Of Darkness and Crowns

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Books by Trisha Wolfe

Of Darkness and Crowns

A Goddess Wars Novel

Trisha Wolfe

Men who care passionately for women attach themselves at least as much to the temple and to the accessories of the cult as to their goddess herself.

~Marguerite Yourcenar

♦
1
♦

Kaliope

R
UBBING THE SAND BETWEEN
my swollen, bloodstained fingertips, I feel each grain, missing my home.

I don’t know when I’ll see Cavan again.

The setting sun casts Perinya in shades of dark blue and lavender, the horizon a deep plum, reminding me of the entrance to the Otherworld. It’s been nearly five months since my mismatched companions and I—some of which are the newly formed Nactue—escaped the underground realm. But I haven’t forgotten.

Anything.

The Cage, snapping with fiery currents and descending instruments of death, comes to me in nightmares, along with the face of every person taken during the bloody competition. When I’m lying in bed, chilly air mixed with the scent of mercury and damp earth invades my senses, making it impossible to find sleep.

Yet, there are also good memories. Ones that I’d never replace: Caben’s deep laugh echoing off the stone walls of the training facility, his warm breath caressing the back of my neck as he held me on the tiny cot. His leanly muscled yet giving body holding me in the illuminated pool of water in the cavern, whispering to me about his past, entrusting me with his secrets.

All these irreplaceable moments happened before he sacrificed himself in the Cage. For me. And he was possessed by the dark goddess of mayhem and madness, the moon goddess—Bale.

I close my eyes and focus on the good memories. Of Caben.

When I open them, I’m determined, filled with renewed purpose to guide his kingdom—to keep my promise. And to defend it…even against him.

I release the grains of sand. They slide through my fingers as I catch movement in my peripheral. A wail rips from my throat as I bring up my sword to block the advancing Otherworlder. Getting to my feet, I push against his blade with mine, forcing him back.

His matted dreads
clink
against his black armor, their beaded ends swaying. The sheen off his lens-covered eyes glints as he blinks. For one quick second, he resembles my new ally, Bax, and I wonder if they’re kin. I force the thought from my mind and meet his roar with another yell of my own.

His warrior sword swipes the air before me. I suck in my stomach, evading the attack.
No
, he’s nothing like Bax—an Otherworlder who used to be my league’s ring leader in the Cage fights, but who turned on his culture to save his family.

Once we defeated the Dark Priest, I thought the Otherworlders under Bale’s mind control would awaken and join us—or at least they wouldn’t rally alongside the dark goddess. Bax tried to explain what would happen many times, only I wouldn’t listen. My optimistic belief in the good in people blinded me to the certainty of what was taking place. The Otherworlders did awaken, but it was to a long sought-after reality.

Their goddess was finally here.

Just prior to the Reckoning—the ritual to summon Bale fueled by the bloody Cage fights—Bale had lost their faith. Years and years of serving her, waiting to be repaid for their loyal worship, had taken its toll on the Otherworlders, transforming them into hideous mutations of the people they once were. They turned against their deity. But she just needed their servitude to hold strong a while longer, until her opportunity to escape her imprisoned tomb within the earth would present itself. The Reckoning.

Bale used Bax’s own father, the Dark Priest, to place a mental hold over the Otherworlders until her moment could be realized. Once Bax and I freed them, I trusted the Otherworlders to see Bale for what she truly was. To side against the dark goddess.

But if you had devoted your life—if your ancestors before you had devoted and sacrificed their entire existence to a goddess—once you were finally given proof, would you turn on her? For the Otherworlders, it was a resounding
no
. They worship her more loyally now than ever before. And they plan to keep her to her promises forged in blood. In their blood.

I block another attack from my foe, trying to see him for what he is: my enemy.

As he growls and slashes at my face, I duck and strike out with my sword, keeping thoughts of Caben buried. I have to in order to stay focused. But they come anyway, unbidden.

The Otherworlders welcomed Prince Caben as their new leader. They follow his bloody trail through battles waged on our lands, seeking to garner the one thing that will finally set their goddess free. Where she can rule over them. Unstoppable. A living deity on earth.

And once she’s loosed on this plane…what will happen to Caben?

My mind clouds, fuzzy with unsure thoughts, and my foe takes advantage of my misstep. He nails the side of my head with his elbow. The blow sends me to the ground. Dirt fills my mouth as I suck air into my lungs, and memories of the Cage surface, covering my vision.

