Part of Series
One by one the kings of Braetan kneel before King Arthur under a banner of peace. Hwyfar, eldest daughter of King Leodegraunce and famed libertine of Carelon, has returned to Avillion to find her father ruined by madness and a usurper poised to take the throne. Reluctantly she takes the mantle of Queen Regent to protect her kingdom, but she’ll need an army—which King Arthur pledges to send her, providing she marries one of his knights and surrenders the crown. Arthur’s forces arrive under the command of Gawain of Orkney, who Hwyfar remembers as a brute; but she comes to realise he is not the man she thought he was, and finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. But Arthur has plans for her, and has commanded Gawain to keep well away—and in Arthur’s court, without the King’s blessing, love is treason. Hwyfar and Gawain must navigate both a world of ancient forests and corrupt magic, and the political machinations of two courts, if they have any hope of escaping Arthur’s ever-tightening grasp.
Author
Natania Barron is a writer with a penchant for the speculative; she is also an unrepentant geek. Her work has appeared in Weird Tales, EscapePod, The Gatehouse Gazette, Thaumatrope, Bull Spec, Crossed Genres, Steampunk Tales, Faerie Magazine, and in a number of anthologies. Her work often incorporates Victorian aesthetics with magic and science fiction, treading between genres whenever possible. Her first novel, Pilgrim of the Sky, debuted in 2011. She has since published a music fiction novel (ROCK REVIVAL), a trilogy of novellas set in early 20th century high society with monster heroines (THESE MARVELOUS BEASTS), and her Arthurian retelling QUEEN OF NONE is set to release December 2020. Natania is also the founder of The Outer Alliance, a group dedicated to queer advocacy in speculative fiction. Natania holds a BA in English/Writing from Loyola University Maryland and an MA in English with a concentration in medieval literature from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In her spare time she cooks, bakes, drinks wine, crochets, plays guitar and ukulele, and enjoys nature. She lives in North Carolina with her family.
