Captive and Crowned: The Torvan Trilogy Book I (Sample Chapters)

Chapter 1: Home

It was crazy, the kinds of things people would do for love.

Westley rescuing Princess Buttercup. Hades kidnapping Persephone. Romeo and Juliet committing suicide.

Evelyn blinked in the overhead mirror of her sister's car, checking her colored contacts. After this evening, she could add herself to that list of fabled love stories. She drew the eyeliner across her lid, careful to wing it like Kimberly, her half-sister, would. Kimberly's Mustang vibrated with the pop music booming from the radio. Over the dashboard, she had a perfect view of Janessa's mansion and its manicured lawn.

Kimberly was so going to kill her. Stealing an invitation to a graduation party Kimberly wouldn't attend was one thing. Stealing her car was another.

But it would be worth it. She had to see her boyfriend again and find out what was wrong. Ever since school had been out and they'd graduated, it seemed she and Mason had spent less and less time together. He hadn't answered his phone for two weeks. Evelyn had dropped by his place once—or twice—but he hadn't been home. Some semi-reliable snippets of gossip had revealed he'd be here tonight.

She fisted her hand around the empty heart-shaped locket dangling from her necklace. It was a locket she'd discovered years ago, given to her by her mother—and she was the reason Evelyn needed Mason. Evelyn smoothed her thumb against the imprint of the seven cursive words—words she'd long since memorized.

Dearest Evelyn, I'm sorry.

-Your Mother, Veralyn

She had to find her mother, and for that, she needed Mason. Once she found out why Mason was avoiding her, together they'd venture to Colorado to find her mother—and Evelyn would finally have a picture to fill her empty locket. Without Mason's tech skills and his car, she'd be spending a decade combing through Colorado's streets.

A familiar beat pumped through the stereo. She tapped her foot in time to the rhythm, letting the movement calm her. For years, she'd dreamed of being reunited with her mother, and Mason had promised her they'd go together to see her after graduation. After dating for all of high school, why would he ditch her now?

Maybe Mason didn't love her anymore. And if Mason had dumped her, would her mother be tempted to do the same?

A whisper slithered through her mind, and a familiar chill crackled over her bones. Why would she want you? Why would anyone want you?

The words took her back to the day she'd discovered the locket.

It was the one time she'd dared to enter her father's room. She'd found the heart necklace tucked into her father's drawer. He'd burst in moments later, furious to find her rifling through his room. When he'd told her he'd regretted keeping her, she'd told him she didn't care; she was going to run away to find her mother. And then he'd laughed, the dark sound rumbling in his chest like the nightmarish growl of a monster.

She sucked in a sharp breath of the humid Texas air, and her bones began to thaw. Her father—or Kimberly's father, as he liked to be known—was wrong. Her mother wanted her. Evelyn felt it every time she pressed the golden heart between her thumb and forefinger, memorizing the seven words of the message over and over.

Evelyn's gaze drifted to the mansion's double doors, swung wide open to admit party-goers.

This was the moment when she'd sort things out with Mason, so they could find her mother. Evelyn examined her work in the tiny overhead mirror.

She smoothed back a frizzy lock of wine-red hair. According to the instructions on the box, the semi-permanent dye would disappear after twenty washes. She hoped so; she already missed her dirty blond hair. She'd lightened her skin from her usual tan to Kimberly's snow-white hue with the assistance of foundation. The teal-colored contacts appeared a little unnatural, but they were closer to Kimberly's eye color than Evelyn's own golden eyes.