Chapter 1

T he sun was unbearable today. It made me wonder if it was against us. I turned to my right, and Delphine Pourciau’s freckled pale skin was already sunburnt from the treacherous sun. But she didn’t have a care in the world as she twirled around in the sunrays, giggling. Her smile stretched so wide across her face that I thought she might be delirious. I shook my head while she sang, “I’m free” over the soft noise of the flowing water. I looked at her long pale blonde hair that was in a French braid today and smiled. It’s not every day that we get to run away from our hectic lives, my princess duties, and her farming duties.

I hummed the song embedded into my mind as I returned my attention to my drawing. Using my granite stick to trace the slight curves of Delphine’s slender body against the Upper San Jacinto River, I blended the gray lines until they darkened. Older Drake Elms trees that shielded us away from the craziness were turning to a shade of persimmons as I ran my hand over a lush dark green carpet of medium blades of grass. The noisy whistling ducks provided us with enough sound as they roughhoused with the blue herons that flocked to the water area. I glanced at the little brown ducks and smiled. Nature is very territorial. It reminded me of humans, full of bark but no real bite.

The wood of the tree I leaned on dug into my back, which I knew would leave red marks on my soft, golden-brown skin. I needed to focus on the drawing now. But my mind kept straying. My eyes rolled on their own accord because I knew if I didn’t finish this drawing now, I probably wouldn’t complete it until next year. I will have to hide my illustration from my mother because she would complain about me being a contumacious child. My father would shake his head and call me stubborn even though I was twenty-five years old. Rolling my shoulders, I hear my mother’s imposing voice say, “Am I raising a queen or a petulant human?”

I love my mother and our family’s history, but sometimes I wish I wasn’t bound and tied to the throne. The pressure sometimes felt like a metal anvil dropped on my chest. Blowing out a breath into the balmy Houston air, I looked at my drawing. Everything was perfect to my liking except for the main piece, Delphine.

I looked up to capture my lanky, breathtaking friend.

Immediately, I should have known Del was up to no good because her high-pitched squeals went silent. There, my friend stood by the edge of the river. Del had everything on full display. If anyone walked by, we would definitely be brought to the castle for punishment.

But I still looked on, paralyzed with slight jealousy, as I watched her small, perky breasts bouncing as she ran towards me. Carefree as the day she was born. My back went rigid as I prepared for Del to pester me about getting into the water with her. Even though I mentioned to her before we got here that I wouldn’t participate in any shenanigans today. But no, my little, bustling friend never listens to me.

“Kaydian!” she shouted. Her hand wrapped around my arm with the pencil. “Come in the water with me. It’s not too hot for once.”

I tried to break her hold on me, but one thing about Delphine is that she is determined to have her way. And she has a grip that will make you do whatever she says.

“Del, I can’t. What if someone spots us and reports us back to my parents? They would punish us.” I chastised. “Put on your clothes, Del.”

I nervously glanced around. My heart pounded in my chest as if I thought someone would pop out of the wooded area.

“KD! Come on.” Her delicate hand dug into my wrist as she called me by the nickname she picked out for me when we first met. I was about to cast magic out to see if anyone was nearby. But Delphine tsked and said, “No magic, KD. Now come on, we will be fine. You know your mother will probably find us here if she even sees a hint of green in the air, and that will be the end of our day.”

She narrowed her robin egg-colored eyes to my emerald-colored ones. I opened my mouth to protest, but came up short. Del decided she had had enough of my worrying for the day. She turned and pulled me along to where she’d unclothed. With a sigh, I mimicked her, and soon, I was naked as the Houston sun warmed my skin.

Sometimes it was better to give in to Delphine.

My arm snaked out to cover my full, perky breasts, and my hand covered my mound. Crossing my thighs together, covering what my small hands couldn’t. I prayed to the goddesses that no one would catch me naked. The coven would have a field day if word was caught.

I watched Del’s smile return to her face, and it was almost like those colds that humans get from being near each other, contagious.

Del took off running at top speed into the blue river, and I followed suit. Del was right. The water was lukewarm and inviting as I swam to the deep part. Dunking my head under the water, I forgot about the magic spell I cast this morning that got my long, coily, curly black hair straight. Although I was a descendant of one of the first witches, my hair was still wild and uncontrollable. Ms. Kincaid would always mutter, “That child needs a good whoopin’,” in her thick Texan accent after she witnessed the aftermath of me wetting or sweating out my hair. When I came up for air, I watched Del spin in the water.

I shouldn’t be surprised Del was itching to get out of her farm clothing, which was a far cry from the colorful array of outfits she normally adorns. It was hard to imagine how her parents got her to do any work on their pig farm. But somehow, they did.

