Queen of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  QUEEN OF GODS

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright 2017 © Scarlett Dawn & Katherine Rhodes

  SECOND EDITION

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  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  CHAPTER ONE

  ~ KIMBER ~

  S’Kir

  Land of the Unseen Gods

  “Wise and intelligent beyond our understanding, the protective magic raised the mountain and locked the gates, forever.”

  The children followed the images in the book as they carefully turned in an arc so they could all see.

  “Still, in the silent night, if you listen with your magic and your heart, you can hear the rocks whispering, love must awaken. Once love awakens, then our wisdom will shine, and two worlds will unite.”

  I slowly closed the book and smiled at the children sitting in the half circle. They started clapping, and as young as they were—the applause was enthusiastic.

  A bit too much so for a little one named Bershat. His joyful hands conjured the small magic he had started to show.

  “Oh, my! Bershat!” I chuckled as he startled himself with sparks and little fireworks.

  Placing the ancient book to the side, I took hold of the young boy’s hands in mine. Frightened, he quivered as tears appeared in the corners of his eyes. “No, no, Bershat. You’re fine. It’s just a bit of your magic. You’re nearly seven now, and it’s going to start happening. It’s a good thing!”

  “Magic, Miss Raven? Like the story?”

  “Oh, yes. Yes, just like that. Wise and intelligent, but magic is in all of us. And yours is starting to appear. It means you’re growing up.”

  I glanced at the students—the oldest of the children at the temple and the joy of my day.

  “Your parents have trusted me to teach you all you need to know before your magic appears. And when I see your magic, as I have in Bershat, I know that it is almost time to send you to the S’Kir Amphat School. There you will get different lessons. You’ll get to learn to use your magic and grow it.”

  Holding my hand up, I pulled in a little of the magic. I spun a small, glittering tornado for all of them to see.

  As the children were transfixed and enchanted by the whirling glitter, I smiled to myself as I looked around at these little minds. As one of the youngest acolytes—honored keepers of the Temple of the Lost God—my job was to teach the children until they showed their magic. Bershat would move to the school in a few weeks.

  Dispelling the glitter, I clapped my hands to make sure the students were listening to me. “All right, everyone, I think we’ve had enough excitement for today. Let’s all get your jackets and head on home. Remember to tell your parents about your lessons and that we’ll have a recital next week.”

  My little prodigies leapt to their feet and raced for their jackets and bags. Each of their items hung near the entrance of the temple classroom.

  I kept an eye on them as they tumbled out of the brightly colored room onto the walkways of S’Kir Prime, our capital city.

  “Miss Raven?” The youngest of this class, Tillini, stood sheepish, clutching a book to her chest.

  “Yes, Tilli?”

  “Miss Raven, will I ever get my magic?”

  “Of course, Tilli. Why would you think that you wouldn’t?”

  “Because I don’t have a daddy.”

  I knelt down, my heart trembling with her innocence. “You do have a daddy, Tilli. He died on the Mountain Watch, remember?”

  “Doesn’t that take my magic away?”

  “Goodness, Tilli. Who told you that?”

  “Griffin.”

  Of course, Griffin. I would have a talk with him before class tomorrow. He was a storyteller, and I had been desperately trying to redirect his stories away from his classmates. He didn’t need to scare them.

  “That’s not true. Your father died in an accident on the mountain. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to have magic.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Her whole attitude changed. “Thank you, Miss Raven!” She skipped off and jumped down the full set of stairs. Every student jumped down the stairs, and every student nearly gave me a heart attack when they did.

  My own sweater and bag waited by the door, and after retrieving them, I made my way back through the temple. I walked by the altar, made my daily obeisance to the Lost God, and walked out into the city, thinking about my life.

  I loved the students, but I had decisions to
make.

  Not fully a priestess, I wasn’t sure I wanted to move on from acolyte status. I loved the temple, but dedicating my life, my long immortal life, to a lost god didn’t always seem a good idea. I had too much fun being able to leave at the end of the day. I enjoyed time with my friends, the theater, swimming, and excellent restaurants.

  Becoming entirely dedicated to the God, I would have to give up my life as I knew it now for hours of scrying, constant research, hours of waiting and watching, trekking to the gate and the mountain to examine either for change.

