Joanna Meyerová

A deposed king and the powerful captive of a corrupt queen join forces in a sweeping fantasy of romance, magic, and redemption in this sequel to While the Dark Remains. The long winter dark has been banished for good, and the mountain palace of the late king should be a sanctuary for Ballast Vallin, who has just assumed the throne. Instead, it’s a torment. Held to account for the sins of his father, Ballast must relinquish his crown and all claim to Daeros, the kingdom for which he risked so much. Worse, Brynja—his father’s former captive, the woman he loves—is the one who forces his hand. Disgraced, Brynja is sent to Iljaria, a kingdom imbued with ancient magic. There she finds herself at the mercy of Queen Valrún, and is forced to aid in the queen’s quest to claim all the magic long thought irrevocably bound to the gods. But then a shocking revelation about Ballast’s past brings him to Iljaria—and to Brynja. Together, amid secrets, magic, and betrayal, they must challenge the power-hungry queen to a battle that could ruin the world or remake it. For Brynja and Ballast, their most invaluable weapon is hope.

In an icebound palace of magic and menace, a young woman plots to outwit a cruel king in a bracing fantasy about love, found family, and immeasurable revenge. Brynja spent her childhood as a captive performer in Tenebris, the imposing mountain palace of King Kallias. Every night she risked death for the king’s entertainment until his rebellious son, Prince Ballast, helped her escape. Now twenty, Brynja has never forgotten the brutal king. Or forgiven him. Under the cloak of a three-month-long Winter Dark, Brynja is returning to Tenebris for revenge. Accompanied by a rival court, including the alluring Prince Vil, Brynja poses as diplomatic royalty to barter peace between nations. No one is better equipped to infiltrate the palace than Brynja—she remembers every hidden passage like a bad dream. But her quest to destroy Kallias is complicated by her feelings for Prince Ballast, whom she isn’t sure she can still trust. And Kallias’s own quest to mine a catastrophic weapon of war buried in the mountain’s heart will threaten them all, and force Brynja to face the darkest parts of herself. The lives of everyone she loves depend on the choices she must make. So, too, does the fate of the world.

The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain. When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch's wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren's quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king who is trying to stop her.

Les, kterému vládne stromová čarodějnice, je nebezpečné místo, kde muže i ženy lákají sirény vstříc smrti. Když je do lesa vlákán syn hvězdáře Owen Merrick, Serena, dcera čarodějnice, ušetří jeho život, místo aby ho zabila. Owen každou noc přelézá zeď mezi zahradou a lesem, aby se s ní setkal, a ona pokaždé víc a víc touží stát se člověkem. Hvězdy však předpovídají nebezpečnou kletbu a Serenina honba za lidskostí je vrhne do víru odvěké války mezi čarodějnicí a králem, který se ji snaží zastavit.