Chapter 1

Divine Rebirth

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

—Revelations 12:9

1

1564

Cymru (Wales)

William Reynallt watched the night sky. Lightning tore the heavens apart, setting the horizon ablaze with blue-white flashes. Thunder crashed all around the countryside, and he knew, in the village down below, the peasants were terrified. This was no ordinary storm. He looked back up as another bolt of lightning shot through the clouds above the tower.

In the distance, another man stood on a hill, arms raised toward the turbulent skies. He held a staff of white oak in one hand. His white robe fluttered behind him, stirred by the wind. Stark white hair, streaked with silver, whipped wildly around his head. The man resembled a celestial being of light, but William knew better. The man on the cliff’s edge was his own brother.

Evan was simply a sorcerer. Everyone knew his nature, and many avoided him. Yet for all the fear he stirred up, he roused an equal amount of passion. No woman could breathe his name without swooning; many men did the same, whether they wanted to admit it or not. Despite the magic that flowed through his veins, however, Evan loved trickery—to tease the senses, the mind, the body with whatever he had at his disposal, all the while slipping a coinpurse into his pocket with naught but a sweet kiss to replace the memory of it.

Just as quickly as the storm had begun, it stopped. William watched Evan walk slowly back to the tower. A wry grin creased the sorcerer’s lips. William knew that expression well. His brother was ready to get out of the tower and inevitably into trouble. When Evan reached the tower door, his grin widened.

“You look like a cat that has swallowed the lord’s prized bird,” William remarked.

“I’ve swallowed many wondrous things belonging to lords and their sons, but never a bird.”

William clapped his hands over his ears and shook his head. “I did notwant to know that.”

“But I do have a need to go out tonight.” Evan pulled one of William’s hands down. “I’m in the mood for some sport.”

“Evan,” William sighed. “Is it not enough to scare the life out of the peasants in the village by tampering with the weather?”

Evan cocked his head slightly to one side as if he were actually contemplating the question. “No.” The clouds above parted, and the light from the moon filtered down onto them, setting the silver in Evan’s hair ablaze. “The weather is such fun, but I seek tamer game tonight.”

William knew his twin well enough to know ‘tamer’ never meant the fairer sex. Evan had an unholy penchant for men. The mere fact had been enough to send William to his knees to pray for his brother’s soul many times, but no amount of begging deterred Evan from the sinful pleasures he loved. William groaned and sank down to the ground outside the door.

“Dear brother,” Evan teased. “You keep yourself cloistered in this tower for so long, I fear you will become part of the structure itself.”

William glanced up at Evan. No wonder Evan had taken up life as a rogue. The man could talk the sun into leaving the heavens. William sighed and extended his hand for his brother to help him up. Evan’s grin was nothing short of blatantly triumphant. He patted William on the back as they went into the tower.

They entered the ground-floor room where Evan slept, and William wondered if they would need money. He then felt utterly foolish for thinking such a thing. As the sorcerer’s robe slipped to the floor, leaving Evan bare as a newborn babe, the man’s unnatural allure made it clear they needed no money. Evan had a way of getting whatever he damn well pleased, whether it was by seduction or thievery.

Evan knelt down to put out the fire in the hearth. The sorcerer moved his hand over it, and the flames licked his fingers without leaving so much as a single mark upon them. When Evan drew his hand back, a small flame lingered in his palm. He rolled his hand in the air, twisting his wrist this way and that, playing with the flame as it slid over his hand and between his slender fingers. A few seconds later, the flame snuffed itself out.

Then he went to the chest at the foot of his bed and opened the heavy lid with a gentleness that belied his true strength. With a simple change of clothes, the sorcerer gave way to the thief. He stepped into a pair of black breeches and laced them tightly around his middle. Over his head, he slipped on a black tunic. For a brief moment, he looked as if he were something more than a mere human. Stark white hair brushed along his waist, contrasting sharply with the darkness of his clothes. Due to his ethereal, angelic appearance, Evan needed only to step out their door for trouble to find him.