“I’ll get a nice reward for bringing your head to my Liege,” the Otherworlder snarls. “He wants to mount it, ya know.” He chuckles.

Anger wells in my chest, hot and biting, bringing me out of my daze. The mercury in my blood pounds against my veins, urging me to unleash its strength—but I suppress it. Instead, I locate my fallen sword a few feet away and grip a handful of sand. “Then he’ll have to face me himself, slime,” I say low, so that the Otherworlder has to crouch.

He kneels on one knee and yanks my head up by my hair. “Speak loud and have your say, above-worlder, before I sever that pretty little head.”

I smile and pitch the sand into his face, then roll toward my sword. He growls and stomps toward me, his warrior sword swinging. I grasp my sword handle and swipe the blade parallel to the ground, slashing his shin. He drives his sword down as he falls forward, his wounded leg giving out.

Rolling, I come up behind him and take out his tendon.

“
Bale
…” he shouts, but the rest of his prayer is lost as I cleave his head from his body.

My chest rises and falls with my heavy breaths, my gaze locked on the destroyed Otherworlder. Just hearing the moon goddess’s name sends my stomach into a nauseous tumble. I swallow down the rising bile.

A rumble sounds in the distance, and I glance at the dimming horizon.

Somewhere out there, Caben is lost in that darkness.

“I’ll find you,” I whisper to the dark. With my free hand, I touch the ring tucked beneath my uniform shirt. Then I wipe the blood from my blade on the Otherworlder’s back and sheath my sword before racing to catch up with the protectors ahead of the battle.

Every day, I hope it’s the day we see the end of this war.

Caben

The Crusher grinds to a halt. I’m propelled forward, and my head smacks the low-hanging ceiling of the front compartment.

“Damn, you fool!” I palm my throbbing forehead, eyeing the driver of the Crusher—the machines I now call by their Otherworlder name.

“Sorry, My Liege,” he says, backing against his seat, farther away from the glowing ribbons circling my fingers.

Ignoring him, I study the luminous white—like the surface of the moon—crawling beneath my skin, and marvel at the power.
My
power. Had I possessed it that day the Cavan Army forced me from my home, they never could have done so easily. But then, I never would have obtained this power. Ironic.

“Just drive,” I tell him. I take a seat on the front bench, away from the foul stench emanating from the back compartment—our diversion tactic that will gain me entry into my palace, where I’m now considered the enemy. Something of mine is being kept there, and I’m taking it back.

The glow beneath my skin illuminates brighter, reminding me of
her
skin. I curl my fingers into a tight ball.

The battle up ahead is only part of my plan, one that I know Kaliope will fall for. I need the reserves away from the palace. My molars clamp down hard at the thought of her—a mix of something like fire and nausea invading my stomach.

At one time, I felt things for the black-haired beauty. I chuckle to myself. Well, at least my groin did. Just thinking of her body makes me ache, and I have to adjust myself. But that was when I was weak, when I only thought and felt with that
weakness
. As much as I hated my father for thinking me too feeble to rule, he was right. I was pathetic.

Bale freed me. Released the part of me that I kept buried, locked away deep down, and I no longer fear
anything
. I think of everything that once made me shudder or quake with dread and laugh. It’s so simple.

Without fear, there is only freedom.

Power.

And if I free Bale completely, releasing her essence from within me and making her corporeal by reuniting the crystalline shards with the goddess relic, she’ll bestow me with even more power. I don’t care what the dark goddess does or where she goes once I restore Empress Iana’s relic. I don’t give a damn what happens to the maggoty Otherworlders or their realm.

I just want her out of my mind. And I want the
power
.

Then I’ll set my sights on Perinya,
my
kingdom, and on gaining what belongs to me.

A throaty cackle fills my head, deep and sultry.

“Quiet, woman.” I roll my eyes. We’ve come to a compromise, the goddess and I, that she may remain within my being, but she’s to keep silent. I got tired of her constant lectures and angry rants about her sisters. She doesn’t speak
too much
…for the most part. But the sooner I get her out of my head, the better.

Having a woman fill your thoughts is a weakness in itself. A sudden flash of a smiling, laughing Kal blurs my vision, and I shake my head.

There’s only one way to rid my thoughts of
that
woman.

Kill her.