He can save her life—if he sacrifices himself and those he swore to protect. King’s bastard Shianan Becknam buries himself in his military career to avoid the family that never wanted him and the dangers of drawing political attention. When the artifact intended to end an interdimensional war is damaged, the mage Ariana is trapped on the other side of the rift with her servant—only the cheery young boy is really one of the monstrous enemy, disguised as a human. Shianan is desperate to rescue Ariana, one of his few friends, but to do so requires committing treason and betraying his duty, leaving his people open to attack. State mage Ariana struggles to survive as a prisoner of war in a world of deadly magic and unfamiliar customs. Her only ally is her former servant, now a renowned warrior caught up in political machinations. To survive, he’ll have to once again take up the fight against Ariana’s world. As their people’s wasted armies prepare for fresh battle that will devastate both sides, bastard, mage, and monster must set aside prejudices and rivalries to find an end to centuries of conflict, before they die as traitors.

Shianan Becknam, commander, count, and bastard, has survived committing treason and the murder plot against him. Now that the kingdom is at last protected from marauding Ryuven, the only worth he’s ever had is no longer needed. Trapped in conflicting oaths of allegiance, he’s more a political liability than ever—and less able to court the woman he nearly died to save. But the protective shield, for which Shianan suffered so much, may not be working. The reports of Ryuven raiding the countryside should be impossible within the magical shield. Luca has returned to his homeland, but how can it be a home ever again, as he faces the family who sold him into slavery? Newly betrayed by the only person he trusted, he can conceal physical signs of his enslavement, but what can be done for the wounds that can’t be seen? Mage Ariana Hazelrig is the first to come back from the Ryuven world, but at an unforeseen cost, and she is more determined than ever to end the destructive war between their peoples. When the Ryuven champion Tamaryl reappears in the human realm, she has one chance—and it will brutally hurt those she loves. Their separate paths will twine together once more as inevitable battle closes, to end conflict by bloody victory or desolation.

After generations of war, the fragile new peace hangs by a thread, as Ryuven attacks continue despite the treaty. Shianan leads an exhausted army facing a fresh and magically superior foe. Worried for Ariana, not yet returned from her own deployment, and as demoralized as his soldiers, Shianan is unprepared in every way when Flamen Ande, high priest of the Gehrn cult, reappears to demand Luca back. Luca was once enslaved to Ande, but that was a lifetime ago, before the fall of the shield, before the battle that nearly killed the prince-heir, before the desperate truce and the unexpected massacre by magics they could not resist. But that was also only months ago, and thanks to Luca's devastating honesty, Ande is newly absolved by the court. Tamaryl has sacrificed too much for this peace, and he will do whatever it takes to preserve it—even bring more Ryuven to fight in Chrenada. When he is given a cruelly impossible choice, he must decide where his faith lies and who can be trusted with the salvation of his people. Ariana has irrevocably committed herself against the king's will, but that may be the least of her troubles as she is targeted by those who would use her for revenge. Between human and Ryuven assailants, she must risk all on a defense no one else can use. Kin & Kind is the final novel in the action-packed Shard of Elan series!