Tara gaped. Not gone? What the fuck do you mean, not gone?
‘I can bring Her back.’
For one long, clanging second, the square was silent, awestruck, and then it erupted, a seething mass of joy and denial.
Tara stood immobile against the jostling of the mob. Is this what you really sent me here for, Fox God? Killing a king and a lunatic priestess I can handle. Preventing the goddess of death from returning may be outside my skill set.
A manic giggle threatened and she swallowed it down as Lanta gestured the audience was over and Valan pulled at her arm, led her back through the jubilant and despairing crowd to the house he’d taken for his own.
Tara’s fingers were clumsy as she unbuckled his sword belt and vambraces, pulled his chainmail over his head and laid it on a table.
‘Softly done,’ he said. ‘You dressed your husband for battle?’
Tara blinked, belatedly remembered her cover story. ‘Many times, honoured, so that he would remember me when he fought.’ She paused. ‘Honoured, how can the Blessed One bring back your goddess? How is such a thing possible?’
Valan swilled wine around his mouth and then sat at the window, and she thought he wasn’t going to answer. He rarely did.
‘We need the king’s sister,’ he said eventually and Tara’s head snapped up. She stared at his profile, unblinking. ‘Corvus’s sister Rillirin is pregnant. The Blessed One believes the child will be the vessel that returns the Dark Lady to us, divine essence clothed in mortal flesh. And so we will bring her here, and the Blessed One will do what is necessary to restore our goddess to us.’
Not if I can slaughter the bitch first, she won’t.
‘Rillirin,’ Tara managed. ‘That’s a pretty name. I expect she will be glad to see her brother again.’
Valan grunted and drank more wine. ‘Somehow, I doubt that.’
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing Darksoul has been a bigger challenge than I expected. Coming off the high of Godblind being published and excited for the awesomeness that awaits in Book 3, I found I wasn’t entirely sure how to make Darksoul a worthy middle book with a story of its own.
So huge thanks go to Harry Illingworth, my superstar agent, and Natasha Bardon, my UK editor extraordinaire, for taking the rambling, incoherent mess that was the early version of Darksoul, and helping me turn it into something of which I’m very proud. I learnt a hell of a lot and I think between us we’ve done a fantastic job. I hope you agree.
Thanks also to Jack Renninson and Jaime Frost at Harper Voyager for generally putting up with my nonsense, to Dom Forbes for another epic cover and Richenda Todd for excellent copy editing (merlons not crenels; you learn something every day), Cameron McClure at Donald Maass, everyone at Louisa Pritchard Associates and the Marsh Agency, and of course to my foreign publishers – Skyhorse in the US, Bragelonne in France, Blanvalet in Germany, Luitingh-Sijthoff in the Netherlands, DOBROVSKY Publishing in the Czech Republic and Papierowy Ksiezyc/Caput Mundi Books in Poland.
Eternal thanks as ever go to my supportive and very proud family, close and extended, for alternately holding my hand and clipping me around the ear to get Darksoul over the finish line. I was a bit of a mess for parts of this, so I’m grateful that you put up with me and cheered me on.
To Mark, the best husband, friend and partner in crime I could wish for, your endless support means more than you know. You were epically patient while listening to my many rants, tantrums, sulks and meltdowns, and somehow always managed to make me laugh and realise that, as difficult as some of this process has been, it’s still my dream job. Thanks for keeping me focused and for coming to so many events and conventions with me. Having you there made it more special and less terrifying.
My first year as a published author has been a sensory overload in many ways, but lots of people have stood out as beacons of … I was going to say sanity, but that’s clearly not the case, so let me just thank them.
My fellow 2017 debutantes, for wearing the same delighted but bewildered expression I spent most of last year wearing and for the breathless, excited conversations about reviews, books sales and conventions.
The Fantasy Five – Mike Evans, Kareem Mahfouz, Laura Hughes, JP Ashman and Sadir Samir. You lot took a very nervous young author and made her incredibly welcome, and have been a brilliant champion of Godblind ever since, so thank you. Bang-average!
Mike actually gets a second mention here, for dropping everything to beta-read the second-to-last version of Darksoul and offer invaluable advice when I was contemplating a nervous breakdown. I have no idea how he juggled that along with his job, his family and planning his wedding. Something superhuman was going on. Thanks, Sarge.
As ever, the lovelies that are Jen Williams, Edward Cox, Mark de Jager and Stuart Turton for support and chats and beers – all fabulous authors, all with books worth buying.
And to everyone who read Godblind and enjoyed it, who took the time to review or recommend it, thank you. It means more than you could know. I hope Darksoul lives up to your expectations.
By Anna Stephens
Godblind
About the Publisher
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Darksoul Page 34