Enslaved by King Kregant’s army, Dar survived by befriending the fierce orcs who were also forced to serve. Now she has escaped—only to find that the price of freedom may be her destiny. Calling on her untried leadership abilities, Dar guides the surviving orc soldiers to the safety of their homeland—but the clan leaders refuse to accept her unless she can release their queen from Kregant’s fortress. Shaken by her growing gift for dark prophecy and a fate she feels unprepared to accept, Dar must infiltrate the very heart of the despot’s empire. There she will discover unexpected treachery and an ancient power that threatens the future of all.

“Original and vivid. I was captivated.”—Nancy Kress, author of Beggars in Spain Born into hardship, Dar learns to rely on herself alone. When her family betrays her, Dar is conscripted into King Kregant’s army and its brutal campaign to conquer a neighboring country. Now she is bound as a slave to a dreaded regiment of orcs, creatures legendary for their savagery and battle prowess. Rather than cower, Dar rises to the challenge. She learns the unique culture and language of the orcs, survives treachery from both allies and enemies, and struggles to understand a mystical gift that brings her dark, prophetic visions. As the war escalates—amid nightmarish combat and shattering loss—Dar must seize a single chance at freedom.

“Dar never loses our admiration and compassion—qualities at the heart of any struggling hero.”—Karin Lowachee, author of Warchild A delicate alliance between human and orc has been achieved. Now Queen of the Orcs, Dar works toward making that peace last. Her position has helped her to finally feel part of a community, to find a life to call her own. But sudden, strange outbreaks of unrest and ominous signs throw both realms into turmoil. Dar must draw on her knowledge and skills to confront a merciless long-time enemy—and an evil she once only barely survived. To keep human and orc from destroying one another, Dar risks everything on a desperate gamble—and her own future on a heartbreaking sacrifice.

BLOOD WILL TELL Seventeen years have passed since Yim, an ex-slave blessed by the benevolent goddess Karm, sacrificed her body—and perhaps her very soul—to Lord Bahl, avatar of the evil Devourer. In that selfless act, Yim stripped Lord Bahl of his power but became pregnant with his son. Now that son, Froan, is a young man. And though Yim has raised him in the remote Grey Fens and kept him ignorant of his past, the taint of the Devourer is in his blood. Even now an eldritch call goes out—and the slumbering shadow stirs in Froan’s blood, calling to him in a voice that cannot be denied. Armed with a dark magic he barely understands, Froan sets out to claim his destiny. When Yim seeks to stop him, her sole hope is that Honus—the love she abandoned—will take up the sword again for Karm’s sake and hers. Only then can she hope to face the impregnable bastion of unspeakable evil: the Iron Palace.

The malign shadow of the Devourer has darkened the land, extinguishing life and hope. The followers of the benevolent goddess Karm are hunted mercilessly and cut down by an army of bewitched slayers led by Lord Bahl, the Devourer’s flesh-and-blood incarnation. Only two people stand in the way of an apocalyptic bloodbath that will literally bring hell to earth: a man and a woman linked by a love as strong as it is unlikely–Honus, a grim-faced warrior dedicated to Karm, and Yim, a beautiful former slave with the divine power to stop Lord Bahl. But that power will prove a terrible curse as Yim is called upon to make a costly sacrifice–a sacrifice that will not only put her love for Honus to the test but call into question her very faith. As the evil storm descends, can the flame of hope endure?

Seer, healer, goddess, slave–she is all these things and more. Yim is a young woman suddenly cast into slavery, a gifted seer with a shocking secret–and a great destiny. Honus is a Sarf, a warrior dedicated to the service of the compassionate goddess Karm. A Sarf’s sole purpose is to serve a holy person called a Bearer. But Honus’ s Bearer has been killed by the minions of an evil god known only as the Devourer. Masterless and needing someone to bear his pack, Honus purchases Yim for the price of ten coppers–and their fates are forever entwined.

With a delicate alliance established between humans and orcs, Dar, now the human Queen of the Orcs, continues to work toward building a lasting peace, unaware that a ruthless longtime enemy, an evil sorcerer intent on her destruction, has returned. Original.