Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
The red priests are coming to Raine. All night, the terrifying knowledge had haunted my sleep. I dreamed of fire—how could I not—and woke restlessly in the dark with the prickle of imagined flames racing over my skin.
Worse yet, the king had commanded me to accompany him to Portknowe to meet the ship bearing the leader of the priests, Warder Galtus Celcio. No one knew precisely why the warder was coming, or why he'd demanded a meeting with Lord Raine. Was the warder's visit the precursor to an invasion? Stars knew, the red priests had brought their fearsome fire sorcery to bear upon their closer neighbors, charring and conquering without mercy.
I'd believed, naively it seemed, that the island kingdom of Raine was safe from the priests of the Twin Gods.
I turned beneath the covers, my mind whirling with dread, until Trisk, the cat, mewed with sleepy impatience from her place by my feet. With a sigh, I rose and went to my window seat. Settling on the cushions, I pushed the curtains aside, though the sun was still hours from rising. My hair stuck to the back of my neck with sweat, curling tendrils escaping from my braid.
Outside the castle wall, the quarter moon rode low over the black trees of the Darkwood. I leaned my forehead against the glass, trying to absorb its coolness.
I desperately wished Thorne was there with me—the Dark Elf guardian of the forest, and the keeper of my heart. Yearning for him twisted in my chest with every breath I took.
Unfortunately, he was not in the mortal world at all, but across the gateway in the realm of Elfhame, tending to my sister, Neeve. He wouldn't return before I had to depart Castle Raine for Portknowe.
This is your fault. My little voice, ever-present goad and critic, spoke the knowledge I'd been trying hard to deny. I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out the sight of the evergreens, the scattering of stars faded by the moon.
I hated to admit it, but the truth was a hard stone in my belly. It was my fault. The leader of the red priests was coming in answer to my newly awakened fire sorcery. It was the only explanation. In the past, Thorne had explained that magic could seek out other magic. Indeed, it was part of his duties to make sure the Darkwood and its secrets were well warded against such arcane searching.
But until very recently, I'd no knowledge of my own power, let alone how to shield and contain it. For anyone looking for such things, as the red priests were known to do, my magic must have blazed like a bonfire in the sorcerous ether.
And so. In three days Galtus Celcio would arrive in Portknowe. And the king, my mother, and I would be there to meet him.
