Lena gave Gendra a questioning look, and her friend shrugged slightly with a rueful grimace, then patted Astar’s arm. He smiled at her sunnily, apparently saved from Zeph’s clutches for the moment.
As if reading the thought, Zeph leaned in to whisper in Lena’s ear. “I haven’t given up. There’s still half the long night left, and sometimes the better strategy is to appear to retreat.”
Salena just shook her head, laughing at her incorrigible friend. Stella and Gendra joined them, while Rhyian stepped a short distance away to talk with Jak and Astar. “Soo….” Gendra said, eyes sparkling. “You and Rhy?”
“We talked it out,” Lena told them. “We agreed to enjoy tonight.”
“And after that?” Stella asked, her keen gray eyes looking through Lena, possibly glimpsing the future. “How will you deal with each other in the days to come?”
“Very carefully,” Lena quipped and sipped her sparkling wine, the bubbles like bursts of joy. Rhyian glanced at her, giving her a secret, ever-so-slightly wicked smile. “I’ll go back to Aerron tomorrow, so there’s no need to make any hard and fast decisions now. We can just see how things go.”
“No, you won’t go back to Aerron tomorrow,” Stella said, all three women stilling at the sound of foresight in her voice. “Not anytime soon.”
“What are you saying?” Zeph asked, and Gendra wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.
“Our lives are about to change,” Stella told them. “And challenges lie ahead. Nothing will ever be the same.”
“Your Highnesses, lords and ladies,” a footman gasped, running up to them. “Her Majesty summons you. A most urgent matter.”
Zeph plucked the flute from Lena’s hand and drained it. “Happy Feast of Moranu, all.”
Heirs of Magic will continue in The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince.
Coming December 2020
Titles by Jeffe Kennedy
FANTASY ROMANCES
HEIRS OF MAGIC
The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon
(in Under a Winter Sky)
The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince
A COVENANT OF THORNS
Rogue’s Pawn
Rogue’s Possession
Rogue’s Paradise
THE TWELVE KINGDOMS
Negotiation
The Mark of the Tala
The Tears of the Rose
The Talon of the Hawk
Heart’s Blood
The Crown of the Queen
THE UNCHARTED REALMS
The Pages of the Mind
The Edge of the Blade
The Snows of Windroven
The Shift of the Tide
The Arrows of the Heart
The Dragons of Summer
The Fate of the Tala
The Lost Princess Returns
THE CHRONICLES OF DASNARIA
Prisoner of the Crown
Exile of the Seas
Warrior of the World
SORCEROUS MOONS
Lonen’s War
Oria’s Gambit
The Tides of Bára
The Forests of Dru
Oria’s Enchantment
Lonen’s Reign
THE FORGOTTEN EMPIRES
The Orchid Throne
The Fiery Crown
The Promised Queen
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES
Shooting Star
MISSED CONNECTIONS
Last Dance
With a Prince
Since Last Christmas
CONTEMPORARY EROTIC ROMANCES
Exact Warm Unholy
The Devil’s Doorbell
FACETS OF PASSION
Sapphire
Platinum
Ruby
Five Golden Rings
FALLING UNDER
Going Under
Under His Touch
Under Contract
EROTIC PARANORMAL
MASTER OF THE OPERA E-SERIAL
Master of the Opera, Act 1: Passionate Overture
Master of the Opera, Act 2: Ghost Aria
Master of the Opera, Act 3: Phantom Serenade
Master of the Opera, Act 4: Dark Interlude
Master of the Opera, Act 5: A Haunting Duet
Master of the Opera, Act 6: Crescendo
Master of the Opera
BLOOD CURRENCY
Blood Currency
BDSM FAIRYTALE ROMANCE
Petals and Thorns
OTHER WORKS
Birdwoman
Hopeful Monsters
Teeth, Long and Sharp
Thank you for reading!
About Jeffe Kennedy
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, nonfiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has won the prestigious RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America (RWA), has been a finalist twice, been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as a Director at Large.
Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book One, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year, while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose, received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book One in that series, The Pages of the Mind, was nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and was a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The final book in the series, The Fate of the Tala, released in February 2020. A high fantasy trilogy, The Chronicles of Dasnaria, taking place in The Twelve