Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 Read online

  Deviation

  ALTERA REALM TRILOGY

  JENNIFER COLLINS

  Copyright © 2014 Jennifer Collins

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1495280160

  ISBN 13: 9781495280160

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014901299

  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

  North Charleston, South Carolina

  Acknowledgments

  There are several people who, without their help, this book, along with Discovery, would not have been possible. Thank you to Jess and Erin, who not only read each chapter almost as it was written, but put up with my rewrites and mind changes. You both helped make both books better by your feedback and encouragement! To Rob, Nancy, and my parents: Thank you for always being there for me and giving me encouragement! To Anthony for yet another amazing cover and Angela for the always positive editing, thank you for all of your hard work. To the bloggers who helped spread the word about Altera Realm: Carrie “The Book Fairy”, Allura, Alisha, and Ren! You are all masters in your field and were beyond supportive! A special thank you to Melanie from fangfreakintasticreviews.com for being the most friendly and supportive blogger I have ever talked to. Thank you for the awesome review and reading Deviation with all it’s spelling and typing errors! My biggest thanks needs to go to my unofficial fan club: Lillian, Anthony, Kenia and Leslie. It is because of the encouragement and excitement you all gave me that I kept working not only on this book but book three as well. Lastly, thank you to all of the readers who not only read Discovery but reviewed it as well. I hope Deviation lives up to any expectations you may have.

  That Was Then…

  Altera Realm is a place, hidden from human eyes where five great races once lived in harmony. The Magic Users, Lycins, Shifters, Daemons, and Vampires all lived in peace, working together through a council where the leaders of each race met to keep the peace and work cooperatively together. A little over a hundred years ago the truce was broken as two of the royal Magic User lines were killed. The Shifters and Daemons were blamed, causing the Great Divide and War. Now each race lives separate lives, at odds with each other, with only the Magic Users and Lycins finding common ground to work together.

  Now, the Realm has a new hope in the form of human raised Syney Andrews. Syney is the lost Vilori, the Chosen one who was lost in time and prophesized to put an end to the Great War. With the help of the nine hundred year old former Vampire King, Gabriel; her handmaiden and friend, Noelle; her soul mate and Lycin Protector, Hunter; crowned princesses Helen and Cass; and head Lycin Guard, Leaf, Syney must find Altera’s secrets in order to restore peace and give future generations hope that they can live beyond the war.

  This is now…

  CONTENTS

  The Village Morning

  The Front Lines Morning

  The Village Afternoon

  The Front Lines Afternoon

  The Village Evening

  The Front Lines Evening

  Gabe

  Helen

  Syney

  Cass

  Mellisandrianna

  Noelle

  Adam

  Helen

  Cass

  Syney

  Leaf

  Mellisandrianna

  Weston

  Adam

  Syney

  Noelle

  Syney

  Hunter

  Syney

  Gabe

  Hadrian

  Adam

  Noelle

  Syney

  Gabe

  Adanna

  Cass

  Syney

  Adam

  Noelle

  Syney

  Leaf

  Syney

  Noelle

  Helen

  Reed

  Adam

  Cass

  Leaf

  Hunter

  Weston

  Syney

  Gabe

  Helen

  Mellisandrianna

  Syney

  Adam

  Leaf

  Cass

  Syney

  Gabe

  Helen

  Journal of Lassandrianna of House Crystallianna

  Adam

  Noelle

  Hunter

  Syney

  Reed

  Helen

  Leaf

  Grass

  Syney

  Leaf

  Hunter

  Noelle

  Adam

  Cass

  Weston

  Gabe

  Syney

  Adam

  Syney

  Fern

  Syney

  Noelle

  Mellisandrianna

  Gabe

  Hunter

  Adanna

  Adam

  Gabe

  Syney woke up and reluctantly opened her eyes. This wasn’t the first morning that her dreams had been better than her reality, but weren’t most dreams? She stretched and sat up just as a knock came at her door. It was Noelle; it was always Noelle. Syney smiled and called her into the room. It was so nice to have found someone who was so in sync with her; it felt as though Noelle could read her mind. Syney wondered, not for the first time, whether her personal assistant and friend really did read her mind. She always appeared with breakfast moments after Syney woke up and was by her side when she needed a helping hand or a springboard for ideas. It was a dream come true to have someone she felt so close to.

