Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Kierse McKenna just shattered the Monster Treaty. Again.
It wasn’t entirely her fault. The job was supposed to be simple: steal a goblin-made bracelet off of the Queen of the Nymphs in her own palace. Trade the bracelet for a way to uncover the truth about her past. Except everything goes sideways.
And then he shows up to save her.
Graves—the warlock who ensnared her, betrayed her, and left her to fend for herself. He’s a villain. A monster draped in charm and shadows. And gods help her, he always knows exactly what she wants.
But Graves never does anything for free. He has a job for his favorite little thief. One that will pit her against the most powerful monsters in existence, including his mortal enemy, the Oak King.
An ancient artifact has been located, and only together can they hope to steal it. She just has to let him in.
But once she lets a monster in, he’s impossible to forget… and even harder to resist
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
The Robin on the Oak Throne is a tale of monsters, mystery, and romance. However, the story includes elements that may not be suitable for all readers. Combat, violence, sex, drug and alcohol use, sex work, and gang violence are depicted. Abuse, genocide, colonization, infertility, and assault that is physical and sexual in nature are discussed. Readers who may be sensitive to these elements, please take note, practice your magic, and prepare to take the Oak Throne…
Part I
BELTANE
Chapter One
Tromping through wet pastureland in high heels was a crime against humanity—unlike the crime Kierse was about to commit. She stepped out of the squelchy green grass and onto the ancient, graveled walkway with a sigh of relief. New York City hadn’t prepared her for acres of empty farmland on the outskirts of Paris or otherwise.
She lifted her dark eyes to what lay at the end of her trek: the magnificent Versailles gardens. The greenery was bracketed by twin towering fountains boasting statues of the gods mounted on gilded horses. A long grass promenade cut between the fountains with bonfires igniting the night and revealing the entrances that led deeper into the wooded grounds. On the top of the hill, in all its splendor, was the Palace of Versailles.
Kierse could only imagine what it looked like at the height of King Louis XIV’s reign. Tonight, it was teeming with both humans and monsters for the annual Beltane festival. A party to which Kierse hadn’t exactly been invited.
Not that that had ever stopped her. There were always entrances and exits for a clever little thief. And having multiple exits was thieving rule number one.
But for now, she was just a girl blending in with the crowd in a pink satin slip dress with a thigh-high slit, her dark hair piled on the top of her head and her makeup light like spring. No one paid her any mind as she snagged a glass of champagne off of a human waiter’s tray and navigated the grounds.
Kierse had one mission today—steal a bracelet from the Queen of the Nymphs.
Step one: get an invitation into the palace.
Well, that was the easy part.
She’d already picked her mark as she ascended the stairs to the promenade. A group of female nymphs traipsed around a bonfire in nothing but tiny scraps of dresses, little purses at their hips, and flower crowns. They were almost all shorter than Kierse with a kaleidoscope of hair color and wide, slightly unnatural eyes. The few horned male nymphs lounged on the other side of the fire, shirtless in white linen trousers.
Kierse bumped into a nymph with vibrant magenta hair as she passed, sloshing champagne everywhere.
“Oh! Pardon,” Kierse said by way of apology.
The nymph spit rapid French in Kierse’s direction, and while the girl was distracted, Kierse slipped the crisp card out of her bag. She discreetly moved the invite to her purse, waving her other hand to indicate she didn’t understand.
The nymph laughed at her lack of comprehension and returned to the festivities. A similar interaction back home could have ended in disaster. But the rest of the world hadn’t suffered the way that New York had during the Monster War. Back home they were four years past the war and just coming to the other side of things. Here, when the monsters had stepped into the light, the humans had made deals with them before it devolved so drastically.
Tonight, phoenixes controlled the flames of the bonfires that nymphs deftly jumped over, performing their fertility rites. Mer lounged in fountains, and shifters jumped in and out of their animal forms at will over the hedges and into the tree line. Humans drank champagne and mingled with vampires and werewolves and an incubus/succubus pair.
Laughter rang out.
Lips locked.
Revelry ensued.
All excellent cover for Kierse’s plan. She ditched her champagne flute on a table, thankful it had helped her with thieving rules three and four: distraction and sleight of hand.
She palmed the heavy cardstock invitation gilded with the sun king’s symbol, granting access into the palace proper. Step one complete.
Step two: get inside the palace.
Kierse filed into the line behind a shuffling goblin. He passed off his invitation. The troll bouncer scanned it and then nodded, allowing him access. He repeated the process with Kierse’s stolen invite. Then she was breezing through the doors and inside.
Her breath caught at the sheer magnitude of the place. It didn’t matter how much time she’d spent memorizing the original blueprints or the hours engaged on a tour earlier in the week. She would never get used to the display of wealth. There was money, and then there was the magnitude of this place in all its extravagance.
Kierse turned off the part of her brain that calculated the cost of everything. The answer was unfathomable. She wasn’t here to steal just anything. From here, she needed to get into the queen’s chambers. Despite modern adjustments to the over seven-hundred-thousand-square-foot palace, the rooms that the current queen resided in had been the same for hundreds of years.