Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance

If fate gives you a third chance, would you take it?

Joel Harrington has been in love with the same woman for as long as he could remember. But he had to watch her court his best friend, and then marry his king. Now that she’s once more unattached, he refuses to let her slip through his fingers for a third time.

Darkness torments Nyana’s memories, and even after her cruel husband is killed, he still haunts her from the grave. When her past refuses to leave her alone, it puts not only her, but her daughters in danger. She has no choice but to lean on the man she has called a friend for the past eight years, a friend whose charms she tries hard to resist.

But along with the growing threat to her family, she keeps an even more dangerous secret—a secret that could change her life forever.This book is part of the Sunlight and Shadows series, and each can be read as a standalone with their own happily ever after.

Excerpt

The breeze whispered through the few leaves remaining glued to the trees as winter approached on autumn’s wing.

Her blistered hands ached at the reminder. Chopping wood proved to be too difficult for her small frame. But she had to try again. She had no choice if she wanted to keep her daughters warm during the winter.

By the time they reached the path leading to the house on the outskirts of the small village they now lived in, her entire body ached from the protesting muscles in her arm to the screaming pain of her leg.

And then she stopped short when she spotted the house.

Dread tightened in her stomach as her gaze rested on the red paint plastered on one side of the wall, dripping down gray stone like streams of blood.

Murderer.

Fear slammed into her heart as she stared at the house for a long minute, waiting for someone to rush out of the trees with weapons drawn.

The property remained quiet. Eerily quiet.

“What does that say, Mama?” Maisy asked inquisitively. She began spelling it out. “M-U-R—”

“Nothing!” She quickly turned her daughter away and grabbed her hand, cautiously approaching the house. They passed through the wooden gate connected to the property’s waist-high stone wall. They walked across crisp grass and wilted wildflowers and finally stopped before the arched wooden door of the small, two-story structure. Her fingers shook as she wrapped them around the door handle and turned.

It was locked.

Relief escaped on her sigh as she unlocked it with the key and ushered her girls inside. To Maisy, she said, “Get your little sister supper, will you? I’ll be inside in a minute.”

Or a few…

Her gaze despondently turned to the dripping red paint. Last week, her cow had been stolen. And this week, it was defacement.

Ignoring her protesting leg, she gathered a scrub brush, soap, and water before kneeling on the cold ground. She began to clean.

Red bled into red, quickly tainting the bowl of water. The scrub brush oozed paint like a bloody wound. Her leg throbbed against the cold, brittle ground. An unforgiving chill shivered down her spine.

But she did not cry.

And she did not curse.

She deserved this. But her daughters did not.

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About the Author

Sydney Winward is a fantasy and paranormal romance author who dabbles in the occasional historical fiction. She loves building complex worlds filled with magic, strong characters, and emotional stories that can make you laugh and cry.

Sydney is the author of The Bloodborn Series and the Sunlight and Shadows Series. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, thinking about stories, or going on adventures with her children. She lives in Utah with her husband and three amazing kids.

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