Status: Approximately 30,000 words written; rest of the story is outlined; currently editing the beginning chapters.

Synopsis: Enovi is the Albreyast, youngest daughter of Brey Aidan of the House Tierlach, lord over all Artesia. She has spent her entire life in her older sister's shadow: Naydyn is more intelligent, more beautiful, more desirable to men, and heir to the vast realm of Artesia. The best Enovi can ever hope for is an arranged marriage to a Korenmar, one of the provincial princes of Artesia. But when scandal strikes her life, Enovi flees the home she has always known in a self-imposed exile, and learns to  live, work, and love among commoners, all but forgetting her former life. But she soon finds herself in the middle of a rebellion, led by her lover against her own father, and must finally choose which side she's on . . .

Jarol Nilis-Angisini is a scribe sent from the capital city of Ethilikos to its ally nation Vymeth under the pretense of studying the culture. What he's really there to do, however, is collect information for his government, which plans to conquer Vymeth and absorb it into the Ethiliken Empire. But a storm at sea during his journey deposits him on the beaches of Artesia, a land unknown to Ethilikos. He soon realizes that magic, which is a highly-cultivated art in his homeland, exists in Artesia only in a crude form that is feared by the people and outlawed by the ruling powers. Almost on accident, he ends up embroiled in a rebellion of mages against the Artesian Brey, becoming a potent force for the rebellion when he turns to secretly teaching the higher forms of magic to the rebels. Hoping to prove himself to those in Ethilikos who doubted him, he plans to undermine the Artesian government so that his own can easily conquer the previously-unknown but resource-rich land. But Jarol is himself ambitious, and the lure of personal power may be too much to resist . . .

Excerpts: Prologue || Chapter One || Chapter Two

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