The King's Blood

In a remote mountain academy, the politically expendable younger sons of the Great Houses study for an extraordinary task. Most will fail, some will die, but the reward for the dedicated few is great: mastery of the andat, and the rank of Poet. Thanks to these men - part sorcerers, part scholars - the great city-states of the Khaiem enjoy wealth and power beyond measure, and the greatest of them all is Saraykeht: glittering jewel of the Summer Cities.There are those in the world, however, who envy such wealth. There are great riches to be had in the Summer and Winter Cities, and only the threat of the andat unleashed holds the enemies of the Khaiem in check. Conflict is brewing in the world. Alliances will be broken and friends betrayed. The lowly will be raised up, the mighty will fall and innocents will be slaughtered. And two men, bound to each other by an act of kindness and an act of brutality, may be all that stands between the civilised world and war. War and something worse . . .

The poets and their magical andat have protected the cities of the Khaiem against their rivals in Galt for generations. Otah, Khai of the Winter City of Machi, has tried for years to prepare his people for a future in which the andat can no longer be safely harnessed. But his warnings have been ignored, and now it's too late.A ruthless, charismatic Galtic general believes he has found a way to strip the andat of their power. If he is wrong, Galt will be destroyed. If he is right, the Khaiem will fall. Only one thing is certain: conflict is inevitable, and Otah and his old friend and enemy the disgraced poet, Maati, must fight a desperate battle to protect their cities from slaughter. These two men, bound together by shadow and betrayal, will bring the world to the edge of a cataclysm unlike anything either side had imagined. For if the cost of war is high, the price of peace may be unimaginable . . .

Jayn? Heller has discovered the source of her uncanny powers: something else is living inside her body. She's possessed. Of all her companions, she can only bring herself to confide in Ex, the former priest. They seek help from his old teacher and the circle of friends he left behind, hoping to cleanse Jayn? before the parasite in her becomes too powerful. Ex's history and a new enemy combine to leave Jayn? alone and on the run. Her friends, thinking that the rider with her has taken the reins, try to hunt her down, unaware of the danger they're putting her in. Jayn? must defeat the weight of the past and the murderous intent of another rider, and her only allies are a rogue vampire she once helped free and the nameless thing hiding inside her skin.

For someone who didn't intend to wreck the solar system's fragile balance of power, Jim Holden did a pretty good job of it.While Earth and Mars have stopped shooting each other, the core alliance is shattered. The outer planets and the Belt are uncertain in their new - possibly temporary - autonomy.Then, on one of Jupiter's moons, a single super-soldier attacks, slaughtering soldiers of Earth and Mars indiscriminately and reigniting the war. The race is on to discover whether this is the vanguard of an alien army, or if the danger lies closer to home.

The first novel in a bold and fast-paced new urban fantasy series starring Jayn? Heller, a young college student who inherits a string of houses across the world, several bank accounts, and a very unconventional business from her murdered uncle. And it turns out Uncle Eric has been fighting to rid the world of supernatural riders - demons, vampires, werewolves and all sorts of other nasty parasites - since before Jayn? was born.Now it's up to Jayn? to avenge her uncle's death and continue his mission - if she can survive her first week on the job.

Lady Marjory Mackintosh has no intention of marrying any of the suitors her brother has chosen for her. And she's employed every weapon in her arsenal to sabatoge them, from persuasion to flattery to coin whenever everything else fails. She isn't proud of herself, but she simply cannot be wed against her will. She has plans of her own: braw Alasdair MacDonald. For she and two other women made a secret pact to unite the warring clans through marital bliss and Marjory is the only lass who hasn't yet kept her vow. So now it's time to employ the last weapon in her feminine arsenal to accomplish her goal--seduction...To Alasdair MacDonald, chieftan of the Clan Donald, honor and loyalty are everything. Though he has achieved peace with one of the two neighboring warring clans through his sister's marriage, relations with the Clan Mackintosh remain hostile and his sword is at the ready for disaster to strike. And it is inevitable for he cannot rid his mind of the sensual--and forbidden--lass who haunts his dreams: the beguiling Marjory. Soon this fearless, hot-blooded warrior must possess her, body and soul, the consequences be damned. But as the war between the clans rages on, a new enemy enters the glen, and he will stop at nothing to strip Alasdair of his honor and the one lass who has ever held his heart.