Legacy Of Magic — Margaret L. Carter

The exciting prequel to the Wild Sorceress series...

Most people in the country of Saphradea admire sorcerers and dream of having magical powers. Not Merina, a young woman who detests magic because she thinks it ruined her mother's life. All she knows of the woman who abandoned her in infancy is that her mother studied at an academy of sorcery and supposedly failed because her addiction to drink made her too weak to handle the power. When Merina's fiancé, Trinames, announces he has decided to go away for training as a Healer sorcerer, her world turns upside down. As heiress to a tract of rich farmland, she wants only to manage her own property and bring up a family in peace, a dream she thought Trinames shared. If he accepts admission to the training academy, however, their marriage will be delayed for four years, and his Healer vocation will keep him too busy to fill any other role.

Yet events conspire to force Merina into a realm of magic and intrigue she never wanted. A mysterious organization targets her for unknown reasons and kidnaps Trinames before her eyes. With the guidance of an enigmatic wandering trader who seems to know more about Merina's plight than she does herself, she sets off across the wilderness to hunt for her stolen lover. Harried by both the assassins and a pack of wolves, she discovers powers within herself she never wanted--and should not possess. Before she and her companions can fight their way to safety, however, Merina draws the attention of an entity who claims to have her welfare at heart...but may not even be human...