The Enthroned Preview

Chapter 1

Gavril collapses.

He clasps my wrist and yanks me down beside him.

“Never, ever again,” he groans.

“Just in another year,” I reply dryly, settling into our bed aboard the royal train.

He groans and runs a hand down his face. “When do we get to send the kids instead?”

“Well, we have to have them first. And train them on how to handle it on their own,” I point out.

Another deep groan escapes Gavril’s chest. “Not even in power yet, and it’s this bad.”

“You make it sound like they beat you up. You feel fine to me.” I smirk, sliding my hand across his chest to the other side of him. Putting my weight on it, I stoop to meet his lips with mine.

“Then that’s what matters.” He grins, kissing me back. The train jerks and slowly starts to leave the station.

“Good enough to do it without the aid of those puffed-up fools,” I purr, keeping up our soft exchange of kisses. “Eliminate the dragon without Purysia’s consent.” I hold the next kiss a second longer. “Settle our civil war.” I give him a more open-mouthed kiss this time. “Restore a plummeting economy.” I hold this last kiss the longest yet.

“And provide plenty of heirs to ensure it doesn’t fall apart fighting over who gets it next.”  Another deep groan escapes him, but this one is quiet different.

I let out a little squeal as he grabs me, flips me onto my back, then bends over me to kiss me as I had been him.

“Prove to those airheads you are the truest of princesses.” He kisses me hard. “My goddess of the night.”

I purr at how he kisses me, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“The truest of queens ever to rule.” He kisses my throat.

The little gasp that escapes me makes me giggle.

“It’s still early in the day, my prince,” I remind him. “And we’re far from alone.”

“We can lock the door.” He kisses me again.

“You’re avoiding thinking about how in all creation we’re going to defeat a dragon that entire armies and sixteen Custods couldn’t defeat.” I point out, but don’t break our pattern of teasing kisses.

“Not avoiding. I’m charging,” he says, kissing below my ear and wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Charging?”

“Making sure I have the energy to tackle it.” He defends himself but his voice fades, waving as he loses track of all logical thought.

I certainly want him to have that vitality, but my mind wanders too, but not where his does.

When he declared we would defeat the dragon ourselves, I was filled with determined energy, ready to prove to those that degraded us that we were better than they gave us credit for. Then that horrible thought from the ship returns.

What if to win I had to sacrifice my very soul? What if I had to give him up again? Could I do it? Could I survive it?

Gavril pulls back, startling me from my fears, stroking my cheek before cupping it tenderly. His magical amber eyes meeting my own blue ones.

“Kascia, what’s wrong?”

“Not wrong,” I say instantly. “Just… thinking about what’s ahead.”

Gavril’s eyes drop, swallowing hard. My eyes follow his Adam’s apple bob in his nervous gulp.

“I know. I felt right about making that plan. Just as I felt sure it was you that I should choose. But… I’ll confess I’m no closer to knowing how than my ancestors were when they paid him to make the blood oath.”

“Five hundred years of civil war is hard to break,” I agree. “Defeating the dragon seems like the biggest hurdle, but how does that save our people?” My hands run down his chest and his coarse shirt: a mark of poverty.

“It at least gets Japcharia back to themselves to let us focus on our struggles,” Gavril says, pulling back to lie on his side beside me.

I follow the familiar cue without conscious thought, snuggling next to him and curling into his form. I listen to his heartbeat for a moment. How could I survive it stopping?

“With their ruling, we’d get total legal right to his entire hoard, whatever our family gave him on top of whatever he took from Japcharia. Which could help us make tremendous progress towards getting our country back on its feet.”

“By giving it back?” I ask. That is what my father, the lead Custod rebel, always said would fix it.

Gavril shakes his head a little.

“Not just handing it out, no. One, how would you ever calculate what’s fair? And it’s not like we stole anything. Even if some feel we did. I want them to have their fair share and more. But just handing it out may cause worse problems. I’d like to provide work to earn it back. Overpay them… something.”

“You did have a lot of ideas growing up,” I remind him.

“No, I had a deep understanding of the problems. At least on paper.” His face falls a little. “Until you… I never really knew what it was like. Even now, I’m pretty sure I don’t.”

“The fact you admit that speaks volumes to the kind of man you are,” I comfort him, massaging his chest gently. “It’s why I have faith you can fulfill the prophecy.”

