Release date: August 18, 2015
Subgenre: Young Adult Fantasy
About Riot of Storm and Smoke:
War draws closer, like a tide to the shore.
Bree and her friends have escaped the clutches of the Egrian King, but their troubles are far from over. Still reeling from the secrets that drew new breath when her father took his last, Bree sets off for the safety of Nereidium– the kingdom she’s just learned is hers.
But with the King’s ire at its peak and war a certainty, Nereidium is no longer safe. As Prince Caden rallies the Egrian people against his tyrant father, Bree, Princess Aleta, and Tregle race to the Nereid shore to warn them of the incoming danger—and to put the Nereid Princess on the throne.
The only trouble there: Bree can’t bring herself to reveal that the Princess is her.
It’s not a dilemma she can waste time pondering. With a new weapon in his arsenal, the King’s strikes are sure to be bolder than ever before. And Bree may not be ready to wear a crown… but she won’t let her kingdom down without a fight.
Bree and her friends have escaped the clutches of the Egrian King, but their troubles are far from over. Still reeling from the secrets that drew new breath when her father took his last, Bree sets off for the safety of Nereidium– the kingdom she’s just learned is hers.
But with the King’s ire at its peak and war a certainty, Nereidium is no longer safe. As Prince Caden rallies the Egrian people against his tyrant father, Bree, Princess Aleta, and Tregle race to the Nereid shore to warn them of the incoming danger—and to put the Nereid Princess on the throne.
The only trouble there: Bree can’t bring herself to reveal that the Princess is her.
It’s not a dilemma she can waste time pondering. With a new weapon in his arsenal, the King’s strikes are sure to be bolder than ever before. And Bree may not be ready to wear a crown… but she won’t let her kingdom down without a fight.
Excerpt:
We leave the body in the tunnel, and I try not to imagine my father lying there, alone and rotting away.
My hands skim the rough stone walls of the tunnel, and I
dodge worried glances from Aleta and Tregle, flinching away from the
flickering flames in their hands. Both of them Fire Torchers, they light
our way through dust and dirt. I don’t go too near them. I can’t—not
right now. The memory of fire consuming the room around me while trapped
inside with a madwoman who wanted me dead is too fresh.
The air is thick as we descend beneath the castle. We’re
quiet, partly to avoid detection by the guards, who are surely still
tearing the halls apart in their quest to find us. Our footsteps echo
softly in the dark, scritch-scratching along the smooth stone ground.
I’m silent for a different reason: I don’t trust that when my mouth
opens, a sob won’t escape. Dragging myself away from Da—leaving him
behind like yesterday’s trash, the knife wound in his chest caked with
dried blood—it's the most difficult thing I've ever done. My eyes sting
with the salt left behind by tears, but I force my mouth to settle into
an emotionless line.
Da’s not all I left behind. Two sets of gray eyes haunt my thoughts.
Prince Caden came back for us after the initial search
died down, arms laden with clothes, sacks of food, a bit of coin, and
jewels for trade. My eyes met his for the scantest of seconds before I
had to look away.
Come with us, a distant part of me
implored. My hand was still warm from the knife he’d pressed into it
when we took shelter in the hidden tunnel.
Stay away from me, the other part of me—the louder
part—snarled. My first instinct about Caden when I’d met him in a jail
cell had been right. His sort courts trouble, whether or not they mean
to.
Maybe Caden saw some of that tumult in me
because his voice was soft when he spoke. “Look for The Soused Turkey
pub,” he instructed. I kept my eyes locked on a shadow that Aleta’s
flames sent dancing against the wall. “It’s a bit of a hole-in-the-wall,
but the barkeep there’s a good man. Clift. Tell him…“ He hesitated.
“Tell him Rick sent you.”
Rick? He wants us to use his alias?
My eyes snapped to his. I’d thought it was a joke, told to me in those
first moments in the cell with Da to pretend away his problems as the
crown prince. With my eyes on his, it was like he couldn’t help himself.
He reached toward me until I shrank away.
The small movement was enough. His hand fell back to his side, and he left with the facsimile of a smile, wishing us well.
“Be safe, Bree.”
I trudge on, the echo of his voice melding with the cacophony of flames in my memory.
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About Jennifer Ellision:
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