A missing friend. A hunt for answers. A path to vengeance. With her Warden stolen, her hopes of an easy alliance thwarted, and her trust in her own kingdom shattered, Princess Cistine Novacek faces her greatest challenge yet: using wit and steel to bring down a wicked Chancellor and prove herself to the cabal's tentative allies in the Courts. As friendships are tested, bonds broken, and love put to the test, the princess must face the growing threats within the Northern Kingdom – and learn to rise a queen. Locked away in a desert prison, Asheila Kovar faces the struggle of her life: surviving the ruthless Blood Hive, returning to her princess, and avenging a betrayal against the heart of her kingdom. But there are more secrets and schemes than just hers lurking in the catacombs...and the struggle between powerful forces above and below the sands will test Ashe's loyalty in dangerous ways. Ways that may spell death...

A call to arms. A race against time. A choice that will change the future.With her cabal divided, a price on her head, and her power put to the test, Cistine leads the desperate search for Maleck with a kingdom's worth of enemies seeking them both. Finding him might be the key to winning the war. It might also spell Cistine's doom.Risking uncharted territory, Ashe, Aden, and Kristoff seek aid from the dragon legions in wild Oadmark. Only they stand a chance of bringing down the enemy's abominable hordes. But to gain their alliance, Ashe must prove beyond all doubt who she is—as a warrior and as a Wingmaiden.Amidst a storm of schemes, missing friends, broken hearts and uncertain horizons, the cabal faces the grim possibility of a world that can't be redeemed, and Cistine fights to carry the burden no one else does: the weight of the power in her veins, and a weapon that could turn the tide of the war.A power that could demand her love, her...

Princess Cistine Novacek is a prisoner of Valgard. Facing unbearable loss and the revelation of her own formidable power, Cistine battles her captor's cruel games in a fight to escape. Her only hope for survival lies in her own cunning, a surly guard, an imprisoned beast with his own reasons for seeking freedom, and an unexpected ally who will risk everything to bring her home. Tatiana and Quill are on the hunt. Far from the familiar, they search the shadowy corners of Valgard for their lost princess. But to rescue Cistine, they may be forced to pay a higher cost than either of them bargained for—a choice that unearths an old darkness lurking at the door of their kingdom, waiting to be let inside. Banished for betrayal, Asheila Kovar hatches a daring plan to find the princess she's sworn to protect. But a pair of unlikely companions will guide her on a journey she never expected, with enemies she never foresaw and revelations that...

Help has come to Talheim—but at a cost.For a year, the Middle Kingdom and their Valgardan allies have followed Princess Cistine and Chancellor Thorne in battle against King Jad and the armies of Mahasar, waging the war none of them ever wanted to fight.But it's more than a war...it's a game that's entering its final stages.The balance tips with the arrival of a mysterious Mahasari woman offering peace for a price—one the royal family is reluctant to pay. With their people in peril and the future unsure, the cabal divides on clandestine missions, fighting to weave a strategy that will save the kingdoms they love.Spirits must be awakened. Schemes must be thwarted. Captives must be set free. And all the while an unseen danger stalks their heels, threatening to turn the tide in the enemy's favor through one dark, fatal truth.Winning the war between the Three Kingdoms may mean playing directly into Jad's hands, pushing his game to a...

The fight for alliance has just begun. Still battling the wounds of her imprisonment, Princess Cistine Novacek takes the newest battlefield before her: Valgard's treacherous political landscape. With her cabal at her side, she faces the daunting task of healing from her trauma and securing the treaty her kingdom needs...while in the shadows, sinister threats arise. A kingdom away, Ashe and Maleck walk a tenuous line. It's dangerous enough convincing Mahasar's Mad King of a treaty that doesn't yet exist—harder still while battling their own specters and the disastrous attraction growing between them. The future of both kingdoms rests in the hands of two warriors who were once sworn enemies; if they can't learn to be something more, together and apart, war may come before Cistine fulfills her mission. Alliances shift. Old and new enemies storm the gates. Healing comes at a cost. And with their own fears threatening...

When danger threatens, a princess will rise to the challenge. The Middle Kingdom of Talheim has enjoyed peace for decades. But with the threat of war rising from the ruthless South, the dream of a quiet life is fading. And for the noble but naïve Princess Cistine, that means embarking on a dangerous quest to the Northern Kingdom, where she hopes to forge an alliance against their southern foes and save her people.But when Cistine is captured by an outlaw and his band of cutthroat warriors, she finds a more deadly adventure than she bargained for - and a greater power within herself than she ever knew.Swept up in the unpredictable tide of a tenuous and shadowy political climate, a ruthless land governed by the stars, and the unexpected revelations that come from her mysterious new companions, Cistine must learn how to fight, how to lead...and above all, how to trust herself.If the young princess can't be forged into a fighter, then...

And so it comes to war. For months, Princess Cistine Novacek of Talheim has contended with the threat looming over her home and secured an alliance that brought peace to the Middle Kingdom at last. But calamity has caught up with her nonetheless - not in her own land, but in the treacherous North. With Talheim spared from a horrific fate, Cistine faces the choice between peace in her homeland or war alongside her new allies. The princess chooses war. Now with a ruthless enemy hunting them for the blood they shed and the weapons they carry, Cistine and her allies will fight harder, risk greater, and journey farther than they ever have before, seeking to save everything they love. Even if salvation means paying a cost beyond their darkest dreams. For on bloody battlefields, in dark mountain halls, in the ancient bones of the world and deep in their own spirits, the battle for Valgard - and all the kingdoms...