Book Description:
Kami crosses
dimensions to find true love, but her heart’s desire never left home.
Kami is faced with a
heartbreaking truth; she finds the love of her life is an elite and bound by
law to wed three wives to do his part to eliminate the poverty-stricken
condition of their world. How can she stand to share him? Why can’t he be poor
the way she thought he was when she fell in love with him?
Desperate and determined to find a realm that doesn’t have such dictates, she travels to dimension Three-Two-Three to begin her search. But is love truer in a realm filled with hidden love affairs than it is in Ian’s heart?
Desperate and determined to find a realm that doesn’t have such dictates, she travels to dimension Three-Two-Three to begin her search. But is love truer in a realm filled with hidden love affairs than it is in Ian’s heart?
Excerpt:
Kami's blouse bunched up her
back as she slid down the wide oak's trunk. She cringed as aged bark grazed her
skin and snagged her hair until her bottom hit the ground. She folded her knees
to her chest, buried her face in her arms, and welcomed the sharp pangs.
Hurting Ian pained her more than anything she'd done in her life.
Autumn leaves crunched as he
paced the woodland's small clearing. Each stride matched two beats of her heart
and crushed the sweet memories of their grove. Dust scented the air as he
shuffled through a turn.
"Why are you just now
telling me this?" His breath hitched, and he cleared his throat.
Words wouldn't form as Kami
lifted her gaze.
His hazel eyes shifted to the
shadows of the young birch trees as he set his hands at his waist. A cloud of
insects drifted through the pale trunks. Soft hums filled the air as they
paused.
He ran his hand across his jaw
and looked back at her. "You know I love you, Kami."
Tears seeped beneath her lids,
and she blinked to relieve the burn. "I need to be the only one, Ian. I
can't know you might love someone else more than me when you choose another
wife."
She stared at the thick roots
that surrounded her and then traced the curve of one nearby with her fingertip.
They wove into the caramel-colored ground, creating a perfect lounge for two
lovers in an embrace. How many times had they sat there and shared their
secrets, their love? How many times had he told her she was the one? She cursed
the fact that she had been gullible enough to believe it could be true.
Kami forced her voice through
her tight throat. "When I first saw you, you were playing in the park with
that scruffy little dog. Its hair was so long and matted, I thought you
couldn't afford to pay a groomer. I thought that sock with the knot in it was
all you could come up with to be his toy."
His gaze dropped to the ground.
"That stray lives at the park, and I removed my sock to have some fun with
him."
"I know that now.
But then I assumed you were poor. And after the third date of peanut butter
sandwich picnics by the river, I thought I knew for certain. I mean, who could
love peanut butter that much? And what member of the elite class chooses such a
simple activity for a date?"
She scanned his solemn
countenance. His love of nature was one of the things she adored about him,
alongside the fact that he didn't feel the need to flaunt his wealth. But to
keep such a fact from her under the circumstances… "I fell in love with
you, believing you would make me the one choice you were allowed as a member of
the lower class."
A gust of wind lifted his black
hair to dance around his face. The cheery motion seemed to mock his lips as
they dipped into a deep frown. "If it were up to me, I'd have only you.
Can't you believe that? I've waited, pushed the age limit to wed, looking for
the right one to be my first. My first, Kami. The others will never mean
what you do to me."
"If you really love me,
you'd want me alone. No other. Period." Frustration bubbled in her chest
at her misconception of their love.
He tilted his head and bit his
lips together. "I can't help that I was born an elite. If it were
possible—"
"If it were possible, what?
You'd give up your birthright and join the ranks of the vagabonds who can't
afford food for the one wife and child they're allowed? Or you'd buck the
system and refuse to wed the other two? That would only land you earthbound,
exiled to a foreign dimension, and stripped of everything but the clothes you
wear. And while you're considering it, I'd advise you to wear a thick coat and
heavy boots, because I hear they choose some pretty rough climates for those
who refuse to live by this law."
The sarcastic response rolled
off her tongue before she realized it, but she didn't care. It wasn't right.
None of the counsel's decisions on eliminating poverty were. Lower class men
wedded one spouse and fathered one child, while the elite had to choose three
wives and produce as many offspring as they could.
Find another way to spread
the wealth than through inheritance.
She looked at him, and her voice
rose. "I can't stay here and conform to the laws of this dimension. Not
when I know there are other places that don't require such things. I need the
freedom to love whomever I want, whoever they are, without the stipulation of a
quota. And if that means transferring, then that's what I'll do."
