Promise you'll be here for me to return to.
Eidolon
Grace Draven
Wraith Kings, book two
ebook, 291 pages
First published April 18, 2016
ISBN 9781310196522
In a bid for more power, the Shadow Queen of Haradis has unleashed a malignant force into the world. Her son Brishen, younger prince of the Kai royal house, suddenly finds himself ruler of a kingdom blighted by a diseased darkness and on the brink of war. His human wife Ildiko must decide if she will give up the man she loves in order to secure his throne.
Three enemy kingdoms must unite to save each other, and a one-eyed, reluctant king must raise an army of the dead to defeat an army of the damned.
A tale of alliance and sacrifice.
It’s been ten years since I read this book’s predecessor, but this sequel took me back to all the warm feels of Brishen, a spare prince of little value, his hag of a bride, Ildiko, (I jest. Sort of.) and their fantastical love story.
When Brishen's mother unleashes a horde of galla (demons) into their world, it is left to Brishen, the seemingly lone survivor of their royal line, to save the kingdom. Now, the Kai prince whose only worth was to be wed to a human noblewoman to secure an alliance, is left with the feat of betraying his people's access to their magic in order to sever his spirit from his body. To become an eidolon. To become a Wraith King. To raise an army of the dead in order to force the galla back through the breach and seal it shut. And now, the same duty that forced a wife upon him would require him to put her aside.
For Ildiko is a human and, as such, she can never produce an heir for Brishen. And while Brishen may be willing to die for the kingdom, he will not surrender the wife he has grown to love. Ildiko, though, is under no illusion of her own value in the predicament, and begins strategizing a worthy replacement to serve as Brishen’s wife and queen. Even as her heart is breaking.
Mercifully, and fortunately, a loyal nursemaid and two royal guards have secured the infant daughter of Brishen’s brother. Their only task is to see her safely delivered to Brishen to be raised as queen. If the spirit of Brishen’s vile mother doesn’t possess her first.
3 out of 5 stars.