  My friends would become the other acolytes and priests dedicated to the Lost God with me.

  “Deep in thought again, my lady?”

  A step away from crashing into one of my oldest and dearest friends, I looked up just in time and pulled to a halt. Happy to see him, I grinned.

  “Always, Elex. It is the nature of the acolyte to spend time in contemplation.”

  He had such a kind smile. “Methinks you’re thinking about finding a teaching position soon that isn’t in the temple. And you’re wondering what kind of trouble we can get into tonight.”

  “Trouble? In S’Kir? How dare you suggest such a thing!”

  We were playful and mocking. S’Kir Prime did have its problems, as was the nature of the mischievous druids, but never more than a small share.

  He nodded in the direction of another street. “Come on. We have reservations for dinner, and then we’re going to head over to the Mountain Park for games. Is your leg feeling better?”

  “Oh, no.” I huffed. “We’re not playing that game again, are we, Elex? Oh, please no.”

  Laughing still, he put his arm around me. “No, no. We’re going to watch a better team play. We’re clearly not cut out for it. But there are a few leagues, and we can watch them battle it out.”

  My terror at playing that silly game where I’d hurt myself must have been evident on my face. Elex continued to chuckle at me even as we walked into the restaurant.

  Dinner was exquisite, as always. Drez, the head chef, was magic with food. Every year, her fare became more and more amazing, and our group were her willing guinea pigs. Always trying new combinations and new spices, sauces, and techniques on us, but none of us complained—not for food that magnificent.

  Heading for the Mountain Park, Jallina and Arik came running from another street to catch up and join us.

  Mountain Park was just that—a park at the foot of the mountain.

  The S’Tisk Mountain, the most massive peak in the spine, threw shadows on S’Kir Prime as the sun sank. The streets and buildings shone in the late sun anyway. All made of white, it was only on the shortest days of the year that any true shadow fell on the city.

  The magic of S’Kir raised the massive spine of mountains to keep us from the vampires on the other side. No one questioned the magic. The stories said the vampires were wicked and the magic of our island decided the druids needed to be protected.

  The simple story was the story told to children. Most of us didn’t question the wisdom, but some had doubts on the reasons.

  There were very few druids alive who remembered when there was no mountain. Those who did didn’t talk about it. So, we accepted that the mountain and the magic had reason without imparting the reason for the rising—or the locking of the Gate.

  Our friends fell in step with us as we headed for the game of esalhukhi, the very game that made me—the youngest of the group at just ninety-five—sprain my knee so severely that I had to have a healer come and take care of it.

  Laughing, Jallina pointed to my knee as we walked. “Even the memory of the injury makes you limp?”

  “Hush! You have no idea what pain that was!” I couldn’t stay mad though, and a giggle escaped me.

  “Did you not play sports as a child?” Elex glanced over. “You work with those children; you know they are rough.”

  “Bookworm, Elex, remember?”

  “Even so young?”

  “Yes.” I nodded firmly. “Why do you think I’m an acolyte at the temple? My parents saw I wasn’t an athlete at a very young age and let me read. Which is what I should have insisted on doing instead of getting tripped with a cheater’s stick!”

  The truth was I wasn’t mad. It had been fun, but I really wasn’t a very good athlete. Books were everything to me. I loved reading and learning, and for eighty years, I had been doing just that in the temple.

  As we all walked toward the mountain, I realized I didn’t have to make up my mind about my position at the temple. I wanted to remain an acolyte. I wasn’t interested in forsaking the company of my friends—especially Elex—and I certainly wasn’t willing to have the temple be my only existence. So many of the wise teachers in my books had said, education is not just learning. Doing, and being, and seeing and witnessing—all of it was part of life.

  I wanted that.

  And perhaps, someday, a mate and children. I was entirely too young for that, though.

  Finding seats in the amphitheater, the esalhukhi teams had started their on-field battle.

  Even as I tried to pay attention, something…

  …something plucked at me.

  The amphitheater faded into the background, even as the game became more intense. A surge in my power, an odd rush in my ears.

  Something tried to pull me away.

  A tickle.

  An itch.

  A burning desire to turn around and stare up at the massive, airless peak of the mountain.

  Stronger and stronger as I sat there, the feeling drove through me, permeating every nook of my mind, and eventually, I couldn’t resist it.

