The War Priest (Ars Numina #5) - Ann Aguirre Page 0,1
left with the roguish leader of Pine Ridge, Raff Pineda.
About the only thing Raff and Thalia had in common was regard for their people, though they certainly had different ways of showing that care. That led them to pursue a marital alliance, which got off to a shaky start due to Raff’s propensity for breaking the rules. When the first activity was disrupted by a vicious attack by House Manwaring and Raff was gravely injured, Thalia acted swiftly and decisively to save his life. On his recovery, Raff committed to the marriage of convenience, pledging aid to House Talfayen in return for their support later when the war reached Pine Ridge.
This wedding was anything but convenient, however. Someone attempted to murder everyone at the head table, a tragedy prevented only by Raff’s acute sense of smell. Sadly, Lileth, Thalia’s aide, was fatally poisoned. A grief-stricken and enraged Thalia was determined to punish those who helped rival Eldritch leader Ruark Gilbraith infiltrate the fortress. With some help from her new right hand, Ferith, Thalia soon discovered secret tunnels in and out of the Daruvar fortress. Meanwhile Thalia’s former head Noxblade, Gavriel, joined forces with tiger shifter Magda to search for both the missing Ash Valley second, Slay, and the insurgents loyal to Thalia’s traitorous father.
Unfortunately, Thalia’s plan to act as bait to uncover the enemy succeeded a little too well, leaving both Thalia and an injured Raff cut off in the tunnels. They fought their way out and took refuge from a sudden snowstorm in a rustic Animari hideaway. The shared danger heightened their burgeoning attraction and they finally consummated their marriage. Realizing they had an opportunity to flush out the traitor in their midst, Thalia and Raff worked with tiger shifter Titus to retake Daruvar as their feelings for one another deepened.
Titus pretended to be a bounty hunter returning to their bodies, and a bloody battle ensued. Once they won the day, Thalia discovered that her ‘cousin’ Tirael was a traitor who had staged a coup in Thalia’s absence. Just before Tirael’s execution, the woman told Thalia that they were, in fact, half-sisters, courtesy of old Lord Talfayen. Thalia silenced Tirael with a personal execution, but her problems were far from over.
The other houses were still in open rebellion, and her own people seemed to be doubting her fitness to lead, as they didn’t wish to send children to train as Noxblades until the succession was settled. Thalia tried to talk it over with Raff, but he had a distinctly Animari outlook, which led to conflict between the two lovers. To further complicate matters, a young wolf named Sky awakened as a Seer and required Raff’s comfort and attention. Thalia stumbled on an intimate scene and misread the situation, leading her to make a drastic decision.
Thalia embarked on a suicide mission to triumph or die. She witnessed the hardship her people had experienced first-hand and learned more about the growing problem of a strange drug called gray tar. At long last, Thalia discovered her gift during the hunt-kill mission inside Braithwaite, Ruark’s stronghold. As she’d left without consulting Raff, he could only help from afar by sending drones to act as a distraction. That feint was enough to save her. With Raff’s air support, Thalia and Ferith took on House Gilbraith and won, whereupon Thalia broadcast a message of conquest all over Eldritch lands.
A triumphant Thalia returned to Daruvar with Ruark Gilbraith’s head to claim the Silver Throne as the new queen. Other Eldritch houses quickly dispatched vassals to pledge their loyalty and various Animari and Golgoth dignitaries came to pay their respects as well at her coronation. That success gave Thalia the courage to claim her man and she professed her love for Raff, who had been hers all along. But with a marriage of convenience transforming to one of true love, there were still more seeming impossibilities yet to occur…
In The Shadow Warrior, the story overlaps chronologically with The Wolf Lord. At the start of The Shadow Warrior, Noxblade Gavriel d’Alana (aka Death’s Shadow) and Animari security head and tiger-shifter Magda Versai reluctantly joined forces. Molded since childhood to be the perfect deadly weapon wielded by Eldritch royalty, Gavriel was devoted to Princess Thalia Talfayen to the exclusion of all else. The life of a Noxblade was lethal and lonely, and the loss of his brother Oriel in a fight with the Animari, further isolated Gavriel.
Animari Wolf leader Raff Pineda was on the verge of marrying Thalia, so