The Dark Servant Volume Two: Dark Bonds
Book Eleven
A time of peace and recovery shatters when a routine mission goes awry. Chaos reaches out once more to destroy the prophecy. But the enemy has learned, and this time the attacks are aimed at the prince’s defenders, high priest S’Rak and Captain Jisten.
Prince Jethain finds true love at last, but his gentle partner is no lady, but a slave. All the slaves he’s ever freed have vanished within days of their manumission. He loves her, but fears to free her and bring the curse down upon her. For her part, she wants nothing more than to give Jethain a child, proving his virility and restoring the political power that foul rumor and the lack of an heir has cost him.
Will S’Rak and Jisten survive the traps laid for them, or will Jethain and his new love be left defenseless against all the power of the Unmaker?
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Prince Jethain finds true love at last, but his gentle partner is no lady, but a slave. All the slaves he’s ever freed have vanished within days of their manumission. He loves her, but fears to free her and bring the curse down upon her. For her part, she wants nothing more than to give Jethain a child, proving his virility and restoring the political power that foul rumor and the lack of an heir has cost him.
Will S’Rak and Jisten survive the traps laid for them, or will Jethain and his new love be left defenseless against all the power of the Unmaker?
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Book Twelve
With high priest S'Rak recovering from an infected bite, and Prince Jethain recovering from a poisoned dinner, everyone agrees that it's high time for a vacation. They go north, to a pleasant lake nestled in the feet of the mountains, to relax and recuperate from the Unmaker's unrelenting attacks.
While this time may seem idyllic on the surface, trouble is gathering in the depths. Will the Unmaker leave them in peace long enough for them to recover their strength, or will She strike them when their guard is down?
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While this time may seem idyllic on the surface, trouble is gathering in the depths. Will the Unmaker leave them in peace long enough for them to recover their strength, or will She strike them when their guard is down?
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Book Thirteen
High Priest S’Rak and Captain Jisten’s relationship
continues to deepen and mature as the pair learns to trust each other and work
together to keep the prince, and the kingdom, safe. After foiling another
attempt on Prince Jethain’s life, a sacred infant is brought to the palace
seeking sanctuary. A Valer girl has been born with the rare violet eyes of
sunset, and thus, sacred to Zotien as well as Si’Yeni. Considered an ill omen
by the Koilathans, a group of fanatic sun zealots will stop at nothing to kill
the baby.
Will S’Rak’s night-born powers, at their lowest ebb, be able to counter the attacks of sun zealots who only ever attack in the bright light of day? Will Jisten’s protective fierceness mean the difference between life and death for the defenseless infant?
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Will S’Rak’s night-born powers, at their lowest ebb, be able to counter the attacks of sun zealots who only ever attack in the bright light of day? Will Jisten’s protective fierceness mean the difference between life and death for the defenseless infant?
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Book Fourteen
When Prince Jethain's girl
goes missing, the prince assumes she's run, just like every other slave he's
ever freed. High Priest S'Rak thinks it's strange that so many have run, so he
goes to the City's Hall of Records to perform some basic research. Little does
he know that what he'll find there is tied to the nightmare of his own past.
Captain Jisten is once more confronted with his own fears.
Nothing has been resolved when the king and his court ride to hunt, and S'Rak and Jisten have little choice but to join the party, for they both know this to be a prime opportunity for an attack on the prince. Will Jisten be able to overcome his fears? Will S'Rak successfully foil a plot to slay not only the prince, but the king?
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Nothing has been resolved when the king and his court ride to hunt, and S'Rak and Jisten have little choice but to join the party, for they both know this to be a prime opportunity for an attack on the prince. Will Jisten be able to overcome his fears? Will S'Rak successfully foil a plot to slay not only the prince, but the king?
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Book Fifteen
While High Priest S'Rak struggles to
escape the control of his past, Captain Jisten wrestles with his inner fear of
becoming a monster.
The Zothians have the upper hand over S'Rak. Their magic is strong and unbreakable, or is it? When Hasaviz violates his sworn word, S'Rak sees a glimmer of hope that he might win free of his desperate situation. Jisten grows in his role as Rak's partner, until a disastrous encounter causes him to question everything he's doing. His deepest fear has always been that he's no different than the men abusing S'Rak, and now that fear is coming to fruition.
Will S'Rak and Jisten's relationship survive the forces that seemed destined to tear them apart?
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The Zothians have the upper hand over S'Rak. Their magic is strong and unbreakable, or is it? When Hasaviz violates his sworn word, S'Rak sees a glimmer of hope that he might win free of his desperate situation. Jisten grows in his role as Rak's partner, until a disastrous encounter causes him to question everything he's doing. His deepest fear has always been that he's no different than the men abusing S'Rak, and now that fear is coming to fruition.
Will S'Rak and Jisten's relationship survive the forces that seemed destined to tear them apart?
