Snake Strike

In the serpent‑ruled swamps of Kalindi, loyalty cuts deeper than any blade.

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Priest Theodoric Darkmane returns from a distant mission expecting to slip back into his quiet life as Royal Chaplain—serving the court, apprenticed to the High Priest, and spending peaceful hours with his closest friends.

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Princess Victoria Soulkeeper has learned to live in the shadows of the throne. Overlooked by her brother, King Vaelyn, she happily buries herself in books and ancient rites, content to be forgotten—as long as she is free.

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One public act shatters that peace. When Victoria defies protocol to save a peasant child, Vaelyn’s fury falls on her. Struck and shamed, she flees the capital … and her desperate wish to be left alone calls an old enemy into the swamps.

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A chilling vision reveals the cost of her mistake, sending her on a journey far different from her dreams. Ordered to “clean up her mess,” she is paired with one person the court still trusts: Theodoric, tasked by their god to keep her on the path of duty.

 

As Theodoric uncovers unsettling truths within his own order, he must choose between the safety he’s built and the dangerous road of defiance. Victoria must decide where her loyalty truly lies—with the blood that has betrayed her, or the friends who might die for her.