King-Killing Queen

<b>In this first book of a new trilogy author Anna Smith Spark calls "a dark love letter to high fantasy," a woman discovers her unknown past carries with it a terrible future.</b></p> <p>When Alafair Goode lay wounded during his quest to destroy Mordreadth the Great Darkness, a witch magicked and saved the future High King's life to fulfill his destiny. Thereafter, all born to his line also cannot die, to be only undone by natural death.</p> <p>Decades later, Sylvie Raventress is the devoted apprentice to the Master Historian stepbrother of the High King. It is a life of scholarly pursuit and privilege where one day she will take her instructor's place and write her own histories. But beside Alafair's deathbed, Sylvie and his scions learn a surprising truth--she is no orphan but is his named heir. Worse, when he dies, the witch's curse is no more, leaving all of them suddenly mortal and vulnerable.<br></p>With her siblings loathing Sylvie's selection and vying for her throne, she must rely on a Fae guide, a disgraced former First Knight, and a cantankerous light-weaver to restore the fracturing kingdom and become High Queen. And yet the thing none of them know is destiny has its own part to play too.</p> <p>For the witch saved Alafair Goode for her own reasons...</p><b>Set 400 years before the events of <i>The Dark Thorn</i>, <i>The King-Killing Queen</i> is a perfect place for new and established Speakman readers.</b><br></p> <p>