The Scorpions Strike
Book Three

Theocrats Put Death Mark on Heroine

Acquitted of adultery, Helen's father endures harsh punishment for lesser offenses against the Temple. While he is incapacitated due to his wounds, the head of the Temple puts a death mark on Helen and revokes her medical credentials, cruelly injuring her. Physically healed and aided by Maguari the Mist-Weaver, Helen finds and removes a lethal agent hidden in her father's body by corrupt priest-healers.

Helen moves to her father's manor in Alta Province, guarded by her secret love and a detail of soldiers. Maguari teaches Helen the first steps of kura manipulation and shows her how to use energy to be with her father in spirit. Helen has a vision of being attacked by a Temple warrior-monk that she reveals to no one.

Recovered, Helen's father marries his betrothed and his wife soon becomes pregnant. True to Helen's premonition, Temple agents almost succeed in slaying her, with her stepmother nearly suffering a miscarriage in the attack. Helen uses the green stone to save mother and child.

The Temple refuses to grant Helen's newborn half-brother the ancient rite of First Blood. Without it the boy will never be accepted into the Kindred. Helen's father sends her into hiding in Southern Alta Province to comply with the Temple and avert civil war.