Sam is the most promising swordsman among this year’s crop of Paladin trainees...and knows it. Brash, cocky, and unbeatable with a sword (well, almost), Sam is the kingdom of Thule’s best hope against the violence wrought by demons. The only problem is that Sam is really Lady Samantha, daughter of the seventeenth Duke of Haywood, and if her father has his way, she’ll be marrying a Paladin, not becoming one. But Sam has never held much interest in playing damsel-in-distress, and so she rescues herself from a lifetime of boredom and matrimonial drudgery. Pity that Tristan Lyons, the Paladin assigned to train her, is none other than the hero of her childhood. He hasn’t recognized her as Lady Samantha--yet-- but if he does, he’ll take away her sword and send her packing. Sam is not the only trainee hiding secrets: Braeden is a half-demon with a dark past that might be unforgivable. Sam, Braeden and Tristan set out for the western coast, charged with rooting out an infestation of demons that has made the West unlivable. As they travel, they uncover a deep-seated corruption of power that threatens to derail everything they stand for. Rebellion stirs, led by a rival faction of warriors who tempt Sam to join them with an irresistible offer. A war between men is coming, and Sam must pick a side. Will saving the kingdom cost her life -- or just her heart? Reminiscent of Mulan, but with a medieval fantasy twist, Paladin is a tale of adventure, action, and romance.

"Don't worry about me," Jason smiled sinisterly at the man's baffled and slightly panicked face, "you're the only one who's going to be gasping for help." ----------------- Dark past. Dark secrets. Dark desires. Jason was made from the shadows; and the darkness of death seemed to be all he knew. He was the product of the god Hades and a mother he could never speak of after all; a demigod, he's learned its better to be on his own. For reasons he cant say, Jason hides his face but doesn't hide the evil he has inside. With fire beneath his palms, burning things, anything, using his hands alone seemed to be the only way to ward off the burning he felt inside. And taking lives that way was never something he shied away from, especially if the life he was taking belonged to a human. Jason hated nothing more than he hated humans. So for the life of him, he couldn't understand why suddenly his whole purpose was in the hands of a none-special, totally ordinary, simple human. Not only that- but he can't seem to escape her. Keira is drawn to Jason, though she can't understand why. Dark, coy, strange, cold, and always keeping his face hidden in the shadow of his hood, he was the type of person she'd go out of her way to stay away from. Yet as she keeps pushing on the wall he keeps placing up, she starts to learn some things she never wanted to know in the first place. Jason's past will unravel in front of her eyes, his real personality will show through, and Keira will watch him break by his own doing. As she dwells deeper into this strange puzzle that Jason's set up for her, she finds herself slipping farther from reality into a world she never knew existed. A world she apparently fell from. Now it just takes Jason's life to get back into it.