Book 3: The Heart

Hollis

At the same moment as I reach the wide ring of defenders and ranged fighters encircling the heart of the battle, Candace limps to a stop at my side. Blood stains her gray coat in a dozen places, and my heart leaps into my throat. I meet her huge, dark eyes. She melts into a human before me. Her left arm dangles, boneless. Mottled black-and-purple bruises cover her bare torso. A myriad of small cuts spit tiny tributaries of blood, and a few massive gashes split her back.

My blood boils. I whip to the men I assigned to her. “You were supposed to—”

Candace puts her good hand on my arm. “They couldn’t. My mother….” She squeezes her eyes shut. “Rowena Solberg is dead.”

The blood on her mouth. Candace killed her, maybe even by herself. My chest aches. I send a futile prayer to the Goddess for time, but the battle doesn’t stop.

I brush a soft kiss over her forehead, then start fastening the buckles of her armor. “You’ll tell me everythi