The wedding and coronation are over.

Queen Genevieve is well enough to attempt another pregnancy at last.

It's time to proceed with the secret plan to conceive an Heir to the Throne.

But a devastating ice-storm is bearing down on the Ilseadoran capitol city of Emeralsee. King Damien suspects Evil Wizardry at work.

With all the highest nobility of the Realm trapped in Emeralsee, Damien must battle Nature Itself to save his Realm and his people from an ice-storm that seems somehow targeted to him, personally.

And that's not even to mention the pirates converging on vulnerable, ice-locked Emeralsee...

******************

Teaser:

"Thank you, Captain.

"You and your men are to stand guard at the entrances to this hall. Do not enter until Sir Loveress lets you in. If that takes longer than a full day and night... inform Duke Elsevier that he is to support King Jason in all ways."

Sir Tim was shocked. "Damien... my King... you can't be serious..."

"You have your orders, Captain Ancellius," Adam Loveress growled.

"Yes, sir " Sir Tim responded automatically to his former Captain.

As the echo of the doors closing faded away, Adam turned to. "So, you think none of us are going to make it out of here alive?"

"No," Genevieve said firmly, "exactly the opposite."

"So, what am I here for then?" Adam demanded.

"This..." the king held out a gem on a slender chain to Adam, "will end what life is left in my body that remains."

Adam, in the act of reaching for the proffered jewel, froze. "What?"

Damien swallowed. "I need to access the Realm at a deeper level than I have since the very first time it Bound me. And it nearly consumed me then. Our people don't need a breathing body of a king withering away without a soul. The jewel will stop my heart without leaving any external marks. No one will know what you did."

"And you just carry this thing around all the time just in case?" Adam muttered, staring at the now-ominous-looking faceted red stone..

Damien glanced back at him. "No. I altered that pendant on the way here from the Council chamber."

He put his arms around his silent wife. "I'm sorry," he whispered to her, then turned to Adam.

"This is why you have to be in here, Adam. There's no one else I trust for this. But the part about you not coming out - that was just to scare Tim into moving.

"Nothing should happen to you."

The Pirate-King Book Three of the Chronicles of Ilseador - innbundet, Engelsk, 2024