Crown of Crowns
Clara Loveman
Praise for Crown of Crowns
“Crown of Crowns is a sweeping, epic, futuristic YA novel that is so engrossing. The plot is well-paced and so well written, and the characters feel so real. A great read.”
Kelly McFarland, TBHonest
“The mix of YA, sci-fi, fantasy and romance is a breath of fresh air, and when you add the unpredicted twists and turns in the mix, it’s a combination resulting in a really good read.”
NetGalley Reviewer
“Phenomenal … Clara Loveman is a creative genius.”
CovetedBooks, Book Reviewer & Blogger
“The author succeeds in telling a story of a young woman’s path to free her people from their shackles.”
The US Review of Books
First published in 2020
Copyright © 2020 Clara Loveman
The right of Clara Loveman to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the Author, nor otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ASIN: B08BJGNHT7
First Edition: August 2020
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or actual people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ClaraLoveman.com
For the wild, the unsung and the nameless
Chapter 1
Will they punish me for being here?
I was far from where I was supposed to be, far from NordHaven, my home. I must have looked strange to the commoners. They were casual in lightweight clothing, while I walked among them wrapped head to toe in heavy blue garb. Gaard’s brutal sun had me stopping to wipe sweat from my brow, the sound of my heartbeat thrashing in my ears.
“No time to stop,” Roki said, looking back at me. “I have so much to show you.”
I smiled at his eagerness. “I’m coming.”
Of course, I would have followed Roki anywhere. I had already followed him from the safety of my home and into the rabble of the city. I would have followed Roki to the Surrvul Desert and beyond. This boy was something new, something exciting that I’d never expected to find.
“Just up ahead,” he called back. “We’re almost in the square.”
I paused another second to adjust my headscarf. I had it wrapped around my neck but also covering my nose and mouth. I looked like one of the Ava-Surrvul, the desert people who lived in sand huts. As I adjusted the scarf, someone bumped into me, and my sunglasses slipped off. “Oof,” I said. I looked back and saw my four Protectors appear out of nowhere and surge into action like rabid machines out for blood.
Their mechanical hulls were shaped like human chests. Their legs were clunky metal limbs, and their arms were fully plated in bulletproof steel. They strode forward as a group, intent on the poor man who had bumped into me. Exactly what did they plan on doing with him? I held my breath.
“I’m sorry,” the man said. He spoke with a commoner’s accent. He was disheveled, wearing loose rags and a pair of weathered sandals.
The mechanized Protectors were almost upon him. I wanted to scream, “Leave the man alone!” But I had frozen, rooted to the spot.
Thankfully, Roki whisked ahead of me and stuck out his hand. “No,” he said, and to my disbelief, the Protectors stopped, reversing back into the crowd and fixing their lifeless machine eyes on me.
“How did you do that?” I asked, gaping at Roki.
He shrugged. “Protectors may be controlling, the steel arm of justice and authority for all of Geniverd, but don’t forget, Kaelyn, they are still machines. They’re just robots. We made them, not the other way around. And because they are machines, they are programmable.”
I blinked up at him, letting my head fall back, and crossed my arms. I was in ever-increasing awe of the man who had swept me off my feet. Roki was witty, charismatic, mysterious. “You fascinate me,” I said.
He had a grin that conveyed secret knowledge. “You haven’t seen anything yet.” Roki took me by my hand. “Come, I want to show you more. More, Kaelyn. There’s so much more!”
I let him guide me through the throngs of commoners in the historic district of the city. It was all so foreign to me, even though these were my people, the Ava-Gaard. I was fifteen years old, and yet I had never been among them. Not like this. Never had I struggled through crowds while sweat burned my eyes and so many shouting voices threatened to deafen me. I could feel my heart thudding in my chest, could hear blood rushing through my ears. This was the thrill I had been waiting for my whole life. It felt like everything I’d ever known—my dull existence inside the halls of NordHaven, my family, my friends—was all a monotonous blur up until this moment.
Still, I was quivery, my mind racing. What would Mama and Papa do if they knew where I was?
He must have sensed my trepidation. “I know you’re nervous,” he said, still leading me by my hand. “You’ve never pushed through a swarm of Ava-Gaard while they breathe in your face and step on your nice leather boots. This is a change for you.”
I glanced awkwardly at my boots as if I’d just seen them for the first time. How much was there that I didn’t know? Roki had only agreed to take me here after I’d begged him for days and promised to wear a disguise. He’d said my parents would never allow any of this, but because I’d been stubborn about it, he let me join him for part of the morning. I was thrilled to pieces to be among the people I might be honored to serve one day. But now … even my disguise wasn’t right. I was the only person in the market with polished leather boots—with boots that weren’t scuffed or dirty or covered in muck.
Roki loved it here. He was like a kid let loose in one of Gaard’s annual carnivals, and I stumbled behind him, giggling. His energy was contagious. I was bubbling over with excitement as we navigated through narrow streets packed with people, their skin tanned by the sun, their black hair somewhat lightened from long hours outside. No one paid me any attention. No one knew who I was. Only Roki knew what was in my blood, and he didn’t care. I was sure he liked me for who I was.
