Showing results by narrator "Caren Naess" in All Categories

She is heir to a Sultanate that once ruled the world. He is an unwanted prince with the power to destroy. She is order and intellect, a woman fit to rule in a man's place. He is chaos and violence and will stop at nothing to protect his people. His magic answers hers with shadow for light. They need each other, but the cost of balance may be too high a price. Magic is dying and the only way to save it is to enlist mages who wield the forbidden power of death, mages cast out centuries ago in a brutal and bloody war.

When Cassia seeks out a Hesperine, he could end her mortal life in a heartbeat. But she has no fear of his magic or his fangs. She knows the real monster is the human king, her father. If he finds out she’s bargaining with his enemy, he’ll send her to the executioner. As a Hesperine diplomat, Lio must negotiate with mortals who hate him. Cassia is different, but politics aren't why she captivates the gentle immortal. He wants more than her blood, and if he can’t resist the temptation, he’ll provoke the war he's trying to prevent.

She is lightning and storm. A spy, driven out of her home by a tyrant ruler. He is granite and earth. A guard, ordered to keep her contained. To protect herself and her family, she’s learned to go unnoticed, unseen. Suddenly, a refugee in a land that once was enemy and now must be home, she isn’t certain where she belongs, or what her duty is beyond her family. She can’t protect them alone this time, but the only man who can help her is the only one she cannot ask.

Amara Mutar has risen to the highest ranks of Tamar society by her wits and ambition. But it is not high enough to keep those she loves, and herself, safe from a past that will not release her. Cassian Haydar has sunk as low as it is possible to sink, but he intends to take back what is his, and crush those who took everything that mattered from him—after he’s done stealing back all the other lives they’ve robbed.

Cassia has reunited with her beloved Lio in the land of eternal night. She longs to become a Hesperine like him so they can stay together for all time, but she's torn between their happiness and her duty to the kingdom of mortals. To win her freedom, she must convince the humans to ally with the Hesperines despite centuries of conflict.

He is the future sultan, a man who wields brutal magic and only knows how to be what they’ve made him. She is a commoner, a woman who champions the vulnerable and treads where she does not belong. Dilay Akar is the daughter of a judge. By day, she trains the wealthy in magic, and by night, she breaks the Sultan’s laws. But even those closest to her do not always appreciate what she is striving for, or believe that she can achieve it.

The Blight ravages both Tamar and Sarkum, and their people, and armies, are starving. Violence and protests in Narfour have the city on the brink of rebellion. When Ihsan sees a chance to gain an ally with the only productive land left in Tamar for his cousin, the Sultana, he takes it. But nothing is as it seems when Behram Kadir is involved. Ihsan knows he should not trust the woman who has upended his life, even if she is the first warmth he has felt since fire stole everything from him.

Lio is an immortal Hesperine, but he's out of time. His Craving for Cassia's blood is killing him while an ancient spell and deadly politics keep them apart. When he learns she is also in danger, he forms a plan that could save them both—or leave the Hesperines defenseless against their mortal enemies.

Lio and Cassia spend their nights in each other's arms but sit on opposite sides of the negotiation table. Their clandestine partnership has brought his immortal kin and her fellow humans close to a treaty after generations of violence. Lives hang in the balance. Failure means war. Peace would bring the future they hope for, one where their love will no longer be forbidden. Just when success is within reach, they realize their plan has played into the enemy's hands. A threat lurks within the delegation, an old nemesis with magic unlike any they have ever faced.

Caution: rough waters ahead! Let's sail to America, Desmond suggested. It will be fun, he promised. Except, no matter where Rosemary goes, murder seems to follow, even to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! The journey was supposed to be part of the adventure, and what could be more fun than a few days aboard a veritable floating palace? Except Rosemary should have known it wouldn’t be all fun and games. She should have known bunking across the hall from a murder mystery author would come to no good. She should have followed her mother’s advice and stayed safely on dry land!

