Author's note: The Legends of the Godskissed Continent are both one series, and many series. Each country is an
individual series that can be self-contained if readers so desire. In part, this was created out of a desire to not leave readers feeling trapped in an exhaustive series, but with the
opportunity to delve into the various worlds and stories as pleased them. While there is both a chronological and reading order to the series, there is no obligation to read them in
this manner. Start with whichever story calls to you the loudest.
This story tells of the manner in which the Family of Assassins was founded amid the creation of the Second Country. Our protagonist, Elen-ai, is a loyal daughter of the Family asked to do the unthinkable: protect the life of the first heir to the throne.
THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY OF ASSASSINS The warrior put down her sword. She was tired. The war had gone on for longer than she had been alive, and she had been born
with the fatigue of it saturated through her very being. The Godskissed Continent was soaked in the blood of generations. Yet now finally it seemed that the war had exhausted
itself.
She glanced skyward. The silence from the gods in whose name everyone fought felt a damning indictment, although against whom, she could not quite be sure.
Her feet felt heavy as she made her way across the room to the eight other greatest warriors of her generation. Together, the nine of them had brokered this peace.
“Well?” Speaking normally rather than roaring against the clash of battle felt strange.
“We are to be the Second Country,” the greatest of them all, Latana, spoke.
“We will each take a part of the land,” Raxen added, unable to conceal his delight that his request for this had been granted.
She stared into his pale green eyes. He was the first to look away.
“And how are we to ensure we do not devolve into tyrants?” she asked.
“We have devised a system.” Latana’s firmness suggested she would die rather than allow them to run afoul of any tyrannous impulse. “Here, you can look at
the land you will have.” Latana gestured toward a map.
“But what about the others who fought alongside us?”
“They will be compensated,” Latana said quickly.
Slowly, the warrior looked at the eight faces, seeing a satisfaction there that left her sickened.
“Our claims will be passed down through our children?”
Latana nodded. “We will teach our children to eschew war, to never resort to any violence in the pursuit of power.”
The warrior’s laugh was bitter. “None of you would ever seek to take more from the others?” Her gaze rested meaningfully upon Raxen’s face. The expression
she saw there was enough to finalise the decision she had made. “I don’t want this.”
“But-”
“Give me a small space of land in Herran. Any fighter who wishes will be welcomed to live with me. We will hire out our skills to any who may seek them. I’m sure at
least one of you will think of some use for us.” The comment found its mark. Four of the nine flinched, Raxen among them.
“But how do you expect to make such a thing work?” Latana seemed more curious than outraged.
The warrior smiled. “Easily. We’ll be a family.”
More stories from the Second Country.
FIRST KILL The young man had an arrogant air about him. It was obvious in the way he held himself, the way he regarded everyone around
him with the faintest air of contempt. It made it easy to dislike him.
It was why his family’s servants were so willing to discuss his habits. For the price of a cheap ale, the assassin had learned everything she needed. People were almost
comically friendly when someone else was paying for their drink.
The morning air was crisp despite the promise of heat later in the day. The assassin followed the man through his family’s lands. Each step was cloaked in the assurance that
his status as a member of the seven families gave him. She slipped from shadow to shadow, barely more than a slip of shadow herself. Her eyes never left her quarry.
Just as she had been told, he stopped at the bank of the stream that fed into the Tak family lake. Here on that very bank he had conceived the child he now refused to claim as his
own. The assassin had learned that the previous evening, too. Despite the common knowledge of his indiscreet activity, his word would always persevere over the claim of a lowborn
woman.
Today however, he was alone. With the precision of routine, he shed his clothes and went into the cool water. The assassin waited a moment longer to ensure they were definitely
alone, then she crossed the distance between them. She entered the water with no sound or splash, moving toward him with certain, silent strokes. He was blissfully unaware of his
death stalking him, washing himself in the water as though it could wash away the wrong he had done and the contract on his life that his callous cruelty had bought.
