The Rustic Reading Gal: 12 Days of Fantasy for Christmas

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

12 Days of Fantasy for Christmas - Melissa Wright

Shadow and Stone
(Frey Saga #5)
By Melissa Wright
New Adult, YA Fantasy
Paperback & ebook
February 4th 2020

No bargains unpaid.

After a perilous clash with the fey, the changeling who betrayed the paramount of their laws--and threatens the safety of both realms--has gone into hiding. As Frey and her Seven recover, concealed plans and furtive bargains begin to unravel, putting in danger their old guard and new.

They’re on unsteady ground.

Scattered and healing, those sworn to protect the North and its lord work to secure their footing. They are running out of time to cure the darkness poisoning the fey lands, before it overflows into the rest of the realm. But Ruby has gone missing, and this time it seems of her own accord.

They’re out of time.

If they don’t stop her, she’ll face the deadly changeling alone. But more forces are at play than it seems, and the fey lord confined on his lands by treachery and two half-human elves has made a bargain of his own.

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Excerpt

“Dark magic,” Aster said, “can make even the strongest seed no more than ash.”

Fire. She’d meant Francine’s fire, the burning of the villages. Questions flared in Thea’s mind, but she bit her tongue. This was clearly a sore subject for the girl, and there was no doubt where she placed the blame.

Thea followed silently as Aster brought them through an exquisite gateway. “This is our new garden,” Aster said, pride warring in her tone with what might have been loss. Or Thea might have been imagining things again.

“It is the loveliest I have ever seen,” Thea told her. She meant it. Not simply because she’d never seen a Council garden, but because the entire space before them was designed as a labyrinth of beautiful flora. Woven lattices stretched skyward, balanced with blooms. Carved archways loomed overhead, dripping with green moss that shaded ferns and delicate blossoms below. As they moved through the twisting pathways, pools came into view, watched over by shaped brush in the forms of everything from dragons to butterflies.

Thea had never seen so much variety in her life, let alone a single day. She stared, in awe of variations she’d not known possible. Red honeysuckle, freesia buds as big as her fist, leaves with white-tipped spikes, and thorns that dripped a black-violet slime. Her fingers drew in reflexively; Thea remembered the warnings she’d heard when she’d been young. The light elves did not just possess the capacity for beauty. They created poisons as well.

She glanced up from the splendor, and found Aster watching her, smile thin. Thea had a momentary image of Isa—the young halfling girl who was strong and wild enough to keep the humans at bay—and made a vow to remember something else.

Don’t underestimate anyone.

Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Melissa is the author of the Frey Saga, Descendants Series, and Shattered Realms. She is currently working on the next book, but when not writing can be spotted collecting the things she loves at Goodreads and Pinterest. Contact her through the web at www.melissa-wright.com