Prologue

His lips touched her forehead, and she smiled desolately as he kissed the baby she held in her arms.

A murmured word from her husband, and gently she gave the child to her companion, who nodded, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Take her, Cary," the lady implored her ally. "Please. You and your husband. Don't let my sister touch our child. Never. Ever."

"Yes, my lady," the woman replied brokenly. "Of course."

The queen kissed her baby once more, and then, in a flash of blinding light, the child and the woman were gone.

A sob escaped the lady's lips, and together the couple held one another, and closed their eyes as the gunfire began below their feet.