Chapter 1
The Forbidden


Voices murmur in the wind...

The ancestors wonder why I sully our name with such foolishness. I do not listen; I must see him. My heartbeat surges like the thunder booms. I take quick deep breaths. Waves crash through my body. I prepare for the journey again. The journey I have made 1000 times… each time close to losing my place on earth.
“This is not what power is for,” Baba would say, “You are an Olinka warrior. Royalty by rite.”

A princess.
Baba, my grandfather is old-fashioned. I know my rite; I understand my power—At least at 14 I think I...