The action continues fast and furious in this third installment of Elizabeth Moon’s celebrated return to the fantasy world of the paladin Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter. This award-winning author has firsthand military experience and an imagination that knows no bounds. Combine those qualities with an ability to craft flesh-and-blood characters, and the result is the kind of speculative fiction that engages both heart and mind. All is not well in the Eight Kingdoms. In Lyonya, King Kieri is about to celebrate marriage to his beloved, the half-elf Arian. But uncanny whispers from the spirits of his ancestors continue to warn of treachery and murder. A finger of suspicion has been pointed toward his grandmother, the queen of the Ladysforest elves, and that suspicion has only intensified with time and the Lady’s inexplicable behavior. Clearly, she is hiding something. But what? And why? Meanwhile, in Tsaia, the young king Mikeli must grapple with unrest among his own nobility over his controversial decision to grant the title and estates of a traitorous magelord to a Verrakaien who not only possesses the forbidden magic but is a woman besides: Dorrin, once one of Kieri’s most trusted captains. When renegade Verrakaien attack two of Dorrin’s squires, suspicion and prejudice combine to place Dorrin’s life at risk—and the king’s claim to the throne in peril. But even greater danger is looming.  The wild offspring of a dragon are on the loose, sowing death and destruction and upsetting the ancient balance of power between dragonkind, humans, elves, and gnomes. A collision seems inevitable. Yet when it comes, it will be utterly unexpected—and all the more devastating for it. The third book in a series based in the author’s popular Parksennarion world starts out with an unusual situation: Arvid Semminson is outside in the freezing cold, naked, listening to some people sharpening knives in preparation for his death. With this compelling start, the reader is fully engaged, with the first question needing an answer: What did he do to get into that situation? From there, the book jumps to other areas and characters of that world, with no apparent ties between them. For a reader not familiar with the world of the series, this is not the book to start with. Each chapter jumps from one parallel tale to another, with little continuity from one tale to the other, but the experienced reader is never less than eager to find out what transpires next. The battle scenes are full of action, and the characters are likable, but the jumpiness of the story means this book is for those who have read the Deeds of Parksennarion or at least the first two books in that series. --Rebecca Gerber PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH MOON   Kings of the North   “Moon’s characters navigate an intricate maze of alliances and rivalries. . . . Close attention to military detail gives the action convincing intensity.” —The Star-Ledger   “Her storytelling is as electrifying as ever, and her readers should be delighted with this new vista of a well-known world.” —Booklist   Oath of Fealty   “A triumphant return to the fantasy world she created . . . No one writes fantasy quite like Moon.” —The Miami Herald   “Ranks alongside Andre Norton’s Witch World and Tolkien’s Middle-earth for invention, deeds of valor, and battles of good against evil.”—Jack Campbell Former Marine Elizabeth Moon is the author of many novels, including Kings of the North, Oath of Fealty, Victory Conditions, Command Decision, Engaging the Enemy, Marque and Reprisal, Trading in Danger, the Nebula Award winner The Speed of Dark, and Remnant Population, a Hugo Award finalist. After earning a degree in history from Rice University, Moon went on to obtain a degree in biology from the University of Texas, Austin. She lives in Florence, Texas. CHAPTER ONE Aarenis Arvid Semminson, lying naked, bound, and bruised on the cold ground somewhere in northwestern Aarenis, reflected that honor among thieves was a myth. Valdaire's Guildmaster had taken everything he had: clothes, weapons, gold, his Guildmaster symbol, and that very damning--in the Guildmaster's eyes--letter of safe passage from the Marshal-General. In return, the Guildmaster had indeed found a room for Arvid, as he'd offered: Arvid had spent several very unpleasant days in the Guildhouse cellar before his kteknik gnome companion Dattur, worried by his absence, had tried to rescue him, only to be captured himself. After some additional time in the Guild's cellar, they'd both been dumped into the lower compartment of a trade-wagon and driven out of the city--several days out, in what direction Arvid had no notion--in the untender care of journeymen enforcers who intended to pry every detail of information from them both before killing them. Now the journeymen tossed dice for first choice of his weapons, all the while loudly discussing what they intended to do with him. Certain tools were, they'd said, heating in the coals