She spared him when she should have let him die. She's been living with the consequences ever since.
Morrigan was a Novian warrior priestess — until a single act of mercy on a blood-soaked battlefield cost her everything. Her wings, clipped. Her home, gone. Her name erased from Nova and from the god she served. The soldier she couldn't bring herself to claim walked away from that battlefield and became the Butcher of Nova Wars — and every life he took in the years that followed is a wound she can't stop counting.
Now banished and grounded, she's learning to survive among the humans she once fought. Hiding her fading powers. Hiding her past. Trying not to think about the soldier whose future she saw — and chose to protect — when she should have let him fall.
She never expected to find her greatest mistake working a farm on the same colony planet.
Luke Cadell — the Butcher of Nova Wars — came to The Colony to die quietly. His body is more machine than man, his reputation is a death sentence, and the terrorist organization pulling his strings isn't finished with him yet. The last thing he needs is a wingless Novian who looks at him like she already knows exactly what he is.
Because she does. She made him.
As a premonition of catastrophe draws them into an impossible alliance, Morrigan must face the full weight of the choice she made — and decide what it will cost her to choose him again. Because this time, there are no orders. No gods watching.
Just her. And the man she was never supposed to save.
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Luke Cadell woke with a start.
Fire and light flashed outside the spaceship’s window. He shook his head, trying to make the visions go away.
Fuck.
That damn nightmare again. The one he’d been having since he’d awakened in the hospital all those years ago.
The light, the girl.
Fucking feathers…
The smell of war and death all around him.
They said it was a near death experience.
Cadell disagreed. He’d already been much closer to death than those damn nightmares. And would likely be closer again.
Why that one always haunted him, he didn’t know.
The shuttle shook as it came in on approach to land on LC-426, breaking into the atmosphere. He adjusted his grip on his arm rest as he rode out the turbulence.
The dry rock of a planet was desolate, as far as planets went. And hot. Even the atmosphere looked yellow and blistering. Unlike Earth, LC-426 wasn’t predominantly water, so there wasn’t a pretty blue sky. No, this one had one the same color as the hot ground.
Just looking through the window, he could almost feel the heat.
Then they hit atmo.
The flashing fire of entry strobed in the window, making him turn away.
He wasn’t a fan of strobes.
He gripped his seat belt tighter, the joints of his right arm hissing with the gesture. At least, he thought they hissed. The doctors said the replacement arm was as silent as any natural arm would be, but he swore he heard it hiss every now and again.
It was getting old.
He was getting old.
He tightened his glove, the one that covered most of the markings on his hand. Linear scarring that tended to glow. Noticeable if someone looked.
And they always looked.
So, he kept it covered.
Though why he bothered, he wasn’t sure.
It wasn’t like he was going to make it out of here alive, anyway. They may have said he only had to be here for couple years, and then he’d be free, but Cadell knew the score.
Men like him didn’t walk away from places like this. No matter what the shiny, pretty promo said. Regardless of the claims, The Colony wasn’t a politics-free zone.
War may be over on paper, but that didn’t mean it was over for all the humans, or the Novians.
The landing was as smooth as could be expected on the barren rock. A bump, a jerk, and down. The planet wasn’t anything but a giant sunspot. Why the hell they’d decided to build The Colony here, Cadell would never know.
Not that anyone would ever ask his opinion. If they did, well…
They might not like the answers.
The rear cargo ramp began to lower, and immediately the planet’s heat poured into the ship. A warm wave compared to the cold, dark of space.
For a second, Cadell liked the warmth.
But only for a second, before it started to feel like it was trying to bake him. Cook him alive, in the convenient metal box of a ship. His adrenaline began to pump, and he caught himself before he reached for a weapon.
This wasn’t a war zone he was landing in.
It was a peace zone.
How come it didn’t feel any different?
“You’re clear,” the pilot said as he came down toward the ramp. “Where’s all the crowds? Thought there were supposed to be thousands of people here, signed up for this little colonization experiment.”
Cadell shrugged. “They’ll be here in a few days. I’m maintenance.” He stood and grabbed his gear.
“Must be pretty special maintenance to get a private arrival.”
He forced a smile. “Last minute change.” After he piled his one permitted bag on top of a cart of supplies, he started walking them down the ramp into the beating sun.
“Good flying with you,” the pilot muttered as he exited the ship. “Whoever the hell you are.”
Uh huh, Cadell thought. You were paid well.
Off to begin his new life.
As a damn farmer.
What a fucking joke.
