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Humans came, they conquered, and they made her people their slaves. Their first mistake was thinking that a race of predators would be easy to take. The second was ignoring her. Now, she’ll show her people how to rise up and take what they deserve.
When Salryc Luxx turned eighteen, she bit a military officer. That was the first step.
To humans, her species is just another resource. Seen as little more than beasts, the lives of iliri and iliri crossbreds are cheap and easily replaced. Sal was raised as one of their pets and has spent her life dreaming of the day she can be free.
It won’t be easy, but she has a piece of paper that admits her to the trials of the Black Blades, a group elite soldiers who do the jobs no one else can handle. Their success is exactly what she needs to prove her people are more than just something to throw away. Then a voice leaks into her mind. Evidently, there’s a lot more her species has kept secret – and the Black Blades have been hiding it in plain sight this whole time.
She’s going to have to change her plan. The sweet scent of humans, the lure to claim a mate, and her desire to see her commanding officer drop his eyes are becoming a problem. If she wants to prove that her people deserve freedom – that she deserves it – she has to stop acting like a beast. There’s just one little problem.
Humans aren’t her masters, they’re her prey.
EVERY MAN WANTS HER. MANY WANT TO KILL HER.
Good luck to them…
For the first time in her life, Sal has a place to belong, and it feels so right.
The iliri live in packs.
The Black Blades is hers.
But humans see them only as a military unit, and one with a little too much influence. To keep the “scrubbers” from gaining an advantage, humans will do anything – and none of it good. The only people they can trust are themselves.
But this time, they need help. Eight elite soldiers aren’t enough to stop the bribe headed to Anglia. If that country gets two thousand kilos of steel, it’ll change the tide of war, and the Conglomerate of Free Citizens will be caught in the middle.
The Black Blades have to trust someone, but their only options are humans. Hopefully, their “friends” aren’t as dangerous as the enemy.
HER ONLY CHOICE IS TO CHANGE HER WORLD…
The leaders of her own country despise her kind. They assume that Salryc Luxx and every iliri crossbred are nothing more than expendable. But, if they can do the job, then the Conglomerate of Free Citizens is happy to use them. They win either way.
So they sent Sal to Anglia without pack. She can no longer hear their thoughts and can’t smell her brothers. It’s just her and Cyno killing their way across unending expanses of snow-covered mountains. Her mission is to assassinate the current king and replace him with someone sympathetic to the Conglomerate, but Sal wants more.
And she gets it. In a land where iliri are a myth, she’s treated like a hero. Here, the people don’t know they should hate her. All they know is that she may be the only thing standing between Anglia and the Terran Empire. To them, she may very well be their salvation.
If she’s going to do this, she’ll make sure at least one government on the continent supports her people. She just has to figure out how – without getting herself killed. Lurking deep in the icy wilderness may be the answer she needs. And it speaks her language.HER ONLY CHOICE IS TO CHANGE HER WORLD…
The leaders of her own country despise her kind. They assume that Salryc Luxx and every iliri crossbred are nothing more than expendable. But, if they can do the job, then the Conglomerate of Free Citizens is happy to use them. They win either way.
So they sent Sal to Anglia without pack. She can no longer hear their thoughts and can’t smell her brothers. It’s just her and Cyno killing their way across unending expanses of snow-covered mountains. Her mission is to assassinate the current king and replace him with someone sympathetic to the Conglomerate, but Sal wants more.
And she gets it. In a land where iliri are a myth, she’s treated like a hero. Here, the people don’t know they should hate her. All they know is that she may be the only thing standing between Anglia and the Terran Empire. To them, she may very well be their salvation.
If she’s going to do this, she’ll make sure at least one government on the continent supports her people. She just has to figure out how – without getting herself killed. Lurking deep in the icy wilderness may be the answer she needs. And it speaks her language.
DISASTER! THE BLACK BLADES DISBANDED, AN ALLIANCE IN TURMOIL…
The meeting of allied nations should have been something to celebrate. Instead, Sal dreads what will happen when Dominik Jens, the King of Anglia, arrives. If her court martial isn’t over, he’ll hear every last detail about how she betrayed him. From her own lips, she’ll have to tell him that she was the assassin who put him on his throne.
And that will destroy the only ally the iliri have – unless the Blades can find a way to stop this. The Conglomerate only cares about their political aspirations, but for the Black Blades, this is worth fighting for.
Parliament’s only option is to disband the Blank Blades before they rebel. Never mind that the elite military unit saved their country over and over. When the iliri’s “immoral” lifestyle is brought to light, one Representative claims it’s proof that the beasts need humans to control them. And while prejudice has always been stronger than logic, there’s one thing even stronger: trust.
That’s the only thing that can hold their pack together now. The Blades must trust their ancestors, their fellow countrymen, and those who are willing to risk everything for the chance to defeat the Emperor – but he’s always one step ahead.
This is what the Black Blades spent their lives fighting for.
Their people have learned what hope tastes like. Humanity has finally recognized them as more than just beasts to be discarded, and they’re winning. With millions of grauori pouring down from the mountains, nothing can stand in their way. Once little more than a unit of soldiers, the Black Blades have become the saviors of their entire species.
