The rite has existed
for as long as anyone can remember: when the prince-who-will-be-king
comes of age, he must venture out into the gray lands, slay a fierce
dragon, and rescue a damsel to be his bride. This is the way things have
always been.
When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory,
however, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before
she was captured by the dragon, or what horrors she has faced in its
lair. She knows only this handsome prince, the story he tells of her
rescue, and her destiny to sit on the throne beside him. Ama comes with
Emory back to the kingdom of Harding, hailed as the new princess,
welcomed to the court.
However, as soon as her first night falls,
she begins to realize that not all is as it seems, that there is more
to the legends of the dragons and the damsels than anyone knows–and that
the greatest threats to her life may not be behind her, but here, in
front of her.
Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies.
THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED...
The
precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking
point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a
shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to
rise.
WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?
WHO WILL RISE?
Lila
Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and
flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to
control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced
Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.
WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay.
It has been four months
since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell's possession. Four
months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since
Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White
London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland's
dying body through the rift--back into Black London.
Now,
restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by
dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who
disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London
finalizes preparations for the Element Games--an extravagant
international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy
the ties between neighboring countries--a certain pirate ship draws
closer, carrying old friends back into port.
And while Red London
is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London
is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night
will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous,
and for one city to flourish, another London must fall.
Kell is one of the last
Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between
parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell
was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire
as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes
in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons,
the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a
smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses
of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous
consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an
exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah
Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves
him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to
another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.
Agnieszka loves her
valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining
river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent
power, and its shadow lies over her life.
Her people rely on the
cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay.
But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed
over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to
the Wood.
The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone
knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave
Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the
world. And there is no way to save her.
But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.
