Kent LaVine has spent the past few years working as a high school gym teacher, but he eventually gets bored. He decides to quit his job and become a fisherman who travels all over the United States. With each place he visits, he encounters unpredictable people and events that take him on a wild ride. With every random situation that he finds himself in, he comes closer to understanding what it really means to live as a human being.

A stubborn prince joins forces with the beautiful son of his enemy to save his kingdom and his life. --- Prince Toom has never questioned the safety and power of his family - until he meets Niako, the cunning, arrogant, and unnervingly beautiful son of the enemy Rakim chief. In Rakim, Toom discovers heinous traditions beyond his imagination, such as Claiming enemies as personal slaves. When Toom returns to Rakim ten years later, Niako proves more enigmatic than ever, and Toom grapples with conflicting feelings and an unsettling attraction. With the throne and his own family's lives at stake, Toom attempts to seduce Niako to unveil Rakim's plots. Niako reveals little but offers foreboding advice: flee Rakim and never return. As political machinations and cruel appetites overtake the land, Toom must work together with Niako to save the nation. To protect those he loves. And to survive. Set forty-four years after "The Claimed: Rashika's Resistance" (also works as a stand-alone novel) |2022 Wattys Shortlist| Trigger warning: This story contains descriptions of abuse and references to sexual assault