"If your mother was
alive—"
"Well, she's not."
Kami scowled. She had expected him to try to bring her mother into the
conversation, but it hurt just the same. "But I can't believe she wouldn't
want me to be happy. She was one of a quota, Ian — one that had only one child.
Father's attention stayed on the others."
His broad shoulders lifted as he
took a deep breath and looked back to the trees.
"I'm leaving for a
six-month stay in Three-Two-Three. With me gone, you'll be free to start your
family before you turn twenty-five. I won't stand in your way to fulfill your
obligation. You'll have time to find a woman who will happily live by the
law." She lowered her voice to a mumble. "And I won't have to see you
do it."
Ian's heavy brow furrowed, and
his dark lashes narrowed his gaze. "And what will happen if you find
someone while you're there? That realm doesn't know we exist, Kami. What will
you tell him when you leave every six months to come back to renew your travel
rights?"
"When I choose someone, it
will be because our love is true. He'll understand I need some time away."
His mouth dropped open, and he
shook his head. "What love that's true has those kinds of secrets?" A
scowl crossed his face as he drew his hand through the air. "And what
makes you think a love there would be truer than my love here?"
"They choose only one. They
pledge their hearts, and it lasts a lifetime."
"Promises can be broken,
whichever realm you're in." Orange and yellow leaves scattered as he
marched across the small tract and sank to the ground before her. He took her
hands in his and then looked into her eyes. "Stay here. Marry me. Be my
elite choice. There can be only one first time, and I want it to be you. Let
it be enough."
It took all Kami's strength to
look away. She clenched her jaw, tried to control the hiccup that would surely
release a sob.
Ian shook his head, and his
voice lowered to a plea. "Please, Kami. Don't go."
She pinched her lips together,
and the hiccup forced its way to her throat. Snatching her breath, she kept it
silent, but it jarred her into action. "The consort has already granted my
leave. I've taken the training, and temporary employment is waiting for me. If
I can make it work, I'll arrange to stay longer."
The frank tone of her voice gave
her strength as she stood. "Good-bye, Ian."
His hands slowly released her as
he rose and stepped back. His square jaw flexed. "Never say good-bye. This
isn't the end."
Kami tore her gaze from his
hazel eyes and focused her thoughts on the Inter-dimensional Courtyard. A wave
of heat sizzled through her veins as her elements prepared to shift through
space. The scene before her distorted, and a soft buzz filled her ears as she
synced into the atrium.
****
Air rushed from Ian's lungs.
"No," he uttered with his remaining breath. How could she believe
another woman would mean more to him than she did? He clenched his jaw, spun,
and punched at the cloud of tiny insects that had flown up behind him. "No!"
Birds quieted overhead, and the
bugs slowly parted, as if to scoff at his harsh behavior. A brash breeze
whipped through the clearing and blew them away. Dried leaves scattered. He
kicked at the animated foliage and then raked his fingers over his scalp.
She had to realize I wasn't
one of the needy. Everyone knows the Belrose name is synonymous with wealth and
elitism.
He caught sight of the bandana
tied around his right bicep and lowered his arms. Surely she had known he hid
the family emblem inked on his skin to make it easier to move among the poor
during his service to them. He rolled his shoulders to dispel the chill
traveling up his neck.
Surely.
He bunched his fingers into
fists and launched into long strides. Ten paces carried him to the edge of the
patchy ground to face the birch trees that separated him from her housing
tower. They needed to talk this out… really talk before she went through with
it.
"This isn't the end,"
he said aloud, as if his words could reach her. "I refuse to give up on
us."
Heat sizzled through his veins
as he prepared to sync with space. He paused before he attached his elements to
the atmosphere near her suite's entrance. If she was to the point of throwing
their love away, he would need all the help he could get.
I'd better get some heavy
artillery.
About the Author, Charlene A. Wilson:
Charlene A. Wilson is an author of
tales that take you to other dimensions. She weaves magic, lasting love, and
intrigue to immerse you into the lives of her characters.
She began writing in her early
teens when her vivid dreams stayed with her long after she had them. The
characters and worlds were so amazing she brought them to life through her
books.
Charlene resides in a small
community in Arkansas, USA, with her two beautiful daughters, husband, a cuddly
Pekingese, and a very chatty cockatiel named Todder.
Learn more about the Author and her books on:
Purchase "One for Kami" on:
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