Showing results by narrator "Shiromi Arserio" in All Categories

Wylend Arden, Fifth-level warlock and King of Karathia for more than 20,000 years, had quite a story to tell. "It began like this," he said, his smile slightly crooked as he lifted his cup of wine to me. "I had an older brother, born to one of my father's legitimate mates. His name was Wellend and he was heir to the Karathian throne. On his 16th birthday, my father gifted him with the Heir's Ring, as was proper." After thousands of years, Wylend's niece and nephew are making a bid for the Karathian throne.

Nura has worked all her life in the mica mines, earning just enough to keep her family afloat–and enjoy the odd delicious gulab jamun from the market. Some day she's going to find the Demon's Tongue, a legendary treasure buried deep in the mines, and her family will never have to worry about money again. But when a terrible accident buries her best friend below ground, Nura goes in search of him and passes over into the magical and terrible world of the jinn. Across a pink sea and under a purple sky, she finds her way to a palace, where great riches and a whole new life are on offer.

Quin is kept busy placing planet-saving spheres on poisoned worlds. A device has been created on an isolated world that can hide anyone or anything from even the most powerful, including the gods. Quin; the spheres; the device - Vardil Cayetes wants all of those things. Who can stop him, now that he is back and stronger than ever?

Siriaa has been destroyed at the command of an enraged criminal. The poison infecting that planet has been flung into the universe, landing upon hapless worlds in its path. The Orb has dropped Quin onto another world five years in the future, where she is compelled to seek revenge against Vardil Cayetes, the one responsible for Siriaa's destruction.

Siriaa is dying. A poison is spreading throughout the planet and none know how to neutralize it. Finder, working in King Tamblin's castle kitchen most of her life, has never spoken. A child of questionable parentage, Finder is an orphan assigned to perform duties nobody else wants.

In the frozen city of Windhelm, the crown of Arcadia's Winter Kingdom, the Royal Selection reigns supreme. This competition pits the best of Winter's young Fae against each other, forcing them to take part in a series of trials, each deadlier than the one that came before it. The prize? A soul-bond with the heir to Winter's throne, and the right to marry them.

Zaina thought she could run from her secrets, but they have finally caught up to her. She's willing to risk her life for those she loves, but even that might not be enough to stop what's coming. Einar has finally let down his guard, but when the woman he trusts takes off in the middle of the night with his people's only hope for a cure, he realizes what a mistake that was. They have been living under the shadow of the same monster for longer than either of them realize. But it's up to them to decide whether that makes them enemies or allies.

Siriaa, already in its death throes, is further damaged by a ruthless politician and a rogue wizard. Quin needs powerful help to save it.

A Is for Alien is award-winning author Caitlín R. Kiernan’s first collection devoted entirely to her science-fiction work. It includes the critically acclaimed novelette Riding the White Bull, along with seven other tales of a less-than-utopian future. Ranging from the wastelands and mountains of Mars to the streets of a late 21st-century Manhattan, from the moons of Europa and Saturn to an iceless Antarctica, these tales bring Kiernan’s trademark brand of the eco-gothic to bear on what it means to be human and the paths and decisions that may face mankind....

Twenty-eight-year-old psychologist Alisha Dimarchi is abducted by an obsessed client and imprisoned in his Pakistani compound for over two years. Forced to change her name and live as his second wife, her life is filled with trauma and heartbreak. Thrust into a world of violence and oppression, Ally must fight not only to keep herself alive, but to protect the lives of the people she now considers family. At night, she retreats into her memories of the only man she has ever loved - a man she believes no longer loves her.

In 2012, Emme Wilde can't find the right guy. She wants to feel that swept-off-your-feet dizziness of true love. But so far, her dating life has come up short. Star Trek geek? Nice but too serious. Hippy artist? Cute but too vulnerable. Instead, Emme obsesses over the portrait of an unknown man in an old locket. Granted, a seriously dreamy guy with delicious, wind-swept hair she just itches to run her fingers through. But still. Dead men may be great listeners, but they are not exactly boyfriend material. Emme travels to England, determined to uncover his history.

There's a prophecy that the white wolf will save Arcadia from the clutches of a terrible storm. I am the white wolf, but even I'm having trouble believing the prophecy. The former Prince Radulf is meant to be dead, but he's not. His spirit has taken possession of Prince Cillian's body, and if that wasn't bad enough, whatever soul bond the Prince and I had is gone.

Only Rae knows the extent of the corruption at the heart of the kingdom of Menaiya, from the noble lord who betrayed her, to the Circle of Mages whose wards protect the slavers from discovery. Injured and imprisoned on a slave ship, Rae's options are quickly running out. When a desperate escape attempt goes terribly wrong, she finds herself indebted to a terrifying Fae sorceress. Now Rae will not rest until she has rescued her fellow prisoners and freed her land from the darkness that has taken hold.

A marriage that could save them both. A truth that might destroy them. And a choice that will break her heart. All Aika ever wanted was a family—until hers was standing on opposite ends of a war. Trapped between her loyalty to a monster and her love for a man who despises her, she must decide who she's willing to lose. And who she's willing to betray.

After one year of marriage, Crown Prince Arthur and his lovely, albeit accident-prone wife, Princess Tessa, are preparing to bring an heir to the tiny kingdom of Avonia. With all eyes on Tessa, she's determined to be one of those fabulously fit pregnant women. She could do it too if it weren't for all the freshly-baked scones. Soon dubbed the Cowntess of Camembert, Tessa wants to go into hiding until after the baby is born, but royal life won't wait, and she needs to figure out how to make the best of a desperate situation and win the people over once and for all.

Having survived the harrowing experience of her courtship, Isla must now make a decision - a decision that will affect the course of her life and that, if she chooses unwisely, indeed might end that life before it's truly begun. But before she can take control of her future, there are things she needs to know about the lover who remains so much a stranger. Is this dark, tormented man merely misunderstood? Or is he, in fact, the Devil made flesh? What truly motivates him - and what does he want from her?

Everyone's convinced the hottest guy in school's going to ask me out - that Mason and I would be the perfect couple, that he's my John Cusack. Except, he hasn't. On holidays, I find myself hanging out with the resident underachiever, and he surprises me. With Roman, I don't have to pretend that little Piper Barlow is perfect; even if we're both in a foul mood, just sitting in silence together is perfectly enough. Until it becomes more. But, Roman doesn't do more...does he? What do you do when you accidentally find perfection with the wrong guy? You fight for it.

When James Blake discovers his wife murdered in their London home, he is determined to find her killer. As the prime suspect, he flees England and sets out on a journey that takes him to Florence and Venice and into a dark underworld of corruption, a trail that will lead him to the killer - and the shocking truth behind the mystery.

I have come back to Arcadia, but all is not as it should be. An impostor sits on Windhelm's throne, and calling herself Queen. I don't know where my parents are or what's become of them. I don't know where my brother is, or if he's even still alive. And in less than two weeks, Fate itself will hunt me down and end my existence as if I wasn't meant to exist in the first place. This is it. If I don't figure out how to fix the mistake I made, Arcadia itself could fall and become something entirely monstrous. I just wish I knew where to start.

London, 1890. The city is ruled by the nobility and the Watch, or so it seems. When an underground organization pursues the alchemical formula to create a soul, bodies begin to pile up, and important figures begin to go missing. Masked men turn the gears of fate, pushing London into a new era where artificial life is only the beginning. Arhyen is the self-declared finest thief in London. The mission was simple. Steal a journal from Fairfax Breckinridge, one of the greatest alchemists of the time. He hadn't expected to find Fairfax himself, with a dagger in his back.