tried to fight her, escape her magic as it pounded into him the previous night and it only ended in bruises.Īs he rode down into his ancestral homeland, he didn’t feel like a Basile. He climbed into his saddle slowly, his bruised ribs screaming in protest. No one in Dracon knew how old their mistress was, but Bela was destroyed centuries ago and the stories claimed she was the one who finally bested the Basiles. La Dame leaped into her saddle with a grace that gave no indication of her age. They’d camped on the border spanning Dracon and Bela for the night and now stood overlooking a grassy plane. Raising a hand at her side, she snapped her fingers and her horse was brought forward. Bela is not my home, your Majesty.Ī smirk spread across her face and she nodded. No, nothing in Dracon was ever done without magic. He was known to sit calmly on his seat by the throne as his son was beaten before his eyes. He served as an advisor, consort, even a lover. Warren Basile had been in La Dame’s household since Matteo was a child. What was she expecting from him? His eyes flicked to his father who stood at her side. Warmth filled her voice and when he finally rose to stare into her dazzling emerald eyes, he was transfixed. For he served La Dame of Dracon and would no doubt serve her until the end of his days. He bowed low as he’d been doing his entire life. What were they doing past the border? It was his first time setting foot in the kingdom that once belonged to his family, in Bela, but he couldn’t fight the warmth that spread through him. His queen stared down at him with unforgiving eyes. His life was a series of orders, unspoken but wholly felt. It was a concept that made no sense to Matteo Basile. Freedom was a dream from a far-off place that no longer existed.

Golden curse m lynn