Children of the Sun by Linda Winstead Jones

Author:Linda Winstead Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Columbyana Trilogy
Publisher: Linda Winstead Jones
Published: 2015-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

***

Keelia felt as if she itched all over. It was more than the excitement of moving closer to the wizard and his blasted stone, it was more than wondering if they’d find the wizard in time.

The timing was not quite right—she was weeks early—but there was no denying that she was going into her fertile time.

If she had sex with Joryn once it descended, there would be a child, without question. Her child would be half-Anwyn, half-Caradon, and fatherless if she could not save Joryn. How would she explain that to her son or daughter? Sorry, dearest, but I had to kill your father before he turned into a monster and murdered us both.

Would the child turn to wolf or mountain cat with the coming of the full moon? That would not be known until the child was twelve or thirteen years old, unless she could somehow see the child’s future in a way she could not see her own or Joryn’s. Perhaps the eyes would tell.

Green eyes meant cat, gold eyes, wolf. Even that was no more than supposition on her part. She simply did not know. Such a half-breed was unknown and unthinkable.

If it came to be, how would her people accept a prince or princess who had Caradon blood? She knew the wilder species to be kinder and smarter and more like the Anwyn than she had ever believed to be true, but could she convince others of that truth? Or would she and her child be shunned?

The questions nagged at her as she led the way from rocky path to green, from sunshine to welcomed shade.

As the days passed, she and Joryn spoke less and less. They felt the weight of what was coming, they sensed the uncertainty. At night they made love and slept close and did not speak of their fears or wishes. Such discussions seemed useless, a waste of their precious breath.

These days should be filled with fear. She should be miserable. Her entire life had been one of ease and privilege, the life of a princess, the life of a beloved ruler. But she was not at all miserable. There was purpose in her heart, and the nights with Joryn were everything she had always imagined a loving relationship should be. Perhaps he claimed not to love her, perhaps he said he would turn his back on her if she dared to speak the word, but still there was beauty here. There was unspoken love.

She turned and waited for Joryn, and when he was beside her, she resumed walking up the leaf-strewn trail. “Do you have children?”

“No.” He did not seem horrified or pleased, simply casual and uninterested.

“You have told me yourself that there were many women...”

“I was very careful.”

“Hmmm.”

“What does that mean, this hmmm sound?” he asked.

She tried to remain pragmatic and logical, though she felt neither. “Since these were women with whom you did not have a bond, women you... left behind, I suppose, then how do you know there are no children?”

“I told you, I’m very careful.

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