Qatora was once a valiant knight of the Razanate Empire who gave her life to protect a young imperial noble. The tragedy cast her into the primordial Light of Origin, which not only revealed to her a dangerous secret... but also reincarnated her! She now lives as Lyse Winslette, the humble daughter of a poor baron in a neighboring country, who is doing everything in her power to keep her distance from the empire because of the forbidden knowledge she possesses. Lyse thus works her days away at the royal palace of Olwen as a lady-in-waiting. And she’s rightfully mortified when she’s chosen to attend the visiting Razanate emperor. Little does she know that she’s about to learn another state secret that’s going to land her... an engagement to an imperial knight?! She’ll have to use all her skills—from this life and her last—to get out of this mess. Yet what is this strange feeling when she touches her fiancé’s hand? Just who is Sidis, and what secrets is HE keeping?

Now that she’s betrothed to Sidis, Lyse is dreaming of the life she’s always wanted back in the Razanate Empire. She’s in for a rude awakening, however, when she crosses the border to find her engagement challenged by members of the imperial family—who want the happy couple to choose other spouses in order to spread their Light in different lineages?! This isn’t what Lyse came to the empire for! Can she come up with a clever way to navigate imperial politics, romantic intrigue, and family drama all to save her engagement?

Forced into an arranged marriage with Emperor Jahn of Columbyana, Lady Morgana Ramsden, while crossing the unfamiliar landscape toward his palace, has a passionate affair with the handsome sentinel escorting her until he reveals a secret that changes everything. Original.

Lyse was once a knight who gave her life to protect the young emperor-to-be and his closest friend, and now she’s been reborn as the daughter of a humble baron in one of the empire’s vassal states.

Lyse has finally uncovered the root cause of the mysterious trouble around the palace and the capital—the only problem now is that she’s caught in the middle of it! Against an opponent who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals, can Lyse win on her strength alone? She just might be about to learn that two hearts are better than one. Beyond that, Lyse fears for what comes next. Defeat means the worst for Olwen and the emperor, but victory still means bidding farewell to Sidis as he and the imperial retinue return to Razanate. And after everything that’s happened, Lyse isn’t quite ready to let go yet...

Qatora was once a valiant knight of the Razanate Empire who gave her life to protect a young imperial noble. The tragedy cast her into the primordial Light of Origin, which not only revealed to her a dangerous secret... but also reincarnated her! She now lives as Lyse Winslette, the humble daughter of a poor baron in a neighboring country, who is doing everything in her power to keep her distance from the empire because of the forbidden knowledge she possesses. Lyse thus works her days away at the royal palace of Olwen as a lady-in-waiting. And she’s rightfully mortified when she’s chosen to attend the visiting Razanate emperor. Little does she know that she’s about to learn another state secret that’s going to land her... an engagement to an imperial knight?! She’ll have to use all her skills—from this life and her last—to get out of this mess. Yet what is this strange feeling when she touches her fiancé’s hand? Just who is Sidis, and what secrets is HE keeping?

Colonel Ridge Zirkander isn’t the model of military professionalism—he has a tendency to say exactly what’s on his mind, and his record has enough demerits to wallpaper the hull of an airship—but as the best fighter pilot in the Iskandian army, he’s used to a little leniency from his superiors. Until he punches the wrong diplomat in the nose and finds himself issued new orders: take command of a remote prison mine in the inhospitable Ice Blades Mountains. Ridge has never been in charge of anything larger than a flier squadron—what’s he supposed to do with a frozen fortress full of murderers and rapists? Not to mention the strange woman who shows up right before he arrives… Sardelle Terushan wakes from three hundred years in a mage stasis shelter, only to realize that she is the last of the Referatu, the sorcerers who once helped protect Iskandia from conquerors. Their subterranean mountain community was blown up in a treacherous sneak attack by soldiers who feared their power. Everyone Sardelle ever knew is dead, and the sentient soulblade she has been bonded to since her youth is buried in the core of the mountain. Further, what remains of her home has been infested by bloodthirsty miners commanded by the descendants of the very soldiers who destroyed her people. Sardelle needs help to reach her soulblade—her only link to her past and her last friend in the world. Her only hope is to pretend she’s one of the prisoners while trying to gain the commander’s trust. But lying isn’t her specialty, especially when the world has changed so much in the intervening centuries, and if Colonel Zirkander figures out who she truly is, he’ll be duty-bound to sentence her to the only acceptable punishment for sorcerers: death.