The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga, #1)

by G.A. Aiken

“I’m in charge,” she reminded him. “And our father always says if you have to remind your team of that . . .”

But when she screamed into her sister’s face . . . Caid would never do that to his sister. Not because he was above that sort of behavior but because Laila was a puncher. Despite being the youngest of them all, she’d been a fighter since birth. But sister fighting sister was a different and decidedly more dangerous thing. Then again . . . one of the sisters in this current dispute was a nun.

Exactly the way she was reacting now. Like a crazed banshee exploding from all her rage. How dare her sister not do exactly what she’d told her to do! Ahhhh. The women in her family. They were amazing. And insane. Because you needed to be both if you wanted to survive this world the way they did. Making their own choices and rules and ignoring all the men who tried to tell them no.

she had plans to work with Keeley one day as a fellow blacksmith, which was why Keeley pulled out a tiny steel hammer from her travel bag and handed it to the child. “Yay!” Endelyon cheered. “My own hammer!” “Now don’t go attacking your—” “By this hammer I rule!” she screamed before charging after her older siblings.

“Why are you here?” He stared at her but didn’t reply. “I know you’ve been following me and lurking around the farm. I want to know what’s going on.” “Why?” “In case I have to kill you,” Keeley replied with total honesty, “I’d rather not get too attached.”

He was humming as he walked off because he was a man who loved his work. He loved his farm. There weren’t a lot of people in the world who were just happy with their lives as they were, but her father wanted nothing more from life than what he had.

“You have a trebuchet?” Caid asked . . . because he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Mum made it. She gets bored when she’s pregnant.”

“You need to find a way to get along with Uncle Archie.” “I’d rather set us both on fire!” “That’s enough, Da!” Keeley stood beside Gemma. “You two are brothers. You shouldn’t be doing all this ridiculous bickering over nothing.” “She’s absolutely right, Daddy.” Her father stared at her, stared at her sister, and then said, “Are you two fucking kidding me?”

The queen finished, leaning back and announcing, “Look at that. The odds are huge in favor of your being treacherous.” Delora stood. “You’d believe—” “Numbers? Over you? Always. Numbers never lie.” “The calculations could be wrong.” Coming out of her seat, the queen roared, “My calculations?”

With her back turned, Gemma couldn’t help but smile a little. Yes, it was definitely foolish that Keeley would return something so valuable to the dwarves when they had done nothing to get it themselves, but she loved that her sister was true to her word. It would probably get her killed one day, but you know . . . everything had a downside.