A 90,000-100,000 word fantasy romance involving a gem-cutter’s daughter, a blind boy, a mysterious she-lion, and a fallen hero. Brought together by the unraveling of a 150-year-old spell, they must mend a Sword, restore the Dragon-keeper, and stop a mage from raising the Last Dragon. Only by confronting their own demons and following the truth in their hearts can they “see through” the mage’s illusions and allow trust to triumph over fear.
The Shadow Man stood motionless as a bat captured by the sun. He had no face, yet Mirianna knew every inch of what passed for face was turned on her father. "Fools! I should damn you all to Beggeth, but the Krad will see to that soon enough." He turned. "Gareth, free the horses!"
"Wait!" Tolbert said as an unearthly, high-pitched clamor erupted from the woods. "What about us? What do we do?"
Only the black hood rotated, cocking with exaggerated deliberation. "Why, you die, old man."
Her father blanched.
Mirianna saw the Shadow Man turn to leap down the hillside, saw shapes gathering along the tree line below, horrible shapes she had seen before rushing at her from a darkened clearing. With a shudder, she broke from her father's grasp.
"Please!" She reached out to the black sleeve. "Help us!"
He recoiled like one snake-bitten at her touch. The sudden, sharp focus of his regard terrified her, but he had helped her once. She had been led to him again, and not, her instincts told her, without reason.
"Please. Help us. I--we'll do anything."
"Anything?"
His voice was a whisper caressing flesh. Mirianna's stomach quivered. Her breasts tingled. Her mouth grew dry. Without thinking, she slid her tongue along her lips. Vaguely, she wondered what she had done. And why time seemed suspended, as if everyone but she and the Shadow Man had been cast in stone and all sound arrested. All sound except the taut, guttural repeat of his question.
"Anything?"
If she were sane, she would seize the opportunity to clarify, to explain, to negotiate. But even as she watched herself stand on the rock ledge and confront a shadow, she knew the question spoke not to her head but to her heart, and her heart answered the only way it could, plainly and without hesitation. "Yes," she breathed, "anything."