Sword of Hemlock (Lords of Syon Saga: Book One)

"Renda, you miss the war like an old love, and in the missing, you forget the bad of it. The dead, the maimed. Sure you'd not take it all back." "Would I not?" For Renda of Brannagh, born and raised to be a knight, peace doesn't sit well. Gone is the confident commander in charge of an army. In her place is a woman crude and foreign, a knight in masque as a noblewoman. She wishes for nothing more than to return to battle. Until her seven year old niece goes missing, setting off a chain of events that leave Renda longing for the peace so ardently scorned. The gods bound and chained. Plague. Magic. Prophecy. Renda and her knights fight to save the kingdom from a faceless enemy bent on the ruination of Syon. But through it all, she struggles to combine Renda the knight and Renda the maid, to learn what she lacks, in order to come into her own. For prophecy is a delicate thing. "Renda, you miss the war like an old love, and in the missing, you forget the bad of it. The dead, the maimed. Sure you'd not take it all back." "Would I not?" For Renda, Knight Commander of the Knights of Brannagh, peace doesn't sit well. Born and trained from childhood to be the ultimate weapon in Syon's struggle to end the Five Hundred Years War, she feels crude and out of place in a world at peace. She longs to return to battle. But when her seven-year-old niece goes missing, a sinister chain of events and a terrifying new enemy leave Renda longing for the peace she scorned. Plague. Magic. Gods bound and chained... Through this new war, she must reconcile her dual lives as Renda the knight and Renda the maid in order to save her world. For prophecy is a delicate thing.