“Apologies, Lady Bethany. What do you think of the plan?”
She stared at him. “I’m a soldier not a mason.”
The leader of the engineers cleared his throat. “I think he means to ask if you agree with the plans to change your mother’s home. Would your mother approve?”
She blinked. She had been awake for month and they still treated her like a representative of Apexia. “I don’t know what my mother would think.”
“Well, what is your opinion then?”
Shaking her head, she said, “Do whatever Torius wants. It’s his temple, not mine.” This had become her standard reply. She had opinions on battle tactics and weapon creation. The reconstruction of a temple did not interest her.
As the masons and engineers prattled on, she stared at those around her. Allric and Jovan. Even Aneese and Torius. No doubt, Eve and Kiner were nearby, wanting to be the first to hear about the temple’s fate.
Her friends.
Arrago was missing, of course. He used the excuse of King Daniel commanding all Taftlin citizens to return home, but he left because he didn’t love her enough. Or, perhaps he loved too much and couldn’t bear to see her as anything other than his Bethany. All she knew was the world was empty with him gone.
“Beth? Are you all right?”
She looked at Jovan. Still the same Jovan. At least he would never change.
Bethany did not answer him. Instead, she turned and walked out. There was no one left to impress. Her experiment had failed. She was alone again. Only now, she had regret folded into the mix.
Standing in what was once the main courtyard, she surveyed the mess around her. Nearly a month had passed since Sarissa’s attack and too little had been done. Too many were homeless. The causeway between the temple and what was left of Orchard Park had become sleeping quarters. Any free space had been turned into either hospices or sleeping areas.
Chaos. They had lost their way, feeling Apexia’s abandonment. She also felt the loss as well. Only for her, it was the loss of herself. Her twin was dead. Her lover gone. The life she had known altered beyond recognition.
But she was still a soldier. They had not taken away her rank.
Bethany pulled a dagger from her hip belt. Twisting hair around her fingers, she sliced off the long tendrils, tossing them to the ground. She ran her hand over her head and only felt the prickle of the jagged hair. She turned on her heel and marched back inside the temple to the meeting.
Once a knight, always a knight.
The Saga Continues…
As the bodies of her father and her sister burned, Bethany refused to say good-bye. She would say it only when she saw the release of their spirits and the burning of every person connected to their deaths.
Only then would they rest in peace.
Thousands are dead. Lady Champion Bethany’s tainted sister is slain. Her home lost forever. And Magic yet survives. Bethany thought she’d given everything in the fight against Magic. She was wrong. When the deaths of those closest to her shake her already crumbled world, she doesn’t wilt and die. She still has one thing left to gain even now: revenge.
Prophecy or no, half-goddess or not, Bethany vows to bring order back to the world with the edge of her blade. No matter who she must defy. No matter what stands in her way. No matter who must die.
For what they’ve done to her, all will pay.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
The Saga Continues…
Blaze (Tranquility) Page 29
