The Fortress

Two women. One crown. And a truth that neither of them could have imagined. Janine and Annis have both been summoned to The Fortress of Inverness on a charge of treason. Each believes herself to be the rightful Queen of the West. Each carries the scar of royal blood. Each has been touched by the mystical flames of the Quickening. One was born to the crown. The other was raised to it. But the trial is a lie. Colonel Jamieson - the Fortress's ruthless commander - is no servant of justice. He is a traitor, and the two young queens are walking into his trap. King James has sent warnings, buried beneath layers of deception, but will they be understood before it is too late? Inside the Fortress walls, loyalties are tested at every turn. Constable Burberry suspects the trial is a sham. Queen Annis, effectively a prisoner dressed in the finery of diplomacy, plots her resistance. Beyond the moats, Captain McCleary and a MacDonald army wait in disguise, searching for a way into a building that seems impossible to breach. Their only link to the prisoners within? Two extraordinary children - known as 'The Spiders' - who crawl through the ancient chimneys carrying secrets between allies who do not yet know each other exists. As Jamieson tightens his grip, Janine and Annis are thrown together in the depths of Woden's Well. There, in the darkness, tending to a beaten soldier they both recognise, the two rivals begin to discover something that will shake the foundations of everything they have ever believed - about the crown, about their mothers, and about each other. Some truths are worth more than a throne. The Fortress is Book 7 of The Fire Tree series - where the threads of destiny are drawn tight and a reckoning eight hundred years in the making finally begins.