Free Sleepers by Megg Jensen Page A

kingdom. I can save you and Trevin.”
    Instead of being surprised or happy, like I thought she would be, Mags’ eyes welled up, the dam finally breaking. Tears streamed down her cheeks, dropping on the bed like a spring rainstorm, sudden and fierce.
    “I don’t deserve to be saved. The king was right. I should suffer for my indiscretions.”
    “Do you mean…” I couldn’t believe it. She’d cheated on the king with another man. Rotlar was disgusting, but, still, she was the queen. I hadn’t thought she would be capable of betrayal in any form.
    Mags nodded, her curls falling in front of her face as she hung her head. The curtain of hair caught the tears and quickly matted against her cheek. She looked terrible, worn and defeated.
    “Trevin is not the king’s son.”
    “What? How is that possible?”
    Thoughts swirled around in my head, licked by the fires I felt climbing in my belly. The anger bounced around, touching on the king and then Mags. So she’d brought this on herself and put Trevin in danger for something he’d never asked for.
    I pulled my hand out of hers, backing off the bed again. I had to get away from her before I exploded. My hands shook, wanting to hit something, anything. I’d spent the night worried about her safety. Worrying about how I could kill the king without anyone knowing, but being committed nonetheless to something I never thought I was capable of.
    Was it all for nothing? To save yet another Fithian liar? Just another liar who only thought of herself.
    “What did you think he’d do when he found out?” I demanded. “How could you do this to Trevin?”
    “Trevin wasn’t even in my head when it happened,” Mags cried. “You know how you feel when you’re with Kellan? How you feel in his arms? I wanted that too, Lianne. Just once, I wanted to be held by a man who loved me for me. Not one who raped me to get me pregnant with his heirs.”
    I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to calm the anger bubbling inside me. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn’t. Mags was my dearest friend, the one person who’d been more like family to me than anyone else in Fithia. But she’d lied, to everyone. To the king, to me, to her sons.
    “Why do you think I’ve been so tolerant of your time with Kellan? Why do you think I encouraged you?”
    Mags sat up and punched the pillow next to her. Trevin began to cry, but we both ignored him.
    “I didn’t ask for this life. I didn’t want to be chosen. Everyone thought I was nuts, trying to hide on Choosing Day. They knew I had a good chance because of this beauty I was cursed with. I knew it too. He’d noticed me before, at the Harvest Festival. I could see how demented he was and I didn’t want to ever be close to him.”
    She ripped the covers away from her body and jumped off the side of the bed. She twirled around on the floor, her dress flying out on all sides like a dancer at court.
    “I’m not allowed to do that either,” she said, putting her hands down on her skirt, stopping it in midflight. She stuck her tongue out, crossed her eyes and pushed up on the tip of her nose.
    “Can you imagine what they’d say if I did that at court?” she asked. “What if I want to walk around barefoot or go strolling outside without someone to walk in front of and behind me?
    “I can’t do any of those things, Lianne. All the stuff you take for granted, I am not allowed any of it. My life is not my own, but my heart…” she walked over to me, her hand hovering over her chest, “…my heart belongs only to me. It’s inside and no one can take it away from me. It loves who it loves.”
    She paused and reached out for my hand, but I wouldn’t cooperate. I didn’t want to touch her.
    “It loves you and it’s not supposed to. You, the Dalagan adoptee who is here to serve me. It loved him too, the man I am not allowed to be with, but the only man who’s ever looked at me and seen who I am on the inside.”
    I held my breath,