She didn’t hesitate, taking hold of him and pushing him beneath the surface. He barely struggled, surprise making him inhale the first lungful of water. She held him close in
his brief struggle, the heat from his body traversing the cold water across to her own skin. Once she was certain he was dead, she released him and slipped from the river. The
corpse drifted in the current. It would soon be found and deemed an accident.
The Family of Assassins guaranteed that death brought by their hand would be indistinguishable from any accident, unless otherwise wished.
The girl did not glance back at her first contract. She had been taught well. Her place was not to judge, but simply to be an instrument of death. The Shadow God would be pleased
with his newest blooded disciple. She was fourteen.
The girl was two years older than the assassin who had been sent to kill her. It was easy to like her. She had a face that
frequently gifted those around her with a smile, a gentle voice, and eyes in which many had found hearts they thought hard, inexplicably softened.
Since her first kill many months previously, the assassin had taken a myriad of lives and felt nothing at the death her hands brought. But this girl had given her pause. It seemed
profane that the girl was to be killed for the indiscretion of an ambitious married man. If only the farmer who was so obviously smitten with the girl had been more bold in voicing
his affections, if only the girl had not been quite as fertile as she evidently was, if only the contract had been given to some other member of the Family. But the assassin had
been taught that such conjecture was pointless. The farmer, for all his adoration now, may develop a destructive fondness for drink or violence as the disappointments of life
weathered him, the girl was doomed to fall pregnant to someone at one point or another and childbirth was just as dangerous as loving the wrong person, and any other member of the
Family would have completed the contract.
She dismissed the regret prowling in her mind. It was not her place to question the death she brought. She kept the shadows wreathed around her, shielding her from sight. The girl
slept, her face peaceful in repose. The assassin crossed the room and stood over the older girl. Had she not been sold to the Family when she was but a babe, this might have been
her. That thought too, made her hesitate.
It was the years of discipline that made her smother the girl. She was so gentle that the girl would not have felt a thing. The slight upward curve of her lips was still there,
even in death. The assassin looked once more on the girl’s face, the bloom of life fading slowly from her cheeks, then she left the room, pushing away the vague sense of
guilt.
Fourth Country
“Lying is not simply about telling a plausible story, it’s about being able to tell what someone will want to
believe”
To outsiders, the Fourth Country is an unforgiving place. Under the leadership of ruthless women, powerful families regularly wage brutal campaigns against one another to increase
their land and wealth, and men live in a state of complete subjugation.
Lexana, heiress to the Farwan family, is sent to the Academy, an elite institution where the daughters of powerful families learn and refine techniques to maintain and gain power.
There, she finds herself attracted to Jaxen, one of the teachers who defies convention and goes about unveiled. His apparent disregard for what is expected of him leaves her both
uneasy and fascinated.
Then the impossible comes to pass, and disaster befalls the Farwan family. Lexa must leave the Academy to find her mother and help restore her family to power. Jaxen insists upon
accompanying her, arguing that she cannot survive without his help. Lexa can’t be certain that she can trust Jaxen, but he is right; she needs his help if she is to succeed.
First Country
The first country is...
Third Country
“you can either live in the world that surrounds you, or you can fight for the world you want.”
Many years after the brutal Kade takeover of the Third Country, Freya Kuch, a healer, has succeeded when many Pious have failed: she is a perfect Kade citizen. However, this life
of willing subjugation is torn apart when is caught in an attack perpetrated by the anarchic followers of the Dark Gods and assigned to care for Zarech, their captured leader.
Contrary to her expectations, he is not a raving madman but charismatic and quite rational.
Over the long months of his treatment she unwillingly becomes close to Zarech and she begins to reconsider everything, especially as he reveals the supernatural abilities bestowed
upon those with true piety.
Her obedience to the strict Kade regime is further complicated by her attraction to Ashtyn, a member of the Pious Resistance movement. She tries to ignore her feelings knowing full
well the brutal punishments for adultery and dissidence. But soon, she is forced to decide: will she maintain her life of careful safety, or give in to her heart’s dark
desires and join the fight against the Kade#8217;s regime?
Queendom of the Seven Lakes
“Your Majesty, I take life. I am not certain that my skills actually extend to preserving it.”
