Goddess’s Choice
GODDESS’S CHOICE
A Children of the Gods Prequel
I. T. LUCAS
Annani’s Story
A prequel to the Children of the Gods Series
Goddess’s Choice
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS
Series Reading Order
Kian & Syssi’s story
1: Dark Stranger The Dream
2: Dark Stranger Revealed
3: Dark Stranger Immortal
Dark Stranger Trilogy + Goddess’s Choice—part 1
Amanda’s story
4: Dark Enemy Taken
a5: Dark Enemy Captive
6: Dark Enemy Redeemed
Kri & Michael’s Story
6.5: My Dark Amazon Novella
Andrew’s Story
7: Dark Warrior Mine
8: Dark Warrior’s Promise
9: Dark Warrior’s Destiny
10: Dark Warrior’s Legacy
Bhathian & Eva’s Story
11: Dark Guardian Found
12: Dark Guardian Craved
13: Dark Guardian’s Mate
Brundar & Calypso's Story
14: Dark Angel's Obsession
15: Dark Angel's Seduction
16: Dark Angel's Surrender
Turner’s Story
17: Dark Operative: A Shadow of Death
18: Dark Operative: A Glimmer of Hope
19: Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love
Anandur’s Story
20: Dark Survivor Awakened
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Books 1-19 are narrated by the incredible
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Copyright © 2018 by I. T. Lucas
All rights reserved.
Goddess’s Choice is a work of fiction!
Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations and/or events is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Part 1
Prelude
1. Annani
2. Khiann
3. Annani
4. Khiann
5. Annani
6. Annani
7. Gulan
8. Annani
9. Khiann
10. Annani
11. Gulan
PART 2
1. Khiann
2. Annani
3. Khiann
4. Annani
5. Ahn
6. Khiann
7. Annani
8. Khiann
9. Ahn
10. Annani
PART 3
1. Annani
2. Khiann
3. Gulan
4. Khiann
5. Annani
6. Khiann
7. Esag
8. Annani
9. Khiann
10. Annani
11. Khiann
12. Annani
13. Khiann
PART 4
1. Mortdh
2. Annani
3. Khiann
4. Gulan
5. Khiann
6. Ahn
7. Khiann
8. Gulan
9. Khiann
10. Annani
11. Mortdh
12. Annani
13. Ahn
14. Annani
15. Mortdh
16. Khiann
17. Annani
Excerpt: Dark Stranger The Dream
Prelude: Syssi
1. Syssi
2. Amanda
3. Kian
4. Anandur
5. Amanda
6. Syssi
7. Amanda
8. Mark
9. Kian
10. Kian
11. Anandur
12. Syssi
13. Kian
14. Brundar
15. Syssi
16. Kian
Excerpt: Goddess’s Hope
Sneak Peek at my next book
Also by I. T. LUCAS
Part 1
FIRST KISS
Prelude
First kiss.
If done right, it left an impression to last a lifetime, or in Annani’s case, millennia. Five thousand years, give or take a few hundred.
Age was meaningless to a goddess.
But even after all these years, and all that Annani had witnessed, the fire that first kiss had ignited at the tender age of seventeen still burned hot in her heart.
After all, it was the most important kiss of all times, affecting the destiny of gods, immortals, and humans, and altering the course of history.
1
Annani
Five thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries.
“Are you ready, my lady?”
“Patience, Gulan. I need a moment.” With deft fingers, Annani attached a small silk sack to her spun-gold belt. After tying the belt around her waist, she tugged on her makeshift carrier to ensure it was safe enough for her uncle’s lapis lazuli tablet. Satisfied with the bag’s structural integrity, she carefully inserted the tablet inside it and then rearranged the folds of her dress to conceal it.
The device was priceless and irreplaceable, not because it was the only one of its kind, but because of the information it contained.
Ekin had once told her that what was stored inside his tablet could fill several human libraries, and as far as she knew, her uncle did not keep a copy. So unless Ekin had all that information stored in his head, the thing was indeed priceless and irreplaceable.
And yet, he let her borrow it whenever she pleased.
