Chapter Nine
The walls hadn’t changed. In Etta’s mind, she’d expected them to be battered from the battle for control of Gaule. But unlike the Gaulean people, they hadn’t broken.
Etta had kept Liza Leroy and Lord and Lady Hinton unconscious for the entire journey. They’d encountered no trouble and now Etta stood looking up at the impregnable fortress, a foreign queen demanding to be heard.
But there was no one there. The outer gate looked all but deserted.
Annoyance sparked the inferno of Etta’s magic and the wind blew around her, lifting her hair from the back of her neck as she tried to rein it in.
Suddenly, returning here didn’t feel right. She should have stayed in Bela.
Her control slipped, releasing sparks from her fingers as she tried to hold the power back. Memories rushed to