Swimming closer to the small island that divided the river into two parts, I turned back just before the riverbed threatened to skin my knee. I dunked myself under the water, keeping a lookout for Del’s legs as my marker for where I should return. I swiveled my head from left to right, but I didn’t see a skinny pair of legs. All I could see were the river fish and rocks that lined the riverbed. My lungs burned as I retreated to the surface, breaking the clear water as I came up for air. Wiping my face clean of salt water, some still managed to get into my mouth. I cringed and spat out what remained of the salt water.

“Del!” I yelled as my eyes readjusted to the world again.

“Kaydian Thibodeaux! You better get your narrow tail out of that water at once.”

The water rippled around my trembling body when I heard my mother’s commanding voice. And I almost contemplated submerging my head back under the water.

Queen Celestine Thibodeaux stood by the grass edge of the water in all of her glory. She is stunning, to say the least. Her perfectly coiffed black curly hair was in a high bun today. Her blue tweed A-line dress matched her pumps and her white handkerchief in her hand as she clutched the cloth for dear life. Emerald eyes, like mine, narrowed in on me. I could have seen her scowl from Florida and could tell I was in for it.

I knew father wasn’t home yet from the way she dressed. If he found her, or any of the coven, dressed as humans, he would have been beyond annoyed. So, I guessed it wouldn’t have been that bad until I looked next to her and saw Sir Michael Reid, the right-hand man for our family. His cold, obsidian eyes gave me the death stare as he turned to face the tree I had occupied. I looked over to see a scarlet Delphine as she tugged on her oversized dirt-ridden work pants, shirt, and farming leather boots.

All I could do was muster an apologetic look at Delphine, but she held her head to the ground. My mother blatantly ignored her, as she has done on multiple occasions. Her hawk-like eyes were trained on me, heating my face in shame. Hurriedly, I got dressed as Sir Reid walked back to my mother and handed her my canvas.

Shit.

“I-I can explain—” I stammered, but she silenced me before I could finish.

“I have repeatedly told you to quit spending time with this silly hobby of yours,” she said as I cast my eyes on her narrowed eyes. “You’re dismissed,” she said to Delphine.

I shot her another pitiful look, but she still had her head tucked into her chest as she turned and shuffled away. A part of me wanted to run after her and hug her for my mother’s cruelty, but I knew better. That would earn me extra training time with Sir Reid and a lashing. With my head held down, I put on my clothing.

This was my fault. I knew it was too good to be true. When I snuck out today, I was extra careful because the lack of sound in the castle made me uncomfortable. Or so I thought. I didn’t hear the bellows of Ms. Kincaid’s stern voice, which had ricocheted off the columns when she spoke. Nor did I hear my mother fussing with Ms. Kincaid, our family’s steward.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

It was a pitiful apology, but I wanted to be on her good side since she was a bit high-strung from being separated from my father. She, and every royal, suffered from the madness that occurs when we are separated from our fated mates for too long. My mother needed some Cliff Fieldcress tea. The little red bitter plant that my father found saved us more times than we can count. Mated royal witches used Cliff Fieldcress tea to keep the severance frenzy away while their mates were away for days on end. In some cases, it helped withglut. As if our lives weren’t hard enough, we have to add separation madness to the list. This affects the female witches more severely than the male.

My mouth formed a word to curse Youna, my goddess, the progenitor of the Thibodeaux family. For once, I wanted to be free from the confinement of being a princess.

When I looked up, I saw her glare at me, and before I knew it, my hand found its way to my hot cheek as she returned her arm to her jutted hip. The slap stung my soul, but the pain vanished like a whisper with the power of my magic. My throat ached with the sob I refused to let out. No good would come of it. I wouldn’t get any sympathy from my mother now.

“Drawing is for humans. Would you like to go live with them since you’re so similar?” she stated in our royal language that the covens have long since forgotten.

A little voice inside of me screamed, “Yes!” but common logic told me to humble myself and act like I have sense. In our world, if you didn’t possess magic, then you were not worth our time. Hence why witches and other supernatural’s chose to live their lives away from them.

“I apologize,” I said, my voice soft and meek. Whenever I took out my drawing supplies, my mother’s voice would become cold, and her expression hard, her disgust for my hobby unmistakably clear.

She wouldn’t understand painting and reading, which took me out of my bleak reality. It was the only thing that was keeping me from…

“You spent almost all day out here when you could have been training with Sir Reid.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said hurriedly again, waking from my thoughts.

She gave me one last hard look and hugged me. Suddenly, I was surrounded by the heady, floral scent of her Chanel number twenty-two perfume, her latest obsession. I bite back a smile. She despised humans, likening them to be just as useless as a door with no handle, but she loved to dress and shop in their stores. As she pulled away and kissed my forehead, she gave me her famous childhood southern motto, “You know that hurt me more than it hurt you.”

I huffed and shook my head in disbelief.

Sir Reid simply let out a curt grunt.

