Wraith Kings
3 primary works • 8 total works
Book 1
THE PRINCE OF NO VALUE
Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.
THE NOBLEWOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE
Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.
Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.
Book 1.5
Something hunts the surf at night, luring villagers to their deaths with a lullaby of sorrow and the torture of nightmares.
Blessed with the gift of water-sight, Zigana Imre senses the presence of an ancient predator drawn by a hunger for human flesh sweetened by grief.
With the help of a child of earth, she will battle a spawn of the sea to protect a loved one and save a man who will one day fight to save a world.
--Previously published in the now unavailable Teeth, Long and Sharp anthology, Night Tide is a 21k-word, stand-alone novella that takes place in the world of the Wraith Kings series.--
Book 2
In a bid for more power, the Shadow Queen of Haradis unleashes a malignant force into the world. Her son Brishen, younger prince of the Kai royal house, suddenly finds himself ruler of a kingdom blighted by a diseased darkness. His human wife Ildiko must decide if she will give up the man she loves in order to save his throne.
Three kingdoms on the verge of war must unite to save each other, and a reluctant one-eyed king will raise an army of the dead to challenge an army of the damned.
A tale of alliance and sacrifice.
Book 2.1
Previously published in the now unavailable AMID THE WINTER SNOW anthology The mark Jahna Uhlfrida was born with has made her a target of the cruel and idle all her life. During the long, crowded festivities of the winter holiday known as Delyalda, there's nowhere to escape and no one to save her. Until a handsome swordmaster promises to teach her how to save herself.
--IN THE DARKEST MIDNIGHT is a stand-alone novella of approximately 43k words and takes place in the world of the Wraith Kings series. For those who've read the first two books in the series, this storyline takes place after events in Book #2 (Eidolon).
Book 2.2
A trio of short stories by Grace Draven! Three stories by Grace Draven - STRONG BLOOD, CROW AWAKENED, and A MATTER OF TRUST. STRONG BLOOD – Ballard de Sauveterre from ENTREAT ME crosses time to share a drink with Silhara of Neith from MASTER OF CROWS and discovers a connection that spans generations. CROW AWAKENED – A short follow-up to THE BRUSH OF BLACK WINGS in which a terrified Silhara finally learns why his beloved wife Martise is fading before his eyes. A MATTER OF TRUST – A cultural divide is resolved in the most delightful way between Brishen and Ildiko Khaskem. Takes place after RADIANCE and before EIDOLON.
Book 3
The WRAITH KINGS saga continues.
The demonic horde that threatened to devour the world has been defeated, but at great cost.
Plagued by guilt and nightmares, Serovek Pangion sets out to deliver the soulless body of the monk Megiddo to the heretical Jeden Order for safekeeping. Accompanying him is sha-Anhuset, the Kai woman he admires and desires most--a woman barely tolerant of him.
Devoted to her regent, Anhuset reluctantly agrees to act as a Kai ambassador on the trip, even though the bold margrave known as the Beladine Stallion gets under her skin like no other, and Anhuset fears he'll worm his way into her armored heart as well.
But guilt and unwelcome attraction are the least of their problems. The demons thought vanquished are stirring again, and a warlord with blood-soaked ambition turns a journey of compassion into a fight for survival. When the Beladine king brands Serovek a traitor, Anhuset must choose between sacrificing the life of a man she's grown to love and abandoning lifelong fealty to the Kai people.
A tale of loyalty and acceptance.
The treacherous waters of the Gray have widowed many women in the village of Ancilar. But the sea gives back as well as takes away, something Brida Gazi discovers one bleak autumn morning while harvesting sea wrack on its storm-battered shore.
Wounded and stranded ashore, the merman Ahtin lies dying among the tidal pools until a land-walker woman, who can call forth magic with a mysterious flute, rescues him. Ahtin finds himself unable to resist Brida's allure - or her magic - despite the risk to himself and his people.
But Ahtin isn't alone in his fascination. Another, driven by bitterness and relentless purpose, seeks Brida and her unusual talent to manipulate for his own schemes, and neither Ahtin's devotion nor the sea's ancient sorcery will stop him from realizing those ambitions.
--A WILDERNESS OF GLASS is a 33k-word novella that takes place in the world of the Wraith Kings series and can be read as a stand-alone. It is also part of the Seasons of Sorcery anthology.--
The human and Kai kingdoms of Gaur and Bast-Haradis have negotiated a trade alliance that includes an arranged marriage between the Gauri king's niece and the Kai king's youngest son to seal the bargain. Ildiko has accepted her fate to become the wife of a hideous Kai husband and move to a foreign land where she knows little of the culture and even less of the people who aren't human and find humans repulsive. What she doesn't expect is to find her groom enchanting, kind, and fiercely devoted. But the strength of friendship may not be enough to grow or hold together a marriage when forces both worldly and otherworldly threaten to tear it and everything around them apart.
In Radiance, Ildiko of Gaur submits to a marriage with the prince of the Kai, an Elder race possessing fading magic. Humans find the Kai hideous, and the sentiment is returned by the Kai. Ildiko has put that aside in the hopes her union with the prince will at least be one of civility. Equally resigned to his fate, Brishen Khaskem discovers his new bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined. Two people brought together by duty will forge bonds of friendship and affection even as others scheme to destroy their union.
A tale of friendship and devotion.
In Eidolon, Brishen and Ildiko have found happiness in the Kai stronghold known as Saggara. That happiness, however, is short-lived when they must confront a demonic horde unleashed on the Kai kingdom, abominations which threaten to devour the world itself. They also have to face the hard realities of kingship, where the privilege of wearing the crown and taking the throne means making the ultimate sacrifice in lives, love, and the soul of a nation.
A tale of alliance and sacrifice.