Phantom prologue
Heir of Lilith Book one
Preorder before release on june 10
Thank you so much for your interest in reading Phantom! You’ll find the prologue for the novel below!
If you love intrigue, secret identities, and star-crossed loves, this dark romantasy is for you!
Prologue: Natalya
Auvergne Forest, in the Serra Valley, kingdom of Draykemire
“It’s bad enough that Mamaun left us here, Piper. Why should we leave our forest for the city of Serrana?”
Natalya’s little sister shook her head. A smirk played at the corner of Piper’s lips and brightened her eyes. “Are you so afraid of destiny that you’re unwilling to even try?”
Natalya scowled back but gave no answer. She didn’t place as much faith in Piper and her mother’s gift of sight as they did. Mamaun and Piper followed destiny beyond sense or reason, as though that path had magically aided their family in the past and not led to their exile from Verrain and the Shadowlands.
Piper’s mood turned with Natalya’s continued resistance. She stared up at her sister with wide, pouting eyes. “You promised, Nata,” she cajoled. “We told Mamaun that we would go to Serrana.” Piper reached out for Natalya. She ran her thumb over the giant daimon wolf ring that Natalya wore on the first finger of her right hand. It had been Mamaun’s parting gift to her. With only one ring left to the family to stop their transformations and Natalya coming of age, their mother made the same choice her own mother had after she and Mamaun safely escaped capture in Verrain.
“The gift follows those silver-white of hair and amethyst of eye,” Mamaun had told Natalya as the time of her transformations approached. Being forced against her will to turn into a giant wolf did not sound like a gift to Natalya, but Mamaun had insisted—it was her birthright.
The wolf’s gifting had landed only upon Natalya. Piper had inherited another aspect of the family’s magical heritage, the gift of sight. With her black hair and gently bronzed skin, she would blend in more than Natalya could either in Serrana or one of the cities of Verrain. Whether in Eldura or the Shadowlands, it was rare that young women, even of the purest fae bloodlines, bore shining white hair.
Mamaun had left on the eve of what would have been Natalya’s first transformation. Their family ring protected them from the change unless they wished it. Mamaun had taken Natalya’s hands in hers before she left for the portal that stood between the wilds of Draykemire and the Queen’s Road in Verrain. “One day, my darling, you will look to the wolf to save you, and she will.” She placed a kiss on Natalya’s thumbs and spared a last glance at the silver ring upon Natalya’s finger. “Remember who you are, my dears,” Mamaun said as she stepped back. Lilith’s heirs. Part fae, part daimon, strangers to the world they called home.
Natalya returned her attention to her sister, who had already packed her few belongings and placed them in a satchel by the door of their treehome. “How can you be so certain that destiny is a good reason we should brave a city we know nothing about?”
Piper sighed and shook her head, ever exasperated by Natalya’s lack of faith in her gift of sight. “Mamaun and I have both seen it.” She raised her hand by her shoulder and held up three fingers. “First, we travel to Serrana. Easily enough done—we should be there in less than a week.”
It was certainly the simplest part of Mamaun and Piper’s plan. Natalya nodded to appease her sister. “Second, we become courtesans.”
Piper’s grin twisted wide, and her eyes glittered. The romantic lives of Draykemire’s courtesans had always appealed to Piper. They learned the graces of society and took up honored positions in the court. Courtesans studied dancing and music, painting, storytelling, even sculpture. Since she had first heard of courtesans from the witch an acre over in their wood, Piper had known that such elegance would play a key role in her future. And as she and Natalya were inseparable, Natalya would follow and become a courtesan as well.
“And third, you uncover your destiny,” Piper said with a happy shrug of her shoulders.
Natalya ground her teeth and stared down at Mamaun’s wolf ring. Her wolf ring, now. Mamaun and Piper were the most unreasonable about this final aspect of their path forward. Why Natalya’s destiny and not Piper’s also? They would say only that it was Natalya’s fate to follow in Lilith’s footsteps, but which part of her great-grandmother’s legacy was Natalya meant to follow?
In the years after Lilith’s death, their grandmother had fled Verrain, barely escaping the empress’s wrath against the daimon, her attempt to wipe out any possibility of Lilith and Eamon’s descendants surviving. Lilith had failed to overthrow the empress. All her line but Natalya and Piper were likely dead by now. But Mamaun and Piper insisted, Natalya would understand her fate as it drew near.
She ran her fingertips for the last time over the splintery walls of their treehome. Perhaps someone would find rest and shelter here, as their grandmother had years ago.
Natalya forced herself to smile for Piper’s benefit. “Step one, Serrana.”
Piper squealed and sprang to her feet. She seized her satchel and wrapped the strap over her shoulder. “Serrana,” she echoed.
The girls stepped out into the deep shade of the Auvergne Forest and began their journey north, where the splendors of the city awaited them.