New roles. New rules. No margin for
error.
Zezilia Ilar joins the sept son’s
entourage as a defender. Her growing Talent ability makes her a target for the
Elitists, and her gender makes people question her competence. She must protect
the sept son. Any mistake could be fatal.
Hadrian Aleron always knew his beliefs
would cause trouble, but he didn’t realize how much. Rebels are rising. He
could lose his title, his position, and if he’s not careful, his life. As the
assassination attempts grow bolder, Hadrian must rely upon his young defender
and their shared faith in the Almighty to keep him from faltering.
Rachel Rossano lives with her husband and three children in the northeastern part of the United States. Homeschooled through high school, she began writing her early teens. She didn’t become serious about pursuing a career as an author until after she had graduated from college and happily married. Then the children came.
Now she spends her days being a wife, mother, teacher, and household manager. Her evenings and free moments are devoted to her other loves, writing and book cover design. Drawing on a lifelong fascination with reading and history, she spends hours creating historical feeling fantasy worlds and populating them with characters who live and breathe on the page.
Snippet #2
Zezilia
I fought them the whole way. At least one of the young men limped away with a nasty bruise on his shin, and two had teeth marks on their hands. After the second yelped and withdrew his hand, a sweaty-smelling scrap of wool was stuffed in my mouth instead. They dragged me backwards into a dark room, and the door closed behind us with a final thump. Before I could catch my balance, they released me and let me fall to my knees blind and bewildered. I didn’t dare touch my amoveo now that I was obviously being targeted. The men might be in league with the strange man in the Council Hall. Now that I was unhindered, I spat out the rag and peered into the darkness.
“You always were such a pest, Zez.” Vander, one of my elder brothers, lit a lamp, bathing the small storeroom in a meager glow. “Why couldn’t you have come quietly?”
“If I had known I was coming to speak to you, I wouldn’t have protested,” I replied. “The method of my invitation was a bit hostile.”
I scanned the room as I slowly rose to my feet. The lack of windows was hardly surprising. Pressing in on my right and left were towering shelves full of towels, bedding, and pillows. In the shadow of Vander’s solid form, a second door beckoned invitingly. If I could just get past him, I had a hope of getting free.
He grunted. “We had to get you away from the stick-in-the-mud of a sept son without him knowing. Father wants to speak with you, and his exaltedness has made it clear that he will not make you available. So, we had to use other means.”
“You could have at least told me where you were taking me,” I pointed out. Even if Vander had asked, I wouldn’t have come, but it was point worth making just the same.
“I did tell you.” He laughed jeeringly then. “For all that hype about your abilities, you missed my sending from only inches away. Tsk, tsk. Not all that you are supposed to be, are you?”
I almost opened my mouth to explain that I had ConPropped, and my Talent was blind, but I stopped in time.
Snippet #4
Hadrian
It took three days to walk Zez through the steps of permanent defense raising to the extent where I felt she understood and could attempt her first. Part of my unease came from the fact Neleck had given me weeks of exercises, lectures, and study before he allowed me to try my first. We didn’t have weeks. We had days and too few for what we were trying to accomplish. I did take comfort in the fact Zez was my confidant again. Unlike Korneli, she didn’t pester. She also didn’t lecture like Errol. She simply listened, asked questions, and gave me her honest opinion. It was refreshing after two days of being on my own. Korneli was, unfortunately, right. She was already entrenched in my life and stress whether I liked it or not.
Her dark grey eyes were framed by constant dark smudges from lack of sleep. The smile that could brighten my moods came out less often, and when it did, it only glimmered in a pale reflection of its previous shine. She still had her spirit. It would appear at moments when I least expected it. A gesture or facial expression would remind me of the child I had met years ago in the high king’s gardens.
“Am I doing something wrong?” she asked, flooding my mouth with the taste of mint.
“No, you are doing just fine.” I quickly averted me eyes from my study of her face. “I am sorry. I just haven’t been sleeping, and I tend to stare into space as my brain wanders.”
She nodded. “So, are you ready?”
I glanced around us. The moonlight was so strong that I could clearly locate all of our party scattered around our resting place. We would be starting our nightly journey any minute, but not until I gave the signal. I sent a warning that we were not to be disturbed to Renato and Korneli and then turned my attention back to Zez. “Not really, but I doubt I ever will be.”
She smiled. “I am going to begin.” Closing her eyes, she withdrew into her mind. I carefully watched her progress with only my eyes.
It was strange how out of practice I had become at observing people with just my normal senses. Perhaps it was because I used my Talent-senses constantly and was hardly ever without them. Either way, I quickly became frustrated just scrutinizing Zez’s facial features. They gave away nothing about what was happening beneath them within her mind and heart.
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