An archaeologist with a secret.
Three years had trickled by since Anna accomplished the impossible. Three years of avoiding Briland high society, toiling away in ancient ruins among the dead. But when her brother is detained by marshals, Anna jumps at the chance for another fast-paced adventure.
A pirate longing for home.
Trevor had tasted nothing but frustration and disappointment in his search for a stolen map. Unable to return without it, an opportunity finally presents itself in the form of a naval captain’s arrest.
A naval captain caught in the middle.
If Markus had known possession of the Pirate King’s map would be this much trouble, he would have told Anna to burn it. Despite being the key to clearing his name, the map is the least of his concerns. Not with Anna and her mysterious companion dancing around their mutual attraction.
Anna learns the only way to truly save Markus involves the map she stole from the Pirate King. Forging their way through the desert and straight to the Briland capital, Anna finds herself fighting more than feelings of distrust for their new companion. Success hinges on their ability to work together and failure isn’t an option.
An archaeologist with a secret.
Three years had trickled by since Anna accomplished the impossible. Three years of avoiding Briland high society, toiling away in ancient ruins among the dead. But when her brother is detained by marshals, Anna jumps at the chance for another fast-paced adventure.
A pirate longing for home.
Trevor had tasted nothing but frustration and disappointment in his search for a stolen map. Unable to return without it, an opportunity finally presents itself in the form of a naval captain’s arrest.
A naval captain caught in the middle.
If Markus had known possession of the Pirate King’s map would be this much trouble, he would have told Anna to burn it. Despite being the key to clearing his name, the map is the least of his concerns. Not with Anna and her mysterious companion dancing around their mutual attraction.
Anna learns the only way to truly save Markus involves the map she stole from the Pirate King. Forging their way through the desert and straight to the Briland capital, Anna finds herself fighting more than feelings of distrust for their new companion. Success hinges on their ability to work together and failure isn’t an option.
Anna had been nine years old when she realized the company of the dead was preferable to that of the living.
Sixteen years among stuffy academics and Bellcaster high society had done little to change her opinion on the matter. The dead didn’t argue and they didn’t doubt her. They didn’t try to place her in a gilded box built with the preconceived notions of who she should be or what she should want.
The deceased were a little smelly, of course, but so were the living.
Unfortunately, ceremonial flowers did little to hide the stench of decay, especially when one sat so incredibly close.
Anna adjusted her arm beneath her head and stared into the empty eye sockets of a bleached skull. Based on their hips, the skull likely belonged to a woman.
“Do you know where the khan is?” she asked the thousand-year-old woman.
The woman kept her silence, her jaw askew.
“You realize if you tell me where he is, that open seat on the Board of Antiquity will be mine? Those crotchety old men will have to let me sit in it.”
Still, nothing.
Anna sighed quietly. “As a woman gifted to the khan’s harem, I would think you’d want to help me. Designated to breeding and child-rearing. A life not your own, no choice in the matter because you were not born a man.” She shook her head and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I’m fighting that, you know; the standard that we marry young and have little babies and do not go on adventures. Finding the khan will do just that. This goes beyond notoriety.”
Moisture somewhere in the cavern dripped into a puddle. It was the only sound beyond her breathing and the scratching of her clothes against stone. Delicate dried petals adorned the sparkly grey slab, part of a mortuary ritual Anna hadn’t quite cracked yet. She had removed most of them, but the few she’d missed had been crushed to dust beneath her weight.
She tucked her legs underneath herself and sucked on her teeth. “Why keep secrets for a man who murdered you? The marks are easy enough to see on your vertebra—clean, deep cuts, at least. It was fast, wasn’t it?”
Anna thought maybe the woman’s eye sockets had darkened, but that wasn’t possible, not really. Stare into nothing long enough and the mind was bound to play tricks. The shadows and the dark were mischievous entities, tricksters and bargainers, granting what one wishes without telling the price.
Staring into the empty eye sockets of the dead was no different.
Shadows, tricks, and desires with an unknowable cost.
Despite Anna’s staring, the thousand-year-old woman did not utter a secret. Not with words and not with her bones. The dead did not speak a language many understood and this woman was determined to keep her secrets even from Anna. Rolling to her back atop the stone altar, she stared at the cavern ceiling hundreds of feet above. Clues often hid in the landscape of a tomb as much as they decorated the inside of one.
