In The Queen of Blood, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive the malevolent nature spirits of Renthia and claim the crown. Since then, she has kept the peace and protected the humans of her land. But now for all her power, she is hiding a terrible secret: she is dying. And if she leaves the world before a new heir is ready, the spirits that inhabit her beloved realm will once again run wild, destroying her cities and slaughtering her people. Naelin has the raw power necessary to become an heir, but she couldn't be further removed from the queen-and she wouldn't have it any other way. Her world is her two children, her husband, and the remote village tucked deep in the forest that is her home. But when Ven, the Queen's Champion, passes through her village, Naelin's ambitious husband proudly tells him of his wife's ability to control spirits-magic that Naelin fervently denies. She knows embracing her power will bring only separation from those she loves and even death. But Ven has a single task: to find the best possible candidate to protect the people of Aratay. And as the queen's power begins to wane and the spirits become emboldened-even as ominous rumors trickle down from the north-Naelin realizes that the only way to keep her son and daughter safe is to risk everything. Sarah Beth Durst established a place of dark wonder in The Queen of Blood, and now the stakes are even higher as the threat to the queen and her people grows, both from within and beyond the borders of Aratay, in this riveting second novel of the Queens of Renthia series.

Author Biography

Sarah Beth Durst is the award-winning author of sixteen fantasy books for adults, teens, and kids, including The Queens of Renthia series, Drink Slay Love, and The Stone Girl's Story. She won an ALA Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and has been a finalist for SFWA's Andre Norton Award three times. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she spent four years studying English, writing about dragons, and wondering what the campus gargoyles would say if they could talk. Sarah lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat. For more information, visit her at sarahbethdurst.com.