Thorns of Fate

by Hayley Todd

  Lucas nodded as though this were vital information but he hadn’t decided yet what its relevance was and was debating it to himself.

  Looking at him now, in such a calm state, I could admit that Lucas was a handsome man. He looked young, maybe in his upper twenties and his sandy blown hair was always styled in a way that looked like he had given it no thought, but it was the perfect look for him. His eyes seemed to fluctuate between a brownish red and a vibrant crimson though they were barely tinged with red at the moment.

  “Well, anyway, I found that offering an ancient expert in combat training seemed to be a lacking reward considering your extensive training already,” he said as though Kellic hadn’t interrupted him.

  I considered that. Vampyres, like Magicks, were next to immortal. They could be killed but not by natural causes. I wondered momentarily who he could possibly have had in mind.

  Carson suddenly turned away from my father, stepping closer to me and interrupting. Lucas hesitated. “Can we have a moment?” Carson asked. Lucas looked surprised but nodded, stepping away and asking Kellic more about our training.

  Carson tugged me back down the hall, away from the others. “Your father has received word from the doctor. Henrick’s...plan has proven completely worthless. He...forced himself on you, not aware that you had formed not one but two new imprints. You’re not pregnant,” he said.

  I hadn’t known that the concern had created a knot of anxiety in my chest that had lingered since I had awoken until he said the words. They splashed across me like a wave of tangible relief.

  He lifted my chin up, staring into my eyes which I could feel were lined with tears. “I know that you haven’t really had time to face that...experience. But I will always be here and I will help you through it,” he said softly. He pressed a kiss to my lips. I wrapped my arm around his neck, sheer joy running through me. Henrick had failed, in every sense. He had robbed me of some of my dignity, my security, but I would work through that with Carson’s help. I didn’t want to dwell on it now.

  I pulled away, gazing into those glorious green eyes. Carson had a grin on his lips. He pecked another kiss to mine before pulling me back towards the group. “I’m sorry for interrupting,” he said to Lucas, “I just needed to give Kyra some news.”

  Lucas beamed and I could immediately tell from his expression that he had overheard Carson’s whispered words. I wondered for a moment if Vampyres had better hearing than Magicks too because no one else but Anton seemed to have an idea of the statement Carson had made.

  Anton smiled softly to me and I couldn’t help but grin back. He looked relieved and perhaps my own pain dissipating had been part of the reason.

  “Anyway,” Lucas began again, guiding us with more eager steps down the hall. “After the Coliseum, I finally realized what I might be able to do for you.”

  We reached a door where he finally stopped, drawing us all to a halt. The door was unassuming, like a thousand of the others. There was no peephole and no label outside, leaving me curious to see what was beyond it.

  Lucas stepped forward, grinning eagerly to me from where I stood. He beckoned me nearer, and I tugged Carson along behind me until the three of us surrounded the door, flanked from our family behind us.

  Lucas turned the knob, swinging the door inward.

  I peered inside, eager now to know what was beyond.

  “Heya, Ky,” came a familiar voice.

  And my heart stopped when I saw none other than Will peering back to me with bright red eyes.

  My heart squeezed out a stuttered rhythm.

  “Happy coronation, Kyra,” Lucas said. “I brought him back from the dead.”

  THE END

  Thank you so much for taking the time to read the first book of Kyra’s journey, Thorns of Fate. Her story (as well as that of those around her) continues in the second book of the series, Divine Destiny. Get a sneak peak of the first two chapters here and catch it on e-book when it’s released! Please leave a review with any thoughts you had on the book and I’ll see you next time!

  With utmost appreciation,

  Hayley Todd

  Divine Destiny: Sneak Peak

  Prologue

  The battlefield unfolded before me as I entered it, heroes from both sides falling to swords and spears. I traveled lazily to the ground, enveloped in lightning that carried me to the ground. Athena, Hera, and Zeus led the charge, watching carefully from their positions behind the lines of our military forces.