Paint crafted to glow adorned the dark stone in pale blues and greens in absolutely stunning whorls. She cocked her head. The specks mimicked the night sky. They weren’t necessarily placed correctly, but Anna knew the khan hadn’t cared about accuracy, favoring only constellations related to the sea. She hadn’t figured out why yet, but she would one day.
The Kraken peeked around a stalactite, glowing a soft green. Just above Anna sat the Fishmonger with his Great Net. And there, twined together like serpents, were the Tides of Fate, always pointing to the North Star, guiding men and women ever forward whether they knew it or not.
Granbaatar Khan had pulled nautical symbols and water into his spaces whenever possible. Even here, old stone buckets filled with water surrounded the altar, each one large enough for her to stand in comfortably. A brief glance in them had revealed little boats filled with dried water lilies. One of the bottles of incense she’d opened had smelled of the sea, of seaweed and sand.
Anna sat up, looking at the candles lining the path of crushed shells to the altar and then back to the ceiling. It was a tiny room, carved straight up. Originally, she had thought this would be a treasure chamber, full of iron coins and jewels fit for a queen.
Instead she’d stumbled upon a chamber containing a favored consort and a sweet little apology letter scrawled into the ground. It was an old dialect, one she hadn’t studied at university, but Anna had understood the gist. Something about not realizing the woman could die from what had been done, that she drank from a sacred cup, gifted by Granbaatar Khan himself, and it should not have been possible. That bit was repeated quite often, the impossibility of what had happened.
An absurd notion, really.
Remove anything’s head and surely it would die.
She sat back on her hands and hopped to the floor, careful of the shells beneath her feet. Another turn in place revealed about as much as the woman had. Not enough.
Anna huffed, placed her hands on her hips and tipped her head back. It was an apt description of the predicament she found herself in as well.
Twenty-five and unwed and not enough to show for it—not for a senator’s daughter.
But there was an entire step pyramid to continue exploring. Anna had only happened upon this chamber by chance while jogging. She’d spent weeks in the ruins above already, brushing at scripture carved into the wall and avoiding booby traps.
The khan had a strange sense of humor.
He built a massive step pyramid, inviting all who could see it inside, and then armed it to kill.
She dusted off her hands and carefully walked back into a tunnel and up into the sweltering jungle. The sun hung high in the sky at barely past seven. Plenty of time to go spelunking through the step pyramid, aptly named GB-SP21 by the Board of Antiquity.
Anna squinted up at the stone structure, one hand up to blot out the sun.
She hadn’t been to the top yet; maybe it was time she looked around.
I had a lot of fun being in the world of this book. It was like Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean in an alternate version of Europe. The author does a fantastic job of describing settings and giving you a clear picture of where you are and what it looks like. It was very immersive and interesting.
Now let's just cut right to the chase: our dashing pirate, Trevor, has made my list of favorite fictional men. I'm a sucker for a gentle giant (with a bada$$ streak) and the chemistry between him and our archeologist MC, Anna? Lots of fun. But author, if I may be so bold: in book 2, please give Markus a day pass to Disney World or something so those two can actually get some alone time!
I will say that I found it incomprehensibly odd that Anna couldn't figure out who Trevor was by the end. (No spoilers!) I understand that her memory was fuzzy, but she was on the road with the man for weeks. Maybe I'm being too critical of the old girl, and I also understand that this is the first in a series, so perhaps there is going to be a big reveal in book 2. There had better be because the suspense is killing me!
I also thought the reader was kept in the dark for too long about some very important plot details, especially pertaining to the characters' backstories. I understand the need to build mystery and intrigue, but for much of the book, it felt vague, and it would've helped ground me in the story way better if I'd had a clear picture of prior events earlier on.
Another thing I found odd was that Trevor's POV chapters were written in his (Scottish?) accent, even though we were in 3rd-person limited. Don't get me wrong: I loved getting Trevor's perspective on things. He was funny and brash. But personally, I thought it was an odd stylistic choice that took me out of the story.
Other than that, I can wholeheartedly recommend this to fans of Pirates of the Caribbean and Daughter of the Pirate King. Looking forward to book 2 because I have to know what happens next!