Epic fantasy about a warrior girl and a magical boy in love but destined to lead their two home kingdoms against each other in a war.

First love shapes us forever. But in war everyone must choose a side…

Eighteen-year-old Brenna Einarsdotter is the most gifted gatekeeper in a generation—a fearsome warrior and natural leader. As part of the elite guard, she mans the colossal gate that protects her kingdom against invaders over the sea. Aki Sea-born is a foundling, washed up at the gate from an enemy land of dark magic. Growing up together, the two have shared a secret love – the kind that binds deeper than ancestry.

As war descends, and ancient powers seem intent on pitting them against each other, Brenna and Aki face the ultimate choice: loyalty to their homelands or loyalty to each other.

 

Eloise Flood grew up in Philadelphia, but has lived in New York City for most of her life. She fell in love with high fantasy at a young age, memorizing most of Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain as well as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings before the age of ten. She worked for many years as a children’s book editor, and has written more than a dozen novels, mostly under pseudonyms. She is currently a college librarian. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and her cat, and has a weakness for BBC mysteries and historical dramas. Although she does not knit, she frequently worries that she may be a cliché.