Meet the Kings: Introducing Unveiled
Unveiled, Book One of Monarchs of Magic, is out now, and I thought the best way to introduce it properly is to let you meet the two men at the heart of it before you dive in.
Here’s the shape of it: during a ferocious winter storm, an entire town appears overnight in the Scottish Highlands, in a valley that’s belonged to the Brannigan clan for generations. Connor Brannigan, its rather furious king, isn’t the only one who’s noticed. Adrian Gauthier, king of a wolf pack across the loch and a man with rather better manners than Connor is currently extending to him, turns up to investigate the very same impossible village. Two kings, one unexplainable town, and a bond neither of them saw coming.
Below is the prologue in full, so you can start exactly where the story does: three in the morning, in the freezing cold, with two kings who very much did not expect to meet like this. After that, a proper introduction to both of them, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time in their company.
The Prologue
Connor
Connor stood on his ancestral land next to a man who called himself king. They were staring at an entire village that had somehow materialised overnight in Connor’s valley.”
What the fuck?” He snarled. “How is this possible?” Beside him, his second in command, Fraser Balfour, stood with his mouth open.
“How the fuck indeed,” he echoed.
The fierce winter storm that had brought them all together pounded over the valley. Lightning flashes highlighted the terrain as it vibrated with thunderclaps. Stranger still was the low light hovering over the valley in swirls of orange and blue with flashes of bright white among the mist that hovered above the rooftops of the town that shouldn’t exist.
Connor had known this was no run of the mill storm as he’d gazed out of his castle at fuck o’clock in the early morning. He and Fraser had rushed down to the scene of the activity, and now found something he’d never thought he’d see.
The other man calling himself king had come to investigate the storm for the same reason. Connor now knew him to be the irritating Frenchman named Adrian Gauthier, the recently arrived King of the Gauthier wolfpack across the lake. He glanced over at Connor, his green eyes dancing as wavy auburn curls escaped from his bright blue beanie.
He was a little shorter than Connor, and slimmer. Even in the heavy clothing he wore, Connor could make out the lithe and muscled form, evident in the way the man walked.
“I told you my name,” Adrian said. “Would you do me the pleasantry of giving me yours? I mean we are out here together at three in the morning.” He held out a hand.
Connor had already ignored his outstretched hand once and had no qualms about ignoring it again, manners be damned. The new King hadn’t introduced himself before now, even though he’d been in the valley a couple of weeks. Now he stood on ground that wasn’t his without an invitation. Only a firm shove from Fraser prompted Connor to shake the other King’s hand.
“Connor Brannigan. King of my clan,” he said between gritted teeth. He gestured to Fraser. “Fraser Balfour, my second-in-command.”
Adrian shook hands with Fraser and motioned behind him at the man standing silently. “My companion is Max Flanagan, a guardian from home, and a good man to have by my side in uncertain times like these.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” Fraser stepped forward, shaking hands with the two men. “Before we all freeze our balls off and end up with pneumonia, I suggest we leave the clan protocols for later and tackle what’s in front of us.” He scowled. “Or what shouldn’t be in front of us.”
Adrian and Max looked at them in surprise. “What are you saying?” Adrian exclaimed. “Are you sure this place didn’t exist before? Perhaps you didn’t realise it was here. You have a lot of land, Mr Brannigan. Perhaps—”
“I know what’s on my fucking land, Gauthier. The last time I was out this way a couple of weeks ago, that,” Connor pointed, “didn’t exist. The question is, who the hell is going to answer for this?”
Fraser shook his head. “I can’t believe it, Con. It’s a—”
“Fucking village,” Connor snapped. “Someone’s built a fucking village on my land.”
***
Meet Connor Brannigan
Connor is the kind of Highland king who greets a mysterious, magically-appearing village with a swear word rather than curiosity — which tells you most of what you need to know about him. He’s guarded, blunt to the point of rudeness, and treats his land, his clan, and his temper with the same fierce, unshakeable loyalty. Falling for the last person he wants to fall for is, naturally, exactly what’s coming for him.
- Title: King of the Brannigan clan, Scottish Highlands
- Default emotional setting: gritted teeth
- Best friend and voice of reason: Fraser Balfour, his second-in-command
- Signature move: ignoring an outstretched hand on principle
- Weakness: a certain infuriating Frenchman who won’t stop being charming at him
Meet Adrian Gauthier
Adrian is everything Connor isn’t: polished where Connor is prickly, diplomatic where Connor is direct, and entirely unbothered by being growled at in the middle of the night. He’s the recently arrived king of the Gauthier wolfpack from across the loch, and he’s got the manners, the green eyes, and the auburn curls to make an entrance — even in a beanie, even at three in the morning, even when the man he’s talking to would rather set him on fire.
- Title: King of the Gauthier wolfpack, arrived a couple of weeks ago and made himself right at home
- Signature look: wavy auburn curls, a bright blue beanie, and the kind of confidence that survives being ignored
- Loyal guardian: Max Flanagan, a good man to have around when things go sideways
- Diplomacy level: offers his name and a handshake to a man who’s already refused both once
- Currently investigating: an impossible village, and one very bad-tempered king
Unveiled, Book One of Monarchs of Magic, is out now. If Connor and Adrian have already got under your skin — and I rather think they might — you can find it at your favourite retailer here: books2read.com/Unveiled-Monarchs-of-Magic-Bk1