The Kingston Cycle, Book 2 – Stormsong. Return to Kingston in this absorbing political fantasy that explores the consequences of the terrible revelations at the end of the World Fantasy Award winning Witchmark.
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Up close, she smelled like spiced apple tipsy blended with the bouquet of her perfume. “That tunic looks warm. How was your stay in Kingsgrave Prison?”
“Mercifully brief,” I replied. “Don’t eat the millet. List, do you have a smoke? I’m dying.”
“I do.” Avia regarded me with an impish smile. “I’m mercenary enough to trade it for a few questions on the record.”
“Then let’s bargain. One smoke, one question.”
She laughed, throaty and rich. “Five.”
It caught me up, that laughter, making me smile. “Three, like in the stories.”
“Done.”
Grace Hensley didn’t hestitate to help when Miles refused to allow the horrifying secret at the heart of Aeland’s Aether network to continue. She returned to the Palace to confess what she’d done, expecting prison. But Queen Constantina reaffirms Grace as her chancellor with a command–set turbulent Aeland back in order without letting its biggest secrets escape.
With terrible cyclonic blizzards threatening to bury Kingston, Grace has to retain her leadership of the Storm-singing Royal Knights now that being her disgraced father’s proxy isn’t enough. Holding her position as First Caller is crucial if she’s to keep these powerful, weather controlling magicians in line with her reforms in Parliament. She has to unsnarl the complicated diplomacy between Aeland and Laneer, the country Aeland sought to conquer to expand their economic might, and the Grand Duchess who speaks for the Amaranthines, the legendary shepherds of the dead who has made herself clear: mend the wrongs Aeland has done, or Aeland will be no more.
Then the diplomat Laneer sent to extract an apology from Aeland is murdered inside the Palace itself. That brings heiress-turned-journalist Avia Jessup to Grace’s office, full of questions that cut too close to the heart of the truth. Grace tries to hold her back, but the woman Grace admired from afar knows what Aeland is trying to hide. She has hard proof–and what she doesn’t have is a reason not to make it front-page news.
Grace can’t just bury the truth undisturbed. She must face Aeland’s past and solve a problem that all her power – political and magical – can’t fix.
Read Kirkus’ Review – “A thoughtful and passionate depiction of one woman’s struggle to discover her truest self.”
Read Publisher’s Weekly’s Starred Review – “a superb sequel blending political intrigue, witchcraft, and queer romance.”