  “We are being pushed back,” Zeus announced, watching carelessly as the slaughter continued before us. He lounged across a chaise lounge that had been supplied by some of the soldiers, lazily looking over battlefield maps.

  Zeus was an imposing figure. He radiated sexuality and command and I most often chose not to associate with him. He appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties, sporting a long dark, well-kept beard and piercing blue-white eyes similar to my own. He carried a scepter with him which he had leaned against the chaise lounge now. I knew he favored plating the thing in lightning bolts as he strode about. I had always thought it quite pompous but he greatly enjoyed that humans saw us as gods.

  “It is...troubling,” Athena replied. She leaned over the map, far more interested in what information it contained.

  Athena was studious and brave but lovely. She had dark hair pulled into a serious bun at the base of her neck. She only appeared to be in her mid-twenties but her eyes held the expression of someone far more wizened. She too was long and lean, muscles lining her frame.

  “What is our course?” chimed Hera, mother of the gods. She was far more matronly than Athena. She wore softer edges, more refined, more gentle. She didn’t appear to be much older than Athena but she wore her age much more plainly on her countenance.

  They bickered for a moment, tossing battlefield strategy back and forth at each other like physical blows. It made my headache. I hadn’t favored this war. If I had to choose, I would support my people but I had chosen neither to meddle in the affairs of mortals nor to advance on the Trojan people. My presence had simply become a balm to the warring gods, a desperate plea to not annihilate entire populations in the midst of their quarreling.

  The battlefield was a place that regularly made my skin crawl. I, unfortunately, thrived in, touched with a gift that had elevated me to my position. I could soothe those so thoroughly troubled souls.

  “What are your thoughts, Harmonia?” Athena asked suddenly. I snapped my gaze to her, away from the blood and death washing the field before us. I gave her a stony look. Harmonia was a name given to me by the people. I preferred Sage, the name I had been born with that already seemed to suit my position.

  “I think this is all careless bloodshed,” I replied, crossing my arms over my bosom. I wore a long flowing dress. It was pale blue, nearly white and I was dismayed to see that the bottom of the gown had already been tattered and dirtied even on this dais.

  Athena glared back at me, her eyes narrowed. When I didn’t react to her, she finally rolled her eyes and turned back to Hera and Zeus. “Care to deliver a warning?” She asked and I knew she was watching me for a response.

  Zeus leaned forward, abandoning his lazy pose, his face eager, his eyes already glowing.

  I stood, approaching Athena and stepping past Zeus. “I think I’ll handle any warnings being cast,” I told her, my eyes passing again over the helpless troops tangled in fighting with the Trojans. My gaze fell onto a nearly identical dais I could just barely spot from across the battlefield.

  Zeus looked crestfallen, if not a little angry. Much to his dismay, he and I shared a similar power. Many of his supposed acts of godhood were actually my own though I let the mistakes go uncorrected. He enjoyed the limelight more than myself.

  Athena glanced at Hera whose composure was impossible to penetrate. I’d never even seen the woman flinch. “Soldiers or…” she left the words hanging in the air, gesturing to the opposing dais.

  A microscopic smile spread a
cross Hera’s lips as she simply nodded her response. She watched the raised dais with scrutiny.

  And moments like these were exactly why I allowed Zeus to accept some of my inevitable worship. Don’t get me wrong, Zeus was good but he liked...a boring approach.

  I gathered energy within me, pulling from the very life force of those around me. I knew my eyes would glow, washing this bloody moonlit field with a blue-white light. I pulled and pulled until I felt explosive with the energy.

  And then I let it go.

  It raced away from me as an electric blue bolt, spearing over the heads of the armies and slamming into the dais opposite us. In a ripple of skittering sparks, all fell quiet. The edges of the dais had caught flame, hungry waves of it rising in a circle.

  And in its center, spiraling forward clothed in smoke were four powerful gods, standing and staring furiously back upon us.

