Snake Eyes

In the serpent-ruled swamps of Kalindi, some bargains never stop bleeding.

A month after the birth of Kalindi's heir, Priest Theodoric Darkmane is paying the price for saving his friends. The deal he struck with an enemy priest has blocked his bond to his spirit guide: she can hear his voice, feel his power, but their minds can no longer touch. Every rite and ritual the temple attempts fails, leaving only an echo where their connection used to be. Cut off and furious, Theodoric turns that anger on the very people he chose to protect, even as he knows the choice—and the cost—were his.

His mentor, High Priest Merrik Corrigan, insists the dead are clear: the princess is the key to mending what’s been broken.

Princess Victoria Soulkeeper is still banished from the capital until she removes the enemy she invited inside Kalindi’s borders. Determined to fix what she helped shatter, she throws herself into desperate solutions. Armed with a mysterious book and unruly new magic, she reaches for spell after spell, only to watch each attempt twist out of control.

Their old enemy is not the only one watching.

A necromantic duke, hungry for Victoria’s raw power, petitions the king to become her mentor. More requests follow, each claimant demanding the right to shape—and own—the princess’s magic..

To keep the peace, the king calls for a contest to decide her future.

Now, as rivals circle and the dead whisper of outcomes no one wants to hear, Theodoric must choose between obeying the order that raised him or defying it to protect the friend he’s already sacrificed so much for. And Victoria, marched back toward the capital, must face the truth that this time, it isn’t a kingdom, a friend, or even a god on the line.

It’s her.