A companion to The Runner series. ================================== You already know the hero. Now, meet the survivors. Friends, enemies, Intacts and Fragments. These are their stories.

Kit Kensington was a boy born with nothing. Olivia Pendleton was a girl born with everything. While Kit was fortunate enough to be taken in and raised by a loving family, revolutionary Olivia was cast out and left to fight for her beliefs alone. After meeting as children, Kit and Olivia are reunited as adults, and are thrust into the world of politics, social justice, and royalty. But along the way, both find in each other was the other was lacking, and a forbidden romance begins to bloom.

Seth Veregin is Severance, and there used to be a clear line between reality and fantasy. What happens when that line starts to blur? Season 2 of Eliona's War ___ There's something wrong with Eliona, but by the time Seth Veregin realizes how serious it is, it's too late. Quitting is no longer an option. Ever since it came out on the market, Eliona's War has been shrouded in mystery. Its incredible realism has players flocking to it, but its quirks cause frustration in its player base. When NPCs have the power to freely murder players and prevent them from advancing in the main questline, it's clear that there's something far more sinister going on than a few bugs in the script. As the only healer of the Veiled clan, Severance gets a front row seat to all the mayhem. His clan starts a lot of trouble for being supposedly hidden, and Severance is the one who must face the consequences. To survive, he must get stronger, but there's a price to pay for power...

Lady Imogen Wilde has lived her life in a body that does not work as it should. As she was born not breathing, Imogen has spent her life as the small and weak daughter of the Duke of Ascot. Nobody could ever understand, could they? Colonel Simon Spencer is a highly decorated, recently retired, soldier, who has made his fortune through various gallant and successful military campaigns. But the military has altered him, both mentally and physically, leaving him a changed man from the one his brother remembers, one who carries many burdens. But what if they met? Could it be, that after years of indifference, Imogen and Simon might finally find someone who understands? Or could there be other obstacles in their way, secrets that threaten to boil over?

To the unknowing eye, the exotic young woman making her way through the English countryside is just another poor girl, hungry and looking for work. But Elena Del Fuego is much more than that. She is the youngest daughter of the King of Spain and she is running from an arranged marriage he forced upon her. Elena learned of the betrothal when she was ten years old, and found out that it was to happen on her eighteenth birthday to a Portuguese Prince twenty years her senior. She had eight years to plan her perfect escape. Her escape takes her to Derbyshire where she finds work as a housemaid at a grand estate called Ascot. While Elena had always planned to keep her head down, she cannot help but notice the handsome heir to the dukedom, David Wilde. But life is not like a fairy tale. The handsome heir cannot marry the maid and turn her into a princess, for Elena is already that. She is a princess with two nations chasing her, two nations determined to keep Elena and David apart and to take Elena home.

Maggie Swift had always known something was missing from her life. She had everything an eighteen year old aristocrat could want - a title, wealth, a good family, and an incredible friend in Max Montgomery. What could possibly be missing? Many do not see past the audacious and joyous personality of Maggie Swift, the outspoken American child that Nate Swift, Earl of Montrose, adopted eleven years earlier. Many do not see the fact that she has always felt like an outsider, and that she truly believes that something is missing in her life. But a knock on the door of Montrose Manor will change Maggie's life. It will take her across an ocean to a life she never knew. But what Maggie has to decide is this: Who is she? Where does she belong? Who does she belong with? And most importantly, where is home?

After a disastrous first season in London, Rose Wilde finds herself torn between two men who love her -- but who both hide secrets that could ruin her. ***** Rose Wilde has always considered herself plain, especially when compared to her beautiful older sister Charlotte, and has practically given up on the idea of being romanced. But when American hotelier Derek Montgomery comes to revolutionise her little, sleepy English village of Ascot, Rose starts to revisit the idea of falling in love. However, Derek brings with him many secrets and obligations, some that might prohibit him from pursuing Rose -- and push her into the arms of her friend, Michael Cornell, the Marquess of Juniper. Will fate allow Rose and Derek to marry for love? Or will she indeed become the reluctant marchioness? [[Word count: 70,000 - 80,000 words]] Cover designed by Ashley Bandy (The Reluctant Marchioness is the sequel to The Coveted Countess, but can also be read as a standalone)

Two years after Nathaniel Swift left for America to forget the woman he loved, he learns she's engaged to another man -- and returns to England to win her back. ***** Lord Nathaniel 'Nate' Swift is hopelessly in love with his best friend's younger sister, Charlotte Wilde. However, Nate's rakish ways, their ten-year age difference, and his best friend's objections soon make it very clear that a marriage could never take place. So Nate does the only thing he could: he travels to America and tries to forget about the woman he loves. But after two years in the New World, forgetting Charlotte proves to be impossible, and he's quickly pulled back to England after hearing of her engagement to another man. Determined to make up for past mistakes, Nate swears to stop the impending wedding and win back Charlotte's heart at any cost. But is he too late to show her the truth he's known all along -- that they're meant to be together, forever? [[Word count: 70,000-80,000 words]] Cover designed by Ashley Bandy

When the arrogant stranger Bess is forced to marry unexpectedly becomes a duke, she'll find herself at odds with her growing feelings as he hunts for a killer. ***** Sharp-tongued Elizabeth 'Bess' Jones is perfectly content living on her lonesome in a tiny village south of Derbyshire. She works as a nurse, owns a small home, and finds the label of 'spinster' an agreeable trade for her independence. But when her entire life is uprooted in an instant, she only has one person to blame: her new husband, Emmett Wilde, who was caught in a compromising situation with her. And now, despite his promise to fake a death certificate after their wedding--to free her of any duty to him or their marriage bed--he sends for her in the dead of night with startling news: his father has been murdered, and he is now the Duke of Ascot with a wife he can no longer deny... [[Word Count: 60,000-70,000 words]] [[Cover designed by Ren Tachibana]]

A chance encounter between two people changes the trajectories of their lives forever. Cassian Kensington was a poverty stricken man, on the brink of starvation, before a chance encounter with a mysterious woman changes everything. Leaving him with only her name - Faith - and a purse full of coins, she tells him to make something of himself. But years later, fate is not finished with Cassian and Faith, and brings them together again ...