For months, Rhys Blackwell had felt like a man becalmed in the fog. He drifted along with the current, using oars to avoid the rocks, but all he'd managed was to avoid running aground, and even then, he hadn't been able to protect himself or his family from the wounds that threatened to destroy them.
Jocelynn had gone to Lothian, chasing a dream that Rhys increasingly believed would only end in disaster for her, even if her sister had truly been dead. Maela had returned to the convent in DuCoumont County, unable to live with the ghosts of her children in Blackwell Manor, or, perhaps, unable to face the husband who had arranged for Ashlynn's marriage to a monster.
Rhys only managed to stay afloat by throwing himself into his work. Ashlynn was gone, as was everyone else, but he had made promises that needed to be kept. Promises to the Church to receive their 'Holy Soldiers' from across the sea, helping them to reach the frontier where the real battles would begin.
