by Jenna Glass
Alysoon frowned ever so slightly in thought, and Corlin steepled his hands in front of his mouth as he leaned back into the corner of the sofa. Elwynne was gratified to see that neither was laughing.
“How much of Nandel do you remember from your childhood?” Alysoon finally asked.
“Very little,” Elwynne was forced to admit. “But rest assured: I know that it will be an uphill battle.”
The throne of Nandel had changed hands three times in the past ten years, between two of Waldmir’s surviving nephews and one grandnephew. The transitions had all occurred relatively peacefully, but no one who had sat on the throne felt secure in his position, and their principality was a shadow of its former self.
“It is my understanding,” said Corlin, “that women are still legally possessions of their fathers or husbands there. That would seem to make your road…extremely challenging.”
He wasn’t wrong. But then he didn’t know about Lady Leethan’s long-ago vision, which had foretold the day when Elwynne would be Sovereign Princess of Nandel. On Elwynne’s thirteenth birthday, Zarsha and Ellinsoltah had sat her down to tell her about the vision Lady Leethan had described to them. Ever since that day, she’d been mulling over—and discussing with her foster parents—how she might make that vision come true. And she had never for a moment doubted that she wanted it to come true.
Elwynne loved Rhozinolm. It was, to all intents and purposes, the only home she’d ever known. She remembered little of Nandel except feeling forgotten and lesser and unimportant, so her desire to take that throne had nothing to do with nostalgia for her homeland. Her desire rose from the inspiration of all the extraordinary women whom she’d crossed paths with over her life.
Her foster mother was the Queen of Rhozinolm—the first ever queen to sit on the throne in her own right and not cede it to her husband—and her eldest foster sister was the crown princess. She had spent the last two years quietly studying magic with Kailee Rah-Kailindar, who had formerly been the wife of the Prince Regent of Aaltah. Kailee—who had once seemed destined to a life locked up in the Abbey—had fallen in love with and married a man of Rhozinolm and had been one of the first female spell crafters officially granted a position at the Academy there.
Elwynne was in this room speaking with the first sovereign princess Seven Wells had ever known, a woman who had created her principality from nothing. She’d been rescued from the Abbey of Nandel by two old women whom society had deemed all but worthless. And then there was her half-sister, Shelvon, whom she had yet to meet. Shelvon, who had paved the way for women to join the Citadel of Women’s Well, and who was now the first ever female lieutenant commander.
All these women had accomplished the impossible, giving Elwynne reason to believe her own goal was not impossible at all. She smiled at Corlin and Alysoon.
“I believe I am up to the challenge,” she said. “Or at least will be one day. There is a real chance that the law granting men ownership of the women in their lives will be struck down in the next year or two. Even in Nandel, it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain the fiction that women are somehow inferior beings.”
It was a crucial first step—one that had been a long time in coming. But Elwynne knew that Zarsha and Ellinsoltah had been pressing for it, both publicly and in more subversive ways.
“I’ve been studying magic with Lady Kailee,” she said, and saw Alysoon’s face brighten at the sound of her former sister-in-law’s name. “Unfortunately, I’ve found I have no great talent for it. However, I believe that I might have a talent that the people of Nandel will find more appealing, and I was hoping that perhaps I could hone that talent here.”
“Oh?” Alysoon inquired. “What talent is that?”
“Papa…Uncle Zarsha…badgered a former officer of the Rhozinolm Citadel into giving me sword lessons, and I’ve been told I am promising. But although it is now legal for women to join the Citadel of Rhozinolm, it is not accepted. I’ve spoken to the handful of female cadets who have toughed it out to remain, and their stories are not encouraging. So—with the permission of the queen—I have come to seek permission to train at the Citadel of Women’s Well.”
Alysoon nodded thoughtfully. “We do have the largest female fighting force in all of Seven Wells,” she acknowledged. “I presume you know my stepdaughter, Shalna, is a captain.”
“I do. Just as I know my half-sister is a lieutenant commander.”
“And does Lady Shelvon know that she is your half-sister?”
“Not as of now,” Elwynne said. “We have yet to meet. But unless you think it unwise, I think I will tell her.”
“I see no reason why you shouldn’t,” Alysoon said. “I think she will be delighted to know you.”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” Corlin interjected, “why is it a secret that you are Waldmir’s daughter? Surely the need for secrecy died when the war ended.”
Elwynne shook her head. “Until the legal ownership of women is finally officially outlawed, it is best to maintain the fiction that I am Zarsha’s child. Especially when I have not yet come of age.” She smiled and imagined there was a spark of mischief in her eyes. “If all of Zarsha’s various machinations work out the way he plans, then Nandel will not only have granted women their freedom, but also legalized inheritance through the female line by the time I’m twenty—before anyone in Nandel has any idea that Waldmir has a daughter who would actually dare to make a claim on the throne.”
Alysoon startled her by laughing. “As I suspect you know, my relationship with Prince Waldmir was…thorny. I spoke to him very little, but I think…” The crinkles at the corners of her eyes deepened. “Well, perhaps it is presumptuous of me to say so, but I think he would have been proud of you. He was a man who respected strength, and I can clearly see that you have a good deal of it.”
The words caused a pleasant flutter in Elwynne’s chest. She had none but the dimmest memories of her real father, and it was already clear that history would not be kind to him. From everything she had learned about him, the calumny was well earned. And yet even so, it moved her just a little to think that he might have been proud.
“So, do you think it’s possible, then? That I might one day be the Sovereign Princess of Nandel?” Even knowing about Leethan’s vision, Elwynne sometimes suffered from doubt when she thought about how very far Nandel still had to go before a woman there could be treated as anything resembling an equal, much less a sovereign.
Princess Alysoon’s smile was full of warmth and confidence. “Let’s just say I wouldn’t bet against you.”
To the amazing women of the Baldwin School class of 1983. You took a lonely, bullied teen and showed her that people could be kind and that she was not alone after all. My life might have gone a very different direction if it were not for you.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This series has been the longest, hardest, and most satisfying I have ever written. I had a lot of help along the way—people who helped make the books better and who propped me up when my confidence flagged and the task seemed too daunting. First and foremost is my editor, Anne Groell. I cannot put into words how much I have learned from working with you or how enjoyable you made the always fraught experience of facing revisions. Thanks also to my agent, Miriam Kriss, who’s been with me and cheered me ever since my first published novel. Then there’s my husband, Dan, who is my first reader and my staunchest supporter. I could not do this without you. The team at Del Rey has taken great care of this series—and given it fantastic cover art—and I’m very grateful for everything they’ve done. Last but not least are Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, and the rest of the retreat crew. Brainstorming with you—and soaking up the energy we all generated through our retreats—was an integral part of the writing of each book in this series, and I cannot thank you enough.
BY JENNA GLASS
The Women’s War
Queen of the Unwanted
Mother of All
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jenna Glass made her foray into epic fantasy with The Women’s War, but she wrote her first book—an “autobiography”—when she was in the fifth grade. She began writing in earnest while in college and proceeded to collect a dizzying array of rejections for her first seventeen novels. Nevertheless, she persisted, and her eighteenth novel became her first commercial sale. Within a few years, Glass became a full-time writer, and she has never looked back. She has published more than twenty novels under various names.
jennaglass.com
Facebook.com/JennaBlackGlass
Twitter: @jennablack
Instagram: @jennablackbooks
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.