My mother and I walked back to the castle on the makeshift path Delphine and I had made. She cursed softly, muttering that the pebbles and dirt would have to be cleaned from her shoes and clothing when we returned. Sir Reid, the stoic warrior, just muttered that he wished we would find a better hobby. So that when he had to hunt us down again, it wouldn’t have to be down a dirt road. I almost mentioned that it’s 1923, and we’re in Houston, not New York City. Also, if my father wasn’t such an old-fashion witch, we could have cars and paved roads like the humans, but that would have most definitely gotten me thrown into the dungeon.

As we walked along my dusty path, my mother noted the thicket of the forest on both sides of the path.

“These bushes will be the death of me!” She exclaimed.

My mother rambled on about the woods and how my father needed to allow the gardeners to cut it down. Sir Reid was in front of us, swinging his sword, cutting the stubborn branches that would stab us if we walked near them. My father loved the older trees. While my mother always pleaded for him to get rid of the overgrown bushes, my father would say, “ Not everything old needs to be removed, Cele. Plus, they’re the best secret keepers because they can’t talk…well, to us, that is. ” That would earn him an eye roll from both my mother and me. He always had a saying for everything, especially about secrets. My mother claimed to hate when my father brushed things off, but I always saw the sparkles in her emerald eyes. I hated the idea of it being there, but was grateful for the coverage it had provided for Del and me for the past year. It was the best hiding spot until I ruined it because I hadn’t searched the area. If I had, then I would have felt my mother’s pulsating magic and Sir Reid’s stifling magic before I allowed Delphine’s overzealous nature to persuade me.

After a ten-minute trek on the dusty path, we reached the lush grassy area with the Thibodeaux castle right in the center of the secluded countryside of east Houston. It was unbeknownst to humans, which wasn’t hard to imagine since they didn't have any magic to survive, making it through the woods that encircled the coven. Iris, begonias, and buttercup flowers clashed against the Blackstone castle. The black roof made it ominous, according to some of the coven members, and I had to agree with them for once. Dark-trimmed windows decorated the walls of the castle. No matter how much I begged my father to update the castle to something more modern so we could appear more approachable, he would just laugh and say, “ You, young witches. When will you learn that the old way is the better way! ”

It was exhausting trying to reason with him.

My eyes roamed around the front of the castle to see if my father was back from his visit to the South American coven of the cast out witches. Usually, when he was outside, the gardeners would bury themselves in the shed until my father disappeared. Breathing a sigh of relief when I saw no signs of him, I escaped my father’s wrath again. A smile appeared on my face before I could stop myself. When Sir Reid turned his vast frame around, his black eyes found mine. He raised his eyebrow as if he could hear my thoughts.

He probably could, the tortuous bastard.

“How annoying. I ruined my new dress!” My mother jabbered—she had slowed down to dust herself off.

“I can run into town to buy you a new one, Mother.”

She leveled me with a dark stare when I turned to her. Smiling sheepishly, I turned back around to walk behind Sir Reid.

As we shuffled to the castle, Sir Reid stopped to speak with one of the garden’s attendants, Mr. Sawder. I waved to him, and he returned it, his glove covered in grass stains that matched the ones on his clothing. I wasn’t in the mood to carry on with our typical conversation, so I reminded him to take breaks and not overwork himself. That earned me a bright smile from the garden attendant and a smirk from my mother.

Walking the rest of the way to the colossal-sized black metal door. The guards opened the heavy door with a grunt, and I rushed in before my mother could catch up to me.

“Kaydian!” my mother called from just beyond the door. “Quit all of that running. It’s unladylike!”

“Give me a break,” I muttered. I’d rolled my eyes one too many times at her repetitive declaration.

Upon entering the foyer, my feet couldn’t take me fast enough through the gray tile floors and white walls that told our family’s arrival in North America thousands of years ago. In my mother’s words, “ We were here before the Humans knew how low on the totem pole they were. ” I shook my head as I rushed past the dining hall, where we used to host the Royal’s gatherings. To the right, behind the white brick wall, were stairs that would take me to my haven, my wing of the castle. I rounded the wall and avoided the black-painted wooden staircase banister. The last time I held onto it, I ended up with splinters in my palm, which was fun as I reopened the wounds to get the tiny pieces of black wood out.

Secretly, I dreamed of the day we could renovate this place to resemble the human homes in Houston. But I would never say those words out loud. My mother had long since banned the coven from interacting with humans, calling them nothing more than useless food for the vampires. I would hate to be the witch that got caught. They would be cast out without their magic. And not even I was exempt from those rules. But Del and I found ways to escape without being caught.

For now!

I was halfway up the cold, gray stone stairs to my haven, where I could escape my mother and Sir Reid. As my foot touched the last step, I heard the one voice I had hoped to evade. Cursing, I mentally banged it against the white brick wall. In my mind, I knew it was too good to be true.

How lucky would I be if my ancestors would throw some help in my way?

“Kaydian Thibodeaux, where have you been?” My father called out.