In the second book in The Hundredth Queen Series, Emily R. King once
again follows a young warrior queen's rise to meet her destiny in a
richly imagined world of sorcery and forbidden powers.
Though the tyrant rajah she was forced to marry is dead, Kalinda's
troubles are far from over. A warlord has invaded the imperial city, and
now she's in exile. But she isn't alone. Kalinda has the allegiance of
Captain Deven Naik, her guard and beloved, imprisoned for treason and
stripped of command. With the empire at war, their best hope is to find
Prince Ashwin, the rajah's son, who has promised Deven's freedom on one
condition: that Kalinda will fight and defeat three formidable
opponents.
But as Kalinda's tournament strengths are once again challenged, so too
is her relationship with Deven. While Deven fears her powers, Ashwin
reveres them--as well as the courageous woman who wields them. Kalinda
comes to regard Ashwin as the only man who can repair a warring world
and finds herself torn between her allegiance to Deven and a newly found
respect for the young prince.
With both the responsibility to protect her people and the fate of those
she loves weighing heavily upon her, Kalinda is forced again to compete.
She must test the limits of her fire powers and her hard-won wisdom. But
will that be enough to unite the empire without sacrificing all she
holds dear?
