“We’ll be fine. We have good friends.” She motioned to Brody, who lurked in the doorway, grinning at them. Down in the courtyard, Jensen and Edmund were cheering the loudest.
Leo nodded. “We have your father, Nevis, and General Harden. A few friendly ghosts and an army on our side, too.”
“And we have each other.” She smiled, then glanced at Brody. “How did he know my real name? Did you tell him?”
“No, I…” Leo winced. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later. After I give you the crown jewels.”
Brody scoffed. “You should have trusted her.”
“What?” Luciana gave him a questioning look.
With a sigh, Leo glanced at Brody. “Do you have any room in the doghouse?”
Epilogue
ONE MONTH LATER …
“I can’t believe it!” Brigitta hugged Luciana as soon as they entered the privacy of her enormous sitting room. “Our sister is a queen!”
“How does it feel?” Gwennore hugged her next.
“Exhausting,” Luciana replied with a tired laugh. “I thought the coronation would never end.”
She and Leo had just been crowned in a ceremony that had lasted five hours. Afterward, he’d rushed off to his study for a private conference with General Harden, Nevis, and her father, while Luciana and her sisters had come to the queen’s official sitting room.
“This thing is heavier than I thought it would be.” She lifted the crown off her head.
“I’ll help.” Sorcha took the golden crown inlaid with pearls and precious jewels, then with a mischievous grin, she set it on her own head. “How do I look?”
“Queen Sorcha.” Luciana curtsied, and they all laughed. “Do you know what is the best part of the coronation?”
“The jewels?” Sorcha placed the crown carefully on a nearby table.
“Having the beautiful new gowns ye gave us?” Brigitta whirled around, letting the skirt of her blue silk gown swish around her.
“Knowing that ye’ll have a baby in eight months?” Gwennore asked, her lavender-blue eyes twinkling.
“That is a close second,” Luciana conceded.
Maeve looked at Luciana with tears in her eyes. “The best part is that we’re all back together again.”
“Exactly.” Luciana hugged the youngest of her adopted sisters, and soon they were all hugging one another.
Brigitta sniffed. “We missed ye something terrible.”
“No tears now,” Luciana warned them. “We still have the ball to attend tonight. Have you been practicing the steps I showed you?” Her sisters and Mother Ginessa had arrived two days earlier, and Luciana had spent every spare minute with them. She had wanted to include them in today’s ceremony, but Mother Ginessa had insisted they only watch from a balcony.
Maeve stuck out her bottom lip. “Mother Ginessa said we can only watch the ball.”
“What?” Luciana gave her sisters an incredulous look. “But I had beautiful ball gowns made for each of you. And I thought—” She didn’t want to mention it, but she had hopes of matching her sisters with eligible young noblemen.
“Mother Ginessa insists we remain hidden,” Brigitta grumbled.
“Where is she?” Luciana asked.
“She went to her room,” Gwennore answered. “She said the ceremony was too tiring, and she needed to rest.”
Sorcha scoffed. “She’s still keeping secrets from us. It makes me so angry!”
Brigitta sighed. “What is wrong with us that we have to hide away?”
Gwennore winced. “In my case, I look like an elf, and people will think I’m an enemy. But I don’t know why the rest of ye can’t have fun at the ball.”
Maeve shrugged. “Mother Ginessa said we mustn’t be noticed.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Luciana sat down with a huff. “You’re the four most beautiful women in court. Even if you hide on balconies behind pillars, people will notice you.”
“That’s right!” Maeve looked at Brigitta. “Remember that man that came up to ye during the ceremony?”
“A courtier approached you?” Luciana asked.
Brigitta waved a dismissive hand. “He was not tall and handsome. I have no interest in him.”
“He was certainly interested in yerself,” Gwennore said. “He even asked if yer name is Brigitta. And when ye said yes, he scurried away.”
“Scurried?” Luciana asked.
“Aye, scurried,” Brigitta grumbled. “Because he was short and scrawny and old enough to be my father.”
Luciana tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair. “How was he dressed?”
Brigitta sat beside her on a settee. “A blue vest and cape, lined with gold silk.”
