Wind Child — Nancy Harding

The laws of her people decreed that men should rule -- and women obey. She would defy every tradition.

Born to an ancient nomad tribe of the steppes, beautiful, blue-eyed Arima was the Scythian chief's proud daughter. Yet she would go to the tent of the man her father chose, and that man would own her as he did his horse...and value her less.

But when a traveling stranger stopped at her village, his sensuous gaze tapped a wellspring of desire at her very core -- a thirst for passion and freedom that would not be denied. Into the night they fled, and when they parted, her lover's kiss was a brand burned forever into Arima's fierce heart.

Now as the mighty Persian empire massed its armies, the fugitive princess' valor shone keen as a dagger. In an age like no other, one woman would ride forth to meet the glorious challenge of the future -- in the searing flames of love and war.