Free A Kiss of Fire: A Kiss of Magic Book 2 by Jacquelyn Frank

voluble in our absence. Apparently he has been ruling as though he were raja and you were not even alive. He seemed to take much pleasure in besmirching your name at every opportunity.”
    “I have no choice but to leave him in charge in my absence,” Sin said dourly. “He is prince and heir beyond me. The people would not follow the rule of anyone outside of the blood line to the seat of raja.”
    “Which is one reason why you need to breed sons to become heir in his stead,” Lindo reminded him needlessly. Pushily.
    “I am working on it,” Sin said with a sardonic smile.
    “I know you are. But…one woman? One recalcitrant woman? You should have an entire harem of wives and mistresses at your age.”
    “So you have said many times,” Sin said dryly.
    “Only because it is true. You do not follow the traditions in that way…and yet now you are following tradition and—“
    “Lindo,” he said quietly. Dangerously. “This is no longer up for discussion. I have done what I have done. My reasons are my own. I answer to no one for them. I am raja. My sons will be raj upon their birth and become my heirs. I will decide on whom I will get those sons. No one will tell me otherwise.”
    “Yes Raja,” Lindo said, injecting the amount of required respect into his tone. “I only meant…should something happen to you before those sons are born, we would be left under the rule of Raj Vich. The very thought of it makes me shudder. And Vich will not sit idly by while you take steps toward eliminating him from the succession. By bringing her here like this, you have endangered her very life.”
    “I will protect her. Vich does not dare touch her. He knows that if something happened to her I would suspect him first. And I would remove him from succession the hard way. I would have done so already if not for the war.”
    “We have had peace now for two autumns.”
    “I am aware of this,” Sin said. “What is your point?”
    “My point is it is not so easy to kill a brother, no matter what the headache he gives you.”
    “It is a headache I can manage at present. But any attempt on my life or the lives of those dear to me would change things quite dramatically. He knows that.” Sin shrugged. “Besides, who can plot against me that you cannot hear their thoughts?”
    “I can hear your brother’s thoughts…but he schools them quite firmly when he is in my presence. Any plotting he does he does it out of my sight and hearing. I have never known anyone with such control over their thoughts and impulses. He is a force to be reckoned with, Sin. Do not underestimate him.”
    “Believe me, I do not underestimate my brother. He openly opposes me every chance he gets. He makes no secret of it when he disagrees with me. And he disagrees with me just for the joy of contending with me. If I say black, he says white. If I say it is cold, he says it is hot…whether it is or is not.”
    “But you—“
    “Brother! There you are!”
    Lindo surged to his feet as the object of their discussion conveniently walked in the door with a sweep of presence. The prince was a good six inches shorter than his brother, but it was easy to see the family resemblance in their faces and similar coloring. They both were fit of form and wide of shoulder. They both boasted the same blade of a nose and sculpture of lips. However, Raj Vich’s eyes were set closer together and their brown was far lighter than Raja Sin’s nearly black irises. In fact, they were so light they seemed an almost golden beige in color. They were quite unnerving to look into, even if you didn’t know of the cunning mind behind them.
    “Brother,” Sin greeted without getting to his feet. Without even looking away from his glass which had suddenly grown interesting again. “How went things while I was away?”
    “Quite well. There were no troubles of note.”
    “Of note? But there were troubles?”
    “Merely some land disputes,” the other man said with a shrug. He