  As Syney scrambled out of bed, Noelle walked in carrying two trays. “They had your favorite this morning!” Noelle said with a smile. She tucked her blond hair behind her ears showing off her flawless light skin. She looked more like a model than a servent to be honest.

  Syney’s mouth watered at the thought of the egg-and-cheese-like dishes the Village occasionally served. It wasn’t her father’s sandwiches made of pork roll, egg, and cheese, but it was the closest thing to them the Village served. “Yummy!” she exclaimed, as she jumped onto the couch and dug into the food.

  “How are you this morning?” Noelle asked, her brown eyes searching Syney’s violet ones for any sign of distress.

  Syney smiled back. “Good. Same as always. Not looking forward to a busy day, but who ever is, right?”

  Noelle nodded. “So you don’t feel any…older or anything?”

  Syney’s smile fell. “Damn! How did you find out?”

  She laughed. “It was put into record when you first came here a year ago.” She paused and flashed Syney a smile. “Happy birthday, Syney.”

  Birthday, ugh, Syney thought. That was when this all started. A year ago Syney was living a normal life in the Human Realm with two loving parents and a best friend who would do anything for her, but then her powers were activated when she read an incantation engraved on a medallion her birth mother had left with her when she was abandoned as a baby. Those powers led a great race called Magic Users—it turned out she was their long-lost queen—to come looking for her, but they weren’t the only ones trying to find her. They were, along with their Protectors, the Lycins, the only great race that didn’t want her dead, which counted for something. Now, a year later, Syney had been crowned seated queen, which meant she was next in line for the full queenship, and all the other races—the Vampires (killers for hire), the Shifters (who changed into animals when fighting), and the Daemons (who mysteriously had been awoken only months prior)—were still trying to kill her and had succeeded in murdering her adoptive parents, mainly because of a prophecy made years ago. It stated that the Chosen One, the last Vilori, would come to the Altera Realm and end the Great War, which had raged f
or more than a hundred years, and bring peace to the Altera Realm.

  It was a lofty goal and one Syney wasn’t quiet sure would happen. She wasn’t an amazing fighter, although she’d received some lessons from Leaf, head of the Royal Guard of Lycins, and she wasn’t very good at magic. The last part she blamed on the Village, the main Magic User settlement. They taught barely any magic to the population, claiming that most magic had been lost, but Syney and Noelle had messed around with it quite a bit during a trip to the Human Realm. There they had met a Magic User named Becca who hadn’t been raised in the Village and owned hundreds of magic books the girls experimented with. Using magic made everything inside Syney tingle with excitement; to her nothing felt better than using it. Well, that wasn’t totally true. She quickly pushed the thought from her mind.

  “Thank you. And if you tell anyone, I’ll kill you,” Syney said, stuffing food into her mouth.

  “Oh, well, that’s not going to work. Helen found out before I did.”

  Syney rolled her eyes. Helen was actually Seated Princess Helenandrianna, royal princess of the Crystallianna line of Magic Users. There used to be four royal family lines of Magic Users: the Crystalliannas (the current ruling line with Queen Mellisandrianna and her three daughters Helenandrianna, Adandrianna, and Cassandrianna), the Grendalins, the Blocadrians (who died out when the Great War started), and the Viloris (of which Syney was the only member still alive).

  Syney loved Helen like a sister, but Helen, the older of the two, got overly excited about celebrations. “I’m going to have grab her early,” Syney told Noelle. “I really don’t want anything large.”

  “You’ll get what you’ll get,” Noelle said.

