A special excerpt of Chapters 1-2 from Caragh O'Brien's Promised (out October 2, 2012) is now available on Heroes and Heartbreakers for members. To read the full excerpt, please log in or register on the right.

After defying the ruthless Enclave, surviving the wasteland, and upending the rigid matriarchy of Sylum, Gaia Stone now faces her biggest challenge ever.  She must lead the people of Sylum back to the Enclave and persuade the Protectorat to grant them refuge from the wasteland.  In Gaia's absence, the Enclave has grown more cruel, more desperate to experiment on mothers from outside the wall, and now the stakes of cooperating or rebelling have never been higher. 

Is Gaia ready, as a leader, to sacrifice what—or whom—she loves most?

Chapter 1
Exodus

Gaia notched her arrowand drew back the taut string of her bow.

“Don’t move,” she said. “At this range, I can’t miss, and I’m aiming for your right kidney.”

The spying nomad lay belly-down, with goggles pushed up and binoculars pointed down the cliff toward Gaia’s clans. An old rifle was propped within easy reach. At Gaia’s voice, the spy lowered the binoculars a centimeter.

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