In celebration of the release of THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, we are sharing story excerpts from the collection.

Today’s preview comes from “With God to Guard Her.”

The two young women were forced to move off the road when a great entourage rode by. The serving girl bent her head and knelt at once, but Merofled neither knelt nor looked down.

First
walked clerics in their vestments, and after them the kinsmen,
friends, and vassals of the Duke, for Merofled realized that this
must be the retinue of Duke Amalo. They came in a crowd, kicking up a
wide swathe of dust.

She
had never seen the Duke except at a distance and so did not recognize
him at once when suddenly a rider pulled to a halt and stared
straight at her. He was tall, finely dressed, and rode a horse with
silver harness and a saddle trimmed with gold. The rest of the column
pulled up beside and behind him.

“Who
is this girl?” the Duke asked one of his attendants, a certain
Count Leudast.

“I
do not know,” said Leudast, and he turned to another man and
ordered him to speak to Merofled.

The
servant asked her name and she answered, boldly and not without
pride. “I am called Merofled, daughter of Berulf and Ingund.”

Having
had her words repeated to him, the Duke rode on.

THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT will be available for sale by all finer outlets on February 10, 2015.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.