“Here,” he said. “Isn’t it marvelous?”
We had stopped in a crowded square. Everywhere I looked, people were selling fruit and vegetables from makeshift stalls that had been erected in front of the regular businesses—chic cafés, modern restaurants, and stores that sold expensive clothing and futuristic home decor.
“What are they doing?” I asked Roki. “Why are they selling fruit? Look, there’s a wooden stall with a man selling fish. Are those live fish? What is this place?”
Roki laughed as if I had asked him the dumbest question in the world. “It’s a market,” he said. “You really don’t know what a market is?”
I shook my head, feeling stupid. “No,” I told him, pressing my lips together tightly. “It looks old fashioned.”
“It is!” said Roki, so unabashedly happy that he grabbed a peach from the nearest stall and tossed it to me. “Look.”
I caught it and gasped. “What is this?” The peach was cold and hard in my hands and had none of the fuzz the fruit is known for. “It’s fake,” I said, baffled. “Why are people buying fake fruit?”
Roki let out a deep, satisfying sigh, his countenance glowing. His chest was out, chin
high, and even though he was right next to me, he seemed to take up all the space, like he owned the ground we walked on. Something cocky about him. Was he trying to prove something to me? That was just another thing that drew me to him. Roki’s unpredictability and charm had kept me coming back to him for the past two weeks. I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t think I ever would.
“It’s Market Reenactment Day.” He spoke boisterously. “I can’t believe you’ve never heard of it. Your parents are the ones who permit—I might add, rarely permit—the common folk in Gaard to hold this event. It’s the same story everywhere in the world. You see, hundreds of years ago, people all across Geniverd set up markets to sell goods: fruit from the lush forests of Shondur, fish caught by the brave fishermen of Nurlie Island, herbal cactus extracts from the Surrvul Desert. They sold it all!”
I was surprised to hear of my parents’ role, as they’d never talked about market reenactment. Were they hiding something from me, or was I too protected?
I peered up at Roki, sucking in a quick breath. “But not anymore,” I stuttered, putting the fake peach back into its basket.
Roki hung his head. “No,” he said, “not anymore. Markets existed before the great plague that wiped out nearly half the population, before the rise of technology. It was a simpler time. A warring time, perhaps, but simpler. Now, monthly food rations are delivered by Protectors. The food is healthy, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that we’ve lost the way.”
I was stunned. How did I not know so much about my people, yet in a few years, I might be expected to govern them? Why was I being shielded from them?
Roki sighed and shook his head, looking nostalgic. “Life used to be hard,” he told me. “Hard but simple. Things used to matter. Now, instead of a hardworking population of farmers, businesspeople, bankers, construction workers, fruit sellers, all we have is robots. Human beings used to work for something, Kaelyn; we used to do something. Now big, clunky Protectors do all the hard work that we should be doing. The machines toil in the fields, deliver our meals, take care of our infrastructure, build our hospitals. They even work in our hospitals, doing medical jobs that humans used to do.”
I stared at Roki for a second. I had always thought him to be wise beyond his years, but now he was talking as if he had been around so many years ago to see these markets, as he called them. He spoke of the technological rise as though he had lived through it. There was such experience in his soft eyes, such knowledge. He was only sixteen years old!
“This market,” Roki continued, “is a picture of the old life. In truth, I think people love this day so much because it makes them feel like they have a purpose. I think that people want it to go back to the way it was, before they got lazy and complacent and jobless, shuffling through poverty while clans of rich people lord over the entire planet with inherited empires of—” Roki stopped and looked at me. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean …”
“I know.” I gave him a smile. “Don’t worry about it. I like it here. I like seeing all this old stuff. It gives me a sense of our heritage. Maybe you’re right, Roki. Maybe the world is too easy.”
I had to agree with Roki. What he was saying made sense. I knew more about wealth and boredom than I cared to admit, and now that Roki had brought me to the market, I saw the world opening before my eyes. Somewhere along the way, something had gone wrong, and this was the result. Less than one percent of the population had everything they could ever want and were still bored out of their minds, while the rest were just as bored, only they didn’t have the money or means to do anything about it.
“I’m glad you like it here,” he said. “I was skeptical about bringing you. I know it’s rare for you to leave your gilded cage, as I like to call it. I’m glad to share your first outside experience with you.”
I told him, “I wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else.”
We smiled at each other then, a hint of something dangerous in the air between us. I thought he wanted to reach out and touch my cheek, maybe kiss me. My body heated at the thought of it. Instead, Roki bit down on his lip.
“Come,” he said, quickly dismissing the sudden tension. He took me by my hand and led me deeper into the market. “We have to hurry. We only have a few minutes before the Protectors take you back. There’s one more thing I want to show you.”
It was a park, but inside the park were women with round bellies and small strollers, pushing the strollers with one hand while they held their tummies and laughed with their friends.
