The Heart of Nakothi has been lost, the Consultants were victorious, and the Empire remains free of Elder control. For now.Shera has become a Soulbound, but with her new powers comes a terrifying burden. Her Soulbound Vessel has begun to poison her mind, slowly transforming her into a monstrous, bloodthirsty killer. Meanwhile, Calder Marten and his Imperialist Guilds have begun to work against the Consultants...even to the point of raising their own band of homegrown assassins. Assassins with unique ties to Shera's past.On the seas, a man will do anything to seize control of a throne.In the shadows, a woman fights for her own soul.

Recovering from the recent suicide of her ex-boyfriend, senior class president Keisha Montgomery finds herself attracted to a dangerous, older man.

Why did it please God that His Son was brutalized? Why does a loving God allow us to hurt so deeply? What made Jesus' death any different from thousands who died just as He did? Darkness covered the earth that day. The sun fled. From noon until three, the darkness of death hovered over the hill where the Son of God was dying. As Christians, we know the story well?the nails in His hands, the thorns on His head, the gambling soldiers, the taunting thieves. Charles Swindoll invites us to "return with me to those epochal days when our Lord walked into the awful darkness?which He did not deserve?only to arise into the sunlit dawn of triumph, providing us a victory from which we shall never know defeat." Go with him and you will find that, as only he can, Dr. Swindoll uncovers new meaning in the Cross and the Resurrection for those who face death and darkness today. His fresh perspectives on these core events of faith can help you see beyond the darkness to the new light of dawn.

“The Russia that Satter depicts in this brave, engaging book cannot be ignored . . . Required reading for anyone interested in the post-Soviet state” (Newsweek). Anticipating a new dawn of freedom after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russians could hardly have foreseen the reality of their future a decade later: A country impoverished and controlled at every level by organized crime. This riveting book views the 1990s reform period through the experiences of individual citizens, revealing the changes that have swept Russia and their effect on Russia’s age-old ways of thinking. “With a reporter’s eye for vivid detail and a novelist’s ability to capture emotion, he conveys the drama of Russia’s rocky road for the average victimized Russian . . . This is only half the story of what is happening in Russia these days, but it is the shattering half, and Satter renders it all the more poignant by making it so human.” —Foreign Affairs “[Satter] tells engrossing tales of brazen chicanery, official greed and unbearable suffering . . . Satter manages to bring the events to life with excruciating accounts of real Russians whose lives were shattered.” —The Baltimore Sun “Satter must be commended for saying what a great many people only dare to think.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto) “Humane and articulate.” —The Spectator “Vivid, impeccably researched and truly frightening . . . Western policy-makers would do well to study these pages.” —National Post

The guidance presented here supports traditional psychotherapy and medication as valuable tools, as well as radically shifting the way that we perceive the experience and offering insights and practices that reach beyond conventional models.

Its 1634 and a ship of Puritans struggles through a storm on its way to Boston. Among them are John Lee, an ancestor of two future princes of England, and Grace Newell, both 13-year-old wards of William Westwood, their congregation’s lawyer. During the storm, John sees 19-year-old Richard Hawkes, a petty thief and murderer, steal their church’s gold inlaid silver chalice. The next day, when the chalice is missing, Richard threatens to kill Grace unless John swears to conceal the theft. John agrees if Richard returns the chalice. With few options, Richard agrees. Over the next 40 years, challenges and opportunities present themselves amidst Indian wars and witchcraft trials. Richard lies, steals, and murders his way to fortune and influence, while John becomes a soldier, civic leader, and Indian teacher. Each attracts followers, while both compete for the affection of the same woman. John’s guilt over his oath grows as he blames himself for unleashing Richard’s evil upon his community. At the same time, he believes breaking his oath would be a great sin. Nesehegan, one of John’s Indian students, tells John how he resolved his conflict between loyalty to his tribe and his belief in God. Months later, Richard calls John as a witness at Richard’s murder trial. Confronted with a question he can’t answer without breaking either his oath to God or his oath to the court, John remembers Nesehegan’s story.

The Guild of Navigators has ruled the Aion Sea for centuries, using their fleet of mystical ships to collect trade for the Aurelian Empire.Now the Emperor is dead.For Calder Marten, Captain of The Testament, the Emperor's death is not an end, but an opportunity. He and his crew seek the legendary Heart of Nakothi, an artifact that could raise a second Emperor...and earn Calder a fortune.But they're not the only ones who want the Heart.The Consultant's Guild, an ancient order of spies and assassins, will stop at nothing to keep the world in chaos. They seek to destroy the Heart, and prevent the world from uniting under a single Emperor ever again.On the seas, a man works to restore the dying Empire.In the shadows, a woman seeks to destroy it.Will you explore the seas here with Calder? Or will you walk the shadows with Shera, in the parallel novel "Of Shadow and Sea"?