Book 5: What Are They Doing Here?

Maddy

I hadn’t realized what changes had taken place in the city outside the castle since I first came to stay there. Even during my last trip into town to be fitted for a wedding dress with Ella, Rosie, and Hannah, there hadn’t been this many… people. Warriors, all of them. Some are so young they look barely old enough to be leaving their mothers, let alone going to war.

Isla sits between me and Ella in the backseat of the car as we drive toward the castle through the city center. She holds our hands and stares blankly out at the window at the armies gathered in camps in what looks to be a stadium of some kind with a wide, grassy plain out front now covered in tents. Even Ella’s in shock, her eyes glued to the window and her mouth slightly parted.

“There’s so many of them,” she whispers, turning to her mother.

“Your father and brother have been busy the last few days,” Isla murmurs with a hint of annoyance, but her eyes betray her casual dem