Evil Twin by Kati Wilde

3

Echo

He was General Bane.

The hero of Gocea and Phaira.

When Echo had heard someone shouting Bane’s name, she’d thought a guard was yelling for the general to come to the king’s chambers. Perhaps to skewer her with his sword. But the general had already skewered her with his big cock.

And he’d utterly fucked all her plans.

He hadn’t even left the bed yet, but her parents were thanking him for foiling her evil schemes. He told them they had nothing to thank him for but they didn’t relent. As if they truly believed he’d discovered what Echo was up to.

But she’d seen his shock and dismay. He hadn’t known. Instead, the general had made a plan of his own.

No question what it was. He was a good man. The best of men. And what had he said?

You have already made a fool of me.

General Bane was in love with her milk-blooded twin sister. Drawn to Sapphira’s sweetness, no doubt, and he couldn’t bear to see her marry his peacock of a brother.

Who was wearing padding. Echo was certain of it.

She glanced up as Bane wrapped a sheet around her shoulders, tenderly tucking in the edges. He hadn’t even covered himself yet. Or wiped clean her blood from his massive cock. And she was still sitting in the middle of the bed. Why bother to ever move again? Her every hope was gone. And worse, he saw her like this. The one man she’d always admired, though she’d never met him before. And now he tended to her, only proving his goodness. He tended to her, even after what she’d done—even after she’d destroyed his hopes.

She might have celebrated if he’d married Sapphira. Especially if Sapphira succumbed to a fatal fright or was trampled to death by pigs not long thereafter. The people of Phaira deserved a man such as Bane as their king, and they deserved a better queen than her sister would be.

For her part, Echo would have been content ruling Gocea. She probably would have killed Tamas, eventually. But she’d have been content for a while, at least, especially after the surprising pleasure she’d discovered in this bed. But she hadn’t been with Tamas.

Instead she’d deceived the best of men, who must have risked everything for the woman he loved.

And he’d lost.

So Echo avoided his gaze. She glared instead at her mother, who was telling King Tamas, “Our apologies, dear friend, to you and to your brother. We believed that we’d brought enough guards to contain her—”

“The guards!” Sapphira gasped, clutching her hand to her breast. “Echo, what have you done to them?”

A drop of potion here, a spray of poison there. Some would randomly bleat like goats for a year, but a kingdom had been at stake.

And she’d failed anyway.

“They’ll live,” she answered sullenly.

King Tamas frowned at them. “If you believed your daughter to be a threat, why bring her to Gocea, where she might endanger the people here?”

Her mother and father exchanged a glance.

“If we left her at home, Tamas,” her mother said, “she’d have likely stolen the throne while we were gone and begun to rule in our stead.”

Echo scoffed. Fear that she’d steal the kingdom was only the half of it. “And on Your Majesty’s wedding night, they hoped to drug me and place me in the marriage bed, so you would think your bride still had a maidenhead.”

Sapphira gasped in outrage. “Never have I—”

“She is quite pure—”

“It is only that she rides astride, Tamas,” her father’s voice broke through the noise of her mother and sister’s denials. “I do worry there will be little evidence of her chastity.”

Echo snorted. “Because the last stallion that Sapphira rode astride was a footman named Bowen.”

Not that Echo cared. Let Sapphira fuck anyone she liked. King Tamas certainly did. They would come to the marriage bed equal. It was only their hypocrisy she despised.

Echo knew her virginity would have value, or she might have indulged in liaisons, too. But if her fate was to end up in Tamas’s bed, she would go with her eyes open instead of drugged—and she would spend that value on herself instead of her sister.

Instead…she’d wasted her maidenhead.

Her chest tightened painfully. It hadn’t seemed like a waste. Not at the time. She’d been stunned, thrilled, that in this bed, they’d seemed in such accord. That Tamas hadn’t been the selfish, dissolute royal that she’d thought him to be.

Because he hadn’t been Tamas. Instead, she’d been in accord with the finest of all men.

If Echo had the choice of marrying anyone, without care for kingdoms or being the mistress of her own fate, she would have chosen General Bane. She’d heard so many stories of his courage, his kindness. Though in every description she’d heard and every sketch she’d seen, he’d worn a beard. She’d had no idea he was also Tamas’s twin…though even that might have made little difference in recognizing who he was. She’d never met Tamas before, either. She’d only seen his portrait, so she couldn’t have known the man who’d come to her was his twin brother.

And Bane still kneeled at her side, but she couldn’t bear to look at him. She could not bear that—just as she’d heard stories of him—now he would hear stories of her. She couldn’t bear that General Bane would know what she was.

