From NYT Bestselling author Lynn Kurland comes the reissue of two novellas set in the world of the Nine Kingdoms . . . Fleeing an unsavory betrothal on the back of her father's fleetest horse, Mehar of Angesand has a simple goal: to find the king's mage to help her decipher a book of spells she's sure will save her life. But when she arrives at the royal palace she finds it in ruins, the king's magician dead, and the one man there who can use her spells to be quite a bit more powerful-and important-than just a stable lad she thinks him to be . . . Symon of Neroche, freshly crowned and beginning his reign in his father's rustic hunting lodge, finds his life changing in an instant when a banished elf walks in, uninvited and unexpected, and demands Symon rescue his sister from the dark mage who kidnapped her. Symon agrees, imagining no one needs to know how long he's worshipped that woman from afar or what he's willing to gamble to save her life . . . and win her heart. "Lynn Kurland has become one of my favorite fantasy authors; I can hardly wait to see what happens next." - Huntress Reviews * Edition Note: The Tale of Two Swords was originally released in the Berkley anthology entitled To Weave a Web of Magic; A Whisper of Spring was originally released in the Berkley anthology entitled The Queen in Winter.