  Syney narrowed her eyes at her, even though she loved that Noelle felt comfortable enough with her to talk that way. When Syney first came to the Village, Noelle had been assigned as her handmaiden, which didn’t sit well with Syney. She didn’t like the idea of having a servant and immediately squashed it by telling Noelle they were friends, not master and servant. That notion had taken a while for Noelle to embrace, but now they were very good friends; in fact, Noelle was the best friend Syney had in the Village.

  “What do I have today?”

  Noelle took out a large, black, leather-bound journal she used as a datebook. She recently had received a promotion of sorts as Syney’s assistant. Every queen had one, and after Syney’s coronation, Queen Mellisandrianna tried to assign some girl she’d never met before, which didn’t go over well with Syney. Ever since Syney came to the Village, Mellisandrianna made it no secret that she didn’t like her and would do a whole hell of a lot to get rid of her, preferably through death. No way would Syney let her assign an assistant she had chosen. Syney stood up at the council meeting and requested Noelle but was not so nicely informed by Princess Adanna, who was almost a clone of her mother, that handmaidens couldn’t move up in position. So Syney did the only thing she could and made a motion to abolish the stupid rule, thus allowing Noelle’s promotion. It passed, with seven votes to three. Not bad for her first move toward change in the Village.

  “You have a council meeting at eleven. I put you in for lunch at one. Training with Leaf at three. Dinner at six thirty. The welcome-back dessert thing for Prince Brian and his party at eight.”

  “Do I have to go to that last one?” Syney asked, making a face. Prince Brian had made it his mission to court Syney when she had first come the Village. He was sneaky about it, though, and it had backfired in his face. Shortly after that, he had left on an extended hunting mission. Why they would let a royal prince and a party of nearly twenty out in the neutral territories in the Realm was a mystery to Syney, but the group recently had returned, and tonight the big “Let’s celebrate the fact that you’re not dead!” party was taking place.

  “Yes, you do. Prince Brian asked for you specifically,” Noelle said, rolling her eyes.

  “Of course he did. He wants to be king. But he needs to understand that he isn’t getting into my bed.”

  Noelle shifted a little. “So how are things going…there?”

  “With my bed? It’s always been very comfy,” Syney said, getting up and pulling a dress out of her closet. She looked down at the stiff purple dress and tried not to groan. The dresses worn around the palace reminded Syney of the Renaissance Faire she had gone to when she was younger. Back then she had been in awe of the long dresses and corset tops but now that she had to actually wear them on a daily basis she preferred her leather pants and sweaters. Unfortunatly, now that she was seated queen, she had to wear them.

  “Um…Here, let me help.” Noelle stood and helped Syney into the dress.

  They did this in silence. Syney knew what Noelle’s comment really meant but didn’t want to talk about it, ever. She gazed at her reflection in the full-length mirror and grimaced. She’d worn these dresses for four months and still detested them. Not that she looked bad. The dress did hug her waist, giving her a nice hourglass figure, and her auburn hair stood out against the light purple color. Even with that she was still debating making a motion at the council meeting regarding the royal dress code when she heard a knock at the door. She sat down and yelled, “Come in!”

  She forked some food into her mouth as Leaf walked in. He towered over the girls with his large, square shoulders and long, muscular arms and legs. His dark blond hair was cut short and he was dressed in a simple outfit of dark pants and t-shirt. He was the benchmark for all other Lycins in looks and spirit.

  He bowed to Syney. “Good morning. I was hoping to get a report on your new Protectors.”

  When Syney patted the seat next to her, he slowly sat down. Each royal Magic User had at least three Lycin Protectors, which were chosen in an ancient magic ceremony shortly after the Magic User was born. Syney’s ceremony had been held after she was discovered; only one Protector was chosen at the time, but she’d been assigned a few since then. Most recently Leaf had assigned her two females, Poppy and Posey, and one male, Birch, to join Reed, her current Protector. Reed was assigned after Syney had been in the Village for a few months and had been attacked in her rooms by an unknown Magic User man. He was recently promoted to her first Protector; even though he was almost half the age of the other three, they all reported to him.

