Morgana Raimond was born on the exact same day her mother died.
It was an occasion of excellent news instantly overshadowed by terrible tragedy.
Her mother had died with a gentle, loving smile upon her lips, using the last of her fading strength to softly hug her newborn daughter. That heartbreaking moment had been the first, only and only last time Morgana had ever been held in her mother's arms.
Her father, Arges, had been utterly, completely distraught that day.
As physically immense as he was, and as deeply feared as he was by all of his enemies on the battlefield, he was still merely a man, a man who had loved his wife more than life itself, only to watch her slip away.
The only reason he had not completely collapsed into a pit of despair was the shrill, demanding wailing of the tiny baby girl bundled within his dead wife's arms.
