Midwinter is a time for Remembrance. When the candles are lit, the dead walk among the living. Devotions are renewed, vigils are held, and forgotten souls find their peace. But for Gabriel, who has never believed in the Gods, there is little peace to be had. Gabe’s last year at the Academy of Tirit Mindel promised to be a great one: good friends, a chance at a coveted spot in the College of Science, and work that he loved at the school clinic. All that was changed by the call for volunteer medical students to assist in an outbreak of wasting fever. Working with the dying in the sweltering heat of southern Miriel was hard, but coming back from the front lines of the epidemic might prove even harder. Haunted by what he saw and faced with unexpected personal loss, for Gabe, this Midwinter would be different than all those before it. For the first time in his life, Gabe needs a little faith, and what the Gods won’t provide, his friends and found family might be able to help with.

All Paul wanted was to see the world. Pulling himself up by his bootstraps, young Mirielee rifter Paul Marek thought that service to the military would be his ticket to adventure. After being in the right place at the right time to save King Warren Miri from an assassin, Paul is given a two year posting in exchange for a promise of wealth and freedom. His job: to protect the infant princess of Lirin, Elenor Lirion. How hard could that possibly be? As it turned out, far more difficult than Paul ever expected. With the ominous head of the Cerulean's Guild sending killers, the Lirion family keeping secrets, and anti-magic propaganda spreading around court, danger abounds. Add to that a profit-driven lover, a cranky palace midwife, a dear friend, and a gaggle of young children, and Paul's two years at Court were nowhere near the easy job he had been promised. It was only supposed to be temporary... but how can a doena walk away from their charge when her life could depend on him? It might not be the adventure he wanted, but it was the one he got.

THE CHOSEN ONE IS DEAD. Speak the truth. That is what Elenor has been taught to value above all else, but when her brother dies, leaving her next in line for the Throne of Lirin, truth becomes a matter of opinion. Stand for what is right. Gabriel thought his years of fighting against oppression were over when he agreed to assassinate the royal family. He never expected to end up helping one of them. As the carefully woven webs of deception surrounding Elenor and Gabriel begin to unravel, Princess and Rebel must set aside their differences and work together for the sake of the Kingdom they both love. Meanwhile, from the rainy streets of Lirin to the scorching dunes of the Mondaer Desert, the ripples of their actions have inadvertently broken a chain of events five centuries in the making. Ancient forces move in the shadows, calling in debts and striking deals. A monster with a thousand faces fingers his knife, ready to kill, and a pair of fugitives run for their lives. With Magic itself misbehaving and old alliances crumbling to dust, it is up to an unlikely group of friends and enemies to pick up the pieces the chosen one left behind.

A God is Dead. A Queen is Missing. Secrets are Unraveling. On trial for the murder of the King, Elenor and Gabriel must become allies if they want to survive. His magic is spiraling out of control, awakening a mystery hidden in the very walls of the palace. She has one month to pass her Water Rite and find a way out of the marriage her parents set up. But things are about to get much more complicated. Between sadistic family members intent on taking Elenor’s throne, Tirit Mindel breathing down Gabriel’s neck, and a Golden Dragon appearing in the sky above the Mondaer Desert with an ominous warning, more than the Kingdom of Lirin is at stake. If that weren’t bad enough, time is ticking down for Fedrik and Fay as well. With the desert turning against them and Daemon as a questionable new ally, figuring out how to control Fedrik’s Gift has become a matter of life and death. Picking up in the fallout of Where Shadows Lie, In Silence Abiding is the long-awaited and non-stop second instalment of The Last Gift. Dive back into the world of Dracona and hold onto your hats. Things are about to get… salty.

A God is Dead. A Queen is Missing. Secrets are Unraveling. On trial for the murder of the King, Elenor and Gabriel must become allies if they want to survive. His magic is spiraling out of control, awakening a mystery hidden in the very walls of the palace. She has one month to pass her Water Rite and find a way out of the marriage her parents set up. But things are about to get much more complicated. Between sadistic family members intent on taking Elenor’s throne, Tirit Mindel breathing down Gabriel’s neck, and a Golden Dragon appearing in the sky above the Mondaer Desert with an ominous warning, more than the Kingdom of Lirin is at stake. If that weren’t bad enough, time is ticking down for Fedrik and Fay as well. With the desert turning against them and Daemon as a questionable new ally, figuring out how to control Fedrik’s Gift has become a matter of life and death. Picking up in the fallout of Where Shadows Lie, In Silence Abiding is the long-awaited and non-stop second instalment of The Last Gift. Dive back into the world of Dracona and hold onto your hats. Things are about to get… salty. ———- Author’s Note: While the Last Gift may be read as a stand-alone series, it is meant to be read alongside the other books of Project Ao. The Suggested Reading Order is: Where Shadows Lie NACL: Eye of the Storm Solace of Memory (A Last Gift Novelette) In Silence Abiding NACL: Storm Surge (Forthcoming)