  The first in the line was Poseidon. He was tall, his chest broad, and his body lined with muscle. He wore only a garment stretch across his hips and swooping down to his knees. He sported a neatly trimmed dark beard. He had deep aqua blue eyes. And right now, he appeared to be a touch singed.

  Beside him stood a small woman. She had pale skin, dark hair, and glowing violet eyes. The bottom of her dress was on fire but she barely even seemed to notice. She had a twisted expression on her face, somewhere between joy and fury. It gave her a distorted, dark look. She stared into me with that look of gleeful rage, my polar opposite, my counter, goddess of chaos, Eris.

  Next in line was Ares the great and powerful. He was admittedly ripped and had a full head a coarse, dark hair. He wore a goatee and a helmet now. It had been a while since I’d encountered him. I was surprised that he hadn’t changed a bit in the last several centuries. He had glowing golden eyes piercing his helm.

  After him was the goddess of love herself.

  Aphrodite glared daggers at me as she raked her fingers through her hair, trying to douse a fire that had begun there. She was a beauty. It was no wonder the humans had chosen her to be their goddess of love. She was tall and lean, lithe athletic muscle along her frame. She had long, golden locks of hair, a pert little nose, big amber eyes, and the face of an angel. And right now, I was honored to be under that glare…

  “Really, mother?!” I shrieked, shaking my head and pushing out the powerful magick. Sparks of electricity danced across my skin.

  Aphrodite’s lips twitched up in a smirk.

  Nope.

  I built the energy farther, shoving it into my palms, then steadily out and away from me. I lifted off the ground and was carried into the sky on my magick alone.

  Chapter One

  Will had developed into a much better fighter.

  I mean if you could entirely shrug off head butts and blows to the head, what really phased you?

  He sent a cascade of blows soaring toward my head. I only barely managed to dodge them. He was faster than me though each of us moved as a blur. I threw a punch into his gut, knocking him backwards several steps with pure strength alone.

  He caught himself easily, pushing back towards the blow and flexing his abdominal muscles, absorbing the force of it. My feet skidded across the ground, trying desperately to gain a foothold. I ducked one leg low and tried to take out Will’s feet. He quickly sidestepped and let me fall forward from trying to push against him. I stumbled.

  Will’s elbow came crashing into my back, slamming me onto my belly. I immediately rolled to the side, knowing another blow would be raining down toward me in an instant. Will didn’t disappoint. His elbow collided with the mats beneath our feet as I hurled myself upward again. I reared a leg back, kicking out and slamming my knee into his abdomen. His hands latched around my leg as I connected, pulling the blow in softly. He didn’t even grunt. It really wasn’t fair.

  When he didn’t release my leg, I jerked it closer to me, his hands still attached to my thigh and shin and then when he was drawn just a touch too close to dodge, I whipped my leg out and away from me. My knee crashed into his chest and he fought to keep his grip on me, scoring claw marks along my skin. He couldn’t maintain the grab however, and went sprawling backwards onto the mat.

  I leapt onto him at once, holding my palm open near his face. It sizzled and sparked, blue energy cascading over my fingers.

  He lifted his hands in a placating gesture, laughing. “Alright, Electric Girl, I yield.”

  I chuckled softly and removed myself from him, holding a non-energy infused hand to him. He locked his palm around my wrist and I hoisted him to his feet.

  Clapping erupted from my behind us and a quick glance indicated my dad strolling nearer.

  It had been two years since Henrick’s utter annihilation and my father hadn’t aged a day. We had grown closer over the years, becoming more father-daughter in relationship, less business like, though my father rarely wavered on formality.

  He was a tall man, taller than me but shorter than Will who towered over nearly everyone he encountered. My father, Damien, was around 6’2” whereas Will towered at 6’5”. Damien was a distinguished looking man though he appeared no older than mid to late thirties. He and my mother, Naomi, didn’t look to be old enough to be my parents.