There are always those who are willing to pay for someone else’s death. Having grown up amongst the Family of Assassins, ELEN-AI knows well the prices people are willing to pay to
see their enemies fall quickly, quietly, and discreetly. When she is asked to preserve life rather than take it, she is surprised. Upon hearing that her charge is the Queen’s only
child GIDYON, who is secretly being groomed to succeed his mother, she is horrified. To ensure political stability, no man has ever sat on the throne of the Queendom of the Seven Lakes.
Yet one does not easily refuse a Queen, and so reluctantly, Elen-ai accepts the contract.
Her fears only deepen upon meeting the sixteen-year-old Prince Gidyon, who treats her as no better than a petty murderer. However, following an attack on his life, Elen-ai is forced to
admit that the danger of leaving this boy-prince alone may be even worse than leaving him to his own devices. Elen-ai reluctantly accompanies Gidyon across the country to identify those
within the seven most powerful families who are responsible for the attempt on the Prince’s life.
Somewhere in their travels from the calm waters of Lake Tak to the looming cliffs above Lake Bertak, the two form an unlikely yet profound friendship, and Elen-ai begins to see that Gidyon
has the makings of a great ruler within him. As they meet with the families of power, it becomes increasingly clear that secrets and power games run far deeper throughout the Queendom of
the Seven Lakes than either of them ever suspected.
King of the Seven Lakes
“I swear before the Shadow God that you Gidyon, my King, are my friend and always will be. I swear that I will never forsake you, nor will I leave you.”
No man has ever sat on the throne of the Second Country, until now. Elen-ai of the Family of Assassins has returned to the Palace to assist King Gidyon in securing his place on the throne.
While she might know that the burden of rule is secure on Gidyon's young shoulders, many cannot abide the breach of tradition, while others see an opportunity to further their own
position.
With allegiances forming across the Queendom Gidyon and Elen-ai desperately seek a way to secure his position, but the peace and stability of the Second Country seem increasingly in doubt.
As civil war becomes an ever more distinct outcome Elen-ai faces a battle of her own, for one cannot be both an assassin, and friend to a King.
The Ruthless Land
Now available on Amazon
“Lying is not simply about telling a plausible story, it’s about being able to tell what someone will want to believe”
To outsiders, the Fourth Country is an unforgiving place. Under the leadership of ruthless women, powerful families regularly wage brutal campaigns against one another to increase their
land and wealth, and men live in a state of complete subjugation.
Lexana, heiress to the Farwan family, is sent to the Academy, an elite institution where the daughters of powerful families learn and refine techniques to maintain and gain power. There,
she finds herself attracted to Jaxen, one of the teachers who defies convention and goes about unveiled. His apparent disregard for what is expected of him leaves her both uneasy and
fascinated.
Then the impossible comes to pass, and disaster befalls the Farwan family. Lexa must leave the Academy to find her mother and help restore her family to power. Jaxen insists upon
accompanying her, arguing that she cannot survive without his help. Lexa can’t be certain that she can trust Jaxen, but he is right; she needs his help if she is to succeed.
Untitled
Publication date third quarter 2018
Dark Intent
“you can either live in the world that surrounds you, or you can fight for the world you want.”
Many years after the brutal Kade takeover of the Third Country, Freya Kuch, a healer, has succeeded when many Pious have failed: she is a perfect Kade citizen. However, this life of
willing subjugation is torn apart when she is caught in an attack perpetrated by the anarchic followers of the Dark Gods and is assigned to care for Zarech, their captured leader. Contrary
to her expectations, he is not a raving madman but charismatic and quite rational.
Over the long months of his treatment she unwillingly becomes close to Zarech and she begins to reconsider everything, especially as he reveals the supernatural abilities bestowed upon
those with true piety.
Her obedience to the strict Kade regime is further complicated by her attraction to Ashtyn, a member of the Pious Resistance movement. She tries to ignore her feelings knowing full well
the brutal punishments for adultery and dissidence. But soon, she is forced to decide: will she maintain her life of careful safety, or give in to her heart’s dark desires and join
the fight against the Kade’s regime?
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