Havlord could not believe his own daughter had ordered the guards to throw him into the street!One moment, he had been standing before the gates of the Ashbane estate, demanding the respect he deserved. The next, two guards had grabbed him beneath his arms and carried him down the avenue like a sack of spoiled grain.They dropped him beside a public fountain.Havlord landed on his backside with a painful grunt.“Arghh!”His expensive coat folded beneath him. Mud covered one sleeve, and several people on the street had stopped to stare.“What are you looking at?” Havlord barked.The people quickly turned away.None of them wanted trouble with him. Havlord might have been disgraced by his daughter, but he was still a powerful man with armed guards and a terrible temper.He pushed himself to his feet and brushed the mud from his coat.His own daughter had done this to him.Liv had forgotten who raised her! She had forgotten whose blood ran through her veins. Now that Kaedric had returne

The second stone arch was getting closer.Solveig lowered the front of her sky-rift glider and leaned forward. The wind tore at her silver hair, but her hands remained steady around the wooden bar.She had raced through worse winds before.Back in her father’s lands, children from the great houses learned to ride wind-gliders while they were still young. Solveig had crossed mountain storms, flown through burning rings, and once finished a race with one wing half-torn from its frame.This was nothing.Liv did not know any of that.All she knew was that Solveig was getting farther ahead.The changing wind struck beneath the second arch.Solveig followed the race-master’s warning. She lowered her glider and allowed the current to pull her down. For one frightening moment, she seemed to fall straight toward the chasm.Then another wind caught beneath her wings.WHOOSH!Her glider shot through the stone arch and rose sharply on the other side.The crowd below exploded.“Solveig has crossed

Sigrid took a deep breath.They had been travelling for almost two hours. In those two hours, she had tried at least seven different ways to start a conversation with Kaedric.None of them had worked.Walking beside him was like walking beside a wall that occasionally knew how to nod. The longest answer she had managed to get from him was two words, and she was almost certain one of them had been hmm.It would not have bothered her so much if she only wanted to pass the time. But there were things she needed to ask him.What had happened to him inside the Rootway?Why had Midgard answered him?And why had he allowed her to follow him when everyone else at Stormwall still believed she could not be trusted?Unfortunately, every question she asked died before it became useful.Sigrid glanced at him again.Kaedric walked beside her with his eyes fixed on the narrow road ahead. His face had not changed in almost an hour.“Your daughter,” Sigrid tried again. “She must look very much like yo

The grey light inside the crystals continued to gather.An ordinary man would die if even one of them struck him. Kaedric would not. As the Guardian of Midgard, his body could survive wounds that would kill most men, but the crystals would still burn through him. He could be unable to leave a bed for several days, and in his present situation, losing that much time would make the rest of his journey far more difficult.Sigrid saw the men move their hands.There was no time to cast a spell or warn Kaedric. The only way she could stop the crystals from reaching him was to stand in their path.She ran.Kaedric saw her pass him and immediately understood what she was trying to do.His face tightened with anger.“What are you doing?”Sigrid had barely placed herself in front of him when he caught her by the arm and pulled her back. The crystals left the hands of the men at the same moment, sending several beams of grey light towards them.The woman holding the baby released a loud scream.

Everything bold about Solveig had disappeared.They had been back inside the house for less than a minute. Two of Liv’s men had supported Solveig through the doors, but even after they placed her in a chair, she continued holding their arms as though the floor might open beneath her.She could still see the attack whenever she closed her eyes.A few moments ago, she and Liv had been fighting over a foolish race. Then the executioners had appeared, and death had come so close that Solveig had felt it pass over her skin.Since returning, she had not spoken. Her face had lost all colour, and her eyes remained fixed on something no one else could see.One thought continued moving through her mind.What if Kaedric was not here?He was the only person who could protect her from her family. If he had not returned, there was no one in Ashkim strong enough to stand between her and the people her father would send next.“Send every man we have to surround this place!” Liv ordered.Her clothes w