So I Married a Sorcerer (The Embraced #2)
Kerrelyn Sparks
For any of my readers
who have ever felt they were a member of
The Losers Club.
In my book,
you are all winners!
Acknowledgments
Just like my heroes and heroines, who rely on some excellent friends in order to survive and accomplish their goals, I also have a merry band of friends and associates who are looking out for me and making sure each book is worthy of my fabulous readers.
So first, let me thank all the great people at St. Martin’s Press. One last thank you and fond farewell goes to Rose Hilliard, and another big thank you to Monique Patterson and Alex Sehulster for graciously taking me on. My thanks also to Marissa, Brittani, Brant, Jordan, the team at Heroes & Heartbreakers, the art department, and everyone else who lent their time and support.
Like Luciana and Brigitta, I have a few women in my life who are like adopted sisters. A big thank you goes to my agent/buddy, Michelle Grajkowski of Three Seas, who has been my number-one cheerleader for over twelve years now. And quite frankly, I don’t know how I would survive without my best buds/critique partners—M.J. Selle, Sandy Weider, and Vicky Yelton. Love you all!
I am also blessed to have a wonderfully supportive husband/best friend/tax man/road manager/personal superhero. Love you, Don!! Now if only you would stop posing for the covers of my books! <snort> My thanks, also, to our wonderful kids for putting up with their crazy parents.
And last, but certainly not least, I need to thank all my lovely readers who continue to read my books and share the laughs with me. May your lives be filled with love and magic!
Prologue
In another time on another world called Aerthlan, there are five kingdoms. Four of the kingdoms extend across a vast continent. They have been constantly ravaged by war.
The fifth kingdom consists of two islands in the Great Western Ocean. These are the Isles of Moon and Mist. On the Isle of Moon, people worship the two moons in the night sky. On the Isle of Mist, there is only one inhabitant—the Seer.
Twice a year, the two moons eclipse. Any child born on the night the moons embrace will be gifted with a supernatural power. These children are called the Embraced. The kings on the mainland hunt and kill the young Embraced, and any who seek to protect them. Some of the Embraced infants are sent secretly to the Isle of Moon, where they will be safe.
For as long as anyone can remember, the Seer has predicted more war and destruction. But recently a new king and queen have ascended to power in the mainland kingdom of Eberon. King Leofric and Queen Luciana are both Embraced, so they have declared Eberon a safe haven for those who are born on the night the moons eclipse.
Because of the new king and queen, a new prophecy has emerged from the Isle of Mist. The Seer has predicted a wave of change that will sweep across Aerthlan and eventually bring peace to a world that has suffered too long.
And so our story continues with Queen Luciana’s four adopted sisters, who grew up in secret on the Isle of Moon. They know nothing of their families. Nothing of their past.
They only know they are Embraced.
Chapter One
“I cannot play,” Brigitta told her sisters as she cast a wary look at the linen bag filled with Telling Stones. Quickly she shifted on the window seat to gaze at the Great Western Ocean. The rolling waves went on for as far as she could see, but her mind was elsewhere. Calm yerself. The prediction will ne’er happen.
At dawn they had boarded this ship, accompanied by Mother Ginessa and Sister Fallyn, who were now resting in the cabin next door. This was the smallest vessel in the Eberoni Royal Navy, the captain had explained, sturdy enough to cross the ocean, but small enough to travel up the Ebe River to the palace at Ebton. There, they would see their oldest sister, who was now the queen of Eberon.
According to the captain, Queen Luciana had intended to send more than one ship to safeguard their journey, but at the last minute the other naval ships had been diverted south to fight the Tourinian pirates who were raiding villages along the Eberoni shore. But not to worry, the captain had assured Brigitta and her companions. Since the royal navy was keeping the pirates occupied to the south, their crossing would be perfectly safe.
Indeed, after a few hours, it seemed perfectly boring.
“If we don’t play, how will we pass the time?” Gwennore asked from her seat at the round table. “’Twill be close to sunset afore we reach Ebton.”
“I wish we could wander about on deck,” Maeve grumbled from her chair next to Gwennore. “’Tis a lovely spring day, and we’re stuck down here.”
Sorcha huffed in annoyance as she paced about the cabin. “Mother Ginessa insisted we remain here. I swear she acts as if she’s afraid to let anyone see us.”
“Perhaps she fears for our safety because we are Embraced,” Gwennore said.
Sorcha shook her head. “We’re safe now in Eberon.”
But only in Eberon, Brigitta thought as she studied the deep-blue waves. Being Embraced was a death sentence anywhere else on the mainland. The other kings abhorred the fact that each of the Embraced possessed some sort of magical power that the kings, themselves, could never have.
When Brigitta and her adopted sisters were born, the only safe haven had been the Isle of Moon. They’d grown up there in the Convent of the Two Moons, believing they were orphans. But almost a year ago, they’d discovered a shocking truth. Luciana had never been an orphan.