But of course, her parents were happy to tell him.

“Listen to nothing bad that she says of her sister,” her father said. “She’s pure evil, Tamas. You only have to look at her to see. Their features are the same, but skulking within Echo is a darkness that was apparent even as a babe.”

“A murderous schemer,” her mother agreed, “born under a blood moon as a raven cried and a wolf howled. She will do anything to further her ambitions. Look what she has already done.”

Brows arched, Tamas regarded Bane with amusement. “Did you truly foil a scheme, brother, or did you hope to take my bride?”

Unable to help herself, Echo glanced up. Bane’s jaw clenched as he stared back at his twin. His anger burned the air between them.

But he didn’t deny that he wanted Tamas’s bride.

Heart aching, Echo looked away again.

This had been a fine plan. But she’d hurt one of the few good men of whom she knew, though she’d only known of him from afar.

But he wasn’t afar now. And she couldn’t get closer to General Bane than she had tonight. She could still feel the lingering ache between her legs and deep inside. It matched the ache in her chest, her throat.

When Bane gave no response, Tamas smirked. “You are welcome to marry the sister you took to my bed.”

“Oh no!” The horrified cries came from both her parents. “We would not ask that of you, General,” her father continued. “We would not wish her upon anyone.”

“Echo is our burden to bear.”

“She might already carry his child,” Tamas pointed out.

“Conceived with evil intent, the babe would be worse than she—”

Bane interrupted. “I will take her to wife.”

Pain slashed through Echo’s chest, ripping free a harsh laugh. “For what purpose? We are neither of us heirs. I will not be the queen you wished for.”

He growled and yanked free the sheet covering her legs. “What purpose?” Roughly he gestured to the blood and seed still painting her thighs. “That is a vow we made, Princess, never to let them part us.”

Such a good man. Her heart felt as if it would shred apart. Holding his gaze, she whispered, “You need not hold to that vow. I did not intend to trap you. I only wanted to be Gocea’s queen.”

His jaw set. “It matters not. I will have you.”

“I will not have you,” she said and turned to say more loudly, “I will not marry him.”

From beside her came Bane’s implacable, “You will.”

“General Bane, you need not sacrifice yourself—”

“Oh, he will,” Tamas spoke over her mother. “Because his marriage will solve a problem for me, as well.”

The problem that his brother was in love with his bride.

Echo lifted her chin. “I will not.”

“Then we will have to return you to the rose chamber,” Sapphira said sweetly. “After this, we could not trust you to ever roam free again.”

Fear shrank Echo’s skin. Never would she return to that chamber.

“But where will she live?” Her mother looked from her husband to King Tamas. “You should not trust her in Gocea. We cannot trust her in Phaira.”

Her father scoffed. “Here, there. It matters not. General Bane will keep her in line.”

“I would rather my brother not remain in Gocea.”

“Give to us Crolum as a wedding gift.” Bane’s deep voice filled the bedchamber. He glanced down at Echo, and took her hand, enfolding it within the massive strength of his. “You wish to be a queen. I will see you become one.”

Such a kind man. Her heart would not survive him.

“Crolum?” Tamas laughed. “Why should we give that wasteland to you?”

Whyshouldn’t even be a question. Echo gave the obvious answer. “Because he has earned it. And because although both Gocea and Phaira have laid claim to Crolum, neither want the responsibility or the expense of governing it. So give the kingdom to General Bane as reward for leading the army against the scourge.”

Sapphira’s nose wrinkled as if she smelled something bad, but was simply the expression she made when understanding flew over her head. “But why would anyone wish to live there? That kingdom is cursed.”

“So am I, sister,” Echo said dryly. “Would you not call it a good fit?”

“Too good a fit, sister. The undying scourge came from Crolum. With you as a queen, we would live in fear that kingdom would produce worse.”

“But I trust that General Bane, of all men, would make certain such a dire threat would never arise again,” her mother said and aimed a smile at the general. “He will protect us all.”

“What say you, brother?” Tamas tossed out. “You will likely die in those cursed lands.”

“We will marry,” Bane declared, gently squeezing Echo’s hand. “And we will take Crolum to rule.”

“You will rule over nothing but rotting corpses.”

“So be it, brother.”

Tamas glanced at her parents, who shrugged. “So be it, then. Crolum will be yours.”

Then Echo would have a crown, after all. And she would have the best of men as her husband. A perfect, happy ending to a disaster of a plan.

Except that good man had mistakenly bound himself to an evil twin.

And he was in love with her sister.