The royal colors of Tourin. Luciana bit her lip. She suspected the man had been the Tourinian ambassador. But how had he known Brigitta’s name?
Gwennore sat on the settee next to Brigitta. “I’m so happy ye were crowned as Queen Luciana. Now ye don’t have to pretend to be yer sister.”
“What happened to Tatiana?” Maeve sat on the rug, her pink silk skirt billowing around her, and Sorcha sat next to her in her new gown of green silk.
Luciana told them her sister’s story.
“She found a prince!” Brigitta clasped her hands together with a dreamy look.
“Luciana did, too,” Maeve insisted.
Sorcha nudged her with an elbow. “Leo’s a king. That’s better than a prince.”
“I heard he’s passed some new laws,” Gwennore said.
“We have,” Luciana corrected her. “First, we decreed it is no longer a crime to be born Embraced or a twin.”
Sorcha snorted. “Well, that gets us off the hook.”
“Exactly,” Luciana agreed. “And we gave religious freedom to all the Eberoni people. We can now make the sign of the moons without fearing for our lives.”
“Didn’t that anger the priests that follow the Light?” Gwennore asked.
Luciana nodded. “Yes, but we disbanded them. The Eberoni are now free to hire their own priests who will actually care for them instead of spying on them. We believe a person’s religious beliefs should not oppress him, but set him free.”
“I like it!” Gwennore smiled.
Luciana smiled back. Leo’s cousin Tedric had helped with that decision. Unfortunately, the disgruntled ex-priests were now ganging up with Lord Morris to cause trouble, but she didn’t want to spoil the day with bad news. “So now you are free to live here with me. We can all be together again.”
Her sisters exchanged sad looks.
Luciana’s smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
“Mother Ginessa says ’tis not safe for us on the mainland,” Brigitta mumbled.
“She said we need to go back to the Isle of Moon in a few days,” Gwennore added.
“And she won’t tell us why!” Sorcha clenched her fists. “I hate that!”
Luciana’s heart sank. She had so wanted to live with her sisters again.
“Maybe Luciana can tell our future,” Maeve suggested. “She predicted her own. She could do ours.”
Luciana sighed. “I don’t really know—”
“Ye could try!” Brigitta jumped up and ran to the trunk that the girls had brought from the Isle of Moon. It contained their woolen gowns from the convent.
Brigitta dug beneath the gowns and pulled out a linen bag closed with a drawstring. “I brought the stones!”
“Excellent!” Sorcha jumped to her feet. “We can play the Game of Stones!”
Gwennore dashed over to the table, where she emptied the fruit from a brass bowl. “We can use this bowl.”
“Let’s play by the fire.” Maeve headed across the enormous room, then stopped with a gasp. “Ye have a dog?”
Luciana’s mouth fell open. Brody was curled up in front of her fireplace, fast asleep. She hadn’t realized he was back at court. For the last month, he’d been away, hunting the Chameleon. The poor guy had to be exhausted if he’d slept right through their co
nversation and the coronation ceremony.
“Julia? Good goddesses, is that you?” Maeve ran across the room, squealing so loudly she woke Brody up. He blinked sleepily at her.
“It is you!” Maeve pulled him into a hug. “Julia!”
Brody growled low in his throat.
Luciana bit her lip to keep from laughing at the mortified look on the dog shifter’s face. “His name is Brody.”
“I told ye he’s male,” Sorcha muttered.
“Julia is too pretty to be a boy,” Maeve insisted as she rubbed his ears.
“Wait a minute.” Luciana frowned. “Are you saying you’ve met this dog before?”
“Julia was on the Isle of Moon. I gave her bacon.” Maeve gave the dog a perplexed look. “Julia, how did ye get here?”
“Brody was at the convent?” Luciana asked.
With a whimper, Brody slipped out of Maeve’s arms and slunk behind the settee.
Luciana snorted. Now she knew how Brody had known her real name. Leo, that rascal, had been dodging the question for a month now.
“Let’s play the game.” Gwennore set the bowl of Telling Stones on the rug and sat, tucking her lavender-blue silk skirt around her.
