Mutual Desire

**Unedited excerpt from Enthralled

Aldvale Kingdom
Azure Province

Linarra seethed with rage and stared at her king. She fisted her hands in an effort to keep from hitting him. “Nay.”

Usotae laughed, the sound hollow and malicious, much as he was. His bejeweled fingers drummed lazily on the arm of his throne as his gaze raked over her. They were alone in the vaulted ceiling chamber with its gilded pictures and jeweled throne.

Linarra had always thought the throne room of Aldvale Palace a majestic place. Until Usotae had been crowned. His cruelty and abuse had dusted the entire kingdom in a grimy film that might never wash away.

If she were a man, a warrior, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. She’d lift her sword and sink it into his black heart. Maybe then Aldvale could return to the grandeur that once claimed their peaceful kingdom.

“Oh, Linarra. How you disappoint me.” Usotae rose from his throne and slowly walked around her. “You are so predictable.” Linarra refused to cower before him despite the fact her life hung in the balance. There was only so much she was willing to do for her kingdom. What he asked of her was…impossible. She had the power to refuse, and there was nothing he could say that would convince her to go through with it.

He stopped behind her and bent close to her ear. “Did you really think you had a choice in the matter? Did you really think you, a mere…woman…could outwit me?”

She had to keep control of her temper. “I won’t do it.”

He chuckled as he moved to face her once more. His black eyes flashed dangerously, giving him a malevolent look she saw more and more often. So many in their kingdom thought their young, handsome king with his black hair and dark coloring was just what the kingdom needed. Only a few knew the truth about Usotae.

Those who did ended up dead.

“I’m merely asking you to spy for me, Linarra,” Usotae said with a tsk. “Don’t make it sound as if I want you to murder him.”

But murder him they would. Linarra didn’t know the Kellian king, but she had heard numerous rumors of the warrior king’s skills and that of his men. If she walked into the Kellian jungle, she would never return. The Kellians despised outsiders.

“Find someone else to do your spying. I owe you nothing.” Linarra turned on her heel and made for the door. She got five steps from Usotae when his voice halted her.

“But you do owe me. Or have you forgotten your sister so quickly? I told you she would hinder you, but you didn’t listen.”

Linarra sighed, the weight of the world on her shoulders. One of her worst mistakes had been begging Usotae for help when her sister had been charged with murder. She had always known Usotae would use it against her. It had been too much to hope he had forgotten, but she should have known Usotae never forgot anything.

“I had the charges against your sister dismissed,” he continued as he walked towards her, the heels of his boot clicking on the white stone floor. “However, new evidence can be found.”

Her sister’s life for her own. Linarra would never condemn her sister to death, not when she was innocent. And Usotae knew it. Linarra’s knees threatened to buckle. She had never felt so helpless, so powerless.

He brushed his hand against her hair to finger the end of her braid. Linarra fought the urge the slap his hand away. How she hated him, hated everything he stood for. The kingdom would perish because of him, and there was nothing she could do about it.