The First Key

A Prequel to The Curse of the Crusader Series

A secret born in the Crusades.
A relic that should never have been taken.
A curse that has waited eight hundred years.

1191 AD. During the chaos of the Third Crusade, a small group of knights hunts a fugitive member of the Knights Hospitaller through the hills near Acre.

The man they pursue carries a mysterious relic: an ancient key tied to a secret agreement forged years earlier between leaders of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—an agreement meant to protect peace in the Holy Land.

But powerful crusader leaders believe the relic hides a dangerous betrayal.

When the young knight Adrien de Villiers finally seizes the key in a ruined chapel, something unnatural awakens.

The wind begins to howl.
The candles extinguish themselves.
And the dying guardian speaks a final warning:

"You have taken the key… but the curse will take you."

That night, Adrien writes the last entry in his journal—unaware that the relic he now carries will unleash a curse that will follow his bloodline for centuries.

Because some secrets were never meant to be uncovered.

And some curses never die.

The First Key is a gripping historical prequel to The Curse of the Crusader, a series where ancient relics, forgotten conspiracies, and modern-day discoveries collide.

Read the story of the night the curse began.