Trivium (Trivium #1)

Prologue

“What are you staring at?” Park asked, eyeing her.

“Your nipples.”

Park groaned, and Loveleena couldn’t help but smile as she lay her face down on the soft flesh of her folded arms. Park had stripped down to his silk boxer briefs, showing his boyish physique that she had seen countless times.

But today, her eyes lingered longer, noticing the way his shoulders had filled out slightly and hair had popped up on his chest.

She was equally bare, her long chiffon dress piled beside her, leaving only her cream silk camisole and matching shorts to cover her while she sunbathed.

Brown skin, a short, combed afro, and long gangly arms, Park had yet to grow into himself fully.

While at seventeen, her body had already curved and shaped into that of a woman.

They had skipped their afternoon classes to sprawl out on a patchwork quilt next to the creek that gently snaked through the city of Jarrah.

Sneaking off to the creek to gossip and laugh had become a ritual for them. She let the sun warm her through the treetops, peppering her brown skin with gold, while Park skipped small rocks from the shoreline.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do once we graduate?” she asked lazily, twisting one of the quilt’s cotton tassels in her fingers.

“My father wants me to attend the Business Academy, to prepare for noble duties.” He rolled his eyes. “But I want to do something… I don’t know, different.”

“Like what?”

He paused. “Do you ever think about what’s beyond the wall? Like I mean what’s really out there?”

She lifted her head slightly to look at him.

“Not really. I mean what’s the point? We’re stuck here.

” Stuck in Jarrah and stuck with the traditions and expectations of being a noble.

Get married to a noble. Have at least four kids.

Keep up appearances. She knew what lay ahead for her, though she planned to avoid it for as long as possible.

Park flopped down beside her, rolling onto his back. “Yeah, but what if there’s something cool?”

“What’s gotten into you?” She peered at him from under her lashes.

“Even if there was something out there—another city or whatever—there’s no possibility of making it there, at least not alive.

You know that.” Beyond the wall was nothing but miles of forest, home to deadly creatures with cruel, torturous magic.

Park sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He flicked her shoulder.

“Owww!” she said in protest and kicked him in the shin.

“What are you going to do?” he asked, ignoring her jab.

She threw her arm over her eyes and lay her head back down.

Truthfully, she had no idea what to do with her life.

Everyone expected her to fall into the typical role of a noble daughter: get married, produce children, make a home.

The thought of it alone made her feel sick.

But what else could she possibly do? Nothing motivated her.

She had no particular talent, interest, or desire to pursue a specific career.

She felt like she was floating in a sea of possibility, going nowhere.

No map. No dreams. Not even an idea of what path best suited her.

And if she chose something other than the path of a noble, it would be an endless battle with her parents.

What was the point of fighting for something she didn’t even know if she wanted in the first place?

“I don’t know,” she admitted finally.

“If your mother had it her way, you’d be married off by your twenty-first birthday,” Park said, as if reading her mind, a cheeky smile on his face.

“Yeah well, if it comes to it, I’ll just marry you.” She threw out the comment casually, but she meant it.

Park studied her, suddenly serious. “Okay, deal.” His voice was raspy, skimming along her skin.

“Really? You’d do it?” She raised her eyebrows. Park had always said he wanted to marry for love, like commonfolk did, regardless of his family’s opinions. Nobles weren’t allowed such freedom. Every move, especially marriage, was strategic.

“You know I’d do anything for you, Leena.”

????

She didn’t know why, but six years later on the night of her twenty-third birthday that was the memory that played in her mind.

The Great Wall rose against her back as she sat waiting for Park.

She was sure he would come. But as the night stretched into the day, and the early morning sun blushed in the sky, she had the sinking feeling that something terrible had happened to him.

Park was missing.