Immortals’ Fate Series – Book One
Being a slave in the Empress’s Army isn’t as bad as it sounds… not for Jarden, anyway. He gets three full meals a day, a warm bed, and no responsibility whatsoever – just the way he likes it. The only thing missing is his childhood friend Riikos. When they were captured on the streets as children, Jarden was taken as a soldier-slave, and Riikos conscripted into the elite Black Gauntlet. It’s been ten years, and Jarden’s almost given up hope on being reunited with the boy he thought of as a brother… but then he’s pulled from the slave barracks to become Riikos’s new servant. The only problem is, Riikos doesn’t remember him, and any mention of their shared past results in violent outbursts.
Jarden’s loyalty and dedication to helping his old friend are strained when he and Riikos are sent on a mission to abduct the daughter of the steward of a neighboring country. Arianna harbors an unnatural talent for magic in a city that hates and mistrusts her for it, and her best friend Dran is keeping her true nature – as well as the horrible event from her past that blinded him – hidden from her. Naïve and hoping to prove herself to a family who never appreciated her, she allows Riikos to manipulate her into leaving the country with him.
As the Empress’s army marches across the country of Darashan, bent on conquest, Jarden and Riikos lead Arianna and Dran to meet it. With Riikos growing darker and more unstable with each failed attempt to help him and a mysterious man from their past tracking them, Jarden must find a way to reawaken his best friend’s memories in time to save Arianna, or else their mission may destroy them all.