Luciana and the rest of her sisters sat in a circle around the bowl. Gwennore covered the bowl with a linen napkin.
“You should go first, Brigitta,” Luciana said.
“All right, but ye should pick the stones for me. Ye’re the one with the gift of foresight.”
When the other girls agreed, Luciana reached underneath the napkin and gathered a handful of stones.
Eight, seven, blue, and gold.
“O Great Seer,” Sorcha whispered, “reveal to us the secrets of the Telling Stones.”
Luciana cleared her throat. “In eight months, you will meet a tall and handsome stranger.”
Brigitta snorted. “Of course I will. ’Twill be yer newborn son.”
Luciana shook her head. “You mean daughter. And I doubt she’ll be very tall.”
“Aye.” Sorcha grinned. “But she could be strange.”
Luciana swatted her sister’s arm, then laughed. “Och, but I have missed ye all.”
“There’s the seven again.” Brigitta pointed at the second numbered stone. “Does it mean I’ll have seven suitors vying for my hand?” When Luciana nodded, she squealed with excitement.
Gwennore rolled her eyes. “Do ye truly wish to be the prize for some kind of contest?”
Brigitta frowned at her. “I wish to be wanted. Is that so bad?”
Maeve gave her a worried look. “Be careful what ye wish for.”
Brigitta waved a dismissive hand. “’Twill be glorious, just ye wait and see. And the blue and gold stones, do they mean the tall and handsome stranger will have blue eyes and blond hair like me self?”
Sorcha snorted. “Aye, he’ll be yer cousin.”
“Or brother,” Gwennore muttered.
Brigitta huffed. “That’s not true! He’ll be wonderful just like Luciana’s husband. Right, Chee-ana?”
Luciana bit her lip as she studied the blue and gold stones. “They do not mean a physical description. These are the royal colors of Tourin.”
Brigitta gasped. “Then he’ll be a prince?” With a squeal, she jumped to her feet and whirled about.
Luciana shook her head. “I’m not sure. I’m not trained to do this, you know, so you shouldn’t take this to heart.”
With a groan, Brigitta sat back down. “All right, but it is fun to pretend, don’t ye think?”
Luciana gave the stones a wary look. She wasn’t sensing any definite details, only an uncomfortable feeling of danger.
“What’s wrong?” Gwennore asked. “We only meant to have fun with yerself, but ye’re frowning.”
Luciana dropped the stones back into the bowl. “Ye’re right. ’Tis only a game. And I don’t need the stones to make a prediction I know must come true. You must all come back here when I give birth.”
“Of course,” Brigitta agreed. “And Mother Ginessa will come, too, since she’s the best midwife on the Isle of Moon.”
Luciana smiled, remembering how Mother Ginessa had been present at her own birth. Still, that feeling of future danger pricked at her. “I’ll make sure you are safe on the journey. We’ll send some ships from the royal navy to escort you here.”
“How exciting!” Maeve clapped her hands.
Sorcha grinned. “I cannot believe ye have so much power now.”
Brigitta took Luciana’s hand. “Ye have the power to make it safe for us to see each other.”
“And the power to change the world for the better,” Gwennore added.
“Did ye hear the latest prediction from the Isle of Mist?” Maeve asked. “The Seer said a new wind is sweeping across Aerthlan, from the Isle of Moon to the Eberoni shore. And the first change in the New World is the new king and queen of Eberon.”
From behind the settee, Brody barked his agreement.
Luciana smiled. “It’s good to be queen.”
Acknowledgments
Any author starting a new series is bound to feel a mixture of excitement and apprehension. For while it’s exciting to embark on a new journey, there’s always the worry that I’ll be making the voyage alone! So first of all, I must acknowledge my readers. If you have joined me here as my travel companions into a strange new world, you are my heroes and heroines. Thank you! I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy your new story.
While I do my best to provide the entertainment onboard, there is a team of people behind the scenes, steering the boat. My thanks to everyone at St. Martin’s Press: my editor Rose Hilliard, her assistant Jennie Conway, and the art, marketing, publicity, production, and sales departments.
