The noble and most ancient house of black are said to produce young witches and wizards with superior magic, superior bone structure and most of all superior blood. As one of the oldest, largest and wealthiest families in Great Britain nothing less would be expected. Toujours Pur. Cassiopeia Vega Black, the fourth daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black was no exception... If anything she could give the Black family something that her sisters and cousins could not, something that her ancestors before her could not. A legacy that no one in the wizarding world would ever forget. But when someone is born and raised in that kind of cruelty it tends to leave scars.

❖ QUEENKILLER, KINGMAKER Book 1 ❖ Feudal Southeast-Asia filled with magic, daemons, and a royal conspiracy. This is Isla's quest for the truth, and her slow spiral into becoming her very own worst nightmare. When the gods ascended thousands of years ago, they left behind the divine gift of theurgy. Its powers still echo amongst men, but run fiercer yet in the blood of kings and queens. And one of them will stop at nothing before Isla is dead. A betrayal lures her out of refuge and into her journey home, where she must unmask her enemies before they unmask her. The theurgy that she has had to keep hidden for many years can be her greatest ally or her most lethal foil. Only her wits can guide her through the dangerous politics of the Surikh court. But amidst the plots and schemes bubbling around her, she uncovers something far more sinister than the identity of her enemies. Something that can change her entire life; indeed, entire kingdoms. ↝ this work contains violence, profanity, and sexual references ↜ ↝ Winner of Wattys 2016 HQ Love Award ↝ Winner of FANTASCI's first season Chosen One awards ↝ Winner of The Cryptic Awards 2018 ↝ Featured in Fantasy as of 18-01-2017 ↝ Wattpad Editor's Pick January 2021

A war is brewing in The Faerie Realm; it's up to a knight, a prince, and an outcast to stop it. When a sinister and mysterious master takes control of a group of cursed faeries known as the sprites, they want revenge against the fae...and they will stop at nothing to obliterate the kingdoms known as the Faerie Courts in a slaughtering attack on Midsummer's night. When Marissa, a Winter Knight with a dark past, joins forces with the arrogant prince Glen and the runaway sprite Diandre, she knows that they are the fae's only chance of defeating The Master. The first step? Become fugitives. These three will have to race against time to recover the Objects of Power: a wand and a scepter that have been lost for centuries. But to prevent a dark war, Marissa, Glen, and Diandre will be tested like they've never imagined. And it might just cost them their lives. [Completed] Highest Ranking: #724 in Fantasy ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

❝You and me, darlin', we're gonna have a whale of a time...❞ Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Tamsyn James has her first encounter with the Fae - a deadly group of beings from a place called the Otherworld. Not long after finding out she's one of them, Tamsyn falls under the radar of Westley, a Sorcerer that wants nothing more than the destruction of Titania, the Ice Queen, and ruler of the Unseelie Court. With one foot in the Human realm and one in the Otherworld, Tamsyn struggles to find her place as she uses her new powers to handle the Fae and track down a killer loose in Harbor Village. Will her gift be enough to bring down her enemies? Or will Tamsyn fall prey to what calls from the dark?

Featured in Wattpad HighFantasy & Magic II 19-year-old Aria is ready to accept her doomed fate of marrying the cruel Lord Lathik. An alliance that will secure a large army for her hateful brother's war against the fae. When destiny intervenes and her carriage gets attacked by bandits, she falls into fae territory. Pulled from the grasp of death and captured by the handsome crown prince, she can only pray he will never find out she is the enemy kingdom's princess. The fae prince, Elvin, is haunted by his mother's final words of a great war to come, of lies told, and a girl with redwood hair at the center of it all. When he saves a human that fits that description with rare light magic powers, he must decipher if she will be a friend or a foe. Is there something more to the lingering pull they feel towards each other? Will years of hate between humans and fae win out? How are their fates intertwined by the past? -----.------- "Do you know what you are asking?" Elvin's baritone voice vibrated down Aria's back. His velvet tone trickled down her skin like a gentle touch. "Yes... I want to know. What it feels like to be held with care." Aria truly did want to know... this may be the only chance she would get. ------.------ War Of The Forgotten Lovers Book 1 Best Rankings: #1 out of 6.5k in Fae 09/07/21 #1 out of 14.3k in Elf 10/02/21 #1 out of 18.7 in FantasyAdventure 10/01/21 #8 out of 87.9K in YoungAdult 09/13/21 EDITING

