The Aftermath Read online

  “Can you do it?”

  “I need my…carriage."

  “My ship carries it. It is on its way to Rouen and will sail down the Seine and arrive here two days hence. Inside that ship are the meteor and the carriage. Is that enough time to make preparations?"

  Hagan had to think. Magnahul took his leave to attend to fate while Hagan made preparations to alter it. He sat at the large table that occupied the southern corner of the room and began making the calculations. He didn't have the benefit of Gray to make the calculations for him. He had to make each equation work and iterate it himself until the numbers lined up. As the day descended into night, he was having trouble making the necessary calculations. The computer onboard the pod would be able to make this quickly, but there were other calculations as well, such as coordinates and locations of the stars and planets. Those would realign the astral horolog. He realized he couldn’t do much until the pod was in his possession.

  Magnahul walked resolutely out of Hagan's chamber and made his way to the prison cell beneath the palace. The holding area now only held one prisoner. The cell had been furnished with items from his personal bedchamber and made as comfortable as possible for him. Philip almost looked regal and was polite when Magnahul made his appearance.

  “Your Highness," he greeted Magnahul.

  “I am not king, Philip.”

  Philip was confused. He knew that criers were dispatched to tell all of France that a new king had taken the throne.

  “If not you, who?”

  “Henry of Monmouth."

  Philip looked confused. He had never met a man who won the battle then passed the throne to someone else. He did not have the capacity to understand.

  “Why did you kill my son?”

  The question flushed the blood out of the already pale man’s face. He had not thought that information would surface. He wasn’t sure how to answer the question. Silence was his response of choice.

  “Answer ME!”

  Adelstan's pink face turned violently red.

  “Why did you kill my son and my wife?”

  “To end the Magnahul line. But it was all Cailean’s idea.”

  “But Ava was his daughter. Why kill her?”

  Philip stood silent for a moment. He looked at Magnahul.

  “You don’t know?”

  “Tell me.”

  “Because she was pregnant."

  Read Boundless Hearts – Heartbeats & War Drums Series Finale. Continue reading for the next chapter in the story.

  Sneak Peek

  Excerpt from Boundless Hearts

  Heartbeats & War Drums Series Finale

  Chapter 1

  The Sins of the Father

  F or Adelstan Magnahul it was a Pyrrhic victory. He was now the kingmaker and the man who controlled all of France. Gaul, the parts of southern and southeastern France that had yet to pledge allegiance to the new king would do so in just a number of days. But in the process of gaining the world, he had lost his daughter.

  He was slow to anger, and never one to entertain the devil's rage. That, however, was being tested now. Old wounds were brought to the front with the knowledge that the man that stood as his prisoner was the man who took part in slaying his son, his wife who was with child, and now his only daughter.

  He did not seek this war. Nay, in fact, he had worked to prevent it. Yet he now sat as the man who had lost all the things that mattered to him. Where had fairness gone? Where was the God of righteousness in all this? Had he been forsaken by his ancestors who did not seem to look over his affairs. Was he alone in the after-world as he was now in this?

  He walked into the large central chamber where Philip would host cotillions. It was ornately decorated. With twenty-four chandeliers holding thousands of candles to illuminate some of the plushest events for the richest noblemen fourteenth-century France had to offer. Now it stood, as its first call to duty under the new king, as a mausoleum to honor the heir to the throne. Irony is not always steeped in humor. Sometimes, like now, it's awash in pain.

  There were no ladies on this excursion of war and so there was no one to remove the clothes she wore, now soaked in her blood. Magnahul had washed her face and untied her hair and placed her on a pedestal covered in the linen. He had an assortment of gold-threaded linen to choose from in the palace, but he chose one that befit the name of Magnahul – humble and strong.

  He didn't know where to bury her. The clan had no home and the grounds at Fountainbleu were alien to her. Magnahul wouldn't be there for long. That would mean that her remains would be left amidst strangers if she were interred there. Across the channel, their ancestral home had been defiled by the blood of sinners, oath-breakers, and men of greed. It was soaked in blood as a memorial for the death of civility and the demise of honor.

  There was no solution, but one.

  The Saga Continues…

  For the sake of love and honor…Find out how the story ends in the series finale of the Heartbeats & War Drums, Boundless Hearts.

  Read Boundless Hearts now

  Also by Amber Savage

  Heartbeats & War Drums Series

  Book 1 - A Soulmate Erased

  Book 2 - Crashing Time Trunks

  Book 3 - Truth Revealed

  Book 4 – The Aftermath

  Book 5 – Boundless Hearts

  About the Author

  Amber Savage still cares too much about what other people think. She is a hopeful romantic and citizen of the Earth whose vision is to inspire her readers through compelling and candid storytelling. An avid traveler who has resided in various locations all over the world, she is continually reminded of the thread that binds us all: love. (Sounds cliche, but it's so true.)

  When she isn't crafting stories that showcase the wide spectrum of human emotion and experience, you can find this creative soul going on outdoor adventures, practicing yoga, or spending quality time with her loved ones (her husband, two canines, two felines, a parrot, chickens, and three horses). Infinitely dedicated to making this world a better place than when she first entered it, Amber also advocates for the prevention of cruelty to humans, animals, and mother nature.