Page 1 of The Crownless King
Prologue
1861
Who would we be without them?
Fog surrounded her, the moist air clinging to her skin and slowly dampening the thin robe she wore. It didn’t faze her or move her from her post. The gateway opened only once a century and she would not miss it. Many women in her family had stood in this exact spot and others like it for years before her, waiting on their chance. Even now, countless women were lined along the rivers that bisected the south, all hoping for the smallest window of time and magic. Bria was determined to be the last.
It was a risky gamble on soil not native to them, but according to all the elders before her, this spot along this river would work. She prayed they got the timing right.
She fingered the dagger on her belt and rolled her neck. From every story passed down to her, this opening gateway was the only way into the temple. A solitary entrance point, a single solitary moment in time to rush through its gates and demand help defeating her father. It could mean the end to her family line, but the risk was worth it.
If Bria squinted her eyes just right, it was if she could almost make out the ghostly form of the temple.
Bria cocked her head as a sound intruded on the still morning. Her eyes never strayed from her prize, but her body tensed as her other senses reached out to find the source. She inhaled slowly, pulling in the damp air and a smell she wouldrecognize for as long as she lived…and because of the gifts given to their people from the Akachi, that could be centuries yet.
“You’ll not sway me from my course, Caden.” Her soft voice carried on the dawning morning.
He stepped from the fog, an apparition that could disappear at a moment’s notice. His black pants clung to his muscular thighs, a woolen jacket opened to reveal the loose black shirt underneath. Caden had his dreads braided down in two rows, leaving nothing to detract from the face God himself had chiseled. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel their texture beneath her hands as she did days ago when she’d braided them. He watched her, his hazel eyes stark against the dark brown of his skin.
Bria shivered as those eyes traced her body, the possessive look one she knew all too well. His full lips turned up into a smile, his teeth straight and white except the two canines, sharp and growing longer as he stared at her. She scoffed and turned back to her watch, but her body warmed all the same. He knew what he was doing, the memories the sight of his teeth would provoke. She could almost feel the phantom rake of them down her back. Her body arched and tingles traveled the length of her skin.
Damn him.
“Maybe I just came to keep you company while you wait.” His voice was molasses sliding against her skin, warm and sticky.
Another trick of his.
She swallowed a sigh. “Go away, Caden.”
“Have you thought this through, Bria?” He made no moves to close the distance between them.
“What is there to think about? If I can stop my father, how can that be anything but good?”
“At the risk of losing your life?” he hissed.
“To save millions of others?” She gave him an incredulous look. “Absolutely.”
Caden growled and stomped closer. “I won’t let you do this.”
“Unless you plan on killing me, there is no way for you to stop me.”
“Bria.”
“Caden,” she mocked.
“Ending your family’s line—”
“Means that there won’t be another like my father and his brothers. It means the one they prophesied will never exist. How do you have a problem with that?”
“You don’t know the consequences.” Caden gripped her shoulder and turned her to him. “We can defeat your father without you sacrificing your life, love.”
“Don’t do this. Don’t make this harder than it is, Caden. You promised,” she whispered, avoiding his eyes.
Caden nuzzled into her neck, his warm breath sending goosebumps down her arms. He scraped his teeth against her skin. Bria shuddered, her body coming alive under his touch.
“There has to be another way,” he murmured.
Bria stepped back and hugged her arms around herself. Not that it did anything to still the heat igniting in her body. She cursed the thin temple garb she wore.
