Beth Bernobich is joining us today with her novel, Allegiance. Here’s the publisher’s description.
King Leos of Károví, the tyrannical despot whose magic made him near immortal and who controlled a tattered empire for centuries through fear and intimidation, is finally dead. Ilse Zhalina watched as the magical jewels that gave him such power reunited into a single essence, a manifestly God-like creature who then disappeared into the cosmic void. Ilse is now free to fulfill her promise to Valara Baussay, the rogue Queen of Morennioù, who wants to return to her kingdom and claim her throne.
Ilse will do all in her power to help Valara if only as a means to get to her home. Home to her lover, Raul Kosenmark, who is gathering forces in their homeland of Veraene now that Leos is dead in order to save them from an ill-advised war. Pulled by duty and honor, Ilse makes this long journey back to where her story began, to complete the journey she attempted lives and centuries before and bring peace between the kingdoms. Along the way she learns some hard truths and finally comes to a crossroads of power and magic. She must decide if duty is stronger than a love that she has sought through countless lifetimes.
Will Ilse give up her heart’s desire so that her nation can finally know lasting peace?
What’s Beth’s favorite bit?
BETH BERNOBICH
ALLEGIANCE is the last book in my River of Souls trilogy, set in a world where magic is real and souls are reborn from life to life. It’s also a story about one young woman’s journey to independence and agency.
When my main character, Ilse Zhalina, first escapes her family in Passion Play, the first book in the series, she runs straight into trouble. She survives rape, imprisonment, and a trek through the wilderness, finally ending up in the household of Lord Raul Kosenmark, who has undergone his own trauma by volunteering for castration in order to serve the old king.
Except the old king has died, and the new king has exiled all the current councilors.
Raul remakes himself as the man who speaks like a woman. He continues to influence the kingdom’s politics from afar, but events in the third book bring him to the capital city and into direct confrontation with his old enemy, Markus Khandarr.
This confrontation transforms Raul in ways he never predicted, and he’s been unable to process what that means for his life, both political and personal. When Raul tells Ilse that she cannot know what he’s going through, she responds:
“I do know,” she said. “You, of all my friends, you ought to understand how much I appreciate your situation.”
She had caught his attention at last. “How?”
“How?” Her voice ticked upward. “How could I not? I gave myself to Alarik Brandt, just as you gave yourself to Baerne of Angersee. I thought I understood the trade. I did not. Nor did you, you poor child, scarcely fourteen years old. You thought you comprehended the world, or if not that, the world of Veraene’s Court. I thought I comprehended my own body. What ever our beliefs, what ever our expectations, you must admit we both made a bad trade. And we both . . .” Her voice edged into tears, which she brutally suppressed. “We both struggled through, my love. We both survived.”
She said that last word in a breath, nothing more.
“We survived,” she repeated. “You transformed yourself. You fitted your body, your manners, everything to act as though you did not care that you had sacrificed your manhood, only to find that sacrifice discarded. I sacrificed myself to gain freedom only to find that Alarik Brandt had lied to me. Eventually, I discovered that his lies didn’t matter. I had myself. I had my life, my desires, my soul restored.
“The same is true for you. Baerne of Angersee and Markus Khandarr no longer matter. Your future is yours. Choose well, my love.”
Why is this my favorite bit? Because this is Ilse’s declaration of strength. This is where she says, “Yes, I was hurt, badly. It was wrong. It was not my fault. And even though I suffered, I survived. You can too.”
LINKS:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Allegiance-Beth-Bernobich/dp/0765322196
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/allegiance-beth-bernobich/1114032622
IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780765322197
Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Allegiance-Beth-Bernobich/9780765322197
Website: http://www.beth-bernobich.com
BIO:
Beth Bernobich is a writer, reader, mother, and geek. Her short stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, and Postscripts, among other places. Her first novel, PASSION PLAY, came out from Tor Books in 2010 and won the RT Reviewers Choice for Best Epic Fantasy. She currently lives in Connecticut with her husband, son, and a pair of idiosyncratic cats.
