Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Get a Free Book
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Dear Reader
About the Author
Find an Error?
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Dedication
To Persnickety the House Dragon
for always reminding me to ask, What if…?
Guardian of the Realm: The Fayte Heir takes readers back to ancient Britain and the first Fayte Guardians, told through the eyes of Eithne, daughter of the warrior queen Boudica. The prequel novella is available for free to the Readers Brigade at www.DDCroix.com/readers-brigade.
CHAPTER ONE
I waited for my dragonfly beneath the low, morning clouds. I knew she would come. She always did when I ventured outdoors while the sun was up. I knew she would find me, even here, as I sat along the north wall with only my wool dress, petticoats, and maid’s apron to protect me from the cold stone bench—embellished simply, as so many things at Windsor Castle were, with the VR insignia of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
So, where was she? Where was the friend who could make me see reason? I needed to find her. I needed her comfort because right now I had none.
Back inside, every servant scurried to prepare for Queen Victoria’s return from her Scottish retreat. I should be in there, too, peeling potatoes for Mrs. Crossey, the cook I assisted most days, but the summons from the House Steward had sent me into a panic.
The young page who delivered the order didn’t tell me why I was being called in, but I excused myself just the same and told Mrs. Crossey I’d see to it immediately. Instead I’d come here, to the kitchen garden—an unauthorized detour, to be sure—but I needed time to compose myself. Experience had already taught me that nothing good ever came from being summoned to that dull, dank office.
But what was it this time?
Had a new complaint been lodged against me? I’d tried to be careful. I’d reported to the kitchen on time every morning this week and stayed until properly dismissed. I hadn’t even palmed a single new trinket for my memory box. Not in several days anyway.
The more likely reason was the one twisting knots in my stomach and making my hands slick beneath my lambskin gloves. In the past month, two dozen members of the staff had been dismissed. Some of them maids in good standing with far better credentials than I. That I was next on the House Steward’s dreaded list seemed not only possible but rather overdue.
The others, I’d heard, had their years in royal service to help them secure positions with prominent families. With only six months of experience, I couldn’t hope to be so lucky. Girls like me usually ended up on street corners begging for coins, not employed in a royal castle. If I’d come into this world with any luck at all, I was sure it was used up the day I was delivered to the servants’ door and handed a scullery maid’s apron, even if it hadn’t seemed so at the time.
If I was turned out now, I’d end up in a workhouse or worse. Probably worse.
What was I going to do?
“Dragonfly! Where are you?” I hissed the words through clenched teeth, my fists balled at my sides. I needed my friend. I needed her to tell me again all would be well.
Then I spied a shiver in the air; that small, silvery dart with the glittering wings.
Had she soared over the castle wall? Had she slipped through an oak tree’s canopy? I hardly knew, but I was relieved beyond measure to see her hovering in front of me now, fixing me with her wide, violet eyes.
“Finally, you’ve come. Where have you been?”
Behind me, the creak of a door hinge told me we were no longer alone. At the intrusion, my dragonfly flew away.
No! I screamed the word without a sound, but she didn’t turn back. She was already gone.
I steeled myself to face the House Steward’s ire until a squeal of laughter filled the air. The intruders were only two maids, like myself. One of them was my roommate, Marlene Carlisle, who everyone called Marlie. She was a willowy girl with hair the color of wheat and a smear of freckles on her nose, and I recognized her happy Highland lilt at once.
I strode away along the gray pebble path, hoping she’d ignore me, as she usually did.
“Jane, is that you? What are you doing out here?”
I cringed and debated whether to keep walking.
“Mrs. Crossey is searching for you. She’s beside herself. I’d get back inside if I were you.”
As if she cared a whit about me. We shared a room in the maids’ quarters, but little else. Most days we hardly spoke at all, which suited me just fine. If only this were one of those days.
Since she wouldn’t let me be, I tucked a loose, dark curl behind my ear and muttered something about needing air. It wasn’t convincing, not even a little. It certainly wasn’t to Marlie’s companion, a pretty but bossy girl named Abigail, who was tugging Marlie away.
And even now that girl glared at me.
I suppose I deserved it, but there wasn’t time to regret those past mistakes now.
Marlie held her ground.
“Then come with us,” she said.
I turned, startled by the invitation. She’d never invited me anywhere before. Was it pity? Did she know something I didn’t? Did she already know my fate?
“Why?” I braced, fearing the answer.
“You spend too much time alone, silly. It isn’t right. It isn’t normal.”
Abigail laughed, but there was no joy in it. She leaned closer to Marlie and whispered, though loudly enough for me to hear, “Of course it’s not normal. She’s not normal.”
Marlie nudged her away, but the words hit their mark. I swallowed hard. I didn’t care what they thought of me. I’d stopped caring what