[FREE STORY with exclusive chapters] Tragedy has struck the kingdom of Iride. The crown prince has disappeared and rumors claim pirates have taken him. But, even if the news is tragic, Kat Devieux has other, much more urgent things on her plate. Her financial troubles and the unrealistic expectations of her father has her family on the brink of starvation and her only way out seems to be marriage to a man who sees her as nothing more than a pretty face. When in order to save her father, she becomes the unwilling prisoner of a cursed beast, the running of the kingdom becomes even less important to her. Until she finds herself entangled in rogue politics and magic use. Because the Beast is guilty of more than misuse of magic in a kingdom that has expressly forbidden it. He holds a secret that could be the undoing of the entire country. And for Kat, knowledge opens a door to a life where she is so much more than just another bystander. A life she never thought could be. 🥀 Book 1 of the Fairy's Gambit series *Beauty and the Beast retelling* Fantastic cover by @pennywithaney

*WATTPAD FEATURED FEB 2018* *2018 FICTION AWARD WINNER IN SCI FI CATEGORY* Leah Azemar's soul has been sent to the world of the dead. She just doesn't know it. ... Leah Azemar has spent her life trapped in a town that moves slower than she does, hiding her abnormalities from people who would fear and exploit her. But when Leah slips up and a mysterious boy called Jared comes asking unanswerable questions, Leah is thrust into a fight that she's convinced has nothing to do with her. But Jared knows things about her that he shouldn't. And he can do things that no one else in her world can do. Soon, Leah begins to realise that somewhere, deep in her subconscious, her memories have been trapped. And the more she remembers, the more she realises how badly she needs to return to the living.

************************************************************************************** An outcast rogue must break a curse put on his fate, or die on his nineteenth birthday. To survive, he'll need the sword of a maiden, the aid of an immortal, and the power of forbidden magic that could cost him the only girl he ever loved. ************************************************************************************ *** THE JACK OF SOULS won a Silver IPPY this year! *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the PNWA Competition in Fantasy! * *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the Southwest Writers competition! * *** A "Featured Book" on Wattpad! * *** Now a "Staff Pick" on Kickstarter! * *** Available on Amazon in paper, hardback, and ebook ! * *** My contract with Kindle Select won't allow me to post more than 3 chapters here, but... *** Sign up for my newsletter on stephenmerlino.com for alerts when it's free on Amazon! * MY INSPIRATION I wrote this out of pure love of trickster rogues; I love the wit over brawn motif -- Odysseus over Achilles, Raven over Eagle -- so I like to play with it in my stories. In JOS I set the rogue and con-artist Harric against a foil of warriors in a land threatened by magic and civil war. Whenever possible I turn familiar tropes on their heads: instead of a handsome young Lancelot, I cast a broken-down ex-champion addicted to pain-killing herbs; instead of a dashing Squire Brian, the old knight reluctantly takes an ambitious young woman as squire. Similarly, I re-imagine the standard medieval milieu by infusing aspects of two of my favorite historical periods, Elizabethan England, and The American Frontier. Both eras boast a kind of nationalistic arrogance that borders on hubris, and a magnificent spirit of resourcefulness and re-invention that is fun to play with. SERIES The Jack of Souls is first in a series. I am posting parts of the sequel here now (The Knave of Souls), to help me refine the story.

A strange and terrible power once performed dark puppetry with the dead to wage war against the living. One hundred winters ago that power was staunched. But it has returned. After a ruinous attack against her kingdom, Princess Elery takes up her father's sword to pursue the path of vengeance. A path that brings her to the dreadful soul-eating dragon of the Dark Woods. A dragon of legend, possessing power beyond the other spirits of Leria. But in a world where every fallen body counts among the enemy's ranks, the living may already be out of time. All-time best was #2 in Fantasy! COMPLETED & FEATURED!

In the Realm, a Taint cast years ago by a corrupt Shaman advances slowly but inexorably across the Lands, threatening famine and to undo the peace restored by the Treaty of Lands. Ceres, a young Shaman adept at the healing arts, flees the Order of Medice, who would have her serve in the house of the malevolent Lord Scias. With the help of her protector, Waithe, she sets off on a quest to cure the Taint. The Order and Lord Scias seek to bring her back by whatever means necessary. The stakes are higher than they know as an ancient deep Darkness rises. And it wants Ceres. Book cover by @Reading_Mermaid08 ** Fantasy Profile'Every Day in May' world building contest - second place. ** ** Featured on 'Secret Treasures' Fantastical Realms reading list. **