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Book Sixteen
Slavers steal the Valer children, and it's up to High Priest
S'Rak and Captain Jisten to hunt them down and rescue the children. In a
country where slavery is legal, and slavers as common as fleas on a dog, the
children's hope of rescue before the auction block is slim to none.
S'Rak's guards, long on the road, arrive in the city at last, and immediately spark a battle and a diplomatic incident. Will S'Rak's sanity, dignity, and diplomatic immunity survive?
Bard Tafflynn, also known as S'Tyll, arrives with S'Rak's personal guard. He is not pleased by the presumption of the Valer Captain. S'Rak is, after all his spouse. Will the bond Jisten shares with Rak prove sufficient to shield him from the irate wrath of the High Priest's husband?
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S'Rak's guards, long on the road, arrive in the city at last, and immediately spark a battle and a diplomatic incident. Will S'Rak's sanity, dignity, and diplomatic immunity survive?
Bard Tafflynn, also known as S'Tyll, arrives with S'Rak's personal guard. He is not pleased by the presumption of the Valer Captain. S'Rak is, after all his spouse. Will the bond Jisten shares with Rak prove sufficient to shield him from the irate wrath of the High Priest's husband?
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Book Seventeen
The High Priest's husband is on a
rampage. A skilled assassin, S'Tyll has
made it his mission to take revenge on behalf of his spouse. Unfortunately,
he's starting with Jisten, S'Rak's bonded Valer and captain of the guard. At
the same time, S'Rak is in deep trouble, for his Zothian past hasn't remained
decently past, but is dominating his present and trying to collar his future.
Can S'Rak manage to convince his outraged spouse to accept Jisten and attack
his real enemies instead?
To make matters worse, the attacks on the Valers continue, this time right through S'Rak's carefully wrought wards. With the chapel not yet sanctified, it's as vulnerable as the Valers, and S'Rak is duty bound to defend them all. With S'Tyll under arrest, time becomes a commodity even more precious than gold. S'Rak will stop at nothing to secure S'Tyll's release before the horrors of gaol drive the empathy insane, but will it be enough? Or will it be too late for S'Tyll?
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To make matters worse, the attacks on the Valers continue, this time right through S'Rak's carefully wrought wards. With the chapel not yet sanctified, it's as vulnerable as the Valers, and S'Rak is duty bound to defend them all. With S'Tyll under arrest, time becomes a commodity even more precious than gold. S'Rak will stop at nothing to secure S'Tyll's release before the horrors of gaol drive the empathy insane, but will it be enough? Or will it be too late for S'Tyll?
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Book Eighteen
The slavers are moving against High Priest S’Rak and
Captain Jisten to make them pay for the destruction of Wethmir House. Other
forces are moving also, secret forces, and S’Rak remains their target. Between
Jisten’s racial bond with S’Rak and S’Tyll’s empathic one, there is little the
two men can’t accomplish where S’Rak is concerned…so long as they work together.
But trust is hard to forge in the aftermath of outraged blows and assassin’s
blades, especially after the too-bold bard makes a play for the too-shy
captain. If Jisten and S’Tyll can’t learn to trust one another enough to form a
working partnership, the one thing they hold dear, S’Rak, could be lost to them
both.
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Book Nineteen
With the dark servant S'Tyll on the mend, High Priest S'Rak and Captain
Jisten think they have all the time in the world to hunt the slave trainer
Hasaviz and punish him for his crimes. They couldn't be more mistaken, for
their real enemy is now in play, seeking to stop the Victory Prophecy by making
it impossible for S'Rak to give Prince Jethain an heir. Will S'Rak and Jisten
be able to withstand the onslaught of an enraged Goddess? Will S'Tyll, still
recovering from a heart attack, be able to assist them at all, or will they be
on their own against impossible odds?
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Book Twenty
The stakes have never been higher, nor the odds longer, as High Priest
S'Rak, the assassin S'Tyll and Captain Jisten attempt to avert disaster and the
ending of the Victory Prophecy. As foreseen by S'Rak, today is the day that the
Unmaker will unleash her attack, killing the Prince and assuring her victory.
Only a handful of mortal men stand in her way, and as she seeks to brush them
aside, they must stand firm, stand together, or all might be lost.
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Book Twenty-One
The Therrai healers are summoned to try to heal Captain Jisten, who was
nearly killed in the battle with the chaos mage. But the Therrai aren’t the
only ones who come through the portal from Okyro, and S’Avetina, High Priest S’Rak’s
wife, is less than pleased by recent events. Will Rak’s dignity, and the king’s
pride, survive the ire of the powerful mage? Or will the agreement to allow Rak’s
son to become Prince Jethain’s heir be cast aside, renewing the political
turmoil within the Koilathan palace? As Jisten slowly mends, S’Rak is also
faced with a choice of either telling the captain the truth about the kironi
magic or denying the baby and the captain what they need.
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