Kransen Crown - Lavender & Salt

 

I am excited to introduce to you my Romantasy novel Kransen Crown – Lavender and Salt. At 75K this is a fast-paced YA novel. Kransen Crown is a story of love, vengeance, acceptance, and fate told in dual perspectives. It has a fierce shield maiden and power-hungry kings/jarls like those in A Fate Inked in Blood, with nonstop action like that in the Lightlark series.

 Freydis is a fierce shield maiden, trained from the time she was six to be a warrior. Her first mission is to seek vengeance on the clan responsible for the massacre of her people, her second is to gain the crown of the usurper’s daughter as her prize, but when she comes up against the blade of the prince of the warring clan, she finds something far more treacherous.

With his sister’s life hanging on by a thread Herlu travels to Torhilda to find the witch who can heal her. What he doesn’t expect to find is the shield maiden that hurt her. Herlu may not only find a way to save his sister, but also discover more about those who attacked, infiltrate their village, and then bring his army to serve vengeance; that is if he can trick the shield maiden into trusting him.

This story has enemies to lovers, witches, and magic. It is sure to be enjoyed by romantasy novel fans everywhere as well as fans of One Dark Window. This is a stand-alone novel that has series potential.

The first 3 pages are copied below.

 

All works on this page belong to ©Carmen DaVinleam

 

Kransen Crown

Chapter 1

Freydis

 

We run through the forest; the full moon is the only light we need. We know where we are going. A small group of warriors ready to take down the would-be usurper and all who protect him. I am far ahead of the three others. I am the smallest, the fastest, but that doesn’t mean I am any less of a warrior.

My father, Torstein the Viking King, made sure that his oldest daughter was fierce. He put a sword in my hand as soon as I could walk. I was fighting by the time I was six. Now as I run through the trees toward my first excursion, twelve more years have passed, and my strength has surpassed anything my father ever expected.

I slow as I approach the artificial king’s village. Silent as I climb into a tree to survey our way to the town’s center. My sword is tight against my back as I ascend. Father hates that I carry it this way. He wants me to carry it on my hip like the others. But I’ve made a special sheath for my weapon. I can draw from over my shoulder with ease, and not worry that my arms aren’t long enough for the weapon to clear its case. The one I crafted snaps open with a bit of force and frees my sword all on its own.

My father and his two housecarls, Ulrik and Skoll, are hiding our boat, but they’ll be along in moments to serve justice to the village responsible for the attack on our clan last summer. So many, young and old were killed in the attack on our home island of Torhilda. Including my baby brother. My father and I weren’t there to protect them, but we’ll get vengeance for them now.

The usurper Rykder’s village holds twelve houses if the smoke coming from the chimneys is any indication of life. How can someone claim to be king of such a small place? The town’s warning bell sits at the south end, the place that is farthest from our approach. I’ll have to plot my course directly toward it if we’re to come and go with no alerts sounding. A tree must’ve come down in the recent summer storms. One area of their outer wall is broken. Two guards protect it. Though they aren’t at the ready. One is sitting, the other leaning against the wall, head nodding.

Easy pickings.

I’m happy for it. My father allowed me to plot this mission, and everything is going according to plan. My father, Ulrik, and Skoll are the toughest of our people’s warriors. This clan will pay for the lives they’ve taken. They’ll pay with their own blood.

Faint footsteps through the few fallen leaves sound from below me as the rest of my group arrives. Ulrik holds his spear tightly as he and Skoll exchange a glance. No doubt deciding who will back my father, and who will follow me. My father is under me, one hand on the trunk of the tree, his head on a swivel, checking the area. His eyes catch mine, he mouths, ‘Freydis, the count.’ I nod and hold up one finger, then two, followed by two a second time. Now he knows how many homes and guards, though I haven’t spoken a word. Words carry through night air like clouds carry with wind.

And we must be silent. My plans hinge on our deftness.

I scan the town, marking my path to the bell. Through the wall, straight past two buildings, right past three, then left and it will take me directly where I need to be. I will protect the warning from going off while the others quietly dispatch of the guards at the other gates, and then everyone inside the walls. I push off the tree and land silently next to my father.

It pays to be the slightest among the warriors, I barely make a sound in anything I do.

I direct them toward our entry point, then toward the other guards. They wait five breaths before they follow me. I pull my seax dagger from my waistband and hold it tight in my hand as I approach. The guard leaning against the wall has fallen asleep, the other is tracing lines in the dirt with the tip of his sword.

Neither hears me coming.

My blade sinks into the leaning man’s neck, and is back in my hand, tinged red, before the other can stand. The dagger quickly ends his life, too. I wipe the blade on his collar and run along my charted course as the others file in behind me. My father’s blade double checking one is dead for good measure, Skoll taking care of the other. Ulrik is headed toward the east gate. Footsteps beat against dry dirt, no doubt muted through the walls of timber. Our entry has been successful and already this clan is dying.

I pass through the town’s center, it’s hard not to stop at the false king’s dwelling and dispatch of everyone there, but that should be held for my father’s blade. The true king. My father has ruled over these lands for fifty years. His father ruled before then. These people only arrived a few years back. Our spies said they posed no threat, but now they have a king moving in, taking what is ours, and killing our people in the process.

We cannot let this stand. We’ve already lost too much.

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