Oathbreaker's Price

Lilliane Tor, a renowned empathic healer from Rimland, learns the cost of keeping her oath when she saves the life of Jahnissim Hal Zev, a member of the nomadic and insular Tisreen. Entangled in a diplomatic nightmare, she becomes a fugitive from her own land, and in search of her missing sister, must escape to Tisreen with Zev. There she enters a bewildering world of a rigid religion and culture, where women's roles are tightly controlled and political disputes are settled on the edge of a blade. And where hudessh, or The Divine Obligation, is as binding as any healer's oath.

That Zev owes his life to a woman, and one who doesn't follow his beliefs, challenges the foundations of his identity. When he finds evidence of an illegal slave trade poisoning the heart of both their countries, Zev must learn to trust Lilliane, working with her against a common evil. Their quest to unravel the truth, rescue Lilliane's sister, and expose the trade threatens their lives, the stability of two governments, and the core of their own beliefs about one another.

12/10/13: The revised/edited manuscript is currently being read by an acquiring editor at a small publisher. I will post updates as I have them. Thank you for reading the earlier draft of the novel. Since it's out on submission, I have removed all but the first 3 chapters.

placeholder cover art used under cc license:

depuis la grande dune 01 by Yannick Jestin
http://www.fotopedia.com/users/izn0g
http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/izn0g-6e738ae83c2a0bd4d44d3d42be2d4c2-hd.jpg

and the woman by ranoush:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ranoush/2109490930/sizes/m/in/photostream/