The Iron Queen

THE IRON QUEEN

Queen Isolde Vaylen has spent seven years proving she is no puppet. At twenty-three, she rules Valeria, a wealthy island kingdom positioned at the heart of the Middle Sea, where the world's greatest trade routes converge.

Then Tariqan arrives.

A former gladiator turned emperor, Tariqan leads the fiercely loyal Tariqan Host, an army of freed slaves and seasoned warriors. In five days, Valeria's fortresses fall, its ports are occupied, and the Heart Lands abandon the kingdom they once promised to protect.

But Tariqan doesn't demand Isolde's surrender.

He offers her marriage.

For Tariqan, her crown and bloodline could finally give Khazarat the legitimacy the Heart Lands have denied it for generations. For Isolde, marrying the man who conquered her kingdom means binding herself to the enemy to save the people she swore to protect.

Neither expects the attraction that follows.

Neither expects trust to grow where hatred once stood.

And neither knows that Isolde's prophetic dreams are warning her of something far beyond their marriage.

Something is coming from the darkness.

And this time, the future may not leave them enough pieces to understand it before it's too late.