Free Breaking Gods by Viola Grace

Chapter One
     
     
    The storm was wild. She clutched the baby to her chest and ran through the rain.
    She had been given five minutes to get her child to safety and her lack of control had caused her to overshoot the landing site. Now, she had to run.
    The woman set the child against the gate in the shelter of an overhang, and she rang the bells with all her might. Her keeper was coming for her to resume her training. This was the only moment in the entire span of time that she wanted.
    Her daughter needed to be safe.
    A figure appeared next to her and she was hauled away before she knew that her daughter was safe. She screamed as she was taken away and then fell silent. Her daughter had heard that scream twice today. The first time had been when she died.
     
    * * * *
     
    The monk opened the door as the blood-curdling scream faded in the air. The smaller, more insistent shout came from the bundle at his feet. He leaned down and lifted her in his arms. “Hello, little one. Did you make all that noise?”
    The baby looked at him with eyes in a purple so dark they looked to be deep brown. She blinked and slurped her fist.
    The monk lifted his hand and light covered it, illuminating their new arrival. The baby waved her fist in the air and it glowed in reaction.
    “Oh dear, little one. You have a lot of power in that tiny body.”
    She waved both fists and both glowed. She giggled and then burped. He brought her inside to the warmth and shelter of the temple. Sister Esrai would know what to do with her.
     
    * * * *
     
    Twenty-three years later, Lieta was hauling in the harvest with the monks and acolytes when a blast struck the ground near her feet.
    “You. Manager.”
    She turned to face the young man with the dark soul and blacker temper. “Redol, right?”
    “She talked about me, did she? The stupid bitch.”
    Well, she had guessed right. “Ah, so you are Venila’s ex-boyfriend. You are everything she said.”
    Lieta moved away from the wagon and toward the intruder, into the monastery’s property. “What did you want?”
    “I want Venila back. Give her to me.”
    “She is not a slave, nor is she owned by the monastery. She can come and go as she pleases, but she is choosing to live there and take vows to serve others.”
    Lieta kept easing to one side until there was nothing to strike behind her.
    “She is mine. She will come back to me.”
    “Oh, I do not think so. She will remain where she is safe. Where a jackass with a bad temper will not cow her and make her feel like nothing has happened because her healing talent takes over the wounds.”
    “Then she will be working on you tonight, bitch.” He extended his hand and a ball of whirling wind emerged. With a clumsy shove, he directed it at her.
    She shook her head, caught it and sent it back with a tight, hard ball of whirling air that struck him straight in the chest.
    He was knocked on his ass and he didn’t like that. He got up and sent a larger ball toward her. She caught it, tightened and sped it up, and sent it back to him.
    He was swept along in the ball of wind and tumbled down the hill. She knew he would return but not today.
    The harvesters were staring at her and then they broke into smiles. “Well done, Lieta.”
    “Thanks, Brother Frimin, but I was just doing my job.” Lieta helped them push the cart back to the abbey, a normal woman once again.
    They shoved as they climbed the hill, and soon, the fruit was safely inside the wall where the brothers and sisters of the order were waiting to turn it into jams and jellies for the local market.
    Sister Esrai greeted her with a smile. “They are talking about what you did. Your control was admirable. Mother and Father wish to speak to you.”
    The last sentence made Lieta straighten in shock. “Now?”
    Sister Esrai gave her a wry look. “Have you ever known them to make an appointment for the future?”
    She chuckled. “No. Their interest in the future is spurious at best. Can you handle