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Chapters (58)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Part One
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Part Two: Three Months Later
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-one
  27. Part Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-two
  29. Chapter Twenty-three
  30. Chapter Twenty-four
  31. Chapter Twenty-five
  32. Chapter Twenty-six
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-one
  38. Chapter Thirty-two
  39. Chapter Thirty-three
  40. Chapter Thirty-four
  41. Chapter Thirty-five
  42. Chapter Thirty-six
  43. Chapter Thirty-seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Chapter Forty-one
  48. Chapter Forty-two
  49. Chapter Forty-three
  50. Chapter Forty-four
  51. Chapter Forty-five
  52. Chapter Forty-six
  53. Chapter Forty-seven
  54. Chapter Forty-eight
  55. Epilogue
  56. Acknowledgments
  57. About the Author
  58. Keep Reading for a Sneak Peek at Umbertouched

I grip my sword and drive it through his heart. The rebel shudders, and falls still. I wipe my blade off on his tunic and back away. Thankfully, Arxa doesn’t call on me to take care of any others.

After all is done, Arxa calls for the troops. “Fall in tight. Weapons at the ready. We march back the way we came.”

Chapter Thirty-one

Mehtap knocks on my door as I’m getting into bed. She looks fragile in her sleeping gown. Some of her hair’s escaped her nighttime braid, and candlelight illuminates the stray strands so they glow. “There’s been news,” she says. My heart stutters at her words. Panic, guilt, worry, and fear hit me all at once.

“They’re alive,” Mehtap hurriedly adds. “My father, Dineas, Prince Kiran, they’re all alive. At least they were when my father wrote this letter, but the prince’s trip was cut short. They were ambushed and lost a number of their men.”

“Ambushed? Where?”

She hesitates a split second. “Southern Monyar. In the mountains.”

And now the guilt settles in thick around me. An ambush in the southern Monyar mountains. The attackers would have needed time to prepare, make plans. They could only have done it if they’d had warning….

Mehtap wipes hurriedly at her eyes. “I’m going down to the shrine to burn some incense. I know you don’t have the same gods, but will you come with me? I don’t want to be alone.”

“Of course.” I grab a robe to drape over my nightgown.

The shrine is a simple alcove tucked into the downstairs courtyard. On the wall hang images of the seven High Gods of Ampara. Neju, god of war, and Hefana, goddess of healing, take the honored center spots in this household, and it is in front of these two that Mehtap kneels in turn, mouthing silent prayers. She lights incense sticks and places one in front of each as I stand a respectful distance away.

When she finishes, she comes to stand next to me. In the orange glow of the incense sticks, she looks nothing more than a frightened child. I could almost convince myself that we’re sisters in our worry and grief, that I’m not the cause of her current troubles.

Mehtap dusts the residual incense from her fingers. “To be honest, I don’t concern myself much with the gods unless something goes wrong,” she says. “They don’t seem all that real to me, though it seems unlucky to say so right in front of the shrine.”

“I’m sure the gods forgive a bit of doubt,” I say.

Mehtap looks at me. “And what about your Goddess? Are you devoted to her?”

It’s on my lips to reply with a simple yes, but something stops me. Perhaps because I’m so far from home, or because Mehtap herself has been so honest.