  Damien was the king of Magick vampires like myself, making me their princess. I still felt a bit awkward in the role but it was becoming more commonplace all the time. My father controlled earth with his magickal ability and he was incredibly good at it. He had spent the last two years mentoring me in my own magick and it had become a natural part of my life, completing me as though it were closing a hole it was meant to fill.

  Over my father’s shoulder, another face joined us. My heart swelled as Carson Carder, my hybrid boyfriend and bodyguard, swept into the room. He was grinning, ear to ear, and immediately took me into his arms. I clutched him, his warmth piercing clear to my soul.

  Carson and I shared an imprint. It was a mystical blood connection, pairing us together till death do we part. Literally. Breaking the imprint would kill all of those attached to us. We could feel each other and were regularly drawn together, to the point of finding each other even in a crowded room.

  Behind him on the other sparring mats, my other best friend, Kellic and her now boyfriend Anton were performing a bought of complicated punches and subsequent dodges. Though not imprinted, they had been all but inseparable in the years since Henrick’s death.

  Anton was Henrick’s son and had actually become part of my closest inner circle of friends. He and I also shared an imprint, though the feelings within it were mostly platonic in nature. He had saved Carson and my lives by using his empath abilities to form an imprint when ours had been forcibly broken. Anton had already created an imprint between the two of us, risking his life as much as ours when his father had tried to shatter it.

  Kellic pinned him to the floor, her tiny body straddling his chest, her hands locking his against the mats. He grinned up at us and his boyish charm made it hard to take him seriously.

  “I win,” Kellic chimed, a wide smile on her full lips. Kellic was my cousin and one of my two best friends. She and her twin (and my other best friend), Will, had helped raise me in my final years of teen hood after our grandmother had passed away in a gruesome car accident. She was perky, pert, and opinionated and in many ways, was my polar opposite. Our relationship worked like that though. She was the sunshine on my cloudiest day.

  She untangled herself from Anton and leapt to her feet, facing us. Carson held his hand out to Anton who took it and Carson hefted him to his feet.

  Kellic did a cartwheel backwards, her hands stretching to the ground. She bent all the way back before her feet left the ground. Then, she flipped onto her hands, walked herself closer, and daintily spun back to her feet.

  “Alright, I’m ready to go now!” she said with a grin.

  My father actually gave her a chuckle. A whole chuckle. It took a lot to get my father to let his guard down and let those colorful emotions expose themselves to me. />
  “A brief word then,” my father responded, that gentle smile still on his face. “I came to let you know there will be a council meeting in two evenings.”

  “Another one?” Kellic whined, leaning against Anton as he patted his skin with a towel. He gazed down at her, a loving look calling out to her. She didn’t seem to notice. I could only hope that Carson looked at me the way Anton was looking at her.

  I shook myself, pushing the romantic feelings away. After some time, Anton had begun to lose his control at times. As an empath, Anton could feel and manipulate others emotions. He could also expose his own though he had honed careful control of his abilities. It didn’t help that through our imprint, my emotions called to him in a way that he couldn’t resist, falling completely into me. He could frequently read my thoughts and see through my eyes which was disconcerting to us both.

  Damien seemed certain that it meant that in his father’s absence, Anton’s powers were growing at an accelerated rate. He stood heavily behind that theory. Which made sense since the other version was our imprint weakening which could potentially kill all three of us.

  “Anton,” I whispered, just loud enough to get his attention. His gaze shot across the room at me before a knowing expression filled him. He wrote his apology on his face.

  “Yes, we have matters to discuss,” my father continued, beaming at me. He knew how much I disliked council meetings due to having to step into the “princess” role. Though it had become standard, it still felt awkward to me.

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay,” I replied with a playful grin. “We’ll see you in two nights then, dad.”

  He sagged a little with relief at my acceptance. I knew he loved when I used the “D” word. He had admitted it to me during one of the daddy-daughter sessions my mother had mandated. She insisted that we needed to foster such a powerful relationship. I hadn’t told her, but I was kind’ve glad she had.