5
PROLOGUE
She wasn’t dead.
She wasn’t alive, either.
In truth, she might have passed countless years simply dwelling in the outlands of existence. Not dying—not living. Just being. If it hadn’t been for the life that stirred within her womb, and the anger that stirred within her breast. Before she remembered who she was, she remembered that she had been betrayed.
Yes, anger is good…
The voice in her mind was not her own, but it felt familiar, and she grasped it as she sought to find herself again. Who was she? Where was she? How had this happened to her?
She opened her eyes. Blackness surrounded her. Blackness and weight, as if she had been submerged in a warm pool. For a moment panic overwhelmed her. If she was underwater how could she breathe? Surley she must be dead. Dead and entombed an eternity for crimes she couldn’t remember committing.
Then the child within her fluttered again.
The dead did not bring forth life.
She commanded her panic to recede, and it obeyed. Panic never helped. Cold, logical thought. Meticulous planning and precise execution of those plans. That was the way to triumph. That was the way she had always triumphed.
Until now.
But she had been betrayed. By whom? Her anger built and she fed it, channeling her frustration and fear.
Yes…allow anger to purify you…
Her self-awareness increased. Her mind was less sluggish. Her body tingled. Her anger continued to build until she could actually feel its warmth surrounding her. It energized her.
She had been betrayed…she had been betrayed…she had been betrayed…
The words circled through her mind, causing memories to leak from the dark barriers behind which they had been hidden.
A castle at the edge of the sea.
Dreams that were glimpses of reality.
A marble-walled temple of exquisite beauty and strength.
The call of a goddess.
That was it! She was divine! She was the Chosen of a Great Goddess!
Rhiannon…
The name burst through her mind, and with that knowledge the dams that blocked her memory broke, and the past shattered