“What is this?” I asked Roki. I didn’t understand.
“They’re pretending to be pregnant,” he said. “It reminds people of how we used to only have natural births, back before the clan leaders imposed strict regulations on how women are allowed to bring life into the world. This display reminds us of a happier time, when people were free and the world was natural.”
I gave Roki a weird look. I wondered what more freedom would mean for the world order. I’d never appreciated these ancient things or considered them as an alternative. What would it be like to actually be pregnant? But Roki was also talking about these things again like he knew them firsthand. I thought, That’s just how mature he is. Roki knows his history better than me. He is more sophisticated than some grown men I know! Of course I’m attracted to him.
Then again, I had been attracted to Roki since the night we first met, since the very first time I laid eyes on him, at a ball thrown by an Ava-Nurlie noblewoman in honor of my parents’ successful leadership. Roki had bought his way in somehow. He had introduced himself, telling me, “You have the saddest yet most stunning eyes I have ever seen. They portray a longing that can never be fulfilled. I feel drawn to you. Perhaps because your eyes say what I feel about our world.”
Yeah, that had unnerved me. He had seen me for who I was. Just me, plain and simple. Not an heiress, not a potential queen, not a rung on some political ladder, just Kaelyn. I had been obsessed with Roki ever since.
“… and that was the reasoning behind artificial births,” Roki was saying.
“Huh?” I realized I had been daydreaming and missed most of what he had said. I felt heat radiating from my face. While he was talking, I had been fantasizing about our previous dates, the cute things he had said to me the night we met, and how he had lifted me high and spun me in the air outside the noblewoman’s mansion. I couldn’t help it. Roki had been so romantic!
“I was explaining how Decens-Lenitas, our mighty moral code, put an end to natural births in favor of lab babies. Our rulers say that it’s avoiding natural births that enables the gene editing that has eliminated cancer, allergies, and all but infectious diseases. Still, it’s one of the things I wish hadn’t changed, because pregnancy used to be a pleasant experience for many people.” He narrowed his eyes at me and smirked. “Wait a minute. You were daydreaming!”
I was still blushing. “A little,” I said. “I still can’t believe you’re with me. There are so many other girls to choose from. Can … can I ask you why?”
He smiled and said, “There are no other girls. That’s why. There’s only you, Kaelyn. When we met, I saw a rebellious young girl with a sullen spirit in need of some much-needed happiness. I saw your soul, and I wanted to be a part of it.”
I had to turn from Roki before my emotions boiled over and I started to cry. My cheeks were so hot they could have been sunburned. For so long I had lived in a bubble of bland nothingness, and now here was Roki, making me feel so alive, so overwhelmed with emotion!
“We should get you back to NordHaven,” he said. “I don’t want your parents to be upset with you before the big ceremony for your brother.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Thank you for bringing me here. It was a relief after all the time I’ve been imprisoned at home. I hope we can come here again. I’ve never been happier than I am right now with you. To be honest, Roki, I don’t think I can go back to the way things used to be.”
“I feel the same,” he said with a s
mile. “Don’t worry, Kaelyn. We have all the time in the universe to be together.”
I was having separation anxiety even before I got home. I wanted to be with Roki so much. I missed him fiercely. Pushing open my front door, I could have sworn I smelled him in the foyer of our house. Could I have been so obsessed with Roki that I was now smelling him when he wasn’t around? Then again, I had lingered during our parting hug in the square, with my face nuzzled against him. Perhaps his scent still clung to my clothes: earthy, herbal fresh, slightly smoky, faintly toffee sweet. I’d have to put off having them laundered for a few days.
Mama was descending the grand staircase into the foyer with a judgmental look on her face. Even when she was displeased with me, I held my mother in high regard. I venerated the long hours she put in chairing Gaard’s council meetings. I admired her statuesque figure, now emphasized by her long olive-green velvet gown, and mirroring the shapely vases of roses flanking the heavy oak doors of NordHaven.
“Enjoy your morning?” she asked.
“It was nice,” I said. I didn’t want to lie, but I also didn’t want to admit that I had spent the morning frolicking with the man of my dreams. Even if she suspected I’d been with Roki, I doubted she knew exactly where we’d been, considering Roki’s control over the Protectors.
I tried to shift the conversation. “Where’s Papa?”
“Getting our things into the flyrarc.” Then Mama gave me that unimpressed motherly stare. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
There was a touch of sarcasm in her voice that I didn’t like. Mama irked me when it came to Roki. She had forbidden me from seeing him at first, accusing me of bringing shame to our family. Then she had restricted our time together. I had invited him over for dinner, hoping Mama and Papa would get to know Roki and like him as much as I did, but that wasn’t what had happened. My parents had stepped out of the room during the meal, and I had overheard Papa telling her, “Don’t worry, dear. Kaelyn will come to her senses soon enough, and we’ll be rid of the lowborn scoundrel.” The worst part was that Roki had heard it too.
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