Sometimes Annani did not even ask, taking it without his permission. Ekin did not mind. The scientist was an easygoing god, not a stickler for the rules like her father—the head god, the commander, the one everybody had to obey, or else.
Except, even though Annani had broken the rules plenty of times, she did not know what that ‘or else’ meant. Her father’s idea of punishment was a stern look and an admonishment not to do it again.
It was not very scary, nor was it an effective deterrent to further mischief.
Her maid paled. “My lady, you cannot bring the tablet to the throne room.”
Twisting her hands, the girl looked at the folds of Annani’s dress, which were not doing much to hide the carrier and the square tablet inside it. Every time she moved, the thing bumped against her thigh and the folds parted to reveal it.
“I will hold the fabric over the sack. No one is going to notice a thing.”
With her beauty and her attitude, the guards and whoever else roamed the palace corridors were not going to pay attention to her dress. They would be too focused on their future ruler’s face.
Her maid emitted a soft resigned sigh.
Poor Gulan. The girl was a year older and more than a foot taller than Annani, not to mention stronger than most men—even immortals—but she had the heart of a little rabbit.
And to think Annani’s parents entrusted her safety to Gulan’s hands.
> Her impressive size did not make the girl brave, and even though she was loyal to a fault and loved Annani as much as Annani loved her back, it was doubtful Gulan would be any good against any actual attackers. The girl did not have the heart of a warrior. She was timid and shy, and instead of taking pride in her size and incredible strength, she was embarrassed about it.
No matter. Gulan was her best friend, and she would not have traded her for anyone else in the world. Besides, Annani was not worried about a traitorous attack.
The people loved her—gods, immortals, and humans alike—she was everyone’s favorite. As one of the few pure-blooded gods born to her people and the leading couple’s only daughter, she was precious beyond compare and cherished by all.
No one harbored ill intentions towards her.
Annani patted Gulan’s arm. “You worry too much. Watching my father and mother and their endless meetings with immortal and human pompous dignitaries bores me to no end. I need the tablet to keep me occupied. Imagine how embarrassed they would be if I yawned or fell asleep in the middle of an important audience. I might even snore.” She winked.
Gulan could not help a small smile. “You do not snore, my lady.”
“Yes, I do, and you know it.”
Gulan opened the door, peering outside as if there was danger lurking in the palace’s corridors she needed to look out for.
It was comical.
First of all, because Gulan would sooner faint than fight, and secondly, because the two guards posted outside Annani’s room were more than capable of taking care of any threat to her.
“Good afternoon, my lady.” The two bowed.
She nodded, looking down her nose at them. “To you as well. May the Fates smile upon you with kindness.” The official greeting was a fat big clue that she was not happy with them.
The traitors.
Her haughty attitude had not gone unnoticed. Shamed, the guards trailed silently behind her and Gulan with their heads hung low. Feeling a little sorry for them, even though they did not deserve her pity, Annani glanced back. “Who won the game last night? Was it you, Gumer?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“And why was I not invited?”
Gumer blushed. “We thought you were asleep and did not wish to disturb you.”
Liar.
She shook her head. “Admit the truth, Gumer. You did not want me there because I always win.”
Annani was the undefeated champion of the five-stone gambling game, but that was no reason to exclude her. After all, she never took the winnings for herself, distributing the coins between the guards instead.
“It is true that you always win, my lady. But that was not the reason. It was your head tutor’s threat to report us to your father.”
Ugh, she was going to have that grouchy old goat dismissed.
The nightly game with the guards was one of the few bright spots in her uneventful court life. That mean man had no right to threaten anyone in her entourage.
Besides, she had no need for the dumb tutor. Her uncle’s tablet contained all the knowledge Annani could ever seek, and when the subject was too difficult for her to comprehend, Ekin was more than happy to explain.
Her uncle was the smartest of the gods.
Not that Annani would ever dare such an utterance in front of her father. The half-brothers were not on the best of terms. Ahn thought of Ekin as an irresponsible philanderer, which was true, and Ekin thought of Ahn as a stick-in-the-mud, which was also true.
“I will ask my father’s permission to participate.”
Badum groaned. “You are going to get us in trouble, my lady.”
She waved a hand. “You worry too much. My father grants all of my wishes.” Except excusing her from the mandatory daily attendance in the throne room.