It’s all because of Salryc Luxx. The last Kaisae of the Iliri, chosen only because the Emperor slaughtered the rest of her kind, she has nothing left to lose – or so she thought – but the Emperor is done playing games. He knows who she is, and he’s not ready to give up. He’s determined to make her pay.
In her darkest hour, Sal’s past will come back to haunt her, the Blades will pull together, and borders become unimportant. Survival will require the one thing the Kaisae of all Iliri has perfected: refusing to give up.
THE FINAL SHOWDOWN IS NEAR…BUT WHO IS THE REAL ENEMY?
She worked for them, bled for them, and nearly died for them humans in the Conglomerate of Free Citizens. For her entire life, they refused to let her forget that she was the inferior species, but things have changed. With the alliance of the two strongest nations on the continent – which she leads – her former country needs her help. They just don’t know how to ask. They demand that she brings her army to assist them.
But Salryc Luxx isn’t the same downtrodden slave she used to be. She has risked – and lost – so much to free her people from oppression, and now the Conglomerate expects her to obey like a well-trained dog? It’s time they learn that humans aren’t the dominant species anymore.
Political games and human prejudice can’t stop her from getting the revenge she deserves – or from showing her people that the iliri are no longer pets.
HER MIND IS MORPHING BY THE MINUTE…PREPARE TO HAVE YOURS BLOWN!
With Parliament’s blessing, Sal is heading back to where it all started: Fort Landing. This time, however, she’s the one in charge, and the Conglomerate of Free Citizens’ military won’t like that. Not that she cares. Her only goal is to win this war.
Or so she thinks.
But seeing the faces of people who were once like her, all but enslaved to the system, the Kaisae of all Iliri can’t ignore it. Then again, now that she has the power she always dreamed of, it should be easy to make things right for her species. It’s not. Humans aren’t quite ready to give up their power.
Some are even willing to destroy everything to keep it. Sal just has to figure out who is trying to sabotage her mission, which would be a lot easier if her insanity could hold off a little longer.
VICTORY IS AT HAND! ALL THEY NEED IS A MIRACLE…
This eighth book in the Rise of the Iliri sci-fi / fantasy series, is just as much steamy romance as it is espionage-tinged action-adventure thriller.
Being a woman while leading the army has drawbacks. It’s even worse for a Kaisae. To avoid hormonal confusion and keep the Black Blades from instinctively tearing their male allies apart, Anglia is at a standstill – and Sal hates it.
The last thing the enemy needs is another advantage, and with Merriton on the horizon, this battle is very personal. Someone has been helping the enemy. The trick will be figuring out who, stopping them, and securing the CFC’s largest economic powerhouse without destroying the entire country. The problem? Ayati’s no longer playing fair. The rules have changed, but will Sal figure it out in time?
HISTORY DECREES SHE MUST DIE — OR LOSE HER MIND
All Kaisaes must die, Sal has heard this for a little too long. The difference is that she’s not like all Kaisaes. Somehow, those two things must cancel each other out, right? But her researcher has discovered a lot more than old books. It seems there’s a coup slowly brewing while the army is on the other side of the country.
Which means that things aren’t only falling apart in her mind. They’re also crumbling at home, and while Sal may not be responsible for the politics of the humans in her country, she still owes them. They’re as much her people as the survivors of the Emperor’s extermination.
Humans, iliri, grauori – the three species of this world can’t keep lines between them. Their cultures are colliding, and winning the war won’t be enough to smooth all the tensions. If all three species want to survive in the new world they’re making, then changes need to start now.
Big changes. The kind that are going to hurt, because there is an answer. It’s been staring her in the face this whole time. But she can’t do it alone.
In the final stretch of the war, the rules are changing faster than Anglia can keep up. The Kaisae of all Iliri is gone. Her mates are holding the army together. Her dreams are changing everything—and Sal? She’s not done yet.
The Emperor has taken too much from her. Life, loves, and much of her happiness. All she has left is desperation—and blind trust.
But she’s not alone. She never has been.
If the iliri want to finally know peace, she’s going to need some help. For once, the success of their species is out of her hands.
Ryali has promised to handle the situation in Dorton. This leaves the King free to focus on the assault of Terric. Elite units are lining up to help. The end of the war is near, but can Anglia truly make this happen? The fight is the least of their concerns. Killing a man is easy. Changing minds? That’s going to be impossible.
And yet it’s the whole reason the iliri have risen up: to finally be seen as equals. If this is going to work, it’s going to take more than ayati—more than the fate the iliri believe controls the world.
It’s time for the pattern to change.
By reader request, Hope is a full-length epilogue novel to show what comes after the Rise of the Iliri series ends.
The war is over. The dead have been laid to rest. Peace is on the horizon, and Anglia is a country that needs to be put back together. After a failed coup, a new king who’s spent more time away from the country than on his throne, and two new kingdoms sharing the same space, it’s starting to feel like combat was easier to handle.
But Dominik Jens has an idea. What this country needs is a celebration to unite the three species. He has one in mind, but he’s not quite sure it’s going to fly. The nobles hate the idea, the iliri love it, and the grauori haven’t responded. They’re too worried about the Orassae’s grandchildren, who are due to be born at any time.
Peace isn’t made from drawing lines in the sand. It’s all about erasing them. That’s how Hope is built, and it’s the only way for Anglia to move forward together.
Luckily, they have plenty to spare.