Prophecy's Promise (Prophecy of the Edges Book 1) (30 page)

The shutters of my childhood home were open, but the lights were out. The windows were empty eyes staring at me. I don’t know why I expected anything other than a vacant house. Once the Mist blocker stopped twisting his memories, my father must have gone in search of me. Whether to kill me or help me remained a question. I wonder if he still thought that I was the Counter.

I could feel someone’s presence behind me. I turned, standing up and pulling the twin daggers from my boots in one fluid motion. Altis. My throat tightened. For the first time in months, Azabin did not taint my feelings, but I didn’t need an ancient power to ratchet up my emotions. A thousand potential conversations hung in the air around us. Why did you not believe in me? Why did you let me love you knowing that we couldn’t be together? You gave up your princess in the end anyway. Why?

He sat down next to me and put his hand over mine. “Nazarie told me that I’d find you here.”

Smiling, I thought back to the day that Meena had found me in the stables. Nazarie always seemed to know me and what I would do.

There were too many discussions that I didn’t have the energy to start. I pulled my hand out from underneath his. “I thought you didn’t like Nazarie.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his gaze steady and hurt.

“I don’t know,” I said, but I did know. Jealousy. Needing distance. Avoidance. Not wanting him to know that we would be forever bound together. Too many reasons to enumerate. “Would it have changed anything?”

“Maybe,” he said and then sighed. “Probably not.”

I gazed eastward. The horizon was beginning to turn twilight; the sun was coming up. “Bahlym was so mad that I said he was the father.” I started to laugh. Altis did not.

My laughter turned to tears. “I didn’t want the baby, but I did want it. I named her Sara Heather.”

Maybe if it had been an option, I would have released Azabin and tried to live out my life with Altis and Sara Heather.

Maybe.

Probably not.

“Sara Heather,” Altis whispered, trying out the name. “Sara Heather Acrovena. Pretty.” He choked back a sob. “But you had to survive, and turning to Azabin was the only way. We would have killed you and the baby.” He thought for a moment. “Well, none of us except Kael could have brought ourselves to do it. But he would have. And we would have let it happen.” After a while longer. “You fought magnificently that day. I’ve never seen anyone with such artistry. It was like you were touched by the gods.”

“I kind of was. Am…” The dark sky started to grow brighter off toward the distant east. “Altis, I can fix the world.”

He smiled at me, tenderly stroking my hair. “When it killed the baby, it possessed you. You almost lost yourself. I saw it. We are just mortals, Hailey.”

“I loved you,” I murmured.

“I
love
you,” he responded.

“I don’t think you do. If you did, you’d never leave me. It’s as simple as that,” I told him stubbornly, even though I knew nothing between us could ever be called “simple.”

He sighed. “I have to go with the Mitanni. The others have already left, and the Empire will be combing the battlefield for prisoners. I only wanted to say goodbye. I do love you, Hailey. Even if you don’t believe it.” He took to the sky and flew into the sunrise.

He disappeared beyond the horizon. The dark blue turned into a burnt orange as the sun rose over the healed Earth completing the first full sunrise in a thousand years.

As a reader, I’ve always loved acknowledgements. Before the internet and the rise of author blogs, it was a rare opportunity to see into an author’s world. Of course, now with the aforementioned blogs there are numerous opportunities. You can see mine at
http://laurenamundson.com
. But even still, the acknowledgements have held a special place in my heart and I’m very excited to be writing my very first acknowledgements! Yey!

This book has taken an excruciatingly long time to write. It was done in fits and spurts over the course of five or six years. And then it sat for another two or three. Through it all, my husband, Pete Amundson has listened to me ramble about possible plot lines and character motivations. Thanks, Pete. You are my best friend and the love of my life. I would also like to thank my parents, Michal and Gerald Hunt who taught me to read and write in English and Basic/Logo/etc. And my son, Zander, who wasn’t alive while I worked on this, but is so cute that I have to thank him for being cute.

Prophecy’s Promise would be a tiny shell of what it is without all my awesome beta readers. This book has been in the works for a very long time and many people read it, but I would like to call out Michal Hunt, Crystal Heitzman, Brooke Barnes, Pete Amundson, Jared Narofsky, John “Johnsky” Narofsky and Hannah DeBoer.  And thanks to Jim Segal for being the first person I know of to support my work.  Someone else beat him to the pre-order punch, but I’m not sure who, so Jim gets the thanks. And, thanks to every one of you for your purchase and your support. It means a lot.

I was also very fortunate to have a great editor, Shelley Holloway, and the amazing cover designers at Deranged Doctor Designs.  Thanks! You all did such an awesome job.

I hope that you enjoyed
Prophecy’s Promise
. There’s more in store for Hailey and friends. The story will continue with
Prophecy’s Curse
, staring Adara and will culminate with
Prophecy’s Revenge
staring Meena. I also have more kick-butt smart heroines in a full steampunk series coming out soon.

So, what’s the Call to Action?

I’m glad you asked.

Please review my book so that others know what you think and will, hopefully, give it a shot.  Also, check out my blog at
http://laurenamundson.com
to join my mailing list. I promise not to spam you. I will send you monthly-ish status updates on my new works including their release dates.

And thanks again for reading!