When she was a child, Astrid heard stories about how her mother served on the walls of Humanity's Bulwark to protect their country from their inhuman enemies on every side. With terrifying stories about their many foes, she quickly decided to become a delver in the Dungeon. There, she could gain enough levels and experience to serve as one of Humanity's elites, to protect her borders and countrymen. To do that, she'd need a party, and she had a plan.

She's ready for her eternal future with him. But the past won't let them go… The night Cassia has fought for is here. At last, she'll drink Lio's blood and join him as an immortal Hesperine, fulfilling their Grace bond. Then, an unexpected guest returns to Orthros with a revelation about the past she never imagined. Secrets lay hidden in the illustrious Empire, where she must travel with Lio to find the truth.

Reunited with her husband after an epic battle in Alekka, Jael wants nothing more than to return to her island kingdom and start again. She first heads to Andala to pick up her children, only to have her plans upended by a dream revealing a horrifying future: her brothers dead, her daughter, even herself—all of the Furycks gone. She seeks urgent advice from her grandmother—a better dreamer than she will ever be—soon discovering that she has mysteriously disappeared in Tuura.

I always believed in fate. But I never expected fate to come in the form of four archangels, watching me from the shadows, guarding me from threats I didn't even know existed. Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, and Michael. Warriors. Protectors. Divine beings who had no business being in my world. And yet, they whispered of bloodlines long buried, of ancient power hidden within me, power that made me a target. A force that, if awakened, could change everything. They were meant to watch me, nothing more. But the longer we fought against what pulled us together, the harder it became to resist.

Some people are simply asking to be murdered. Rosemary Lillywhite has had a lot on her tea tray: murder, intrigue, and three men vying for her affections. When her mother, Evelyn, calls and pleads with her to help put on a country garden club event, Rosemary begrudgingly agrees. After all, she can't leave poor Vera to her own devices, not when Evelyn has so staunchly objected to the match between Vera and Rosemary's brother, Frederick.

Cassia has risen from the ashes of her human life as a Hesperine with magic the world has never seen. The Gift of immortality from Lio seals their fated Grace bond and frees her from the ancient necromancer known as the Collector. But she won't leave everyone they love, Hesperines and humans alike, as pawns in his schemes. Lio fears their hard-won alliances only played into the necromancer's plots. With their warrior brothers Mak and Lyros, Lio and Cassia embark on a quest to uncover the conspiracy he's been brewing for centuries.

Ancient magic is sleeping inside Cassia. Wielding it is her birthright, but her bloodright is to become an immortal Hesperine like Lio, her Grace. Until she masters her dormant magic, it's too dangerous for him to transform her. To claim both her legacies, she must return to the land that holds the secrets of her power: the mortal kingdom where she was once powerless.

There's a mass murderer loose on the streets of London, and he's dead set on making Rosemary Lillywhite his next victim. After receiving a second threat, she should have gone straight to her chief inspector beau, Max Whittington, but Rosemary is sick and tired of being treated like she's made of glass. How many murder investigations does a lady detective need to solve to earn a little respect? Rosemary wishes she hadn't asked that question when another dead body turns up — this time, on her own doorstep — and the papers insinuate she's the responsible party.

When Lio brought Cassia to the land of their allies, he believed nothing would threaten her or their fated Grace bond. But a nameless enemy has ensnared her in a conspiracy reaching as high as the Imperial Court. With the Empress out for Cassia's blood, will Lio abandon his path as a diplomat and unleash his fangs? Although Cassia is now a fugitive, she can't flee to safety until they uncover the secret that could change the fate of two continents. Their path leads into a treacherous desert where long-forgotten magic threatens to tear her apart from Lio forever.

During the five years Rosemary has lived next door to Dr. Redberry and his wife, they've barely exchanged more than occasional pleasantries. So when she starts hearing raised voices through the adjoining townhouse walls, she can only guess that their marriage is in trouble. It's none of Rosemary's business, so she pretends not to notice, but when she sees Mrs. Redberry sobbing uncontrollably she can't simply turn a blind eye.