  “They’re good,” Syney said.

  “I need more than that,” Leaf said in his deep, even tone.

  “OK. I don’t think Birch likes taking orders from Reed, and the other two need to learn how to smile.”

  That remark earned a small smile from Leaf, not something Syney had seen recently. “I’ll speak with Birch,” he said. “How’s Reed handling being your first?”

  Syney shrugged. “Good, I guess. He seems unsure when it’s just us, but he turns all big and bad in front of the others.” She laughed. “It’s adorable.”

  “You might want to watch Poppy,” Noelle chimed in. “The other day in the dining hall, I heard her talking about Syney. It wasn’t anything bad, but she could become a security risk.”

  Syney and Leaf stared at her.

  “What? I’m picking some things up. I’m surrounded by wolves all day long.” She rolled her eyes again as she picked up her tray and Syney’s.

  “I’ll keep an eye and an ear out for that. Thank you, Noelle.” Leaf stood. “I’ll see you at the council meeting,” he said to Syney.

  Syney nodded. “Hey, do you think I could get a dress code passed that banishes dresses?”

  “Would it matter?”

  “I guess not. I just don’t like them. They’re itchy.” Syney pouted.

  Leaf shook his head and left the room.

  Noelle took his abandoned seat. “At least yours is prettier than mine.”

  They both laughed for a while. Finally Syney stood and stretched. “Council meeting, here I come. Will I see you at lunch?”

  “Of course…and possibly someone else.”

  Syney looked at her curiously.

  “I heard a certain Vampire has resurfaced in t
he palace.”

  Syney smiled. “Dear Gabe has returned. Good. I loaned him a book I need back.”

  Gabe was the only Vampire in the Village; he had snuck in after saving Syney’s life in the Human Realm. The queen had allowed him to stay after he had invoked the Treaty of the Great Races, an ancient document written before the war had started. Syney had found out a while ago that Gabe actually had helped write the document when he was a Vampire king. He also was the most manipulative man she’d ever met, but he still had a very fond place in her heart, as well as a soft one in Noelle’s. Syney liked the match of Gabe and Noelle, but Gabe was one complicated Vampire, with a dead royal Magic User wife and all the baggage that came with that.

  Syney met Reed in the hall and smiled up at him, since he was more than a foot taller than her, as she started toward the large meeting room, which held all the Village council meetings. While Reed was a Lycin and a very good Protector, he was more on the lanky side than most in his position. That wasn’t to say he didn’t still look like every human girl’s ideal muscular man. “So how was your big date last night?”

  Reed’s cheeks turned a deep red. He ran a hand through his short brown hair. “I…I don’t…It wasn’t…”

  “A date? Yes, it was. You even took the night off, which never happens,” Syney said with a laughed.

  Reed sighed. “Fine. It was good. She’s a nice girl.”

  “And pretty.”

  “Were you spying on me?”

  Syney shrugged. “Maybe. It’s not my fault you took her to dinner in the dining hall, where I happen to eat.”

  “You should be eating upstairs with the rest of the royals,” Reed grumbled.

  “Yes, well, I’m supposed to do a lot of things I don’t—one being ignoring my Protectors.” She put an arm around him. “But I’m not built that way. And you’re like my little brother now, which means I get to pick on you.”

  Reed shook his head. “This is the worst assignment ever.” He stopped in front of the meeting-room door and crossed his arms.

  Syney smiled at him.

  After a moment he gave in and smiled back. “I’ll see you after the meeting.”

  She nodded and slipped into the room, making a beeline for her favorite seat across from Mellisandrianna. It had become almost a sport for Syney to fight with the queen during council meetings. Now that Syney was seated queen, she almost felt like she had to. Everyone kept going on and on about how she was the Chosen One, the only one who could bring peace to the Realm. After she had been crowned, Syney decided all her attention would go toward that. She still had no idea what she should do, but the complete opposite of whatever Mellisandrianna wanted seemed like a good start.