Excerpt: Thornheart

It didn’t seem real, not in the slightest, until she’d touched her father’s brow and found it devoid of warmth. His skin was cool and dry, and he was so still, at last no longer plagued by the wracking cough that had slowly destroyed him. For a long moment, she willed herself into thinking it was a dream – she would wake up, something would happen to shatter this silent still image and reveal it was just a cruel trick of her mind.

Her cheeks became wet with tears, and a terrible, hard knot of silence grew in her throat. She swallowed, and choked on it, and finally began to sob in earnest. Grief gave voice to her internal fears, and opened the doors for all the uncertainties she had battled over the last few months – she wasn’t ready, she was never meant to rule a kingdom, and how would she do it without her father?

Clarimonde was now alone, the sole heir of her father.