  I looked to Elex. “Do you feel that?”

  Startled, Elex glanced at the crowd and stadia around us. “Feel…what? An earthquake?”

  My eyes landed back on the tall, now-threatening peak behind us. “The mountain. It’s…”

  Startled, and a touch frightened, he craned his neck around. He studied Mount S’Tisk, as a trained geologist would, eventually turning back to me. “There’s nothing there, Kimber. It’s the same it’s always been.”

  I tipped my head back to try to see the peak, but as usual, it was impossible from so close to the base. Still, the itch grew. Ignoring it without success for another few minutes, it increased to a pull I needed to answer.

  With a gentle touch, I got Elex’s attention long enough to tell him I was leaving. “No, something is going on, Elex. I’ll be back.”

  Standing, I climbed over him and two others. The aisle was clear, and I scampered out of the amphitheater toward the mountain.

  “Kimber!”

  Elex caught up before I made it very far. “What in the world are you doing? There’s nothing there. The mountain hasn’t moved in millennia, save for a small tremor here or there.”

  “There’s something, Elex. It’s pulling me toward it, trying to tell me something.”

  “Oh, for… You’ve been in that temple too long.”

  I stared at him, hard. “You don’t believe me.”

  “I think your dinner is sitting wrong, and you’re applying mysticism to indigestion.”

  Rolling my eyes, I marched toward the mountain.

  It was a very odd mountain, growing straight out of the ground to an astounding height, the sheer cliffs and drop-offs peppered the vertical climbs, and dangerous spires and crevasses broke up the climbs even more. Even as the best mountaineer made their way up the side, no one had ever crossed over because there was no air at the top. There was no way to cross the peak, and the peaks ran like a spine the length of S’Kir, all two hundred leagues.

  The magic hadn’t been messing around when it lifted the land.

  Caves dotted the bottom, and animals, residents, even hidden water springs, lurked inside. None went more than a half league in before ending abruptly, but the water there was sweeter than any other in S’Kir.

  One of these caves was the origin of my itch. I headed straight for the opening that called me, without regard f
or the danger I could be marching into.

  Elex, however, lacked my enthusiasm for an impromptu spelunking expedition because I had an itch. He grabbed my arm.

  “Kimber. Stop. We aren’t prepared for this.”

  How right he was.

  “I’m going in there, Elex. With or without you. I need to find out what’s going on. This is—” I halted my words as I realized what was going on, and I couldn’t contain my surprise. “This is magic.”

  “We’re drenched in magic.” Skepticism, not magic, dripped off Elex’s words.

  “No, this is the mountain’s magic, pulling me toward it. Telling me to discover what’s inside.”

  For all my years in the temple, this was the first time the magic had reached out to me instead of me reaching for it. It pulled on me, asking me to come and find it, deep within the cave I was standing at the mouth of.

  I held my palm out and up, and a globe of light appeared, hovering there. “I’m going in, Elex. I’m an acolyte. If the magic calls, I answer.”

  Not waiting for his answer, I passed into the mouth of the cave. I made sure the globe of light would stay where it was and let it float ahead of me. I was going to need more than one of the globes to dispel the darkness of the cave if the first few hundred feet were any indication.

  Inclining sharply, boulders of all sizes from tiny to enormous littered the ground. There was hardscrabble between each of them, making footing dangerous and unstable. Still, they could be useful as I grabbed the boulders around me as handholds. I climbed into the shadows and through the rocks to get to a platform that allowed me to catch my breath and let my muscles rest.

  The entrance wasn’t all that far behind. This was going to be a hard climb.

  Elex stumbled into a rock next to me, panting. “You’re insane, Kimber.”

  I grinned at him in the light of my magic. “Who followed me in, though?”

  Glancing ahead, I could see there was just more darkness, but it didn’t seem to be too much more of an incline. “Do we know if anyone has explored this cave?”

  “They’ve all been explored. But when and how much is the real question.” Elex sighed, giving the cave a perfunctory study. “I think this is Cave S’Kir Prime Park North Twelve, but I can’t be sure. It fits the profile, a sharp incline, and a boulder-strewn entrance. It’s been explored, pretty deeply if it is, and we’ll have a slow incline from now on.”