“Are you sure you’re not still wondering how a guy this sweet could work for the twisted royals?”

I laugh and hug him tightly. A huge smile spreads across my face.

“I’m wondering how that stubborn rebel was so blind to the truth.”

“Your father is a pompous airhead who made sure you never had all the facts and twisted the ones he gave you to suit his purposes,” Gavril replies as if I’d asked how passing laws worked.

I giggle, burying my nose in his shirt. “I just mean it was clear it should be you a long time ago.”

“If you say so, my darling.”

“I do say so.” I push myself up enough to kiss his lips. “There is no one else I’d rather have.”

“To end this war or as your bedfellow?”

“Both.” I giggle and kiss him again before a disappointed sigh releases from my chest. “But we’re far from alone.”

“It’s a long train ride. We’ll have plenty of time in our suite.”

“We also have to answer to the court and your parents about what happened at the summit.”

“It’s not like we left early. Besides, Mother owes us from that blasted quote she gave about the grand duke.”

I’ll admit that one still stings, but that is the lesser of the problems.

“We left the moment the obligations were done.”

“We were pretty standoffish at the ball.”

I laugh. “And Forsythia’s face when the court lashes out at her and the grand duke.”

“Serves them right for following us to the summit and pretending we authorized it.” Gavril huffs.

"And they're still there. Someone will ask them to explain why we left without a formal goodbye." I smirk.

“That is the one thing I wish I could watch.” Gavril grins puckishly. “What a pleasure that would be.”

“Do you think they can charm the high king into at least debating giving them the throne?”

“I don’t know. I doubt he has the courage to attempt it when it's unprecedented, but he may also have the support of the rest of the high court for the idea.”

“And our people?”

“I don’t know how they’ll feel. I could see it going many different ways.” Gavril’s eyes fade into thought. “On the one hand, I can’t see that little snake ever being more popular than you. But if Bella’s fears about her stirring up rebels are true… it could turn enough minds to cause a problem.”

“And that would push the high king into giving them power if enough of our people demand it?” I ask.

“He’ll likely consider what kind of people they are. Technically, the rebels have been demanding new royals for five hundred years but had no candidate.”

“But they have one now.”

“If every rebel of every faction unites, maybe. But as no one will admit their loyalties, it’s hard to know how much of the population that is,” Gavril replies. “And the high king won’t want to start a whole new court. He’ll begin with the courtiers.”

“The royal court alone or the region and city courts as well?” I ask.

“That is a good question. He may start with the royal and take in the others if it’s still too mixed.”

“So as long as the court mostly sides with us, we’re safe.”

“Frankly, I’d rather ensure the high king stays out of it all together. He has so far.”

“So far, your parents have done whatever they needed to keep in his good books,” I remind my husband.

Gavril nods. “True, if we can get the grand duke to stop messing around.”

“Or if we could get the high king to replace him. That was our second request. Your personal request when we arrived. You said he wasn’t opposed to the idea?”

Gavril chuckles. I adore how it feels against my cheek as it rests on his chest.

“Well, that was before it all went to ash. But his main objection was I had no one else I’d like to replace him with.” He pauses. “And… I think if you’d tell him how the grand duke treated you as a Chosen, it would go a long way.”

I swallow hard. I never spoke of that. Gavril knew only because the whole thing was a setup to get try to him to eliminate me from the Enthronement. I knew the queen would trust whatever story the grand duke fed her. Even if she didn’t think I was lying or meant to get the grand duke to do it, she’d think the grand duke’s intentions were pure though they are as muddied as sewer water.

“I know that would be hard for you,” Gavril goes on.

"If necessary, I would try." I curl tighter into Gavril. “It would help if I didn’t feel like no one in the palace would believe me.”

“I believe you.”

“You don’t count.” I give him a look.

“Because I saw it?”

“Because you are my husband and would believe anything I said,” I tease.

“Fair enough.” Gavril shrugs, making me giggle. “But with that, I think we can get him to take the grand duke out of power. If… if we found someone else.”

“If we could.” I sigh.

Damian had mentioned the grand duke had a nephew, but would he be any better? He likely didn’t want his uncle out of power or to take his uncle’s power. Unless he’s just as greedy as his uncle, then we wouldn’t even want him.

Bella? Isla? If they were married, perhaps.

We need solid options. We need a plan.