Heiress of Magic

In a city of mages, three women dream... Every day, Lysium dances with magic, dispersing potentially dangerous spells into her rapt audience. Every evening, her beautiful husband comes to her bed, his touches marred by breathless and unfathomable melancholy. Every night, after he leaves, she chronicles her most beautiful moments--moments stolen with her best friend, a fire mage--before a shadow in the night steals these memories away. She endures, until the day the guildmaster gives her to the ruler of their city. * Every day, Essence walks the world as one shunned because of her bone-white hair, her blood-red eyes, and her incredible power. Every evening, she renews the magical boundaries that protect the city from an outside foe. Every night, haunted by loneliness, she exchanges missives with a mage from another demesne, a man who does impossible magic. She endures, until the day he arrives in the city of mages to meet her--and claim her. * Every day, Melynda walks the city as a mediocre sorceress trying to protect everyone she knows. Every evening, she checks on her secret children, whose souls are captive of the guildmaster. Every night, she spends with her lover, her children's father, an assassin who knows nothing of his past. She endures, until an entire contingent of visiting mages vanishes. * Unbeknownst to all three, an enemy to the south plots their downfall. Content Warnings: Some of the male characters are morally questionable. One female character is tricked into sleeping with someone else without knowing who that person really is. An unborn baby is stolen from one character's womb. Step into a world of captivity, passion, torment, beauty, and magic...

Born in Texas but somehow having escaped without the accent, Sonya Lano currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic with two cats and a bunch of dust balls, hairballs, fur balls, spiders, story manuscripts, dreams, chocolate, books, and whatever else is hanging around her flat. Her full-time day job testing software pays the bills while her nights are (mostly) filled with living in other worlds.