I doubt I would survive the writing of any book without my friends and family on the home front. My thanks to my husband, Don, and our kids, for always believing in me and feeding me whenever I’m under deadline. My thanks, also, to my critique partners, who have been with me for over seventeen books, scouring each and every page that I write and kicking my ass as needed. Miraculously, we are still the best of friends, and somehow, they manage to keep me reasonably sane. Admit it, M.J., Sandy, and Vicky: that last line made you snort.
In order to create a new world, I picked bits and pieces from our world that especially appealed to me. For instance, the setting for the fortress at Vindemar is based on the lovely castle of Dunnottar in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. My thanks to fellow writers/traveling companions Cathy Maxwell, Lorraine Heath, Elizabeth Essex, Deborah Barnhart, Denise Coyle, and Bonnie Tucker. Our trip to Scotland was magical! Thank you for sharing it with me. And my thanks to all the readers who came to see us in Glasgow! Meeting you was such a hoot!
The castle keep and catacombs at imaginary Vindemar were inspired by Kronborg Castle in Helsingor, Denmark. Kronborg, also known as Hamlet’s castle, has a long history of providing inspiration. The castle’s strategic location enabled the kings of Denmark to collect tolls from any ship entering the Baltic Sea. This idea found its way into my book, where the ruling house of Eberon collects tolls from any boat traveling up the Ebe River. Many thanks to Erik, Kate, and Stephan Nielsen for driving me around Denmark, showing me so many wonderful sites, and even venturing into the spooky catacombs with me. Thank goodness the passages weren’t stacked to the ceiling with bones like the ones in this book. And luckily, we didn’t run into any ghosts (that we know of).
My thanks to any new readers who are giving this series a chance. For all my readers, old and new—welcome to the world of Aerthlan. May it bring you hope, joy, and the comforting warmth of remembering those we have loved.
The magic continues …
Read on for an early preview of book two in The Embraced series!
In another time on another world called Aerthlan, there are five kingdoms. Four of the kingdoms extend across a vast continent. They are constantly at war.
The fifth kingdom consists of two islands in the Great Western Ocean. These are
the Isles of Moon and Mist. On the Isle of Moon, people worship the two moons in the night sky. On the Isle of Mist there is only one inhabitant—the Seer.
Twice a year, the two moons eclipse. Any child born on the night the moons embrace will be gifted with some sort of supernatural power. These children are called the Embraced. The kings on the mainland hunt and kill the young Embraced, and any who seek to protect them. Some of the Embraced infants are sent secretly to the Isle of Moon, where they will be safe.
For as long as anyone can remember, the Seer has predicted more war and destruction. But recently a new king and queen have ascended to power in the mainland kingdom of Eberon. King Leofric and Queen Luciana are both Embraced, so they have declared Eberon a safe haven for those who are born on the night the moons eclipse.
Because of the new king and queen, a new prophecy has emerged from the Isle of Mist. The Seer has predicted a wave of change that will sweep across Aerthlan and eventually bring peace to a world that has suffered too long.
And so our story continues with Queen Luciana’s four adopted sisters, who grew up in secret on the Isle of Moon. They know nothing of their families. Nothing of their past.
They only know they are Embraced.
Chapter One
“I cannot play,” Brigitta told her sisters as she cast a wary look at the linen bag filled with Telling Stones. Quickly she shifted on the window seat to gaze at the Great Western Ocean. The rolling waves went on for as far as she could see, but her mind was elsewhere. Calm yerself. The prediction will ne’er happen.
At dawn they had boarded this ship, accompanied by Mother Ginessa and Sister Fallyn, who were now resting in the cabin next door. This was the smallest vessel in the Eberoni Royal Navy, the captain had explained, sturdy enough to cross the ocean, but small enough to travel up the Ebe River to the palace at Ebton. There, they would see their oldest sister, who was now the queen of Eberon.
According to the captain, Queen Luciana had intended to send more than one ship to safeguard their journey, but at the last minute, the other naval ships had been diverted south to fight the Tourinian pirates who were raiding villages along the Eberoni shore. But not to worry, the captain had assured Brigitta and her companions. Since the Royal Navy was keeping the pirates occupied to the south, their crossing would be perfectly safe.
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