It was an unimaginable torture reserved only for the children of those in power. The successors. And to think people thought her lucky. As if she, or any other seventeen-year-old, wanted this mantle of responsibility instead of having fun.
But her parents wished to prepare Annani for her role as the future ruler of the realm—a complete waste of time in her opinion. There was plenty of time to learn all about court politics when she was much older and actually cared about all that yawn-inducing stuff.
Unless catastrophe struck, it would be thousands of years before Ahn and Nai stepped down and Annani had to ascend to the throne.
Gulan put a finger to her lips, signaling the guards to keep quiet, and opened the back door to the throne room. The entry was hidden from those conferring within by a perforated partition, which allowed Annani to sneak in and out unnoticed.
In one of her cleverer maneuvers, she had asked to be allowed to sit back there with Gulan, hidden from the visiting dignitaries as she supposedly listened in on their dealings. Annani had convinced her parents that more could be learned by observing people unseen from behind the partition. Her best argument had been that if she were less concerned with appearing regal and dignified, she could pay better attention.
Her parents had accepted the excuse and even praised her for coming up with the idea.
Sitting with Gulan behind the partition made the whole thing infinitely more bearable. Using finger gestures, which they had developed over the years into a whole language, allowed them to gossip with no one any the wiser. It also meant that as long as she kept the green glow from the tablet at the lowest setting, Annani could read instead of listening to the proceedings she had absolutely no interest in.
Today, though, turned out to be different.
She was in for a big surprise.
Even before taking her seat, Annani heard a voice she would recognize anywhere.
Khiann?
What is he doing here?
As Gulan started forming words with her fingers, Annani waved a hand to stop her.
Peeking through one of the holes in the partition, she felt her knees turn into goo at the sight of him. She had not seen Khiann up close since he had graduated school over two years ago, and the only other time was during a celebratory ball she had been forced to spend up on the dais with her parents.
He had disappointed her greatly that day, and she had cried herself to sleep later that night.
Annani remembered every detail from that ball vividly. She had waited with bated breath for Khiann to approach the dais with his parents, hoping he would smile at her, eager for him to see how much she had grown since the last time he had seen her and notice that she was no longer a little girl but was turning into a young woman.
Instead, he had bowed respectfully without sparing her a glance and then departed to mingle with the rest of the guests.
Khiann had acted as if he did not know that she existed, which was preposterous since she was Annani—the most important young goddess of the realm.
But that had happened a year ago, and a lot had changed since.
Khiann was no longer a boy. He was a grown man, and there was no way he could ignore her now. A year ago she was still considered a girl and forbidden to him, but now she was of age and permissible. Not to mention that she was considered the most beautiful, most coveted goddess of them all.
Annani was also free to choose a lover.
Well, not exactly.
It would have been true if she were anyone other than Annani, the next ruler of the realm. Unlike other immortal females her age, and young goddesses if there were any, she was already promised to a god, and therefore deemed taken. But she had no intention of ever mating with the god her father had made the ill-conceived pact with.
Ahn should have asked her before promising her hand to Mortdh. Unfortunately for her, he had done the deed when Annani was still a baby. If it were up to her, she would have never chosen Mortdh as her intended.
She would have chosen Khiann.
He was exactly the kind of mate Annani dreamed of—a young, honorable god, who had a sense of humor and was gorgeous like a god should be.
It was not that Mortdh�
��s visage was unseemly, he was as beautiful as any other god, but his godly beauty must have been marred by his cruel nature because all she could see was his ugliness.
How did her father fail to see the darkness inside that male?
How could he have promised his daughter, who he claimed to love more than anything in the world, to a man like Mortdh?
It was all about politics.
Mortdh was powerful, the only god who posed a threat to her parents’ rule. By giving him Annani, her father hoped to keep Mortdh’s ambitions at bay until Ahn and Nai decided to step down.
The ambitious god would get his wish then.
The thing was, her father’s plan had one glaring flaw that even she, a seventeen-year-old goddess, saw as clearly as if it had been already written in the historical records. It might have postponed the eventuality of Mortdh’s rule, but the result would be the same.