Smoke and Steel
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At the Crossroads of Tomorrow
Being one of the youngest of the Sua royals never stopped Saritrah from scheming to take the throne. But violent insurrectionists shattered those plans when they stormed the palace and decimated her family.
In the years since she has amassed an army and will return to claim her crown. However, Ashur, her one remaining sibling, has done the same, and she must act soon if she's to secure her prize before he snatches it from her claws.
After Ashur razes the Temple of Yshuld, the Oracle promises her the power to ensure victory. But it will mean abandoning her legion to venture into the endless desert and locate a lost city and retrieve an ancient but powerful relic, guided by the Oracle and two other Seers.
Soon, however, she suspects that none of the Seers accompanying her are who they claim to be, even to each other. One woman cryptically alludes to a paradisical past; another awakens in the night plagued by dreams of a frightening future; the last woman never speaks. But the more she questions her new companions' motives, the more she must question her own.
Saritrah must retrieve the magical artifact from the hidden city before Ashur does, all while making sure none betray her. If she fails, Sua is lost not just to her, but forfeit to the insurrectionists and stripped of its pride as a warrior nation.
But is the Oracle's vision of calamity an omen of what will happen if she fails? Or a promise of what will come if she succeeds?
Smoke and Steel is the second novel chronologically in the Scions and Shadows series.
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FILES PROVIDED: Epub, Mobi, PDF
Spice Level: 🌶
Rep, Main Character: Bisexual / Sapphic, C-PTSD
Rep, Secondary: Bisexual / Sapphic, Non-Binary, Aromantic, C-PTSD
Content Notes:
Discussions of or depictions of Consensual intercourse, Violence, Murder, Execution, Revolution, Domestic violence, Arson, Assault, Torture, Blood, Religious abuse, Consumption of alcohol, Suicidal Ideation, Extremely unhealthy and problematic trauma coping mechanism and trauma responses, Mentions of / allusions to childhood abuse and violence perpetuated by children on other children, Emotional manipulation and gaslighting, Surgical procedures, Mentions of and discussion of emotionally abusive relationships.
Cover Art: GetCovers.com
Interior Illustrations: Liz Sauco
Word Count: 95,000
Page Count: ~385 pages
Original Release Date: May 31st, 2024
Read A Sample:
https://read.daxmurray.com/sample/smoke-and-steel
2024 Indie Ink Award Nominations:
- Best morally gray character,
- Best setting,
- WTFWN: Bisexual or Biromantic Representation,
- WTFWN: Disability Representation by a disabled author,
- WTFWN: LGBTQ+ Representation,
- WTFWN: Mental Health Representation
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