Destiny's Handmaiden

Aislin and Caitrin's birth, marked the onset of a time of great change, the endings of false paths, and the beginnings of new and true paths, as Destiny pressed forward with her revised prophesy for The Dragon Isles. Many would become witting or unwitting tools. All would be transformed, but none more so than Aislin and Caitrin. She and Caitrin felt like sisters, like twins. They suckled at the same breast, learned to crawl and walk on the same rug, played in the same nursery, and studied with the same tutors. They were playmates, and best friends. Aislin learned languages, academics, courtly manners and the intrigues of the kingdoms along side the princess Caitrin. They had the same auburn curls, the same eyes. But Caitrin was the Princess, bearer of the prophesy of sevens, and Aislin was her handmaiden and her double in dangerous public settings. Aislin was never allowed to forget the social gulf between the princess Caitrin and herself, the handmaiden, until the seer Liadan reappeared in her life and exposed her and Caitrin's true destinies.

Aislin must escape an arranged marriage, learn about the real world free of the politically correct history taught in the royal circles, and take up the yoke of her own Trial of Sevens. She must travel the length and breadth of the Isles and be the catalyst to reunite the seven squabbling kingdoms before they are overrun by Cadeyrn of Baymoor. She must resolve her place within the royal family and accept her role in destiny's prophesy for the Dragon Isles. Along the way she finds love and acceptance and at the conclusion she realizes that defeating Cadeyrn was only a first goal, a first step in a much larger set of tasks for the entire Dragon Isles that involves the dragons of lore. She and Caitrin both will have to stand up even against their loved ones to perform their duty to Destiny and the Dragon Isles.

Before Aislin and Caitrin were born, Liadan created the Prophesy of Sevens and as prophesied, the great kingdom of Hoxnia was divided, upon king Cian's death, into seven little squabbling kingdoms ruled by his seven sons. After years of strife, King Biorna of Baymoor was overthrown and exiled by Cadeyrn the merciless. Seven years later, as prophesied, the seventh son of Cian, and his Queen, prepare to have a seventh princess. Presiding at the birth is Liadan in disguise. She delivers Caitrin, Princess of Sevens, Princess of Mountain View, the bearer of prosperity and good fortune. Aislin, is introduced to the Queen, as a foundling, to be a companion to the princess and later a handmaiden and double.