Written in the Stars

By Brenna Lyons

On the world of Terra Set, where the night is twice as long as the day and the moon more powerful than the sun, live the Star Mages. Essential to supporting the crops that feed the masses, they are protected men, revered, yet still mistrusted.

An ancient myth tells of a female mage born at the Silver Minute. She holds a magic that, shared with a mate, will be unequaled. Riena is that mage.

A ruthless king will stop at nothing to force Riena to take his son as mate. Her life and freedom depend on one challenge—hide as a man.

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About the Author

Brenna Lyons

Brenna Lyons lives in Massachusetts with her husband, three children, and a zoo of pets. She was born and raised in the Hazelwood/Glenwood area of Pittsburgh, PA and toured the east coast as a Navy wife for thirteen years, nine of them in VA Beach/Norfolk, where she wrote her first book.

Excerpt

Riena skipped through the crops under the disappearing crescent of the moon, finding the flower circle where she'd been born effortlessly even in the dim light of almost total night. She wasn't allowed to come here. Her grandfather would be furious that she had, but Riena didn't believe in silly superstitions, and tonight would be a Grand Rebirth of Mother Moon. When she'd been five, Riena hadn't understood why a Grand Rebirth was so significant to her. Now she was ten, and she knew the truth of who she was.

She'd heard some of the women in the village talking, hidden herself behind a basket of early fruits to hear it all. They didn't believe her grandfather's warnings that the circle was a sign of evil any more than Riena did. The women whispered about the magic of the circle, love magic. The women from the village came to the circle quarterly, on the nights of rebirth, seeking the mother's blessing of a child with men they convinced to the flower circle with them. Her grandfather had chased many amorous couples from the circle, but tonight he would not venture near. On the night of the Grand Rebirth, not even her grandfather dared pass the borders of Ellien's ring of flowers.

The circle had been a near-barren spot far on the outreaches of her grandfather's land three seasons before Riena's birth. Then Great Mage Andren passed through on his pilgrimage. On the night of the moon's rebirth, Andren brought strength to the land in exchange for three days at her grandfather's table and a week's worth of food upon leaving, much less than a Mage of his station would normally charge for such a service. Unknown to Grandfather at the time, Andren also enjoyed the comforts of Ellien's body and created a lush flower garden of their passion in that once-barren place.

When Ellien's time came, she took it as a sign that the moon would rebirth grand and went to her flowers to deliver Riena alone. The women whispered that Riena had been born in the Silver Minute, though surely no one could know that for certain. They said her grandfather made a pyre of the circle to take her mother's cold body, but the flowers wouldn't burn. He tried cutting the flowers, poisoning them, and even plowing them under, but Ellien's flowers always appeared untouched at next moonrise.

Riena sobered at what else the women said. They said her grandfather would have thrown Riena to the pyre were it not for Rosher's pleas and Grandfather's fear of the Great Mage's magic protecting what was his. Her grandfather had sent for the Mage, anxious to be rid of Riena, but Andren's eldest son, the new Great Mage Andrel of house An, responded that his father was dead and refused responsibility for "a bastard that Andren likely hadn't sired."

Legally, Riena was her grandfather's responsibility, but more than that, he feared the magic that might protect her and had no wish to test its strength.

Riena's life had been comfortable but empty. She wasn't beaten or deprived of food and clothing, but the only love she knew was Rosher's. Ellien's son with her first mate acted as both mother and father to Riena despite being only eleven years her senior. Her grandfather and uncle preferred to ignore Riena's presence unless pressed by Rosher for money necessary to her upkeep. The villagers watched her warily, though Riena had no idea why they mistrusted her. Even the women didn't divulge that.

She stilled in her wandering through the flowers, looking to the moon with a smile. Mother Moon was fully dark, an occurrence that never lasted long on Terra Set, where the nights were twice again as long as the days year-round and the light of the night sky almost as nourishing as the watery sunlight for supporting the food they ate--moreso if one considered the power of the Star Mages. Soon, the moon would rebirth as she did every three months, and the Silver Minute that only occurred at high summer every five years would be upon the world.

Riena lay back in the thick grass, careful not to crush too many of the flowers, in case the stories of their restorative powers were false. The first sliver of the moon reappeared, and Riena shouted her wish to the black sky that matched her Mage's hair. "Mother Moon! Grant me knowledge of my parents. I would know myself better by it." She laughed in joy as silver light raced over the countryside, brighter than the gray daylight of high summer, a season's worth of energy for the struggling crops in a few precious moments.

The wave reached her, and Riena's breath caught in surprise. The light was warm, and it seemed to trace her skin like a thousand fingertips. This was the power the Mages felt. She was certain that it was, but why could she feel it? Was this what she would know of her father? If so, it was precious.

"Riena." Rosher's voice was pleading but edged in annoyance. "If you do not return to your bed, Grandfather will assign you extra duties in punishment."

She didn't answer--couldn't answer in her state of rapture at the sensations of the Silver Minute.

"Riena," he warned, probably believing her hiding from him.

The warmth became a burning, the comfort of fingers akin to the touch of a cauter brand. Riena shook her head, unable to break her connection with the growing moon. Panic set in.

"Riena, answer me."

She would have given anything to answer Rosher. Riena opened her mouth to answer him, but her lungs refused to work. The pain intensified until she felt she'd incinerate. Surely, Mother Moon didn't mean for her to feel Ellien's pyre.

But, feel it she did. Riena bowed up, venting a scream of pain and terror mixed, forcing the sound past lips that trembled and a throat that felt like iron in the blast of the forge. The fire blazed bright around her, searing her eyes with its heat.

The Silver Minute passed. She collapsed to the grass, gasping for breath as the fire sped away from her skin, lighting the fields then disappearing into the black depths of the night. Riena wept. She should have known better than to ask the Goddess for such a frivolous wish.

"By the Mother," Rosher exclaimed. He was suddenly with her, smoothing Riena's hair and wiping tears from cheeks that felt raw. "Riena, speak to me. Are you well?"

Riena met his eyes, shivering in the sudden chill surrounding her. "I burned," she gasped.

He nodded, scooping Riena to his chest. "All will be well," he vowed.

All of her senses seemed overly sensitized. The moonlight seemed too bright. Rosher's touch was painful. The smell of flowers pressed in on her. Even the sound of her grandfather's shouting seemed too loud. Then sleep claimed her.