Sacrifice
Sometimes the greatest battles are fought on the inside…
In the Warlord’s domain, there is only one unbendable rule: no human trafficking. Anyone caught undertaking such a crime can only wish for a swift death—for themselves and anyone they hold dear. But while the Warlord prepares for the Sylannian invasion in the mountains, and the Unwanted ride across the domain warning their people to get to safety, rumours are afoot that one of the oldest trading families in Vallantia is taking advantage of their absence to stage a coup and expand their own forbidden empire.
On the other side of the vast interconnected river system, in the islands the Sylannians call home, Jaclyn tricks her increasingly lost brother Samuel and his wives into helping her in the next desperate step to save her house while trying to avoid rising against Samuel and seizing the throne. When a lower caste house is discovered consorting with barbarians, Jaclyn finds for the first time in her life that her own plans align with the Monarch House. The traitors pose a threat not only to the purity of the Sylannian line but to her own house, and she willingly complies with her king’s orders to deal with them.
As each group makes its plans, it becomes clear that the smuggling operation is bigger than any of them know—and it affects them all. While Michael and Olivia must confront familial betrayal, Damien, still struggling to free himself from the grip of addiction, is caught by an underground group that leads the Unwanted to the source of the trafficking.
But the coup is just the start. Cracks are starting to show among the Kallith clan as Khaliun and Tarkhan break ranks to embark on an impossible rescue with devastating results that risk exposing all that remains of the People to Sylanna. With attacks threatened on all fronts, as powerful as the Unwanted are, they can only be in one place at once. And the most insidious enemy might be one of their own.
The emergence series continues in Sacrifice, book 2.
Available for preorder now for a 25 October 2023 release!