Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 32461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
One queen’s summons.
And an ancient debt that must be honored.
Across the Highlands, tales are told of men whose names have survived longer than most remember.
Legion has walked more battlefields than most men could survive, yet now seeks only peace.
Torden possesses a strength few men would dare challenge and prefers that the world simply leave him alone.
And Creagan… charming, carefree Creagan, whose easy smile conceals far more than anyone suspects.
They have gone their separate ways, living as they choose, until a summons they cannot ignore calls them home to Morra Mist.
Queen Eudora’s throne is threatened. Whispers question her right to rule, unrest is spreading, and she needs three men unlike any others to protect her kingdom.
Three warriors bound by an obligation older than Eudora herself.
Three commands they cannot refuse and three tasks that could change their fates forever.
The Highland Lords have been summoned.
Highland Lords of War & Thunder Trilogy
Book One — Highlander Lord of War
Book Two — Highlander Lord of Thunder
Book Three — The Highlander & His Queen
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Queen Eudora
Patches of green still clung stubbornly to the forest, though here and there, the first colors of autumn had begun to appear. Leaves of gold and russet scattered the ground beneath the trees, while others remained on the branches, their edges just beginning to turn. A coolness lingered in the air, a quiet warning that summer was giving way and colder days would soon follow.
Queen Eudora stood among them, dressed in a gown of deep green.
A light cloak rested over her shoulders, its edges embroidered in gold. She was tall for a woman, her bearing made more imposing by the stillness with which she stood. Her long dark hair had been drawn away from her face in a thick braid and knotted at the nape of her neck.
But it was her eyes, startling violet, that had men falter beneath the weight of them. Lords had stumbled over carefully prepared words when she fixed her gaze upon them. Even warriors who claimed to fear nothing often found reason to look elsewhere.
Eudora had learned young that a queen's strength was not measured by the loudness of her voice. Her grandmother had taught her that.
Queen Eleanor had raised Eudora from the age of twelve, after an illness, brought to Morra Mist by a merchant, swept across the isle and claimed both her parents. From that day forward, her grandmother had prepared her for one thing… to rule.
She had taught Eudora to listen before she spoke. To question loyalty freely given. To understand that a crown drew men who wished to serve it and men who wished to possess it. And she repeatedly, until Eudora could recite every word, explained to Eudora what she must do if the crown itself was ever threatened.
She was to call on… the Lords of War and Thunder.
Three men, one born to war, a strength and power far beyond any warrior. One born of thunder, a fierce force to reckon with, and then there was the third one.
Her grandmother had spoken little of him. Only that he was the strongest of the three.
She could hear her grandmother’s words.
Be warned, Eudora. They are powerful men and kneel to no one. But they owe me a debt, and because of that debt, they cannot refuse my granddaughter's request.
At twelve, Eudora had thought the warning no more than one of her grandmother's many lessons. But through the years she had come to understand differently.
She knew better now.
Trouble brewed in Morra Mist. Someone wanted her crown and worse, Eudora no longer knew whom she could trust.
Her gaze settled on the leaves scattered across the ground, the first signs that summer was slowly surrendering to autumn.
She had delayed long enough.
Queen Eudora of Morra Mist had come to the forest to call upon the Lords of War and Thunder.
Eudora remained still, though her thoughts turned to the tales she had heard through the years.
Tales of three men who could bring kingdoms to their knees. Of battles won before the enemy realized defeat was upon them. Of thunder that shook the earth beneath a warrior's feet. And of a third lord whose deeds were spoken of only in whispers.
Most claimed the Lords of War and Thunder were myths. Stories fashioned through the years, each telling making the three more powerful than the last.
Eudora had never believed that. She trusted her grandmother’s words.
And Queen Eleanor had taught her how to summon them.
Eudora drew a slow breath and extended her hands toward the sky.
“Lords of War and Thunder, I summon thee to me.”
A spark of light flared suddenly in the palm of each hand. Eudora's breath caught, but she did not lower her arms. The light grew brighter.
She recalled her grandmother's stern warning never to stop once the summoning had begun.
Eudora raised her voice and spoke the words taught to her so many years ago.
“War that conquers, thunder that roars,
The final strike when kingdoms fall.
By debt unbroken, by promise bound,
Hear my voice and heed my call.
I summon thee to me… Queen Eudora of Morra Mist.
The light in her palms exploded.
Eudora squeezed her eyes shut as a fierce wind tore through the forest, whipping the cloak from her shoulders and sending it tumbling across the snow. Branches cracked. The earth beneath her feet trembled.
Then everything stopped and silence descended over the forest.
Eudora glanced around as though expecting three men to suddenly step from between the trees.
She shook her head.
Her grandmother had warned her it would take time. A few days, perhaps as long as a week, before the three arrived in Morra Mist. Time Eudora would need to prepare herself to deal with three men born like no others.
She walked to where her cloak had fallen, gathered it from the snow, and draped it once again around her shoulders. Then she turned toward the castle, rising in the near distance.